FRIDAY, AUGUST 24, 1945; .
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
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FRIflAY, AU~US~' ~4, i945~ PA~*E JTV
BLOCKS, KICKS, PASSES:
Ponsetto Continues Tradition
Of Exceptional Quarterbacks
WE WERE ROBBED:
Brown Jug 'Removed'
By Villainous Gophers
By BO MODIC
Although prospects for the 1945
football team are uncertain during
pre-season work, the Wolverine tra-
dition of great quarterbacking seems
destined to be carried on when Joe
Ponsetto, rugged, hard hitting cap-
tain and field general of the team,
takes over.
In 1940, Forest Evashevski cleared
the way for Tom Harmon; in 1941-42,
George Ceithaml piled up enemy
tacklers in front of such great backs
as Bob Westfall, Paul White and Bob
Wiese; and this season, Ponsetto can
be counted on to pave the way for
the touchdown jaunts of the Wolver-
ine ball-carriers.
Third Season
This is Ponsetto's third year of
football with the Maize and Blue, as
he was one of the seven lettermen
left to start the1945 season, after
Navy transfers and other wartime
conditions swept away most of last
season's great team. A junior in the
NROTC program here, Ponsetto first
found his way to Ferry Field two
years ago, fresh from Central High
School in Flint, where he was a three
year gridder. Last season was his
first big one at Michigan, however,
as he held down the first string sig-
nal-calling post on the squad which
rang up a record of eight wins and
two losses.
As the blocking back on a team
boasting such stars as Wiese, Bob
Nussbaumer, Gene Derricotte and
Milan Lazetich, Ponsetto was an "un-
sung hero". His value as a blocker
and defensive giant, however, earned
him a place on the Associated Press
All-Western Conference team and
on the All-American blocking team
at the end of the season.
Praised by Crisler
In his quarterback spot, Ponsetto
will handle the ball on almost every
play from the T-formation and
Coach H. O. (Fritz) Crisler is count-
ing on his experience and football
sense to steady the green team which
will take the field against Great
Lakes Sept. 15.
"Joe is a good football player and
a great fellow," Crisler comments.
"He upholds the tradition of Michi-
gan quarterbacking that I've seen in
Evashevski and Ceithaml, and is not
only a good physical football play-
er but also a good mental one."
Expert Place-Kicker
Ponsetto is the "brain trust" of
the team as the signal-caller and
also directs the squad on defense
from his position as line backer.
Though used chiefly as a blocker, he
handles some of the passing duties
and last year developed into an ex-
pert place-kicker, booting 23 conver-
sions in 28 atempts.
Ponsetto, standing an even six
feet, and tipping the scales at 185,
can take plenty of punishment. In
last season's memorable 18-14 loss!
to Ohio State, he limped through
the entire game with an ankle in-
jury acquired on the previous Sat-
urday.
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WHERE STARS ARE BORN-This view of the large Michigan Stadium shows part of the capacity
crowd at a recent Minnesota game.
YOST DREAM COMES TRUE:
Sta dium One of Nation's Largest
By FRANK WOLF
One of the most coveted trophies
in the sports world is the Little
Brown Jug, awarded annually when
Michigan and Minnesota meet on the
football field to decide which school
is to keep the trophy for the follow-
ing year.
The Jug itself has an interesting,
somewhat humorous, origin. Back
in 1903, Fielding H. Yost. Michigan's
famous coach, brought one of his
great "point a minute" teams to
Minneapolis for the yearly game
with the Gophers. The Wolverines
were heavy favorites, and Minne-
sota seemed doomed to defeat.
Game Ends in Tie
Minnesota, however, had forgotten!
to read the odds in the morning pa-
pers. The Gophers hung on tena-
ciously, and the game ended in a 6-6
tie.
As a reward for their moral vie-
tory, the Golden Gophers wanted
,.ome sort of a trophy. Oscar Munson,
Minnesota's equipment keeper, re-
membered seeing a brown stone wa-
ter jug which the Michigan squad
had brought with it. He took the
jug, but the Wolverines didn't miss
it for a while.
"Come and Get It!"
When the team got back to Ann
Arbor, one of the players remembered
seeing Munson take the jug. He told
Yost about it, and a. letter was
promptly sent asking for its return.
MINNESOTA GODSEND:
The Gophers' reply was a simple
challenge to "come and get it."
Michigan accepted the challenge.
They didn't play Minnesota again
until 1909, but that year they beat
Minnesota by the score of 15-6, Af-
ter that, Michigan reigned supreme
for a period of 24 years. In the six-
teen Minnesota games played be-
tween 1909 and 1933, the Wolverines
won. 13, lost two, and tied one.
Michigan Record Tops
In 1934, however, Minnesota took
over. The Gophers won nine con-
secutive games untIl Michigan beat
them by the score of 49-6 in 1943.
The Wolverine squad took the Jug
again last season.
Since the beginning of competi-
tion for the Little Brown Jug in 1903,
Michigan has won 17 contests, lost
11, and two games have resulted in
ties.
Pitchers Made, Batters
Born, Says Coach Fisher
Pitchers, says Baseball Coach Ray
Fisher, can be taught, while batters
aren't made, but born.
Fisher, who has turned out great
hurlers, including Elroy Hirsch and
the two Fishman brothers, Herman
and Mickey, ought to know. His
slugging finds aren't bad, either,
numbering Dick Wakefield, Bennie
Oosterbaan and Jack Blott.
HE INVENTS, TOO:
Trainer Roberts Is Important
Part in Wolverine Grid Setup
By MILT GOLDRATH
Ray Roberts is the little-known
man with the big job on the Michi-
gan grid squad, or, in other words,
the hard-working trainer of the
team.
Roberts first came to Michigan in
1930, and has been here ever since.
His career as trainer had its earliest
beginnings when he entered the
Army during the last war. He was
assigned to the medical corps, and
upon completion of the war, be-
cause of his Army experience, he
was given the job as trainer of the
Army's West Point team. He re-
Ca ers..
(Continued from Page 1)
Wolverines were third in the Con-
ference, but their fortunes continued
down hill in the next games, and all
chances of a championship were lost.
In an unorthodox contest with the
eventual title-winner, Iowa, the Wol-
verines used controlled ball tactics
to lead at the close of the first half
and during most of the last stanza,
only to succumb in the closing sec-
onds by a 29-27 count.
Two-Game Revival
The following night, Ohio State
repeated its early win in more con-
vincing fashion, 61-47. The second
game with Indiana, in turn, saw a
Wolverine victory repeated as the
Hoosiers were decisioned, 47-43, at
Bloomington. Focussing attention on
Wisconsin next, the cagers trounced
the Badgers, 50-39, in an attempt
to hit the comeback trail. The next
game saw their hopes dashed, how-
ever, as Iowa avenged the anxious
moments in its first tilt with the
Wolverines, 50-37.
Victorious in Last Tilt
In the last home game of the year,
Michigan bowed to Northwestern,
49-34, as Lund returned to the line-
up after his injury had benched him
during the three previous games. In
the return game with Wisconsin, the
Wolverines were defeated, 55-44, but
they finished the season with a vic-
tory over Northwestern, starting what
is hoped will be a winning streak at
the beginning of this season.
miined at West Point for the next
10 years, until he became trainer for
the Wolverine squad.
No Natural Athletes
In his 25 years as an athletic train-
er, Roberts has come to the conclu-
sion that "there is no such thing as
a natural athlete." By this he means
that no matter how natural an ath-
lete appears on the surface, his abil-
ity is, in reality, the result of mental
and physical conditioning acquired
in early youth. No athlete, then, can
become truly great without intensive
training.
Turning to the more personal side
of the trainer's life, we find that he
was born and raised on a farm near
Decatur, Ill. He attended a small
country school and showed little in-
terest in athletics. His'interests have
turned in recent times to none other
than that of inventing. This Don
Ameche of footballdom has perfected
many inventions, among which is a
new type of headgear for wrestlers
which is considered to be quite ef-
fective.
Natators Boast
Amazing Past
Michigan's '44-45 swimming squad
had a famous past to uphold, as some
of the greatest individual mermen in
the country have worn the colors
of the Maize and Blue.
In the past 12 years, Michigan
swimming teams have captured nine
Big Ten championships, and have
placed second in the other three.
They have taken first place in the
National Collegiates eight out of 12
years, and have been runners-up the
other four. They have churned to
victory twice in the last seven Na-
tional AAU's, while securing the sec-
ond place position four times.
The list of Michigan swimming
greats is long and unrivaled: The
names of Fenske, Christy, Drysdale,
Renner, Stewart, Corey and. Skinner
could be added to almost endlessly.
Nevertheless, the individual cham-
pion would probably be Harry Holi-
day, who set records in the 100-yard,
the 150-yard and 200 meter events
in 1942.
By BERNNRD MEISLIN
This fall will mark the beginning
of the 18th grid season in which
Michigan football teams have played
in one of the largest American sta-
diums.
Around 86,000 fans have crowded
into the Michigan stadium each Sat-
urday of the Wolverine home foot-
ball season since 1927. A field to
hold the giant crowds Wolverine grid
teams always drew was one of Coach
Fielding H. Yost's pet ambitions, and
construction was begun in 1925 on
just such a field. When the largest
Big Ten stadium was finally built
the crowds really began to pour in.
In 1927 alone, three of the all-time
Michigan fotoball attendance records
were made.
Michigan Won Opener
The first game ever played in Mich-}
igan Stadium saw the Wolverines
trounce an Ohio Wesleyan team to
the tune of 33-0. Bennie Oosterbaari,
present end coach of the 1945 edition
of Michigan gridders, was one of the
outstanding players on the 1927 elev-
en. Rounding out his third consecu-
Dick Wakefield
Entertains','45
Basealquad
When Dick Wakefield, the Detroit
Tigers' slugging ex-left fielder, ap-
peared at a Michigan baseball prac-
tice early last spring, members of
the outfield of the diamond squad
received a thrill - and a laugh -
from the former Wolverine star.
The famous Tiger batsman, who
was on leave from Great Lakes,
where he had played very little base-
ball since the end of the major league
race last October, took up the light
fungo bat and prepared to hit fly
balls for the outfilders to shag. He
swung mightily - and missed, the
ball. He tried again - and missed.
And again. This procedure was re-
peated seven times., At last, Wake-
field exchanged bats for a heavy
stick. The results were distinctly
encouraging, as the white pellet be-
gan to soar past the outfielders.
'44 Gridders
tive All-American football season,
Oosterbaan was all over the field on
that day. His spectacular pass-receiv-
ing and brilliant blocking and tack-
ling made victory sweet to Yost on
the day his team first played in the
stadium of his dreams.
Since that Autumn day of Michi-
gan victory in 1927, the stadium has
served as the stage of many thrilling
football games and as the testing
ground of many an All-American
Football..
(Continued from Page 1)
conservative estimates, will be form-
idable.
After the open date, the Wolver-
ines will swing into action once more
against Illinois, Oct. 27, at Cham-
paign. Following the game with the
Illini, Michigan will meet Minnesota
here Nov. 3. in the classic which de-
termines the annual disposition of
the "Little Brown Jug".
The next opponent will be a very
strong Navy aggregation which will
be host to the Wolverines Nov. 10 at
Baltimore, renewing a rivalry which
lapsed for 17 years. After the Navy
game, the season will wind up when
Michigan meets Purdue and Ohio
State here Nov. 17 and 24. The Ohio
State contest will see a bitter rivalry
renewed as the Wolverines attempt
to avenge last season's 18-14 defeat
by the Buckeyes.
Seven Lettermen Back
Prospects for the Michigan squad
are still unpredictable, although the
Wolverines have ended six weeks of
summer practice, and will resume'
work Aug. 27. The team was bol-
stered by the return of seven letter-
men at the start of summer drills,
including Capt. Joe Ponsetto, quar-
terback; John Lintol and Harry
Watts, centers; HowardYerges, quar-
terback; Warren Bentz, halfback;
and John Weyers and Cecil Freihof-
er, linesmen. Jack Weisenburger,
halfback last season, will report for
drills at the end of August.
New talent will be drawn mostly
from Navy V-12 transfers, as has
been the practice during the past
two seasons.
player. From Oosterbaan to Harmon
to the teams of today, the fans at
Michigan stadium have witnessed
football at its best.
Special Facilities
Few realize, as they sit in the great
amphitheatre, of the many facilities
which are designed with the view of
serving each individual fan.
Refreshments are served at more
than 50 refreshment stands, located
around the concourse of the Stadium,
and emergency medical treatment is
available in the First Aid Building, at
the northwest corner of the Stadium
grounds. Doctors and maids are in
constant attendance at this building,
and special service is granted in case
of an emergency.
A lost and found service, telephone,
ambulance, and taxi cab service are
also maintained. Therefore, the sta-
dium is not only rich in the sports
panorama it offers the fan, but in
special services designed to aid the
onlooker in enjoying the game.
Track...
(Continued from Page 1)
two-mile and sweeping all 15 points
in the mile, a performance unprece-
dented in Big Ten track history.
Michigan copped only two first places
in the meet as Illinois grabbed eight,
but the points piled up in the dis-
tance events paid off as the Wolver-
ines hung grimly to their lead through
the last event.
Shine in Penn Relays
The outdoor season started with a
bang as Michigan copped four titles
of five events entered at the annual
Penn Relays, and finished second in
the. fifth event. The performance
rated as one of the best ever seen in
Eastern track circles.
After sweeping through a triangu-
lar meet with Purdue and Miami uni-
versities, the Wolverines hooked up
with Ohio State, Illinois and Great
Lake in a quadrangular affair and
came off second best as a surprising
Great Lakes squad was the winner.
The meet was not decided until the
last event when the Sailors placed
two men in the broad jump to insure
victory.
Lose Outdoor Title
A smashing dual meet victory over
Purdue served as the final tuneup for
the Conference outdoor meet, but no
tuneup could have stopped Illinois at
the tourney as the vengeful Illini
squad poured it on to take a 65%/ to
54 1-6 victory. Again the Wolverines
scored heavily in the distance events,
but Illinois took seven firsts and
placed in all but two events to put on
I a remarkable show of team balance,
In describing his most thrilling ex-
perience of more than 19 years of
newswriting, Les Etter, head of the
publicity department of the Univer-
sity athletic association, related the
incident which won the second of a
two-game series between Michigan
and Minnesota during the 1926 sea-
son.
"It was late in that game," Etter
said, "that the great All-American,
Bennie Oosterbaan, whom I have.
come to know quite intimately as a
Michigan coach in the last year,
picked up a free ball inside the Mich-
igan 40-yard line and romped 60-odd
yards for the score that tied the ball
game." That play, coupled with the
conversion for goal by the other mem-
ber of the.Bennie-to-Benny combina-
tion, Benny Friedman, was the most
thrill-packed moment of his life,
Etter related. "I was a freshman at
Minnesota atthe time and was full of
the old college spirit. It was a seri-
ous blow to my morale, for with that
play, Michigan won the game 7-6,"
he added.
Ends First Year Here
Etter, who has seen quite a few
thrilling sights during his career as
news reporter and publicity man, is
now entering his second year at the
University, having marked his first
anniversary here Aug. 8.
As head of the department, Etter's
responsibilities are numerous. He
sends all Michigan sports news to
more than 600 newspapers and radio
stations throughout the country. In
addition a five-page monthly sum-
mary of sports events is compiled and
sent to more than 150 former 'U'
men who are now in the Armed For-
ces. He is planning a one-page paper
that will cover every Michigan foot-
ball game this fall and this will be
forwarded to these men every week.
Was Minnesota Reporter
Etter does not lack the necessary
background for his present occupa-
tion. Starting in 1930, he was assist-
ant sports editor on the Minnesota
"Daily" and sports editor of the "Go-
pher," Minnesota's year book. He
Etter Celebrates Initial Year
As Athletics Publicity Director
also assumed the position of the uni-
versity ad manager the same year.
He covered Gopher sports for the
Minneapolis "Journal," and upon
graduating took a job with the.Duluth
"News-Tribune" as police reporter.
In 1935, he returned to Minnesota
as a reporter on the university news
service. Later that year, he took a
job with the Associated Press, and
was with them until 1937, returning
once more to his Alma Mater, this
time as director of the news service.
He worked as a public relations man
for several private concerns before
coming to Michigan.
Golfers ..
(Continued from Page 1)
to the Maize and Blue golf squad by
scores of 172-1/2 and 141/2-12% re-
spectively. John Tews was the star
in the match against the Broncos,
shooting a six over par 78. In the
contest with the Wildcats, Phil Mar-
cellus took medalist honors with the
day's low score of 71.
Out to avenge their defeat at the
hands of Ohio State, the Wolverines
swamped the Buckeyes, 79-5, in the
return match. Again it was State's
John Lorms who took the individual
honors.
Notre Dame was next on the list
of defeatables for the golfers. The
match was played on May 21 with
the Michigan men winning, 19-5. This
was the fifth win in a row for the
Wolverines.
Third in Championships
The Big Ten golf championship
meet followed the match with the
fighting Irish. Coach Barclay sent
five lettermen to try aid take the
crown for Michigan. However, much
to their disappointment, the Wolver-
ines could only place third behind
Ohio State and Northwestern.
Playing their last match of the
season, the Maize and Blue golfers
trounced the Western Michigan
squad to the tune of 161/2-11/2.
< ------ .o... ..
I r ii
(Continued from Page 1)
Conference honors, took over Le-
Roux's starting assignment at one
tackle by the time the second game
had rolled around. Wiese and Nuss-
baumer left the team in mid-season
and were replaced by Don Lundand
Ralph Chubb. Those few changes
were about the only ones made all
season.
Few Replacements
The Wolverines were in a bad way
for replacements, so most of the
starting eleven became 60-minute
men, although many of the second
stringers helped out considerably.
Dick Rifenburg made a name for
himself at end before joining the
Navy, and Ted Greer also performed
creditably as a flanker. LeRoux be-
came the number one (and almost
only) tackle replacement, while Rog-
er Chiaverini and Howard (Jeep)
Mehaffey spelled the guards. Har-
old Watts, Charles Wahl, and Don
Lund all took an occasional crack at
center.
Reserve backs included Howard
Yerges at quarter; Jack Weisenburg-'
er, Bill Culligan, and Warren Bentz
at the halves; and Tom Peterson at
full. This comparative handful of
starters and reserves did most of the
dirty work against the opposition.
Beat Great Lakes
Michigan opened against Great
Lakes and won a 12-7 victory, thanks
to a couple of long touchdown passes
from Culligan to Rifenburg after the
ground attack had stalled complete-
work, as the Wolverine attack fiz'led
and died after the opening minutes.
Trip Minnesota
But Michigan was not to be count-
ed out, coming back to whip its arch
rival, Minnesota, in the renewal of
the Little Brown Jug classic, 27-13.
The Wolverines made it even more
convincing the , next weekend by
whipping a strong Northwestern out-
fit, 27-0, tearing to shreds what was
supposed to be the strongest line in
the Big Ten.
Purdue was the next victim, and
the Boilermakers fell hard, 40-14, as
Wiese and Nussbaumer . made their
last Michigan appearances. It was
the worst beating a Wolverine team
ever gave Purdue and was especially
welcome in view of the fact that the
two teams were defending Confer-
ence co-champs.
Pennsylvania, Too
Pennsylvania was the lamb next
led to slaughter, and was effectively
bitchered, 40-19, anoth'er worst
beating" in a series. Illinois and Bud-
dy Young then came to town and left
in considerably worse shape than
they came, after absorbing a 14-0
licking. Young was held scoreless for
the first time in his career, although
his unbelievably fast end runs
brought the spectators' hearts to
their mouths more than once before
the final gun sounded.
Wisconsin was next, and the Bad-
gers proved a surprisingly tough ball
club, beating the Wolverines in every-
thing but the scoring column. Al-
though the statistics gave Wisconsin
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