TUESDAY, JAN. 11, 1944 THE MICHIGAN DAILY . - . . rAGZ THREE Michigan Five Looms as Big Ten Dark Worse after Victory Detroit Star Is Out of the Money Lots of Fight Beat Illinois,' Receives Wings, Bars Says Bennie It Sammy Byrd, Detroit Pro, and one-time New York Yankee outfielder, who was leading at the halfway mark, faded out in the stretch of the $12,500 Los Angeles Open, and did not place for any of the prize money. McSpaden Wins Los Angeles Open with Record 278 Score LOS ANGELES, Jan. 10.--(P)- Tall, broad-shouldered Harold (Jug) McSpaden, Philadelphia, today cap- tured America's richest golf cham- pionship, the $12,500 Los Angeles Open, with a 72-hole score of 278. Finishing the last. 18-hole round on the Wilshire Country Club course with. a blistering 66, McSpaden es- tablished a new low 72-hole score for the championship on this course. The best- previously was the 281 in 1933 by Craig Wood, national champion for the duration. Bulla Is Close Second Johnny Bulla, Atlanta, the Los Angeles Open winner in 1941, fin- ished in second place with a 281. He took a; par 71 for his final round after starting it in a 54-hole first place tie with Leonard Dodson, La Jolla, Calif. Dodson wound up in a tie at 283 with Craig Wood and Byron Nelson, To- ledo... Dodson played in a threesome with McSpaden and Olin Dutra, Los An- geles, and the pace was too stiff for him. The veteran Willie Hunter, Santa Monica, Calif., finished with 284, followed by Dutra with 285. Byrd Is Washout A McSpaden's five-under-par perfor- mance today was one of the two best rounds of the championship. Sammy Byrd, Detroit pro, also bagged a 66 in the. first round. Byrd faded com- pletely in the final round. Jug had six birdies and one bogey in fashioning his sensational card. His magically efficient putter never failed him, and only an out-of- bounds shot on the 419-yard 12th hole where he required a'five,marred his shotmaking. Fourth Title for Jug Cool under pressure all day, he sank a 20-foot putt on the seyenth for a birie two, but for the most part hisrapproaches were laid right up to the cup. The new champion has won four of his last six tournaments, amongthem the All-American at Chicago: He picked up $4,375 in war bonds as first prize money today. His card for the final round: Par Out......454 344 344-35 McSpaden. Out 354 344 243--32 Par In .........344 354 544-36-71 MeSpaden In ..345 244 444-34-66 Whirlaway's Sister Wins Close Victory NEW YORK, Jan. 10.-(/P)-War- ren Wright's Whirlette, a full sister to the famous Whirlaway, made her racing debut at Hialeah Park today by coming from far back for a length victory over A. T. Simmons' General War in a six furlong dash for three- year old maidens. A crowd of 7,472, including Mr. and Mrs. Wright and trainer Ben Jones, cheered as the bay daughter of Blen- heim 2nd - Dustwhirl came from eighth place at the half-way mark to wear down General War and Col. Hockwald in the stretch. Col. Hock- wald took the show, a length behind General War and a head in front of Good China. Poor Backboard Play Cost Victory Against Wildcats Last Friday By DAVE LOEWENBERG Michigan's basketball team, after its fine showing last week-end against Northwestern and Illinois, looms as a dark horse contender in the 1944 Western Conference race. In beating Illinois, 52-45, the Wol- verines played their best game of the season. The most impre&live ,thing about this game was the outstanding amount of fight which the Maize and Blue cagers displayed. This scrappi- ness paid off in the closing minutes of the game when Coach Bennie Ooster- baan's boys put on their victory rally. Michigan's 57-47 loss at the hands of Northwestern can be attributed to the Wolverines' poor showing off the backboards. Had Michigan been more proficient at the art of taking re- bounds, the score would have been much closer. In fact, the entire com- plexion of the game might have changed. Team Improves Against Illinois Against Illinois, however, the team was getting its share of the rebounds_ and seemed to have a great deal more confidence in its ability to meet a, topnotchfoe. Michigan realized that it had a good ball club after the Northwestern contest and this feel- ing put the team in a proper frame of mind to play a bang-up game against the Orange and Blue. King Stars The Wolverines' outstanding star was Tommy King, Marine trainee from Michigan State. King rolled up 40 points against the Wildcats and Il- linois, and this brilliant performance placed him at the top of the heap in the Big Ten scoring race. In addition to King, several other Michigan players looked impressive over the week-end. Dave Strack scor- ed 19 points in the two games, and it was his long-range shooting against the Illini which clinched the victory. Don Lund is another boy who did well. Lund was especially effective in the Illionis game when he held the visitors top scoring ace, Stan Patrick, to only five points. Lund registered 11 points in the two games. The other Michigan performer who showed up to good advantage was the Galloping Ghost from Wisconsin, El- roy Hirsch. Hirsch was sensational off the backboards and his play under the basket helped Michigan consider- ably.. Michigan Gets Bad Break However, Michigan did suffer two tough breaks over the week-end. Wayne Thompson, a forward, dislo- cated his shoulder in Friday's game, and Bob Wiese suffered an ankle in- jury against the Illini. Thompson will probably be lost to the team for both games against Wisconsin, and it is not known yet whether Wiese will be available for active duty this week. Dick Kuehn, Injured Grappler, Is Critical Dick Kuehn, varsity wrestler who suffered a fracture of the sixth and seventh vertebrae in a practice match, was still in a critical condi- tion last night at University Hospital. A special pair of tongs with weights attached are being used to keep a constant pressure on his head and neck. This will relieve the frac- ture and remove the pressure from the injured nerve which, if not seri- ously bruised, will rejuvenate itself and nullify the present paralysis of the lower half of his body. Coach Pleased With Matmen Chip Warrick Loses Tough Decision at Ohio Peace reigned again at the Field House as the victorious Wolverine wrestlers resumed practice yesterday with a light workout. Coach Ray Courtright was well pleased with the showing of his grap- plers at Ohio State. He stated that "On the whole, I was elated. Of course, the team made mistakes, but these will be rectified. The main thing the Ohio match did for us was to give us a line on the major mis- takes made, which we can work on." Chip Warrick, who was defeated on a decision by Bill Demora in the 145- pound division, suffered a heart- breaking defeat. The matches were regulation nine-minute matches, di- vided into three three-minute peri- ods. Just as the whistle sounded end- ing the regulation nine - minute match, the two boys were tied with six points apiece. However, Warrick was close to a takedown which would have given him two points and the match. But the referee decided that the takedown was not in effect until the whistle had blown. This necessi- tated an overtime period, which was divided into two two-minute periods, when Chip was edged out, 10-9. The matmen started right in where they had left off before the match with the Buckeyes. The workout was light, and the main thing done at practice was to correct the faults made in their match. Corky is afraid that'his squad will lose condition because of a lack of matches. He is working to fill in a couple of open dates on the schedule, and preparing for the next encoun- ter, which will find the team travel- ing to Indiana, Jan. 22. Clevelander, Ties for Lead 14 bit -CLEVELAND STAR P3 an NEW HAVEN, CONN., Jan. 10.-(P) -Tallying three goals and setting up a trio of scoring plays, Tom Burling- ton, Cleveland star, today moved into a tie with Captain Wallie Kilrea of Hershey for the American Hockey League's top scoring honors. GUS SHARMET . one of Coach Matt Mann's crack freestylers of several seasons back who received his silver pilot's wings and second lieutenant bars at Pamap Army Air Field, Tex. pleased with the showing of each one of his charges-despite the fact that they failed to place in the diving and captured only a third in the 100-yard backstroke. Mann Is Confident Matt seems confident that the Var- sity will get off to a flying start against the Wildcats Friday, but goes on to say that Michigan will be lucky to garner one first place against Great Lakes the following evening. The Sailors have former Wolverines, "T-Bone" Martin and Dobby Burton, swimming for them, in addition to Billy Smith, National AAU champ, who was at Ohio State last season. Mert Church's winning time in the 50-yard freestyle Saturday, 0:23.9, is good early season clocking. Charlie Fries, who swam a dead heat in the finals of the 50 with Achilles Pula- kus, churned through the water in 0:23.8 to take his heat in the prelim- inaries. These three sprinters, to- gether with Ace Cory, captured the 200-yard relay going away. Maloney in Race Form In the 440, Michigan's freshman distance ace, Paul Maloney, finished in 5:03.5-also good time for so early in the season. Matt Mann Jr. copped third place from Maize and Blue let- terman John McCarthy, who also took a third in the, backstroke. Heinie Kessler came through in the 100-yard breaststroke with ease for Michigan's other first place. Heinie, who is from Ann Arbor, is only a freshman and should be right up with the best of them in the Conference. National Football League Club Owners To Meet Soon By The Associated Press National Football League Club owners will meet with Commissioner Elmer Layden Wednesday and Thurs- day to mull over player prospects for the 1944 season and to hatch ideas about postwar expansion of the pro- fessional sport. Swimmers Look Ahead To Next Meets Sailors and Wildcats To Provide Opposition In Week-end Frays With one meet under their belts the Varsity swimmers are looking for- ward to this week-end when they face Northwestern and Great Lakes Fri- day and Saturday, respectively. Last Saturday night, the State AAU swimming championships found the Wolverines in fine shape for so early in the season. Coach Matt Mann was LOST!!!! . one diver from the varsity swimming team. Anyone knowing the whereabouts of one John Kry- goski, diver extraordinary, please notify Coach Matt Mann at the Sports Building pool as soon as possible. TAKING IT EASY By ED ZALENSKI Daily Sports Editor 'It's a Great Big Meechegan Day' ... THERE WAS A BROAD, cocky grin on Michigan's face today. And with reason! The Wolverine sent four teams into action Saturday in four sports and each one not only won, but gave every indication that this victory parade was only the beginning. Undoubtedly, the 52-45 victory of Coach Bennie Oosterbaan's Gagers over the highly-publicized "Gee Whiz Kids" from Illinois was the most impressive. The near-capacity crowd that packed the Field House saw the lead change hands eight times in the second half before the "Kids" cracked and cried for mercy. They couldn't stand the last-minute strain and with it went any semblance of team coordination. T'S DIFFICULT to put your finger on the turning point of the game. Tommie King was definitely the sparkplug of the first half and kept the Wolverines ahead at halftime, 27-25. However, Dave Strack, Dick Shri- der and Bill Seymour shared the last-minute spotlight. Strack, shifted to forward when Shrider c=ie In, tossed in two of the finest shots of the game-high, arching shots from near the middle of the floor. Seymour followed with a terrific one-handed over-head shot and then, Shrider hit the nets twice in rapid succession. You can take your pick, if you want to. Despite the individual stars it was a Michigan victory by a fast-breaking team with spirit, fight and determinism. It was unfortunate that many fans had to miss that slam-bang, wide open hockey match at the Coliseum. A reckless, fighting sextet defied tradition and odds to upset Sarnia, 4-2, in the wildest exhibition seen on the Coliseum ice in many years. The bewildered Canadians never knew from what direction the telling blow came. THE VICTORY was a tribute to the sophomore wing, Ted Greer, who is undoubtedly one of the smoothest forwards Coach Eddie Lowrey has had in years. For Greer, it was a repetition of his performance against the London A.C. before the Christmas holidays when Michigan lost, 4-1. The play of Johnny Jenswold at wing, his first in a Wolverine uniform, solved Lowrey's problem of a fast front line man to pair with Greer. The work of Captain Bob Derleth was disappointing, but too much can't be expected of the big defenseman playing center with an injured knee. Coach Ray Courtright took his wrestlers to Columbus for the Big Ten opener and they came back with the Buckeye scalp. The 24-8 victory sets up the Varsity squad as a threat to Indiana's hopes for a repeat performance in the Conference finals. Jim Galles can write his own Conference ticket in the 175-pound bracket. Hugh Wilson and George Curtis came through with falls in the 165 and 155-pound div- isions, and Johnny Greene continued to dominate the heavyweights. Outside of Lowell Oberly at 135 pounds, Michigan appears weak in the lighter weights. The Michigan AAU swimming meet, dominated by Coach Matt Mann's Varsity squad, displayedpower in the sprints and distances, but weakness on the diving board. Freestyler Mert Church and Paul Maloney, New York AAU mile champion, appear to be headed for individual stardom. Neither had any trouble in winning state AAU titles Saturday night, Church in the 50-yard dash, and Maloney in the gruelling 448-yard grind (about 182 laps). Lowrey Huntig for New Center While the new forward line com- posed of Ted Greer, Capt. Bob Der- leth and Johnny Jensold accounted for three of the Wolverines four goals Saturday night, Coach Eddie Lowrey is still looking for someone to fill the center slot. Derleth, who played a good defens- ive game at center, did not figure in any of the Michigan scoring. He looked slower than usual, but this may be due to an aggravation of his knee injury after the first period. The two wings on the first string forward line, Greer and Jenswold, played well together, with Greer es- pecially outstanding due to his fine stick handling. Gordie Anderson played a bang-up game as did Jack Athens. Both these boys traded body checks with older and heavier Sarni players without holding back, and made a fine show- ing at Michigan's second line. Practice this week, in preparation for the game next Saturday with a team from the Woodstock (Ont.) Ar- my Post, will consist of the usual drills and, perhaps, a rearrangement of the forward lines with special work being put on leading a two or three- man rush over the opposing team's blue line. 1 11 You'll find pictures galore In the MICHiGANENSIAN of '44! MUSIC by SAWYER featuring the Men's Glee Club 4 U) 4. 4 fintere ted. I . TRYOUTS WANTED FRIDAY HILL AUDITORIUM *t I PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE IN NEWSPAPER MANAGEMENT and ADVERTISING 0 7:30 - 8:30 and it's FREE I 'I,4 * I i II I I I