s
41turn
To
Brighten Michigan's Grid Prospects
By DICK KRAUS
There'll be plenty of reinforce-
ments on the football front this fall
for Coach "Fritz" Crisler's 1945
"Baby Wehrmacht," which featured
six 17 year olds in the starting line-
up that piled up seven victories as
against three losses to top teams in
the nation, Army, Navy, and Indiana.
In fact, if Crisler chose, he could
field an all-ex-GI eleven come next
September. He could even play a
squad of dischargees made up en-
tirely of returnees from the 1942, '43,
and '44 aggregations.
Vet Backfield Possible
For a backfield Crisier could choose
from Ralph Chubb, right half, Gene
Derricote, and Bill Culligan, who
shared tailback duties in 1944, Paul
White, '42, and '43 right half, Bob
Chappuis, Bob Vernier, and Don
Boor, left half, quarterback and full
back on the '42 squad and Bob
Wiese, last of Michigan's great spin-
ning fullbacks, who carried the mail
in '42 and '43.
Up front, returning servicemen in-
clude a trio of top flight ends, Bruce
Hilkene and Jack Petosky, of the '43
squad, and Elmer Madar. Madar and
tackle Bill Pritula who is also' re-
turning are the last of the "Seven
Oak Posts" of 1942. For center line
duty other available ex-GI's include
Walt Freihofer, '42, Frank Kern,
Quentin Sickels, and George Krager,
who all played in '43 and George
Burg, '44.
A miscellaneous but very handy
returning item, is the educated toe
of "Automatic Jim Brieske. Brieske
booted field goals and extra points
wit monotonous regularity back in
'41, and '42.
But tough as this demobilized
power-pack threatens to be, there's
a host of other rugged footballers
among the record shattering turnout,
which is expected to hit the 150 mark,
who will have plenty to say about
the top spots in Crisler's plans.
Last Year's Frosh Back
First, there's the remnants of
Michigan's freshman-studded '45 out-
fit, the same hopped-up youngsters
who played Blanchard, Davis and
Co., off its feet for a full thirty min-
utes to give the mighty West Point-
ers the biggest scare of the season.
Frosh Acquire Polish
Last year's ferocious frosh will
bring the added polish of ten tough
games plus a little more maturity into
the pre-season battle for starting
positions.
Tony Momsen will have another)
crack at heavy 'duty from the pivotj
spot. At the ends Lennie Ford, the'
pass-grabbing 6 ft. 5 in. Negro,
and Ed McNeill are good bets to see'
a lot of action. McNeill was shifted to
quarterback during Spring practice,
but with the return of Joe Ponsetto
and Howard Yerges he may be re-
turned to the end position.
Weisenberg, Renner Return
Jack Weisenberger, who can play
left half or fullback, and Captain
Art Renner, end, were two of the few
veterans on last year's eleven, and
both are back for another season's
activity.
To make Crisler's selecting job even
more difficult a crop of new candi-
dates blossomed out of Spring prac-
tice. A quintet of promising tackles
caught the eyes of the coaching staff
and will come in for a lot of scrutiny
before the season opener against In-
diana rolls around. They include, Bob
Ballou, who won the Chicago Alumni
trophy awarded to the player show-
ing the most improvement in Spring
practice, Jack Carpenter, Dick Brown,
and Elmer Phillips.
Best of the new backfield prospects
on the basis of Spring showings are
Allen Traugott, and Mike Yedinak
a couple of hard hitting backs.
There's talent aplenty for Crisler
to chose from, but the football fields
of the Nation are all producing a
bumper crop of pigskinners, and only
the long Saturday afternoons next
Fall will tell just how high up in the
national scene Michigan's football
talent harvest will rate.
BLOTT
new line coach
OOSTERBAAN
. .number 1 football aide
CRISLER
.. . looks over 1946 candidates
SPORTS
Y
1MwF
:3aA6Fi
SPORTS
SUPPLEMENT
SUPPLEMENT
VOL. LVI, No. 34S
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 1946
PRICE FIVE (
wr w nsrs i
Army
Battle
Tops
Seven Home-Game
Schedul
1
* * *
* * *
Ozzie Cowles Appointed
New Basketball Coach
Dartmouth Mentor
Replaces Oosterbaan
Osborne B. (Ozzie) Cowles, former
Dartmouth basketball coach, became
the latest addition to the Michigan
athletic general-staff this month
when he arrived to replace Bennie
Oosterbaan as the Wolverine head
cage mentor.
Oosterbaan, newly named chief
backfield coach on the football squad,
is now in the position of Number
One aid to Bead Cohch H. O. Crisler
and the added responsibility makes
it impossible to work with both foot--
ball and basketball.
Dartmouth 8 Years
Cowles has been at Dartmouth for
the past eight years and during that
time has produced no less than seven
Ivy League championship teams; the
other was a second place.
Under his direction the Indians
have won 74 of 92 games for a 8-
year percentage of .804. They drop-
ped only three contests on the home
court during the whole period.
His Dartmouth fives have been in-
vited to participate in three NCAA
basketball championship tourna-
ments, the only cage outfit in the,
nation to receive such honor.t
Cowles was born in Brown's Valley,
Minn., 46 years ago. After starring
in high school athletics there, he be-
came an outstanding athletic in three
sports at Carleton College. He cap-
tained the college five for two sea-
sons, averaging 16 points per game
from his guard position during his
j unior year.
First Coaching Job
His first coaching job was at Ro-
chester, Minn. high school. His first
football team won the state cham-
pionship, and his initial basketball
squad reached the state semi-finals.
After a year at Iowa State College
he returned to Carleton to coach
basketball for six years, his last three
squads being midwest conference
champions. His Carleton fives lost
only four games.
He coached River Falls, Wis., Col-
lege basketball for three years before
going to Dartmouth in 1937. During
the war he served 221/2 months in
the Navy as a lieutenant. He is mar-
ried, with one son, who served in the
Army, and one daughter.
OZZIE COWLES ... outstanding
Ivy League mentor, was appointed
this month to succeed Bennie Oost-
erbaan as head basketball coach for
the University of Michigan.
Oosterbaan and
Valpey Shifted
In Grid Staff
Bennie Oosterbaan was named
backfield coach and Art Valpey 'ele-
vated to end coach in the only
changes which Head CoachH. 0.
Crisler made in his gridiron staff for
the coming season.
The rest of the organization re-
mains as it was last Spring. Jack
Blott is head line coach, with For-
rest "Butch" Jordan as assistant,
and Ernie McCoy will act as chief
scout and coach both backs and ends
in practice.
Oosterbaan was shifted to the
backfield from his original position
as end coach. An All-America flanker
for Michigan for three years, 1925-
26-27, he came to the Wolverine
coaching heirarchy in 1938.
Valpey was formerly assistant
scout, and was also a varsity football
'M' man in 1935-36-37. He played un-
der Coach Oosterbaan. Butch Jor-
dan was a guard on the Michigan
1938-39 elevens,
Crisler Lauds,
End of Early
Grid Practice
Big Nine Imposes Five
Week Workout Limit
By ALYS GEORGE
For the first time in three sum-
mers Michigan's football forces are
taking life easy, and both Coach
H. 0. "Fritz" Crisler and his players
welcome the change with open arms.
Although stating that the sum-
mer practice sessions during the war
years were valuable in conditioning
freshmen to take the place of more
experienced players, Crisler believes
that under normal conditions it is
too hot in July and August for the
gridders to get enough benefit out of
summer football practice.
Rules Relaxed
Before the war Big Ten rules limit-
ted grid practice to three weeks before
the season's opener, thus all teams
started off on an equal footing. But
with the uncertainty of player ma-
terial and the introduction of a reg-
ular summer term, the Conference
rules were relaxed; and in 1943 a
four-week summer practice session
was allowed.
This extra time alloted for football
practice was needed to condition the
17 and 18 year-old freshmen, upon
whom many schools depended to car-
ry on their gridiron campaigns.
Many football candidates were al-
so drawn from the Navy and Marine
trainees stationed on campus. As
students the gridders had to take
part in the PEM program anyway,
and their time could best be spent
in learning the fundamentals of the
Crisler system.
PracticesStarted Earlier
In 1944 and 1945 summer football
practice in the Big Ten was begun
even earlier. Coaches could never be
sure of the player material from
one day to the next and more time
was needed to develop their teams,
which had to be formed around a
small nucleus of returning letter-
men.
With the end of the war-time
emergency and the return to a regu-
lar two semester school year, the
Western Conference, has begun to
reinstate its athletic rules. Although
freshmen are still eligible to roam
the gridiron this fall, the return of
so many veterans to school will make
it difficult for 17 and 18 year-olds to
break into the line-up.
THE BATTLE'S VERDICT-Shown here is one of Michigan Stadium's
giant score-boards, which has for 19 years recorded the triumphant
elation-or defeated dejection-of Michigan's football warriors and
their followers. The big question of '46 is how many points will be flash-
ed after 'Michigan' and how few after 'Visitors'.
FOR 67 YEARS:
Outstandmg Record Compiled
By Michigan Football Teams
4) balTem
By DICK KRAUS
King Football's collegiate capital
for the 1946 campaign will be Ann
Arbor, where Coach "Fritz" Crisler's
Wolverines will tangle with seven of
the most talent-packed teams in the
land, including West Point's invinc-
ible Cadets complete with Davis and
Blanchard. .
The Autumn monarch's followers
in the Mid-West will have their grid-
iron appetites stimulated in the sea-
son opener, Sept. 28, which will pit
Michigan against Bo McMillin's de-
fending Big Ten champs, the Hoos-
iers of Indiana. Mjichigan will be out
to avenge two straight losses to Bo's
"Pore Li'l Boys."
Iowa Here Oct. 5
The following Saturday, Oct. 5,
Iowa will invade Ann Arbor with a
team that promises to feature not
more than one of last year's regu-
lars in the starting lineup.
For the football world at large Oct.'
12 will mark one of the season's out-
standing games of the year-Army-
Michigan. A freshman-studded Wol-
verine squad gave Earl Blaik's jug-
gernaut its closest scare last season
and this year's rematch should be
even closer.
After Army a breather would be
in order, but Michigan's schedule
makers didn't look at it that way,
and Crisler's men meet Pappy Wal-
dorf's Northwestern aggregation on
Oct. 19. The Wildcats are perennially
tough and this season should prove
no exception.
Young and Illini Here
After Northwestern the men of
Michigan will get the opportunity to
decide whether West Coast fans of
last year were right or wrong in tout-
ing Buddy Young as the best back in
the nation. The fleet Negro will be
in Ann Arbor with what promises to
be Ray Elliot's finest Illinois team.
After five successive home games,
Michigan moves into Minneapolis,
on Nov. 2, to attempt to retain pos-
session of the "Little Brown Jug," in
the traditional battle with the Gold-
en Gophers of Minnesota.
"B" Team To Play
The Ann Arbor front will not be
entirely devoid of action that week
Indiana Champs Open
Season on Sept. 28th
Wolverines To Play Only Two Road Games;
Clash With Minnesota, Ohio State Away
inasmuch as the newly organized
"B" team will be active. The "B" men
will play a complete schedule with
most games taking place Friday af-
ternoon.
On Nov. 9, the Wolverines will meet
Michigan State in the annual intra-
state clash and on Nov. 15, Wis-
consin's Badgers' will come to town
in the season's home finale.
The Varsity will end the nine game
season at Columbus, Ohio, in the con-
test that may do much to deie
final Conference standings. The last
two Buckeye-Wolverine games have
been thrillers with Ohio pulling out
an 18-14 win in 1944, and Michigan
grabbing a 7-3 last quarter triumph,
last year.
Maize and Blue
'Home Lovers'
During 745-46
By CLARK BAKER
"There's no place like home." At
least that's the opinion of Michigan's
athletes who ought to know. Out of
83 victories in 10 sports during 1946-
46. 52 were scored on the home
grounds and only the Maize and
Blue tennis team showed any par-
ticular liking for road trips.
Most obvious example of Michi-
gan's ineptitude away from home is
shown by the basketball record. The
Wolverine cagers chalked up a sea-
son mark of 12 wins and seven losses.
Of the dozen triumphs, nine came
on the Field House court where only
Indiana was able to top the Maize
and Blue warriors and then only af-
ter an overtime period.
Or take the hockey team with an
overall record of 17 victories, seven
setbacks and one tie. Vic Heyliger's
crew fashioned an even dozen of
those wins on home ice and were
beaten only three times here. Yet
the pucksters barely aked out a .504
mark on their 10 road trips.
The Wolverine wrestlers and golf-
ers were unbeatable at home, yet
(Continued on Page 5)
On May 30, 1879, Michigan played
its first football game in history,
downing a stubborn Racine College
eleven, 7 to 2.
With that initial victory as an in-
spiring precedent, Wolverine grid-
iron teams have marched through 67
years of football history, writing a
record book which is the envy of col-
leges throughout the nation. Enter-
ing the 1946 season, Michigan has an
all-time gridiron record of 375 wins,
108 losses, and 21 ties, a .776 average
for a total of 504 contests.
In compiling their average the Wol-
verines have only finished on the de-
ficit side of the win-lose ledger five
times since 1890, the first ,time at
least five games were played. And
since that year Maize and Blue teams
have had eleven undefeated seasons,
seven of them unmarred by even a
tie.
1932 Last Perfect Year
The last such perfect unbeaten,
untied year was 1932, when the Wol-
verines raced to the Big Ten and Na-
tional Championships. The following
season Michigan was also undefeated,'
but Minnes6ta fought them to a 0-0
deadlock.
The record book also shows that
the Maize and Blue hold an all-time
(Continued on Page 5)
D-DAY NEARS FOR 'OPERATION PIGSKIN':
Western Conference Ready for Explosive 1946 'Gridiron
No-dak
w m
F&
Year
III
By JACK MARTIN
A seething volcano on the verge of eruption is the best des-
cription that can be applied to the Western Conference football
situation as the 1946 season draws near.
Reportstrickling ont of the various Big Nine publicity camps
every day reveal more and more names of stars which have
dominated gridironcircles for the past five years and are now
being released en masse by the armed forces. Reading the ex-
pected rosters of next fall's elevens is like looking at a list of All-
has been spirited away. The Raven was drafted last month by the
Army, while his fellow wingman has signed a professional con-
tract with baseball's Cincinnati Reds. Reserve end Tom Schwartz
is also in khaki.
Two men have returned to Bo McMillin's lair, however, who
may go a long way in filling up the big hole at the flanks. Ted
Hasapes, a regular end on the Hoosier's 1941-2 elevens, will be
back, along with "Pooney" Carter, who was a stand-out frosh
prospect in 1942.
Coach Ray Elliot is planning a title-gunning squad at Cham-
paign. He'll have a near-perfect duo of half-backs in Young and
Patterson, who worked together in 1944. Both are as fast as a
lightning bolt, and with Patterson out in -front blasting a clear
path-way, Young can out-maneuver practically any pair of ends
in the country.
In addition Elliot has Rykovich on hand again, who was the
spark plug of Notre Dame's Irish during the war years as a Ma-
rine trainee. The only thing the Illini need in the backfield is
shanski, Bob Rennebohm, and Farnham Johnson, a trio of out-
standing flankers, guards Johnny Gallagher and Bob Dean, and
backs Earl Maves and Wally Dreyer.
Also expected back are Jug Girard, Badger 1944 great, Jimmy
Regan and Frank Granitz at the halfs, and quarter Ashley An-
derson.
Fourteen lettermen from championship squads of 1942 and
1944 are making Coach Paul Bixler beam with anticipation as
Ohio State awaits the coming season. There are a total of 36 re-