DAN i3WORSKY
BRUCE HILKENE
HOWARD YERGES
JACK WEISEN URGER
LEN FORD
HANK FONDE
r .ddlL UA- irrigtrt tX(* )
VOL. LVII, No. 17
I ANN ARBOR, MICH., SATURDAY, OCT. 12, 1946
PRICE FIVE CENTS
GENE DERRICOTTE
DOM TOMASI
Gloomy Skies
Worry Army
Grid Mentor
Blaik Fears Wet Turf
May Hamper Cadets
By JACK MARTIN
Coach Earl "Red" Blaik cast a wor-
ried eye at the gray sky and said, "I
don't like it."
The coach of one of modern foot-
ball's greatest power-houses had just
sent his Army Kaydets through! their
final drills on the wet turf of Michi-
gan Stadium yesterday in prepara-
tion for this afternoon's epic strug-
gle with Michigan's Wolverines.
The West Point warriors rolled into
Ann Arbor at noon yesterday, and
Coach Blaik whisked them to the sta-
dium for a work-out immediately
after lunch. A cool drizzle greeted the
undefeated juggernaut that has
plowed through 21 consecutive foes
and is now after a 22nd scalp. It was
a damp welcome, and Mr. Blaik
wasn't pleased.4
Wet Weather Will Hurt Army
"Wet weather will mean trouble,"
he predicted. "A slippery field will
hurt Army a great deal more than it
will Michigan. The Wolverines have
specialized in power plays all year,
the kind that are best suited for a
rainy day."
The mention of power naturally
brought to mind the name of "Doc"
Blanchard. The Cadet coach dis-
pelled any lingering doubts that the
plunging All-American might not be
quite ready for today's clash. "Blan-
chard is in good shape, and is ready
to go," he pronounced.
As for the other half of the touch-
down-twosome, Glenn Davis, Coach
Blaik again looked at the sky and re-
turned to the weather. "That's an-
other reason why we're not too happy
about this rain. Davis would natur-
ally be slowed down by a wet field."
Loses McWilliams
Veering away from the subject of
today's game, the conversation came
around to one Shorty McWilliams,
the half-back who slipped mysteri-
ously away from West Point several
weeks ago. The fact that the present
Mississippi State star may be rele-
gated to a third string slot against
Michigan State today elicited no.re-
sponse from the Army mentor.
But he had plenty to say about the
McWilliams transfer in general. "I
think that what happened to Shorty
McWilliams is a disgrace to American
football," he declared. "There's en-
tirely too much importance being put
on the individual college football
player today."
Michigan Set for
Cadets' Invasion.
West Pointers Have Blanchard, Davis,
But Wolverine Reserves Appear Better
By CLARK BAKER
The Army's in town but don't reach for your flintlocks; it's a peace-
ful invasion ... that is, until this afternoon.
Thirty-eight strong the mighty Cadets from West Point whose
amazing victory has stretched to 21 in a row over the past three years
will clash with Michigan's ever hopeful gridders at 2 p.m. today in
Michigan Stadium before a sell-out throng of 85,939 fans.
Cloudy and continued cold,'' is the weatherman's good word for
game time after yesterday's rain scare by Jupe Pluvious had threatened
to dampen more than just a few thousand spirtis at the game. But rain
or shine Ann Arbor is prepared to handle another gala crowd of pleasure.
seekers, football fans, enthusiastic alumnae, and hawking venders.
The eyes of the nation will focus on Michigan's bid to dethrone the
Kaydets, seeking their third straight national championship. *Last year the
two squads tangled in Yankee Stadium, New York City, with the Cadets
emerging triumphant, 28-7. But Army was forced to the limit by Fritz Cris-
ler's freshman-studded outfit. This fall the story may be different.
Coach Earl Blaik still has his incomparable backfield duo of Glenn
Davis and Felix "Doc" Blanchard together with such performers as quarter-
back Arnold Tucker, ends Hank Foldberq and George Poole and guard Art
Gerometta, all of whom played big roles in the Wolverine setback last year.
But gone from the Kaydet line are their pair of giant tackles from
1945, All-American DeWitt Coulter and Al Nemetz, guard Johnny Green,
another All-American, and a number of capable reserves. Blaik is not
happy over these losses which have left Army with one line and a big ques-
tion mark in reserve material.
On the other hand the Michigan team has been greatly bolstered since
last year by the return of an army of service veterans. These men, along
with the returning 15 who battled Army in 1945, give the Wolverines a squad
which is well-balanced and. deep in experienced reserves. On paper it looks
close but football is unpredictable as Maize and Blue fans well know after
watching the Iowa game a week ago.
Blanchard who has not played since the Army opener three weeks ago
against Villanova will be ready to go again. Together with his running
mate, Davis, he will probably be the focal point of interest for both the
86,000-odd fans and the Michigan eleven. It's hard to forget a couple of 68-
yard runs they pulled off a year ago to help trip the Wolverines.
PETE ELLIOTT,
3 Blanchard busted through
the
GLEN DAVIS and DOC BLANCHARD-Army's "Mr. Outside" and "Mr.
Inside" who have run unmercifully through and around their rivals'
forward walls for the past twenty-one games, will find the going con-
siderably tougher when they face a determined Wolverine aggregation
today.
"M' Press Box Is Sold Out Too
Probable
Starting Lineups
ELMER MADAR
The eyes of the sports world will
be on the Michigan-Army game to-
day and half of the sports world
almost will see it from the Michigan
Stadium press box.
Broadcasting the play - by - play
description over three major radio
networks will be Red Barber and
Jimmy Dolan (CBS), Bill Stern
(NBC), and Harry Wismer (ABC).
Then there'll be newsreel photo-
graphers representing Paramount,
Universal, Pathe and Movietone.
Newspapermen, naturally, will oc-
cupy most of the press box seats. All
the New York City dailies will have
their representatives here plus most
of the chief sports writers of the
East and Middle West. And there'll
be scouts aplenty here, too.
All in all, athletic publicity direc-
tor Les Etter estimates that some 300
persons will witness the nation's top
game of the week from the press
box here today. Yes, the SRO sign is
ganging out in the Michigan Stad-
ium press box, too.
ARMY
Poole
Bryant
Gerometta
Enos
Steffy
Biles
Foldberg
Tucker
Davis
Fuson
Blanchard
Pos.
LE
LT
LG
C
RG
RT
RE
MICH.
Ford
Derleth
Tomasi
J.T. White
or Callahan
Sickels
Carpenter
Renner
Maize and Blue forward wall and
thundered over the Michigan secon-
dary which had been cut down by
beautiful blocking to break the Wol-
verines' hearts. Later Davis added
his bit by dashing around the Maize
and Blue right end and outrunning
what was left of the Michigan de-
fense for another scoring play. Be-
tween them the Army's "Gold Dust
Twins" rolled up over 300 yards on
the ground aaginst the 1945 Wolver-
ines.
But even last year there was ano-
ther man in the Kaydet backfield,
signal-caller Tucker. The invaluable
Tucker was a mere plebe when he
took over the duties last year from
the 1944 quarterbacks, Tom Lom-
bardo and Doug Kenna. Not until
Blanchard went out with injuries
this year did the world fully appre-
ciate Tucker.
Yet, even last year Tucker's flaw-
less ball-handling and clever faking
helped mould the smoothly-operat-
ing backfield unit which has become
almost legendary. Tucker is the man
See FOOTBALL Page 2
BOB CALLAHAN
QB Yerges or
Weise
LH Chappuis
or
Dericotte
RH P. White
FB Weisen-
burger
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