THE MICHIGAN DAILY
1 n ti T11TLI:
Intraqua Wrestling Tournament Starts
Today
Winners of Matches To
Be Given Starting Spots
Skillman Appears To Be best 136 Pounder;
Sachsel, Johnston Are Other Likely Victors
By STAN SAUERHAFT
"The intra-squad wrestling tournament to determine the best men in
each weight will begin today," Jim Galles announced yesterday.
Galles, who was training the squad during Coach Wally Weber's ab-
sence, stated further that the tournament would probably continue untilI
Thursday with the final result being the selection of the first-string men
in the various weight divisions.
As it now shapes up most of the eight weight classes can boast at least
one outstanding man with the 136 pound class presenting the most hotly
contested race of them all. Here there are four men any one of whom
might take all in the forthcoming tournament.
Of the four leaders, Newton Skill-<
Coach Doherty TOOTH N' NAIL:
'says Thiiclads howl Officials Attempt
Need Psam eMEven
Squad Looked Ragged,
l
j In [4ia.4 Frfit-dav',. 1 ee;
N ervieni 1Look Good
After watching last Friday night's
track meet Coach Ken Doherty said
that it showed that there is a lot
of work in store for the thinclads be-
fore they will be ready for stiff com-
petition.
Team Looks Ragged
As a whole the squad looked rag-
ged, but there were some good times
clocked for several events. In the
440 Dick Forestal was timed at 50:9
which was better than some times
handed in during some of last year's
Conference meets. Bob Hume, last
By WHiTNEY MARTIN
NEW YORK, Dec. 18-P)-The highest scoring team isn't meeting the
best defensive team and the two highest scoring teams aren't meeting each
other, but on the whole the sponsors of the four major bowl football games
Jan. 1 have done a first-class job of lining up attractions.
The idea probably wasn't to book a scoring orgy or to pit an irre-
sistable force against an immovable object in the first place, but was to
line up teams that appeared fairly evenly matched and that would
provide an entertaining game. It isn't much fun to watch two fine
defensive teams stage a tug-of-war in the middle of the field, and. when
two teams score practically at, will it gets rather monotonous also.
Had the two high scoring teams a score of something like 722 to
of the eight involved in the bowl 66 in a meeting of that kind.
games been matched you would find If you wanted to see a bulldog
Alaasmthn aveage yofboutaffair between fine defensive teams
Alabama, with an average of about you'd match Tennessee, which has
31 points for eight games, meeting allowed its eight opponents an av-
Tulsa's golden hurricane, which erage of only six points, against
averaged approximately 38 points Alabama, whose eight foes ave -
for nine games. You might expect aged slightly less than seven points.
Naturally, these figures have no more meaning than double talk when
comparing the strength of the bowl rivals, as each team has been meeting
different opposition, and even if they had met the same teams the
figures would mean little, comparative scores being as tricky as they are.
But for those who like to look at the figures and draw some kind of
man, formerly of Cranbrook Academyt
and now a Navy V-12 standard bear-
er, might be conceded the inside
track, while Ray Murray, until nowC
considered one of the better boysu
in this weight class, has shown in-
Curtis Voted1
Best Wornatt
Athlete of '44
NEW YORK, Dec. 18.-P)-Ann
Curtis, statuesque San Francisco miss1
who holds a national swim 'record1
for each of her 18 years, was named
the Woman Athlete of the Year today1
by the country's sports editors who
were polled by the Associated Press.
The coast mermaid showed the
same speed in the vote getting that
she displayed in the National Outr
door Championships when she an-
nexed all four freestyle titles, the
third time the trick ever has been
done.
Breaks Own Record
At the recent NIational A.A.U. con-
vention, Miss Curtis sought approval
for 18 U.S. swim records. Twelve
were recognized, the. remaining six
being rejected because they already
had been superseded by Miss Curtis
her-self.
Seventy-one editors participated in.
the poll with the coast beauty listed
first on 31. Mrs. George Zaharias,
nee Mildred (Babe) Didrikson, was
second in the tabulation because of
her golf exploits with 12 first place
selections and 80 points, compared
to the 105 tallies for the winner.
Curtis Reigns Beside Nelson
The queen of the girl swimmers
thus reigns beside Byron Nelson, To-
ledo, 0., golfer, whom the voters
previously had elected the Male Ath-
lete of the Year.
Pauline Betz, who won the Na-
tional Tennis Championship for the
third straight year, was third in the
poll and was followed by a trio of
golfers- Dorothy Germain, Patty
Berg and Betty Hicks.
Miss Beig was the 1943 queen and
Miss Hicks wore the crown in 1941.
Today's honor climaxes a two-yeai
campaign by Miss Curtis in which
she has won eight national titles, set
18 U.S. records and surpassed the
world times for both the 800 meter
and 880-yard swims.
She has rejected various movie
offers in hopes of carrying the colors
of the Crystal Plunge Swim Club at
San Francisco into Olympic compe-
tition.
Pro Football League
Changes 'Draft' Plan
NEW YORK, Dec. 18-()-The
National football league at its post-
playoff meeting today ironed out a
few kinks in its system of "drafting"
college players and set the stage for
its annual meeting in Chicago, Jan.
10.
The principal action was changing
the system of awarding extra draft
choices to the low ranking clubs.
Hereafter, only the clubs which fail
to win four games in a season will
participate in the second and fourth-
round drawings. Under the old sys-
tem the low five clubs in the standing
had these choices.
The league also decided that first
choice in the draft this winter will be
decided by tossing a coin by Brook-
lyn, Pittsburgh and the Chicago Car-
dinals. The Pittsburgh-Cardinals
combined was automatically ,dissolv-
ed at the end of the season with each
club retaining its full draft rights.
Similiarly; Detroit, Washington and
the Chicago Bears, which finished on
even, terms, will flip for sixth choice.
terest in entering the race for the 145
pound top position. Bob Gittens, only
returning letterman from last year's
championship team, and Dick Free-
man who wrestled a little last seas-
on, round out the top quartet battling
for the 135 pound starting berth.
By no means, however, should it
be construed that the 135 pound
bracket offers the only close race for
leadership. Both the 145 and 155
pound divisions present similar prob-
lems in predicting the probable vic-
tor because neither weight division
has succeeded in producing a grap-
pler who has shown sufficient mas-
tery to be classified as the best in
the division. However, if a selec-
tion on the basis of past perform-
ances had to be made now, George
Darrow, a 145 pounder and Jim Zum-
berge in the 155 pound weight would
have to be given the nod.
In the other weights, selection
of the probable winner is less dif-
ficult. Art Sachsel in the 121 pound
class seems to be the only logical
choice as head man. However, ,
Sachsel is going to Detroit Mon-
day to take his Army physical
exam, and, if he passes, it will be
unlikely that he will finish out the
season.
In the 128 pound weight, Bob
Johnston seems to be having things
his own way, while Charles Telfer
appears to be headed for the 165
pound leadership. In the 175 pound
class Hank Mantho has outshone all
the other men in the preliminary
practices.
Walt Bloomenstein is the most
probable candidate for the first-
string position in the unlimited
class, if his infected leg continues
to improve at its present rate.
Bloomenstein's only competition is
coming from Frank Saravia, a Cu-
ban youngster with little experi-
ence.
To further clarify his own position
on the wrestling team, Galles stated
that he would not compete as long
as there are available capable men in
the heavier weights, but if anything
should happen to one of the grappl-
ers in either the 165, 175 or unlimited
weights, he would probably step in as
a substitute. Galles said that his
present weight was 168, but that his
work in medical school took up so
much of his time he was unable to
get sufficient practice.
I
WIDDOES GETS COACH HONORS-Lou Little of Columbia Univer-
sity presents the World Telegram "Coach of the Year" Award to Carol
Widdoes (right) of Ohio State at award presentation dinner in New
York.
BENNIE BEAMS:
Basketball Squadl Hits Peak
InWesterni Michigan Tilt
By MARY LU HEATH
Coach Bennie Oosterbaan yester-
day stated that his Wolverine basket-
ball squad hit itspeak in Saturday
night's contest with Western Michi-
gan and played its best game of the
year against the Broncos.
Obviously pleased by; the showing
the Michigan cagers made, Ooster-
baan averred that "the boys deserved
a lot of credit for the win and
exhibited plenty of fighting spirit to
triumph over Western."
Wolverines Tense at First
He added that the Wolverines were
very tense during the first part of the
game, when the Broncos amassed a
17-pointitotal, to lead by one marker
at halftime. But Michigan loosened
up considerably in the last stanza to
trounce Western by a convincing 50-
35 total.
Oosterbaan quoted the Broncos'
assistant coach, Bob Mauss, as stat-
ing that Western "was high for this
game, and really wanted to win it."
Michigan, however, was also anxious
to repeat its earlier triumph over the
Broncos, who were reportedly much
improved over their first showing.
Oosterbaan was particularly pleased
by the Michigan defense in the sec-
ond half.
Mullaney Switches to Forward
The Wolverine starting lineup in-
cluded forwards Bill Gregor and John
Mullaney, who has played at center
in previous games. Bob Geahan start-
ed at center, with Walter Kell and
Don Lindquist at the guard positions.
Michigan used eleven men in the
contest, with Keith Harder taking
scoring honors for both teams. Har-
der, whose 19 points added to the
earlier 46-34 defeat of the Broncos,
registered 14 markers Saturday, with
Mullaney's 11 points taking the run-
ner-up spot. John Buscher, Western
guard, led his squad with nine points
on two field goals and five free
throws.
Other Wolverines who appeared in
the game were Don Lund at center,
Bruce Hilkene at forward, and Bob
Hamilton at guard. Ted Berce also
played at a forward position for ten
minutes. Oosterbaan said that Mor-
rie Bikoff, former letterman who
played a considerable part of the
game, had improved a great deal, and
played a "pretty fair" brand of ball.
This victory <against Western was
the eighth for the Wolverines in the
14-game series between the two
schools.
years captain, was nosed out by Ar-
chie Parsons in the 880. The time
recorded for this event was 2:00:5
which is excellent for so early in the
season.
As was expected, the servicemen
took the meet. However, one sur-
prising thing must be noted, the new-
comers turned in a better record for
the evening than did the old timers.
Detroiters Look Good
Marcoux and Balough, the two De-
troit low and high hurdles cham-
pions, showed that they are able to
do well in college competition. In
the 65 yard low hurdles Marcoux
picked off first place for himself
with Balough right behind him. In
the high hurdles these two boys took
first and second again but this time
the order was reversed with Balough
garnering first place and Marcoux
taking second place honors.
Coach Crisler's gridders did not
make a good showing in the shot-put
event, as Royster and Grandy took
first and second place honors.
conclusions, here they are:
ROSE BOWL
G Pts.
U . S . C . ........................... .9 215
Tennessee.......................8 173
SUGAR BOWL
O.P.
73.
48
54
92
Ave.
24 Plus
21 Plus
Opp. Ave.
8 Plus
6
Alabama ........... .
D uke ..............
Georgia Tech ......
Tulsa . ...............
T. C. U. .............
Oklahoma Aggies ... .
................8 246
......... 9 201
ORANGE BOWL
..... . .. .. 10 241
................9 347
COTTON BOWL
.............. 10 134
................8 194
30 Plus 6 Plus
22 Plus 10 Plus
75 24 Plus
116 38 Plus
7 Plus
12 Plus
75 13 Plus 7 Plus
103 24 Plus 12 Plus
Now if you can dope out the probable winners by just looking at those
figures you rate as slightly wonderful. You might form some kind of cpn-
clusion by taking the record of each team, game by game, and rating the
strength of the opposition, but even at that you'd probably be wrong as
football teams have-a habit of playing over their heads in one game and
back on their heels the next. Head over heels, you might say.
Ilk liii
I
Gridders' Versatility Aids Current
Hockey, Swimmng, Cage Teams
With the end of the '44 grid campaign, Michigan's current basketball,
swimming and hockey squads are benefiting from the versatility of Wolver-
ine football players.
The largest group of gridders who have gone out for winter sports can
be found in the Field House, where Coach Bennie Oosterbaan is molding
a quintet of cagers for the Big Ten opener Dec. 30 with Ohio State here.
0
On
Sale
Oosterbaan can once more claim
the services of fullback Don Lund,
who is seeking his third letter as
varsity guard with the Michigan
basketball squad, andaBruce Hil-
kene, end and captain of next
year's football team and reserve
cage letterman last year. Lund
and Hilkene, who reported at the
beginning of the month, are rapid-
ly regaining their old form and.
should be ready for the Ohio State
game. Both of them have seen ac-
tion in the current series of
"warmup" contests with service
and state college outfits.
Also on the squad are Jack Weisen-
burger, halfback, Cecil Freihofer, end,
and Bill Roper, quarterback. RogerF
Ely, son of former Michigan basket-
ball captain Gilbert Ely, is also try-
ing out for the team. He suffered a
broken arm early in the football seas-
on and was forced to withdraw from
the team, but his injury is not ex-
pected to hamper his basketball ac-
tivities.
Another group of cagers with less
experience than the regulars is work-
ing under the tutelage of Coach Ray
Fisher in the I-M Building. Should
among which is Bill Culligan, varsity
back.
The swimming team has also
gained dividends from the grid
squad. * Ralph Chubb, who was
outstanding at right halfwduring
the latter part of the season, is ex-
pected to give varsity men plenty
of competition in the breast stroke,
and Duane Drake, third string cen-
ter, is a comer in the freestyle
events. Both Drake and Chubb
are Ann Arbor High graduates.
Ed Greer, second string end from
Wayzata, Minn., will very probably
handle the center job for Coach Vic
Heyliger's hockey team. Greer was
the leading scorer on last year's out-
fit.
Cage Group Gets $1,000
NEW YORK, Dec. 18.-(A)-Two
checks totalling $1,000 were given to
the National Association of Basket-
ball Coaches today to help finance
that group's study and development
of the sport.
One check was donated by the
Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basket-
ball Committee, sponsor of the an-
nual invitational meet at Madison
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON,
THURSDAY and FRIDAY
On Campus, at tie Bookstores,
Union, and the League.
l ml .