aspects Look Bright for 19 48 W olverine Gridiron Seaso By MURRAY GRANT (Daily Sports Editor) Benny Oosterbaan faces one of the most difficult assignments that can be handed a first year coach as he accepts the reigns of the 1948 Wolverines. He'll be trying to improve a record that was unsurpassed by ony- one last year. He'll be trying to improve a team that was ranked num- ber one in the country. He'll be trying to fill the shoes of H. O. "Fritz" Crisler, who during his ten year tenure as head coach amassed a record to be envied He'll be trying vo ind replacements for 13 out- standing gridiron sta'warts, who in graduating, deprived Michigan of at least one complete unit. And to top it all off he'll be facing a hostile Western Conference, whose war-cry will be "Beat Michigan." Each team will prime themselves for the Wolverine battle and Coach Oosterbaan must have his charges "up" for every contest if they hope to retain their Western Conference title. From out of the spring football camps came the cry to "Watch Purdue and Minnesota " but teams like Wisconsin, Northwestern, Ohio State and Illinois cannot be discounted. Come right down to it the foot- ball masterminds rank the Western Conference tops in upsetting the dope sheet and you can't discount any of the teams including Iowa and Indiana. Another strong factor against Michigan's repeating as Conference champs is the terricic toll taken by graduation. Ends Len Ford, Bob Mann; tackles Bruce Hilkene. George Johnson, Bill Pritula, centers JT. White; and Jim Brieske are gone frc.m the line. But the backfield was even harder hit as Bob Chappuis, Jack Weisenburger, Howie Yer- ges, Hank Fonde and George Kiesel all played their last games for the Maize and Blue in the memorable Rose Bowl debacle. And then came the crowning blow to the Wolverines. The Western Conference ruled that Chalmers "Bump" Elliott, Michigan's leading scorer and an All-American, had played two seasons at Purdue before transferring to Michigan. The commission ruled that Elliott in playing from November 1, 44 to the end of the season and then playing from the beginning of he season of 1946 until November constituted two seasons and there- fore the tow-headed Wolverine star was no longer eligible for compe- tition. A questionable ruling to say the least and it leads one to wonder what might have happened had the player been John Doe instead of Bump Elliott, The loss of these thirteen men is one that cannot easily be made up, and Coach Oosterbaan faces a Herculean task in keeping Michigan in the ranks of the super-colossal. But the prospect is not as bleak as one might first surmise. The line will again be strong; the backfield still fast and the de- ception still the best in the country. Oosterbaan, in deciding to retain Crisler's system of a single wing with a slight mixture of the T, will still present the widest and most dazzling array of formations and plays that any team can be expected to face. In the line, under the able guidance of Jack Blott, the guard posi- tions seem to have sucered the least. Led by Captain Dom Tomasi, Blott will be able to call on Joe Soboleski, Quent Sickels, Stu Wilkins, and Lloyd Heneveld to lead the interference and the downfield block- ing. This quintet of fast moving and agile guards, along with big Al Johnson, will enable Oosterbaan to employ much of the fast-opening attack the Wolverine- showed last season. At the tackles Blott faces a problem of replacing Hilkene, Pritula and Johnson. Only regular returning will be the "Big Moose," Al Wis- tert, but Dick McWilliams, huge 6' 5" sophomore looks like an able re- placement. Around these two men must be built a strong and deep group of reserves. Soboleski may be moved over from guard. And back from service will come an outstanding star of 1945, Al Wahl, who should help plenty. The loss of the two great pass catching ends, Bob Mann and Len Ford, will surely be felt. But the new erd coach, Bill Orwig, will not find his task too dismal to behold. He'll have ocensive first stringer Dik Rifenburg and defensive first stringer Ed McNeill back in addi- tion to Don Hershberger, Irv Wisniewski and Bob Hollway. Another bright ray on the flanker horizon comes in the guise of Ozzie Clark, fresh back from the Army and a transfer from Notre Dame, while John Hess and George Sutherland are up from the frosh. Harry Allis, a jayvee stalwart, looked impressive in spying drills. At center only Dan Dworsky returns, but Don Erben got some varsity experience last year and John Padjen and Don Nihols played some outstanding ball for the jayvees. Up from the list of ineligibles will come Byron Lasky, who two years ago was doing a mighty good jiob at Albion and Carl Kregar from the freshman ranks. In the backfield, things aren't as bad as they might appear either. Even though the Mastermind, Howie Yerges, is gone, he leaves his able assistance Pete Elliott behind to carry on the signal calling chores. ete, the younger brother of Bump, will have quite a bit of competi- tion for the number one slot in the person of Bill Bartlett, late of the Naval Academy and more recently, the guy who led many able ob- servers of spring practice to exclaim, "Michigan is still the team to beat." Another pair of quarterback prospects is diminutive Irv Small, who sparkplugged the jayvees last season and Walt Young, who gained his basic training with Wally Weber's freshmen. Gene Derricote, understudy to Chappuis last year, will step into his own this season at the right half slot and make many forget the antics of All-American Chappuis. Derriecte should blossom forth this year into one of the best halfbacks ever to wear the Maize and Blue. At the left half post will be Wally Teninga of 1945 fame, ably assisted by Lou Kooeski, who captured the Meyer Morton Trophy for the "football player showing the most improvement during spring practice." Two additional halfbacks of note are Bob Van Summern, a teammate of Bartlett's at Navy, and a fast and de- ceptive runner and Charles Ortmann, no novice when it comes to passing the pigskin. At fullback will be Tom Peterson and Dick Kempthorn from last year's champions and between the two, the shoes of Jack Weisenburger should be adequately filled. Kempthorn, who earned his nickname of "Killer" last year, came to Michigan touted as the find of the decade and this year should see him come into his own., Making it three deep at fullback is George Chiames, who played under Crisler in '45. Michigan must be strong, possibly even stronger than last sea- on, if they are to retain the Western Conference title, for their sched- ule looks like something devised by a disgruntled Californian who gave Michigan and a touchdown in the Rose Bowl game. Starting with the dedicatory game at Michigan State's new stad- ium the Wolverines go through nine successive Saturdays which axe See GRANTSTAND, Page 5 NEW HEAD FOOTBALL COACH-Filling an awfully big pair of shoes will be the job of Michigan's new head football coach, Bennie Oosterbaan. A former Wolverine All-American end, Oosterbaan served as end coach for many years under the man he succeeded, 'Fritz' Cris- ler. Last year he very ably di- rected the Michigan backfield anct upon Crisler's retirement at the} beginning of this year, he became head coach. Previously he also served as Wolverine bas- ketball coach, retiring from that Ozzie to make way to Cowles. GREAT' EXPECTATIONS- Speedy Wol'erine Halfback Gene Derricottc who will be pac- ing the Michigan running at- tack for the 1948 grid season. Derricotte was usedmostly on defense last year, but in the timesswhen he handled the ball,, he showed himself to be a dan- gerous man and hard for the op- ponents to stop. His passing is also above average. EXTRA Y t aYt t C4 is ...... WIIHMMEMM- iWommm 4br Ad , L R AM 1. m ME 1--%m EXTRA Latest Deadline in the State VOL. LVIII, No. 204 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, THURSDAY, SEPT. 16, 1948 PRICE FIVE CENTS Michigan Athletic Teams Take Six 1948 Rose Bowl Game Climaxes Great Season For Wolverine Gridders 1 Conference Titles National Football, Swimming, Puck Crowis Also Taken by Wolverines By HERB RUSKIN To the 1926-27 and the 1943-44 seasons, this past year must go down in Michigan athletic annals as one of the greatest in the sports history of the school. Wolverine squads captured six Western Conference titles and took top national honors in three dur- ing the course of the 1947-48 school year. After a fof-., year famine, Michigan gridders came through with an undefeated season to grab top Big Nine honors and, after a lot of controversy, the mythical national crown. It was the first time since 1932 that a Wolverine football team had gone through a season unbeaten and untied. The Wolverines also marked the end of a long wait in basketball as the cagers, under the brilliant leadership of Ozzie Cowles took 10 of their 12 games and their first title since 1927. In the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournamcnt, the Wolverines drop- p,,d their 'opening contest to the Crusaders of Holy Cross, but came tlrough in the consolation game to dump Columbia and wind up third among schools east of the Mississippi. Two more winter sports saw the Wolverines swing into the national sportlight, as the hockey and swimming captured both. the Con- ference and NCAA titles. The M' pucksters defeated a strong Minnesota sextet three times during the season to take the Big Nine title and gain the regional NCAA berth. In the tournament, the first one for hockey in the history of the As- sociation. the Wolverines played their best hockey of the year to down Boston College in the semi-finals and then whipped a favored Dartmouth sextet for the crown. Not to be outdone by their frozen water" rivals, the swim- ining team went through their dual meet season undefeated and then upset a favored Ohio State squad in both the Conference and NCAA meets. After taking the: Conference crown by a narrow three point margin, the Wolver- ines made second and third places count as they splashed their way to the National title, taking only one first place, while Buckeye swimmers were taking top honors in four events. The Wolverines took their last I major title in the string as the )- cision prevented the Wolverines from adding a seventh crown to their list of laurels, as wrestling Captain Bob Betzig was penalized for the use of his famous "cradle held," losing his final match be- cause of this. Michigan finished second, one point behind Purdue, and a victory for Betzig would have put the grapplers on top of the heap. Although they were favored to take jhe Big Nine title, Michigan's tennis team ran into a stumbling block in .the form of a strong Northwestern squad and were forced to settle for second honors. Individual glory, however, went to two Wolverines, as Andy Paton took the singles championship and then teamed with Fred Otto for the doubles crown. After two rather disappoint- ing seasons, Michigan's track squad moved closer to the top during the 1947-48 year, as they took second in the indoor meet and moved up one notch to cap- ture second in the outdoor meet. Losing only one of their dual meets and establishing a string of 10 straight victories, Michigan's golfers were top heavy favorites to take their second Big Nine title in as many years, but in the Confer- C'mon Over! Like sports? Like to write about them? If you are a second semes- ter freshman or higher, male or female with or without experi- ence in sports writing, drop over to the Student Publica- tions Building, 420 Maynaird and ask to see Murray Grant, Sports Editor. If you can't make it over here, look for a notice in The Daily about the first tryout meeting. Here's what's in it for you: Instruction in writing, copy desk procedure, and page make- up; assignment to a "beat," where you will cover Michigan sports events and write news stories and features; and a hance to work up to paid edit- orships ion the sports staff. It will only take a little of your time, so why not come over and look around? It may be worth your while. ence meet at Northwestern, the GONE BUT FAR FROM FORGOTTEN-Wolverine Athletic Di- rector Herbert O. "Fritd" Crisler, who wound up his last season as head football coach with his best team, national, Big Nine and Rose Bowl champions. Crisler was named coach of the year for his superb work in directing the Wolverines. Criser Sleced rr 19471 'Cochof heYear' Award ' Runs Wild To Smother Trojans,_49-0 By DICK KRAUS They were just plain Michigan at 2 p.m. on New Year's Day 1948, a fast tricky outfit that looked like a two touchdown winner over Southern California, but a scant two hours and 49 points later the Maize and Blue had become the "Mad Magicians of Michigan," and maybe the greatest team ever to appear in the Rose Bowl. From coast to coast dyed in the wool Notre Dame supporters, like Gene Kessler of the Chicago Sun and Times, were hopping off the Irish onto the Mich'igan bond wagon. Whether the Wolverines play- ed their best game of the year or not is an argument with as little chance for a solution as the "who's better Michigan or Notre Dame" squabble, but best or not the Maize and Blue were a great football team. Thirteen times general Howard Yerges took command to direct the offense. Seven times Michigan scored. The line functioned like a pre- cision perfect instrument. Up front guards Dom Tomasi and Stu Wilkens mowed down the huge Trojans. Their blocking was a thing of beauty. And behind that line Yerges, with Bob Chappuis, Bump El- liotit and Jack Weisenburger made up what will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the greatest backfields in the annals of football, Chappuis established a new to- tal offense record for a Rose Bowl performer. Elliott, who carried the ball only five times, was highly effective as a decoy and highly destructive as a blocker. And Weisenburger seemed to run with added power against the Trojans. His magnificent spinning and faking split the Southern Cal- ifornia line as efficiently as if he used an ax. In all, Fritz Crisler's Wolverines estaolishcd nine modern Rose Bowl records: 1. Largest point total 49, equalling own 1902 mark. 2 Greatest margin of victory, 49 points. 3. 491 yards total offense, eclipsing Southern Cal's 427 of 1930. Herbert Orrin "Fritz" Crisler, suave master strategist of last years unbeaten untied Michigan football team, ended his coach- ing career in- a blaze of glory as he received the Coach of the Year award for 1947. The grey-thatched ex-coach, who piloted the Wolverines most point hungry grid machine since 1905, thus became the 13th winner of the New York World Tele- grain's annual Coach-of-the-Year, succeeding Earl "Red" Blaik as the top man in football. A total of 2 coaces cast secret ballots in the 1947 con- test to select their own Coach of the Year, rated by many as the most realistic award of the foot- ball season. Receiving 68 firt place votes, Crisler was followed by Matty Bell of Southern MIthodist, Lynn Waldorf of California, Frank Leahy, Notre Dame, Lou Little, Columbia, Stu Holcomb, Purdue and Bob Higgins of Penn State. One of the outstanding figures in football for the past two dec- ades, Crisler has always been a ln~ nzy nnsdr for Coli o failed to poll a number of votes. Foi r principles were laid dlown by mitten. (1) Record considerable of selection the poll com- for 1947 (not necessarily unbeaten); (2) sched- le (strength of opposition); (3) material available; (4) sports-. manship and influence on players. Crisler's brilianr t direction in each of his teamn's nine victories covers every rate.ory to the full- W'l mn informed o lio e great 11,)O.,; bestowed pOfl n hirn, Cris- ler r.aid he was "very pleased in being selected" but he added, "There are others more deserving of the honor-the major credit for it goes to my assistants and the boys themselves. Bennie Oos- terbaun, Art Valpey and Jack B ulot, d clhr the, coaching and de- semrv the p I i 1 just stood arou ld tryi ng to look impressive." Crislr, wh couldn't make his hig, school football team, is one of the game's most conspicu- ous successes. He has made a career of football triumphs since PACES ATTACK-Stellar half- back Bob Chappuis, who clim- axed his last season of colleg- iate football with winning All- American honors on practically every team named throughout the country. He was the spark plug of the Wolverines and led them to their first undefeated, untied season since 1933. Hugh Morrow, Alabama and Don Maechie, Iilinois. 8, Brieske tied record for points made by kicking, held by Ambrose of the Mare Island Marines, 1918. 9. Weisenburger tied Elmer Layden's 18 point scoring total. ' Defensively, they stood like the Rock of Gibralter. Led by Len Ford and Al Wistert, who smashed into the Troy backfield, and Ed Mc- Neil who drifted, turned plays in and stiipped away the blockers, the defensive unit permitted only one sustained SC drive. * * * Great, Year By BEV USSEV (Sports Feature Editor) For the mighty men of Michl' gan, the 1948 football campaign was a masterpiece of strategy. They called their shots and made them, rolling ruthlessly over six Conference opponents and three outsiders, who found it im- possible to match strides with 'the nation's number one gridders. With all the necessary material at his fingertips, Fritz Crisler plied the Maize and Blue striplings into powerful offensive and defensive units. well rooted in the basic fun- damentals and pruned on timing. Breezing through the first four encounters, played on shirt-sleeve days, the Wolver- The Wolverines learned from bitter experience not to play last week's game again on the following Saturday. It cost them the Big Nine title in 19,46. Last year, they were on an even keel, looking only at the pres-1 ent, not worrying about future or past tilts. Thus they were able to get rid' of Illinois the week after the Min- nesota battle. Indiana provided a breather before the decisive game against Wisconsin. Chappuis, Elliott, Derricotte, Weisenburger, and company romped through Wisconsin mud, and through and over the Wisconsin line to an easy 40-6 victory, giving them the Big Nine championship and a round trip ticket to the Rose Bowl game. But the season wasn't over. Ohio State refused to roll over and play dead as they had the year before. The Wolverines fought for every yard in the season's finale. They won, 21-0, completed an un- defeated campaign and wound up leading in almost. every statistical department in Big Nine books. Rg-s- u-rge To-T ake Steps For Faci'litiles By IHERB 1RtJS IN A recommendation tha "t'hti' Boar d of Regents take steps to finance badly needed athletic fa- cilities was made late last spring by the Board in Control of Inter- collegiate Athletics. The Board said that it could not make the necessary improvements without supplementary funds be - cause of increased operating costs and higher construction prices. They advanced the possibility that students might be charged admission for football games and other University athletic events in their annual report to the Regents. Saying that they did not favor charging such admissions unless other means of increasing income could not be found, they contin- ued by stating, "We believe firml in the principle that all students should have the privilege of at- tending athletic events without charge." No new additions to the ath- letic plant have been made in the last twenty. years and at present the University is attempting to -r n l *-Home Contests. will mark the inauguration of the Spartans new enlarged stadium. Seek Revenge State will be out to avenge heavy drubbings uulaffere~d these last two years. The"Wolverines took the Spartans into camp 55-7 in 1946 and then trimmed them 55-0 last season. This will be MSC's game of the year and Coach Biggie Munn will have his boys "up" for it. Oregon provides the opposition for the Wolverine home opener a week later nd the "M" eleven will attempt to continue its mas- tery over teams from the West Coast which they began last year with a 49-13 victory over Stanford during the regular season and a solid 49-0 thumping of USC in the Rose Bowl. Purdue Next Michigan's Big Nine opener is also scheduled for the road, as the Wolverines tackle the potentially powerful Purdue outfit led by ex- Army coach Stu Holcomb. Last season, the Boilermakers wound up tied for third place in the Con- ference standings, giving the defi- nite impression that they were go- ing places during the 1948 year. Michigan and Purdue were not scheduled last year. From there it's back home for the Maize and Blue gridders with Northwestern opening the Wol- verine home Conference season on the 16th of October. The Wildcat, gave Michigan a little trouble last year although the 49-21 score doesn't' indicate that. Northwest- ern scored more points against the Wolverines than did the rest Wolverines Face Tough Grid Games Nine Tilts on Tap For '4 ''_quad By HERB RUSKIN The road to another Weste Conference for Michigan's g: squad will not be an easy one, w m wo Lu I (.e4'es appearing a power laden Minnesota elev and a Purdue team that may si prise the fan on the street. For the first time in many yes the Wolverines, open their sche ule on the road, meeting the Sp, tans of Michigan State in E Lansing on September 25. The t I'Tin't as Sept. Oct. Oct. Oct. Oct. Oct. Nov. Nov. Nov. 25-Michigan State. 2-Oregon* 9-Purdue. 16-Northwestern* 23-Minnesota 30-Illinois* 6-Navy* I 3-Indianka* 20-Ohio State. ''