THE MICHIGAN DAILY rAGE THREE- It , ~takih the 4outd Michigan Wrestlers To Open Season Saturday Northwestern Threatens To Capture Second Meet in History of Rivalry with Wolverines By HANK MANTHO Daily Sports Editor WHEN THIS YEAR'S Wolverine basketball team first took the floor for its initial game of the season, Don Lund was the only holdover from last year's starting five, and although the squad won its opening game against Romulus' Air Base, there was some speculation as to what the Michigan quintet world do under fire. This first test came when Michigan met the Ohio State cagers, a team which was composed of veteran members from last year's Big Ten championship team. This was the first Conference game for both squads, and Michigan entered the fray with seven successive. pre-Conference wins, which included two victories over Romulus Air Base and Western Michigan, and one apiece over Kellogg Field, Central Michigan and Wyoming. Despite their defeat at the hands of a stubborn Kentucky outfit, the Buckeyes were rated as overwhelming favorites to cop this tilt. Although Ohio State lived up to advance expectations and defeated the Wolverines. the Michigan team not only surprised the dopesters, but also their parti- sans, as they put up a brilliant fight, only to succumb in the last minute of a five minute overtime period, 44-41. This game was a heart-breaker to lose because it could have gone either way with a few breaks, and it turned our thoughts to last year's squad, which always put up a valiant struggle in the first game of an important two-game week-end series, only to lose by a few bad breaks in close decisions. These close decisions must have had a big bearing in the mental attitude of the cagers, because they would lose very handily on the following night. H ENCE, THE LOYAL followers of the Wolverines began to turn their attention to Michigan's next opponents after the Ohio State tussle. These opponents were Indiana and Illinois, and not only were they to be! played on successive nights, but both teams were comprised of veterans and considered improved over last year's teams. Indiana came first, and as the time began to run out, Michigan was behind 53-50, and it looked like another'tough game was going to be recorded on the wrong side of the ledger. But two quick field goals by Bob Geahan and Ted Berce enabled Michigan to forge ahead and eke out a 54-53 triumph, On the following night, the Wolverines took the measure of Illinois, 43-38, in another see-saw battle, which saw the lead change hands almost as rapidly as did the ball. After these week-end victories, Coach Bennie Oosterbaan stated that "Michigan has been tough to beat this year. We have a young, scrappy ball club that doesn't like to be beaten." Coach Oosterbaan had a right to be pleased, as his team demonstrated that a taste of defeat would not dampen its mental attitude, and with this resilency in bounding back, they are still in the thick of the Conference race. Coach Oosterbaan and his assistant, Bill Barclay, have done a good job with this year's team, and they deserve a pat on the back for, thus far in the season, this basketball team is the best I have seen in action in the past several years. Basketball Is Popular Pastime Aboard War-Bound Troopship When the Universities of Michigan and Northwestern clash in the first wrestling meet of the season Satur- day, Jan. 13, it will provide both thrills and inside information on the strength of this year's squad to ev- eryone who attends. Northwestern, through its 16-14 win over usually strong Purdue, will provide a very formidable foe for the Wolverines. These two schools have tangled seventeen times since wrestling was inau- gurated here at Michigan and the Wildcats have been like "country cousins" to the Maize and Blue grapplers. The matmen of Mich- igan have been returned victors in sixteen of these matches. With the brunt of Northwestern's power lying in the lower weight divi- sions, it is well that the Wolverines are well stocked in these divisions. Art Sachsel, who has had his own way throughout most of the training season is the likely starter in the 121 pound division. Bob Johnston, at 128, Newt Skill- man, at 136, and Fred Booth, at 145, are all probable choices to take to the mats on Saturday. In the 155 pound division, how- ever a surprising upset has occurr- ed. George Darrow, who lost a close decision to Jim Zumberge earlier in the season, turned the tables on Stew Snyder, who ap- peared as the cream ofathe 155 1pound crop. But now that Darrow has defeated Snyder it is up to Coach Wally Weber to decide whether the win was decisive enough to warrant a change in starters. - - ~ - - - - - - - ONE REASON WHY HE WON-Samn Snead, winner of the recent Los Angeles open and one of the nation's top golfers, is shown calmly blasting his way out of a sand trap on the 10th hole of the second round of the open.. His shot landed six feet from the =in, and he holed out for a birdie three. A THLE TIC WARS FOLLOW CIVIL WA.R: Mchigan AnArbor B b Ga1866 Marks Opening of Wolverine Sports Glory li I By BILL MULLENDORE When you speak of Michigan ath- letic tradition, you are referring to something which dates ;back almost to the War Between the States, for Wolverine athletics had their inau- gural one spring day in 1866. On that day Michigan took on a local Ann Arbor team on the baseball diamond and came off the field on the long end of a somewhat astound- ing 33-11 score. Baseball in those days was somewhat different from the modern version, as it was played without gloves and on a smaller field. Putouts were registered if a fairly hit ball was caught on the first bounce. That first baseball team enjoyed a rather successful season, follow- ing un the first victory with an- other win over Ann Arbor, this time by a 12-5 score, and then de- feating Jackson in the final game, 61-1. High scores were appar- ently the rule rather than the ex- ception. I 26-31, but the season ended on a high note as Illinois fell, 16-40. Cross country was discontinued in 1932. 1921-22 was a banner year for Michigan athletics as three new sports-hockey, swimming, and wrestling-were added to the pro- gram. The first hockey team won its opener from M.A.C., 5-1 and proceeded to a seven and four record for the season. The swim- mers lost their only meet to Erie Y.M.C.A., 48-20, while the golf- ers came through with three vic- tories in as many starts, winning the opener from Ohio State by a 1.-3 count. The addition of these three sports rounded out the program except for a brief interlude when fencing was introduced. Fencing began in 1927 but died a quick death, leaving the scene in 1933. The present Michigan athletic pro- gram under the direction of H. O. Crisler assisted by a 15-man coaching staff consists of nine sports, of which one, track, has a split season. Football occupies the fall spot- light by itself. The winter program has five activities at present - basketball, swimming, indoor track, hockey, and wrestling-while base- ball, outdoor track, golf, and tennis take over during the spring and summer months. If Crisler's plan of last spring call- ing for intercollegiate competition in such sports as boxing, lacrosse, soc- cer, 150-pound football, and others goes into effect, Michigan athletics bid fair to undergo a tremendous ex- pansion, thereby increasing the already great wealth of tradition characterizing Wolverine athletics. Alterations - Remodelig - Repairing Ladle.- and Men's Garmtents GREENE'S CLEANERS 23-23-I - Free Pick-tp and Delivery --~~ ~~ i i I By WHITNEY MARTIN NEW YORK; Jan. 10.--P)--You can't very well say our troops are going overseas in dribbles, but you! might say that, on one transport, anyway, they are dribbling their way overseas. The game of basketball is going right -along with them. On shipboard, no less. This one vessel, anonymous at the moment, has built the sea-going game from a haphazard, slam-bang activity instituted solely for amuse- ment and recreation into well organ- ized leagues which include many first-grade players and which offer classy prizes for the different compe- titions. It was inaugurated in December, 1943, when the troopship was plying! the South Pacific. A court was laid out on deck, and because of the necessarily small dimensions the size Haegg, Lidman To Come Here NEW YORK, Jan. 10.-(/P)-The on-again-off-again American trip of long distance ace Gundar Haegg and hurdler Haakon Lidman of Sweden for the indoor track season is "on again" according to word from Stockholm today that the two Swed- ish stars are determined to make the trip by any means possible. Charles Jansson, secretary of the Swedish Sports Association, made the announcement on behalf of the Swedish stars after the athletes had# received a proposal from Daniel J. Ferris, secretary of the A.A.U., sug- gesting they fly to England and then sail to the United States. Ferris said he had received indirect confirma- tion. of the teams was cut from five to .four men. A league immediately was formed among the 14 divisions on the ship, and, to give more members of the crew a chance to play, a junior league made up of less adept players then was organized. Soon a regular pro- gram came into being whereby one game in each league was played daily, with the remainder of the time devoted to pick-up games be- tween teams of enlisted men. It wasn't long before Army troops carried as passengers were accorded periods on the court, and as many as 300 men a day took part in five- minute games. It soon became the policy to terminate each trip with Navy-Army games, in which Army enlisted men met the all-ship team of the sailor enlisted men, and the Army officers met the ship officers. After about eight months it was noted new faces were appearing on the court every day, and the game was taking on a "big-time" aspect. As fast as a player came into his own, he was graduated from the junior circuit to the "big league." Some of the better players now are men who started play in the junior league. At last report, according to infor- mation received by Ned Irish, the Madison Square Garden Basketball impresario, ap prox i mately 7,680 troops, 450 mermbers of the ship's company, and 500 Army officers have made use of the court, playing in temperatures ranging from 110 to 42 degrees and in all kinds of weather. The passenger-players have in- cluded many athletes familiar to cage fans, such as Johnny Kundla of Minnesota, Bert Abrams of St. John's and Steve Gondek of Syra- cuse. Football put in an appearance on May 30, 1879, as the Wolverines de- feated Racine College, 7-2. Later in the fall, two more games were played with Toronto furnishing the opposition. One resulted in a 0-0 deadlock, and the other found Michi- gan on top, 1-0. Football then re- sembled the modern English rugby game and was played without benefit of the pads and helmets in use today. Track became the third sport on the Michigan athletic program in 1893, and tennis was instituted one year later. The first track season was an abbreviated affair, consist- ing of a triangular meet with Wis- consin and Northwestern. The Wol- verines won handily, piling up 52 points to Wisconsin's 45 and North- western's 15. Michigan's debut in tennis was also successful as the Wolverine netters took both the singles and doubles crowns in a tournament labelled as the Northwestern Inter- collegiate Meet. Basketball finally drifted up from Indiana, its birthplace, in 1909. Mich- igan lost its first outing on the hard- woods to Michigan State, which was then known as Michigan Agricultural College, 24-16. Oberlin was beaten 27-25 in the next encounter, but the Wolverines then proceeded to drop their following three engagements to finish the season with an unimpres- sive one won and four lost record. Cross country running was intro- duced in 1920, as Michigan beat Pur- due, 17-38 (the team scoring the least number of points wins in this sport). M.A.C. again proved a nem- esis for neophyte Wolverine squads, beating the Maize and Blue runners Subscribe Now! The* 19 5 ICH IG E SI 4 / 2ecorci 0N oP o ear. Complete in One Issue. +SCHOOLS and COLLEGES +STUDET I' - I _ +CAMPS AFFAIRS + ORGANIZATIONS CLASSES / FORMING Business Training Secretarial . . Accounting Career courses, leading to perm- anent positions. Graduates in great demand in business and govern- ment offices, at beginning salaries of $100 to $300 per month. Individual advancement. College- grade student body. Free Place- ment Service, +ATHLETICS . o 25c Credit given for Directory Coupons.