PAGE SIX THE MICHIGAN DAILY WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 21, 1949 iamlond Sqa d Paillies To Become Go- Champs * * * * 4 Wolverines Have Captured Five Crowns In Last Six Years of Big Nine Competition Mat Sport One Man Affair Just as winning games is Mich- igan tradition, winning Big Nine championships has become a hab- it for Ray Fisher, Wolverine dia- inond mentor. Wolverine nines, under the guid- ance of Fisher since 1921, have annexed solely or tied for 13 con- ference crowns during this period. Five of these titles have been add- ed during the past six seasons. DURING THE 1949 campaign, the Maize and Blue forces rallied from a poor start to jump into a three way tie with Indiana and Iowa for the conference cham- pionship. Fisher will have only three starters and two veteran hurlers backefor service next spring when he leads Michigan in quest of its third straight diamond crown. Captain Bob Wolff, dependablef shortstop, leads the parade return- ing starters and will team with Bill Bucholz, second baseman, to form an all-veteran keystone combina- tion. Hal Morrill, converted into a starting outfielder during the 1949 season because of the pres- ence of hard-hitting Jack Mc- Donald at first base, will probably be shifted back to his normal po- sition at the initial sack, giving Fisher a well-seasoned starting in- field. BOB HICKS and Dave Settle, and Ed. Grenkowski, three right- handers who were pressed into ser- vice late last year when Bill Taft and Dick Smith were suffering with sore arms, will form the nu- cleus of the mound staff. Gone from the hurling ranks are Taft, Smith and Bud Rankin. With last year's captain, Tub- by Raymond, graduating, the catching chores will probably be delegated to Pete Palmer, Ray- mond's understudy who is tout- ed as a coming star. The hitting of Ted Kobrin and McDonald will be sorely missed by DO YOU KNOW,... that on September 1, 1946, the Confer- ence voted to enter into an- agreement with the Pacific Coast Conference permitting a Conference team to meet a PCC team in the Rose Bowl. The Big Ten stipulated that one of its teams could only play once every three years, which makes Michi- gan ineligible till next year. the Wolverine mentor, as this pair were among the top batters in the conference during the 1949 sea- son. Kobrin's absence will leave a wide gap at third base, where he had operated so commendably for two seasons. * * * THE OUTFIELD ranks will be sorely depleted when spring rolls around with Willard Baker and Ralph Morrison graduated and Morrill ticketed for first base duty. Reserves from last year who will be seeking the vacant posts are Leo Koceski, Viv Fryling, and Pat Hartsmark. Fisher opened the 1949 cam- paign with only two starters and two veteran hurlers returning and molded a team which ln- ished the season with 19 wins and nine losses, despite the fact that his two top moundsmen came down with sore arms in midseason. Following a successful southern trip on which they won five while dropping two, the Maize and Blue forces slumped. The first three weeks of the Big Nine season found the Wolverines in the sec- ond division with two wins and four setbacks. The Maize and Blue then made its move and swept successive con- ference twin bills from Illinois, Ohio State, and Wisconsin. A double setback inflicted by Ohio State on Purdue on the last day of the season dropped the boiler- makers from first and allowed Michigan to back into a deadlock for the crown. THE CLINCHER - Ralph Morrison, Michigan outfielder, is shown as he scored the winning run in a 10-9 slugfest against Michigan State last spring. He had reached third just a moment before by blasting a three-run triple. THE END OF AN ERA! Wistert, at 33, Rounds Out Football Career as Captain By BOB VOKAC Wrestling at Michigan is tradi- tionally becoming a one man sport. At least since 1925, when Coach Cliff Keen took over the embryonic reins of the Wolverine's grappling fortunes, Maize and Blue, mat clubs have been tutored almost without exception by this veteran of the game. * * * A NATIONAL CHAMPION him- self at 156 pounds from Oklahoma A&M, Coach Keen's teams have produced 13 national champions; sent five men to Olympic games; won Conference crowns in 1930, 1938 and 1944; and have amassed 101 wins against 40 losses. Originally instigated in 1922 by Coach Thorn as a varsity sport, Michigan has for the main been cast principally in the strong runner-up role, al- though they have copped three Big Ten titles. A swift recapitulation of Mich- igan's record since Conference championships have been staged shows the Wolverines second seven times, third five times and fourth, fifth and sixth one time apiece. KEEN'S ONLY departure from the Michigan wrestling scene was during the war when he missed the 1943-45 seasons in lieu of con- ducting physical education train- ing for naval air cadets at various pre-flight schools in the South. During this time, Coach Wally Weber, versatile figure of the Wolverine sports pageant, stepped in to take temporary charge of mat affairs. The current grappling picture around the Conferenc circle cen- ters around Illinois and Purdue. Purdue, the present champ, also garnered the crown in 1945 and 1948. The intervening years of 1946-7 saw the fighting Illini hold- ing down the top honors. * * * MICHIGAN'S STORY is also to be reckoned with, though, espe- cially the last two seasons. Having mediocre seasons in both years, the 1948 card saw the Wolverines finish second one point behind Purdue and two points behind Purdue for a third in the 1949 agenda. Minnesota ran a close second last year by placing one point behind the Boilermaker champions. Ironically enough, since the ascent of the Purdue-Illini power trust, the Maize and Blue matmen have squeezed out three victories in their first five meets with Purdue, while the weak sister of the two top flight ag- gregations, Illinois, has trounced Michigan solidly the last five years. Easily the jinx team for Keen's men, Illinois has won 10 out of the 12 matches between the schools. * * * SINCE 1944, Michigan teams have produced six Conference champs and nine additional final- ists. Jim Galles took champion- ships twice for Michigan. Once in 1944 at 175 pounds and again in 1945 at 165 pounds. Bill Courtright and Wayne Smith captured honors in 1946 as Courtright swept the 155 pound classic and Smith romped home in the 136 pound feature. Jim Smith, captain-elect of the 1950 club, won the 136 pound championship in 1948 (second in 1949) and Jack Powers upset the dope sheets by winning the 165 pound attraction in 1949 from the vaunted Clarence Self of Wis- consin. * * * MICHIGAN'S hard luck wres- tler the last three years was former Capt. Bob Betzig. Through- out his entire collegiate wrestling, career. Betzig piled up one of the greatest personal competitive rec- ords but failed to win a champion- ship although he gained second place three times at 155 pounds in the championships. Out of 24 dual matches, Bet- zig brought home the bacon 21 times, most of his victories being by virtue of falls. Although five of Coach Keen's past varsity will not be among the competitors this year, the four returning varsity grapplers, Cap- tain Jim Smith, Jack Powers, By- 'ron Lasky and John Hess, promise to form a powerful nucleus for the 1950 combination. ABSENT FROM THE ranks this winter will be Betzig, Bob Cun- ningham, Jack Keller, Tom Miller and Phil Carlson. Present indications place Smith slated for competition at 145 pounds, Powers at 165 t pounds, Lasky at 175 pounds and Hess at heavyweight. It is exactly the same position that Keen will find himself in this year as he did last season; a drastic lack of lightweight talent. The necessary use of inexperienced men last year in the 121, 128 and 138 weight classifications more than once threw the balance of power to the opposition. A bright star loomed for Mich- igan though at 128 pounds in Larry Nelson, a freshman last year, who copped first place in the State AAU's last spring. 4- By B. S. BROWN (Co-Managing Editor) Michigan's "old man" of the gridiron will round out a historic era at the Ann Arbor institution this fall. Al Wistert, who turned a very young 33 a short time back, is tak- ing over the captain's post of a national championship team - a team which took the title only be- cause there was a Wistert at the right tackle position for the Wol- verines. - * * * THE HISTORIC ERA-of Wis- terts-at least for the present, is ending this year. It started 16 years ago when Francis Wistert, the oldest of the three Chicago- born brothers was named to the All-American squad. Big Al - Alvin, that is - was next in line, but he left school to take up a professional base- ball career to help support a fatherless family. Six years ear- lier, the head 'of the Wistert family, a Windy City police ser- geant, had been killed by a bullet from the gun of a hold- up man. And because Alvin didn't return to school until after the war under the G.I. Bill, the youngest of the three brothers, Albert, made his mark on the Michigan gridiron be- fore him. * * * ALBERT GRABBED the All- American laurels in 1942 and it E Bowl at Pasadena and took part in the 49-0 lambasting of Southern Cal. * *.* THEN, climaxing a brilliant sea- son last year, the big 'un was named captain of the '49 squad- an aggregation that will go into action, riding on a 23-game win- ning streak. They gave the big guy a job of protection and exten- sion that he won't soon forget. Because Al is 33, he is the oldest player ever to captain a Michigan eleven and is one of the oldest players in the game today. But in spite of his ad- vanced years, Al is rated as one of the finest tackles in the coun- try. It all started back in September, 1946. Al had been discharged from the Marine Corps after serving with the Devil Dogs for three years, and entered Boston Univer- sity. In his first semester (the freshman rule was still in. effect), he made the varsity. WHAT was especially amazing about the whole thing was the fact that Al had played very little high school football and had been away from the game for almost 11 years! Realizing a life-long ambition, Al transferred to Michigan the following February and shortly afterwards went out for spring training. For his outstanding improvement in the spring drills, Al was awarded the Meyer Mor- ton Trophy. Coach Oosterbaan admits that Wistert was more than "green" when he reported for spring drills, but claims that "it was his will- ingness and determination that made him a great tackle." * * * AL WILL concur. "I just adopt- ed young Al's slogan, and that was not to be 'good', but to be the 'best damn tackle in the country'." It was the '47 Michigan State game which marked the begin- (Continued on Page 8) COLLEGIATE CREW-CUTS You'll be pleased with one of our many styles. The DASCOLA BARBERS Liberty near State I AL WISTERT * * * looked as though the Wisterts at Michigan were finished for at least two decades. But Al wasn't going to let his brothers have all the glory. He came back to equal their ac- complishment of All-American rating in his junior year. (Both Francis and Albert made the team in their senior years.) And Big Al went them one bet- ter. He picked up two more honors that never came his brothers' ways. In his first year on the squad, he traveled to the Rose ty c '' r ,' .. ;;r: M:. em . I Try FOLLETT'S First USE D BOOKS at BARGAIN PRICES IFMLAMES~T 7 / ' I> 1 ,A I I I V. 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