PACT TWELVE THE MICHIGAN DAILY VDAT, MAY '16, 1941 Western Conference Grid Rivals Wind Up Spring Tr pining ra ~ - Gophers Look Strong; PurpleLineDoubtful All Eyes On Paul Brown And Ohio State As New Buckeye Regime Holds Drills Golfers Ranked High ... Hen -9 Smith Paces Team Cindermen Seek Big Ten Title <* - 1 By BUD HENDEL Western Conference pigskin follow- ers may rest assured that in spite of the draft, they will witness an abun- dance of the same kind of smashing football this coming season as has so long characterized the Big Ten. All of the Conference schools have finished their annual spring training programs, and from advance indi- cations, everything points to * ban- ner year for the Big Ten grid sport. Most of the teams, on paper at least, appear to be improved over tle last campaign. Some of them, as expected, will be weaker because of the loss through graduation of outstanding grid stars and an inadequate reserve supvly. Gophers Look Strong Up at Minneapolis, Bernie Bier- man has assembled another strong outfit. Deep in reserves, it looks like another banner year for the Golden Gophers. With Captain Bruce Smith, Bill Garnaas, Bill Daley and Mike Welch forming the first team backfield, the Minnesota quartet need not take a back seat to any set in the land. Two veterans are back to handle the flank duties, Herb Hein ,nd Bill Baumgartner, while All American Ur- ban Odson, Dick Wildung and a giant yearling, Rudy Sikich, will take care of the tackle posts. Gordon Paschka will be back at one of the guards, afd'either Butch Levy or Wally Nolstrum will be at the other. Chuck Solheim will probab- ly see duty at the pivot post when the Gophers open the season. Frickey Is Promising Backing these men are a highly touted bunch of reserves, led by Her- man Frickey, star freshman halfback. Last year's freshman tean was the strongest Bierman has had in years. Minnesota, 1940 champ, looks once again like the team to beat for the title. Coach Mal Edward has a speedy squad at Purdue. The Boilermakers will be much stronger than they were last year, although the loss of Dave Rankin, All American end, will be difficult to compensate. There is plenty of backfield ex- perience in the-Riveter camp, and the line, led by guards Jim Miller and Tom Melon, will be strong. Several promising men are coming up from the frosh squad. including Harry French, standout tackle. Hoosiers May Surprise Bo McMillin, sage Indiana men- tor, hasn't let much information drift out from his Hoosier hideout. From all indications, Indiana may well be the Big Tenrdark horse. The line prospects from the freshman team are good, and McMillin has a veteran backfied composed of Bill Hillenbrand, Bob White, De Swi- hart, and Eddie Herbert with which to work. Over at Ohio State a new regime has started one of the most intensive spring programs in Buckeye history. Paul Brown, the new coach, has been driving his squad hard in an effort to mold together a strong outfit. At present the Buckeyes are of doubtful quality. All eyes will be foc- used Columbus way to see if Brown, taken from the high school ranks, can produce a winner. One thing is certain, he has plenty of material. Captain Jack Stephenson looks good at tackle and should be one of the season's outstanding performers, while Jim Daniel will ably handle the other tackle post. But Ohio State is strongest in the backfield. Brown has uncovered a sensational JOE MERNIK The little Minnesota halfback kicked the extra point that beat Michigan out of the Big Ten cham- pionship up at Minneapolis last fall. He'll be back next season 1, to do the Gophers' place-kicking when they need one point badly. halfback, George Lynn, from the ranks of the reserves, and this boy should go places. Dick Fisher, Les Horvath, and Joe Novak will complete the set of backs and provide it with plenty of power and speed. Counting heavily on sophomores, Northwestern will be another dark horse in the coming race, but Coach Lynn Waldorf will field a fast, top- notch backfield. Floyd Chambers, Leon Cook, Gene Mundy, Dud Keene, Don Buffmire, Bill Ohland, Don Clawson, Ike Kep- ford and the highly touted Bill de Correvont form a substantial list for Waldorf to draw from in forming his traditional speedy Wildcat back- field quartet. The line is the big question mark at Northwestern, and if it comes through the Wildcats will be right in there. Frosh Are Good Another team which will depend on sophomores will be Illinois, tutor- by Wily Bob ,Zuppke. Last year's yearling squad was the strongest since 1935, and Zup should come up with a much better team than his last aggregation. Zuppke has initiated the famous "T" formation in his spring drills, and from all indications Illinois will use it a great deal this campaign. Dick Good, one of the nation's best passers, will be at the all-important quarterback position, and Illinois will base its attack around him and his trusty right arm. The rest of the backfield will be composed of Don Griffin and Maurie Gould, two sensational triple threat freshmen, and the veteran Bert Pig- get. All in all, the Illini will rely on sophomores for the two halfback posts, the end slots, and at least one tackle position. The line is expected to be stronger on defense than it was last year, but that remains to be seen. Iowa, led by Dr. Eddie Anderson, will trust its fortunes with its forward wall. The backfield is overloaded with By LYONS HOWLAND No exception to the words of the famous Maize and Blue song, "Cham- pions of the West," Michigan's pow- erful golf team has again come through this year with a season's record that has ranked it among the leaders of the Western Conference. As one of the major contenders for this year's Big Ten title, the Wol- verines, paced by Captain Fred Dan- nenfelser and Sophomore Ben Smith, have taken seven out of their first nine matches this year, losing only to the University of Georgia, the Southern Intercollegiate champs, and Notre Dame, both non-conference op- ponents. Three Letter'vinners Winning four straight Big Ten matches against Indiana, Ohio State, and Purdue, Coach Ray Courtright's boys were nucleated by three letter- winners from last year's all-veteran team. Captain Dannenfelser, Dave Osler, and Johnny Leidy with varsity emblems have contributed substan- tially to the team's success. 'Old Faithful' Dannenfelser has put his talent with the driver t6 good use, scoring valuable points in every match so far this season. In the scor- ing column also have been Dave Os- fine runners, passers and kickers, but the line is doubtful quality. It looks strong on paper, but it is composed of many inexperienced men. Anderson can call upon either Bul- let Bill Green or Burdel Gilleard to handle the fullback duties, while at the halves he can select from three triple threat freshmen, Jim Youel, Bob Bender, and Tom Farmer. The quarterbacking will be done by Jim Walker, who is expected to be one of the nation's best performers. Two watchcharm guards, the vet- erans Ross Anderson and Francis Curran, are the only definite positions on the line. The remainder of the for- ward wall will probaby be taken care of by newcomers who have shown much promise during the spring training grind. Wisconsin Improved Last, but not least of the Western Conference teams, is Wisconsin, coached by Harry Stuhldreher. The Badgers will be one of the most im- proved teams in the Big Ten. The Wisconsin outfit was manned mainly by sophomores last year. With the added experiencethat these men have gained, Wisconsin is rated very highly in pre-season calculations. Led into battle by Tom Farris, a great quarterback, the Dairy State aggregation will be fighting for the top spot. Farris will have as back- field partners Don Miller, Bob Will- ding and Bob Ray, thus forming a quartet of speedy backs. And so we come to the end of the Big Ten Round-Up. You can make your selections from here. .r ler and husky Johnny Leidy. South- paw Osler's miraculous putter has done much damage to Wolverine op- pon'ents as has Leidy's power in the wood department. Smith Excels Bright spot in the team's activities has been Ben Smith, slender ace from Florida, the land of sunshine, where the golf season is all the year around. Helping to win for Michigai last year the Junior Western Trophy, the soft-spoken sophomore came from out of nowhere this season in every department from the woods on down to the putter, consistently carding sub-par scores. Johnny Barr and Cliff James, the diminutive one, have both broken into the scoring column after playing re- serve ball for Michigan last year. Both boys have shown themselves capable of wielding the mashie for the Wolverines, winning their varsity em- blem in Big Ten match play this sea- son. Hockey player Bob Fife, Dave Ladd, and Ken Calder finished up the var- sity's active roster. Fife, Highland Park sophomore, and member of the Junior Western Conference Cham- pionship team, has done his share of scoring with his accuracy and power in the woods as well as in the irons. Ladd and Calder, both seniors, have scored points for the Wolverines in competition. Previous to the Purdue meet, the two were held in reserve, but they proved themselves worthy of varsity competition in the Boiler- maker match. Chandler Simonds, Earl Drake, Breard Fishburn, Buel Morley, Wayne Wolfe, and Bob Vibbert are listed on the reserve roster. Courtright wants and expects to use many of these men in the season's remaining matches. The Big Ten tournament =will be held on June 18 and 19 in Chicago, and it is there that Michigan will carry its title hopes. (Continued from Page 11) should gain several points in this event over Ed Mikulas of Indiana. With javelin-throwers Perry Kim- erer and Johnny Wise also showing plenty of power in the Buckeye meet, along with shot-putter Bob Hook and Tommy Lawton at the discus, the Wolverines may also gain some val- uable points in the field events. Char- lie Decker is also a very good pros- pective point-getter in the pole-vault. And so the capacity crowd of fans on hand will probably see the meet evolve into\a very close race for the title between Michigan and Indiana at the start of the final event of the meet, the mile relay. The Wolverines, Pens - Typewriters - Supplies "Writers Trade With Rider's" RIDER'S 302 South State Street f nekw slyt ..rnt,,l Wild ANY W AY YOU TAKE IT with one of the best baton-passing teams in its history in the persons of Jack Leutritz, Bob Ufer, Bobby Bar- nard and Al Thomas or Warren Breidenbach, is favored to capture the relay. And with so many potential point- getters on the rest of the card, it is not impossible that Coach Doherty and his charges will bring back one more trophy to add to the imposing array of cups now standing behind the windows of the trophy-case at Yost Field House. Read The.Daily Classifieds! Ike walking _all the way IS PALMi BEACH TIME 1#1 MUSIC On Records at the Be cool around the clock in these breeze-blown Palm Beach Suits. 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