THE MICHIGAN DAILY
PAir.W. VIVW
~I'HE MICHIGAN DAILY
'DL IUZ NI.Nby
Young Squad Give Hope
mi I wil all PON 11
Wolverine Cage
Fortunes
9
WILLIAM PERIGO . .. new head cage coach
I * * *
Pergo'S Background Shows
.16 Years of Coaching Success
4' E uC8
By DICK LEWIS
Youth, spirit and a climb out of
the dephts of the Western Con-
ference second division should be
the keynote of Michigan basket-
ball in 1952-53.
And the irst step toward a big
time court attraction in Ann Ar-
bor has been taken with the de-
parture of Ernie McCoy, Wolver-
ine mentor since 1948.
* * *
MC COY'S ACCEPTANCE of
the athletic director spot at Penn
State last June ended a four-year
reign of discouraging defeats for
the Maize and Blue hoopsters.
The last Big Ten pennant
garnered by a Michigan court
squad was in 1947-48 when Oz-
zie Cowles, present Minnesota
hoop chief, led his charges to a
10-2 slate in conference play
and a 15-5 record overall. Mi-
chigan basketball, under McCoy,
has been on the rapid decline
ever since.
In four years of competition,
McCoy-coached teams could man-
age only 18 league wins in 52
starts. Last season, an aggressive
Wolverine five escaped from the'
cellar in the very last game of the
season while compiling four wins
in 14 outings against Big Ten
schools.
FINAL STATISTICS reveal that
the e1952 Maize and Blue entry
lacked court finesse in gaining its
eighth-place deadlock with North-
western.
The green Wolverines trailed
the pack in ield goal percent-
age hitting on only 28 per cent
of their shots from the floor,
and were also last on the free
throw line, meshing 59 per cent
of their charity tosses.
To the credit side of the ledger,
Michigan's youngsters did show .
flashes of brilliance in the past
campaign.
* * *
AFTER DROPPING t h r e e
early-season decisions in a row,
McCoy's five bounced back with a
three-point win over Colorado,
and then took Virginia into camp
before bowing to Penn State in
the Steel Bowl TdUrney at Pitts-
burgh.
A New Year's Day score over
Princeton buoyed up the hopes
of Wolverine rooters for the im-
pending Big Ten action, but the
local cagers got off on the wrong
foot, dropping five successive
scraps to Iowa (twice), Indiana,
Minnesota and Illinois.
These four squads were the top
four in the Conference at the
close of the season.
* * *
MICHIGAN'S first league vic-
tory was undoubtedly its sweet-
est. Paced by freshman guard Don
Eaddy and sophomore center Milt
Mead, the Wolverines trampled
Michigan State, 50-36, at Yost
Field House.
In chalking up its first Big
Ten success, the Maize and Blue
combine overcame an 18-12
halftime deficit to mesh 21 mar
kers in the third quarter and win
going away.
Following a two-point loss to
Northwestern on the Ann Arbor
hardwood, the McCoy unit shifted
into second with a 71-69 decision
over the Wildcats at Evanston.
Captain Jim Skala, a 6-4 senior
from Chicago, threw in 21 tallies
to spark the winners.
* * *
MICHIGAN FELL, 64-57, in a
non-conference test with Mar-
quette at Milwaukee, and extend-
ed its losing streak to two straight
by suffering an eight-point loss at
the hands of power-laden Minne-
sota.
Then came a big surprise. The
Wolverines tangled with Wis-
consin at Yost Field House, and
entered the fourth and final
period on the short end of a
51-45 score.
But a steady surge gave the
Maize and Blue a 56-55 advantage
with less than five minutes re-
maining, and McCoy's speedy
quintet proceeded to freeze the
ball for the remainder of the con-
test to ice the one-point triumph.
* * *
A WEEK LATER, Ohio State
shocked the Wolverines, 80-67, be-
hind a 40-point performance by
sophomore center Paul Ebert, and
Wisconsin canned 31 free throws
to turn back Michigan easily, 69-
53.
Returning to the hoop wars
at East Lansing the next week,
Michigan State avenged its pre-
vious setback at Ann Arbor by
trouncing the Maize and Blue,
80-59.
This scrap set the stage for the
final game of the season two days
later at Ann Arbor.
THE PRINCIPALS were Michi-
gan and Purdue, in a flat-footed
tie for the league cellar. The lo-
cals escaped the tenth position
with a hard-fought 68-60 win.
Captain Skala, playing his fi-
nal game in a Blue uniform,
poured 23 points through the
hoop to lead. both squads in the
scoring column and boost his
three-year varsity total to 508
tallies.
Does this seem like a bleak out-
look for 1953? Not on your life. Of
the eight performers that took
the court against the Boilermak-
ers in the season's finale, only
Skala graduated.
* * *
HEADING THE returning let-
termen is diminutive Doug Law-
rence, captain-elect from St. Paul,
Minnesota. Lawrence, who stands
only 5-8, ranked fourth among
Michigan scorers with a 22-game
output of 147 counters. 8he flash,
left-handed senior cavorts at one
of the guard posts.
At the other backcourt posi-
tion is deadeye Eaddy, a sure-
shooting cophomore from Grand
Rapids.
In his freshman year of varsity
play, Eaddy rifled in 188 tallies to
place third among the Wolverine
point-getters. Eaddy's specialty is
a two-handed set-shot from way
out.
* * a
MEAD, A 6-7 giant center from
Bay City, showed great promise
while competing at the forward
and center spots. He netted 238
scores to finish twenty behind
Skala, the team's leader.
IThe lanky pivot operatorlikes
to use a one-handed push, shot.
He's also quite adept from the
foul line, having led his team-
mates with 76 charity tosses last
year.
Plucky Ray Pavichevich is
another returning letterman who
will see plenty of action. This 5-11
sparkplug out of East Chicago,
Ind., played in the forward and
guard positions and banked in 98
scores for the 1952 campaign.
* * *
A DUO OF top-performers de-
clared ineligible in the middle of
the year should bolster the Wol-
verine aggregate. These are Hoos-
ier hustlers Bob Jewell and Ralph
Kauffman.
Competing in 14 contests, the
6-5 Jewell was a real crowd-
pleaser. This well-packed cen.
ter notched 57 scores and was
especially adept with a right-
handed hook shot.
Letterman Carl Brunsting, for-
ced out at mid-season with a bro-
ken arm, sophomores Bob Topp
and Jerry Stern, junior Syd Cook,
and senior Jack (Legs) Levitt pre-
sent a powerful bench for the new
Michigan mentor, who will be
shooting for the Maize and Blue's
sixth Western Conference cage
crown.
Bill Perigo, successful coach at
Western Michigan College, has
been chosen to guide the Wolver-
ine basketball quintet this win-
ter.
Perigo, an exponent of the fast
break, replaces Ernie McCoy who
is now directing the athletic pro-
gram at- Pennsylvania State Col-
lege.
SERVING THE new mentor as
assistant coach is Matt Patanelli,
well-known Wolverine athlete of
the mid-thirties. Patanelli acted
in the same capacity at Western
Michigan where he also helped
tutor football and baseball.
ed the Markelville, Ind. high school
quintet for two years and then
moved to Benton Harbor, Mich.
where he succeeded Bill Orwig,
now a Michigan football coach.
* * *
IT WAS IN Benton Harbor that
Perigo made a name for himself
as a cage mentor. In his 13 years.
there his teams won the South-
west Conference title seven times,
played in the state finals three
times aind won the Class A cham-
pionship once. His record during
that span was 122 wins and 64
losses.
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