THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1953 THE MICHIGAN DAILY PAGE THREE Seven Lettermen Boost Minnesota Cage Hopes By ART EVEN MinsTaEGlENmara and Doug Bolstroff, and a Minneota' e ne number of sophomore hopefuls. will enter the 1953-54 Big iMiller. who won letters while Trackmeu To Hold Intra-S quad Trials Yankees Land Robinson, ! basketball race with high hopes of grabbing at least a share of the conference title. The reason for this high aim is the fact that the Gophers have seven returning lettermen. These men should improve their per- formances over last year in which they finished in a third place tie with Michigan State. The Maroon and Gold have lost only one start- er, forward Bob Gelle, from last year's quintet. * * * THE TEAM will be built around guard Chuck Mencel and center Ed Ialafat. Both have held start- ing positions on the squad for the past two years. Mencel, a 5-11% junior, is a scrappy competitor and a team player. Last year he led Gopher scorers with 378 points for an 18 point average. He finished third in the Big Ten scoring race. While Mencel is being counted on to lead the Minnesota offense, big 6-6, 245-pound Kalafat will do r most of the Gopher rebounding. Last season he handled this duty very proficiently, gathering in 175 rebounds to lead the team in this department. He also ranked sec- and in team scoring netting 341 points for a 15.5 average. Kalafat %s a senior and will captain this year's quintet. * * * ROUNDING OUT the starting lineup will be forwards Glen Reed and Virgil Miller, and guard Char- ley Bennett. All three are seniors who are entering their third year of varsity competition. Reed at 6-4 and Miller who is 6-3 "along with Kalaf at give the Gophers a fair sized forward wall averaging 6-4. Bennett, Mencel's running mate at guard, is a very r capable performer as a scorer And rebounder. Minnesota's main worry is a weak bench. Coach Ozzie Cowles' reserve talent is exceedingly thin. Backing up the regulars are two returning lettermen, Bob McNa- C }lYl[1161t W11V YY Vll iG ULGA0 W11116 playing on the Gopher varsity inI 1950 and 1951, has returned after serving a two year hitch in the Marines and should give the de- pleted bench corps a much needed lift. * * * TWO OF THE most promising sophomores are Bill "Boots" Sim- onovich and Andy Snyder. Both of them graduated from the same Minnesota high school which they led to the state championship. Simonovich, 6-11, 205 pound cen- ter, is making rapid progress as successor to Kalaf at. He has al- ready seen action against Okla- homa A & M. The Gophers have gotten off to a flying start by topping three straight non-league opponents. Their best effort resulted in a 57-56 victory over highly touted Oklahoma A & M, ranked third in the nation on many pre-sea- son polls. The Gophers also picked up wins over Nebraska, 75-64 and Tulsa, 62-60. Mencel's jump shot with 15 seconds to play provided the winning mar- gin over Tulsa. The Gophers open their Big Ten schedule on January 2 against the University of Illinois at Cham- paign. The outcome of this con- test will be an indication as to whether or not they will improve their third finish of last year. Illinois and NCAA champion In- diana, the two teams who finished ahead of Minnesota last season, will represent the biggest road- blocks to the Gophers title quest. By DAVE LIVINGSTON Coach Don Canham will un- veil what could turn into the finest track team in Michigan history; tonight at the annual Christmas' Time Trials.1 The Yost Field House intra- squad meet, which pits the fresh- men and sophomores against the{ juniors and seniors in team com- petition, will get underway withl the field events at 7:00, with the first track event scheduled for 7:30. * * * WITH THE opening dual meet1 of the indoor season well over a month away the big topic of dis- cussion in local track quarters cen- ters around the recent additions to the schedule of events for the1 Big Ten Indoor Track Champion- ship.7 The 300, 600 and 1,000 yardl runs, although standard AAU + distances, will be run for the first time in a conference meet at Champaign March 5 and 6. The new events, voted in with practically no discussion by the+ Big Ten track coaches, promise to give the Wolverine thinclads a substantial boost in their drive to unseat perennial champion Illi- nois from the indoor crown it has held for the last three years. * * * WITH tremendous depth, pro- viding eligibility problems don't hit too hard, in the middle distances, the added events fit perfectly the material on the Michigan squad. Canham doesn't plan to in- clude the new events in tonight's program, preferring to give his charges more time to get into shape before introducing the new distances in actual competi- tion. Four returning indoor champs will see action tonight. Although the quartet, John Ross( mile)' Jack Carroll (440), George Lynch (two mile), and Captain Fritz Nil- sson (shot put), will all perform for the junior-senior aggregation, prime attention will be focused on: the performances of the under- classmen, including several soph- omores on whom, to a great ex- tent, lie the possibilities of a con- ference title for the Maize and Blue. Hurdler Tom Hendricks, miler Jim Smithers, Ron Wallingford in the two mile, Pete Gray and Ted Kilar in the 880, Pete Sutton in the quarter, Mark Booth in the high jump, Bob Brown in the dash- es-these are just a few of the men who make up one of the top sophomore crops ever to hit the Ann Arbor cinder paths. They have not unfounded hopes of handing the star-studded jun- ior and senior group a licking to- night. Byrd; Power Sent to A'sk NEW YORK-(q -In an 11- player deal. the World Champion IN ADDITION, the Yankees said New York Yankees yesterday ac- that they would option two Kansas quired first baseman Eddie Robin- ( City players to Ottawa, the Ath- son and pitcher Harry Byrd from letics' International League farm. the Philadelphia Athletics in ex- change for first baseman Vic Pow- The Yankees sold Babe last er, outfielder Bill Renna and first' April to the A's for $25,900 and baseman Don Bollweg. as part of Wednesday's deal, the Yankees will return the money. The trade, biggest numerically i a Yankee history, also involved the Although Earl Mack, Philadel- H S POTS Buy Christmas Seats Y GURWIN, Night Editor Yankees' Kansas City farm of the American Association and the re- turn of $25,000 to the A's in the sale of third bas-eban Loren Babe last year. * * * BESIDES the main five, here are the other players involved in the massive transaction: phia vice president, called it "a wonderful deal for us," there was- n't the slightest doubt that the Yankees thought it was super- wonderful for them. * * , "THIS WILL open the flood- gates," said George Weiss, Yan- SkI N lr a1 n ol.-ith n. hiiP h Kee general manager, wir a nuge The A's sent Babe, first base- grin on his face. "The other clubs man Tom Hamilton and out- will have to scramble." fileder Carmen Mauro to Kan- "We strengthened ourselves in sas City, the departments we needed help in In return the A's got catcher most." said Weiss, who admitted Al Robertson, who played with the Yanks gave up no one im- Kansas City and Syracuse, pitch- portant to their drive for a sixth er John Gray of Kansas City and straight pennant in 1954. third baseman Jim Finnegan, of "The A's got a lot of good, young Binghamton of the Eastern Lea- ballplayers which they need for gue. their rebuilding," added Weiss. - New Comfort and a new look, too Western League Hockey Clubs Tune-up for Conference Action Evan Slippers S By PHIL DOUGLIS Non-league contests have held the hockey spotlight for the past few weeks, as the seven Western Intercollegiate Ice Hockey League teams battled rugged opposition in preparation for the coming season. While the Wolverine puckmen were dividing with McGill, and de- feating and tieing Toronto, omi- nous rumbles were heard coming from the Northland, as Johnny Mariucci's Golden Gophers of Min- nesota showed their muscles. COLLEGE BASKETBALL Navy 78, Columbia 52 NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Minneapolis 69, Milwaukee 63, overtime Arrows Way Out Front As Christmas Gift Favorites r _. l t f THE GOPHERS out to win the WIIHL (formerly Midwest) crown, felt the sting of the powerful Bon- nies of St. Boniface twice in their opening series two weeks ago. Still smartingfrom the double loss to the leaders of the Manitoba Thun- derbay Amateur League, the Goph- ergs tore into a Fort William sex- tet last weekend, and sent it home to Canada with two defeats. Over in Grand Forks, North Dakota, where tomorrow night Michigan opens its league sched- ule, the Nodaks divided a series with the Winnipeg Barons of the Manitoba Jr. League, winning, 6-1, and losing, 6-5. The pre- vious week, the Sioux divided a pair with St. Bonilace, winning the opener, 7-6, and dropping the next, 6-5. Michigan's country cousins from East Lansing, paced by Jack My- ers and Weldon Olson, divided their opening series with St. Law- rence, whipping the Larries, 5-1, and losing, 5-3. Clarkson Tech fell haplessly before the Spartans last week, 9-1. * * * CHEDDY Thompson's Colorado College Sextet inaugurated the 1953-54 season by splitting an an- nual series with the Tiger Alums, winning, 11-3, in the first game, and dropping the second tilt to the Alumni, 6-3. Play in the WIIHL opens this weekend, as the Wolverines travel out to Grand Forks to battle the Sioux of North Dakota, and in a non-league tilt, Minnesota meets Harvard at Minneapolis. The Gophers and Colorado Col- lege will play their first league tilt on New Year's Day in the north country, while the Huskies of Michigan Tech, and Denver University first experience league play on Jan. 5 in the mile high city. INTRAMURAL RESULTS VOLLEYBALL Turks 4, Latvians 3 (Independ- ent championship) Phi Chi 4, Nu Sigma Nu 0 (pro- fessional fraternity c h a m - pionship) Delta Theta Phi 4, Delta Sigma Delta 1 Newman Club 4, Hawaiians 2 Nelson Co-op 4, MCF 0 Phi Alpha Kappa 4, Tau Epsi- lon Rho Q (forfeit) HANDBALL Theta Chi 3, Alpha Sigma Phi 0 Comfort to revel in -smart styling -and the quality look that everyone admires makes ,$695 to S VAN OVEN SHOES 17 Nickels Arcade L -m Students heading home for a fast round of gift shop- ping (and hinting) seem to be generally agreed: Arrows take all the work out of the hectic days before the 25th. They're one gift that scores high with every guy. Big holiday selections at all Arrow dealers now. ARROW TRADE ( MARK - SHIRTS * TIES * UNDERWEAR * HANDKERCHIEFS * SPORTS SHIRTS - All styles of ARROW WHITE Sh IIRTS SEASON'S GREETINGS 9 STISTs- - No WAING "Collegiate Cuts a specialty" The Daseola Barbers near Michigan Theatre I 11 $3.95 to $7.95 StudeDtSupplies~ rc _ '9fin I mum