Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 18, 1923)
8 THE BATTALION A^qqie) Sporh/* D. H. KEITH Statistician A. C. TAYLOR, Editor O. C. GENTRY, Associate Editor MARVIN STEPHENS Assistant Editor BASKETBALL IS HERE Bible is Tinkering with Champions—Aggie Machine is Rounding in Shape to Begin Long Race; Fifth Championship. The Texas Aggies are beginning the long grind that precedes the an nual battle for the championship of the Southwest. Every afternoon the Aggie basketeers are going through both fundamental drill and active scrimmage so that they will be in shape to turn back the attacks of the Longhorns, Mustangs, Owls, Frogs, and other types of animals that will invade College Station after Christ mas. Unlike most of the other confer ence teams, the Aggies are not mak ing a Christmas trip. The Aggies were offered a good trip through the East and North but trips undermine the morale of a team and the Aggies refused to go. They are putting in the two weeks that precede Christmas in good hard work so that they will be on equal terms with the teams that do make Christmas trips. While the Aggie prospects are not bright for a championship at this stage of the game, there is every evi dence that they will put a hard-fight ing, fast team on the court that will make someone step before their string of consecutive championships is broken. We do not have a large number of letter men returning as is the case at S. M. U. and Texas, but there is some good material on hand and if the squad escapes injury they have a chance to win. We have one advantage; we are the champions. That adds cockiness and self-confi dence to a basketball team that is indispensable to a winning aggrega- t'on. The squad is now eleven strong fol lowing the cut made Saturday. There are four letter men, three squad men, and four men from last year’s fresh man squad. The guard position is probably the strongest this year. Captain Gill and Washburn are veterans of last year’s championship aggregation. They are both fast experienced guards that have played together until their team work is beautiful to watch. Gill is still suffering from his injured shoul der but he will be in top form after the holidays. Duckett, last year’s handy man, is running center and if his stamina holds up he will get the call all sea son. Kyle and Prather are both good men and with a little more experience will make good substitutes. Darby and Wilcox have been hold ing down the forward positions dur ing the practice scrimmages. Darby was the most sensational forward in the conference last year, unanimous ly being selected as All-Conference forward. Wilcox played on the fresh- map team last year and performed in splendid fashion in the inter-company league. There are a number of good men an the squad this year that will see ;ervice in the way of substituting 3ven if they don’t manage to take ome regulars position from him. Dealy and Dansby are both good guards that may be called on this /ear to substitute and both of them are capable. Dealy played on the :quad last year while Dansby made a fish numeral. Dansby is in good condition from his football training and if the squatty little boy puts the light into his court work that he did nto his gridiron game there is no reason why he should not make an Aggie regular some day. Brient and Damon are the other wo men that go to make up the quad. Brient can be used at either center or forward and will be re membered as the “hero” of the Rice game. Damon is a big, husky youth hat is showing promise of being hard o stop. He is one of the toughest men to take the ball away from that has ever played on an Aggie court md when he learns to shoot, he will star. D. X. has taken over the squad and vill have them in good shape by the ;'me the first conference game rolls iround. The Aggies are especially Messed this year with fast forwards nd the criss-cross passing game will oredominate. The long shots that fea tured last year’s play will not be nec essary but the men are there to shoot them in case the opponents stop the floor game. WRESTLING AND BOXING ARE COMING BACK. Wrestling and Boxing, once pre mier sports in Agg'eland, are coming hack in the form of exhibition match es. L. G. Jones, once coach of the Aggie wrestling team is in charge of these exhibitions and he promises ome good matches as soon as the men get in condition. The object of his training is to give the men who care for these sports a chance to levelop their knowledge and at the ame time to provide entertainment between halves of the basketball james. At present there are some sixteen 3r so men who are working out under he tutelage of Mr. Jones and there re indications that more men will come out after Christmas. The ath letic Department is furnishing the equipment for these sports and it is hoped that every man will take ad vantage of this opportunity to learn Wrestling and Boxing. The men who have reported to date are: Kennedy, Murphy, Talbert, M. H. Mueller, A. B. Muellei', Frederick, Gilchrist, Cole, Hightower, and How- deshell. FOOTBALL SQUAD GIVEN BANQUET Col. Ashburn Says Not a Word of Complaint Heard From Ex-Students. Last Friday night, the football cquad, coaches, and yell leaders were the guests of Mr. Duncan at a very nformal banquet, held in the Mess Hall Annex. Very informal is the only way the occasion can be express ed; everybody just took their places and began eating. There were no speeches to mar the enjoyment of the delicious delicacies that were placed before this aggregation of confirmed “meal-hounds.” From the time the oyster cocktails were served until the smokes were passed around, the athletes demon strated their enormous capacity for food consumption. To express it in the words of one of the guests: “It was fit for a timid football player who was not in training.” Each plate was designated with an attractive place card, and the table was arrang ed in the form of a “T,” elaborately decorated with the traditional red and white. After the appetites of those pres ent had been satisfied, Colonel Ike Ashburn supplied the closing speech of the evening. He Expressed his im- press'ons of the past season in a sim ple way. “We have known all the fall that we had a good team with merely a single spark of power lack ing to bring victory,” he said. And in that recognition Aggie fans have been able to find no cause of com plaint at the results that the season has brought us. There has not been a single grievance voiced by an ex-stu dent of the College, and on the other hand the Aggies have been compli mented and lauded for their superior sportsmansh'p by influential speak ers in public places and in the news papers.” As an appropriate ending for such an occasion Monty Montgomery was called upon to lead in giving “fif teen” for Mr. Duncan. LOOKING TO DALLAS. The Agg'es from the metropolis of our broad and expansive state made the following announcements: A “Scrip” dance will be given on the Roof Garden of the Jeffecson Hotel on the night of December 22, beginning at 8:30 p. m. The “Aggie- land Eight” will play. The dance given by the Dallas A. and M. Club in honor of the Dallas A. and M. Mother’s Club and Ex- Students will be held at the Lake- wood Country Club on the night of December 26. All A. and M. men are cordially invited. Jack Gardner will furnish the inspiration—which to at tuned ears is rhythmical jazz. ■»£«• ❖ 4* ❖ THE DOPE BUCKET. ❖ ❖ * -*$«• -►£«- -*£♦ •*£«- Many of the . cribes over the state are mentioning the teams that will be up in the race for the basketball title and none of them seem to fully realize the possibilities of a mix-up in this sport. S. M. U. and Texas have great gobs of material to draw from. The Mustangs say they have about ten or twelve lettermen, they letter ed two squads last year, and among this number are two men who are playing their fourth year. The Long horns have a number of stars back and in addition they have Esquival, who played on the famous El Paso, team from last year’s freshman team. And those are not all the rivals we are cursed with. We must not over look Rice and T. C. U. Rice has the same team that they had last year and ought to make trouble. Keith, my southpaw sport writer, says that T. C. U. has changed their game to suit modern basketball and they have a world of stuff to work with. It’s going to be a hectic season. ❖ * * Seems like the big invitation game that S. M. U. was going to play has fallen through. Guess that’s as it should be for now we wont have to worry who to pull for. sjc iii ik Sully is furnishing some mighty nice sweaters for the inter-company teams but Dick Wilson just cant be satisfied. He wants hoods and flam ing crosses furnished to his last Bat talion team in addition to the regular outfit. * ❖ ❖ Word comes from Austin that Joe Ward is trying his hand at basketball. The big fellow was a fair guard in high school and if Coach Stewart can teach him college basketball he will strengthen his team. If Joe can make the basketball team he will stand better than an even chance to make four letters this year. He is the only catcher that Billy Disch has left for his baseball team and he can put the shot with the best. ❖ ❖ * Waco and Abilene in the finals. Looks like you can’t keep those birds out of the .gravy. Get on the line gang, and get some of those men down here. You West Texas guys write to Abilene and tell them how you are pulling for them to kick Waco into the ocean and you Central Texas guys write to Jinx Tucker and tell him how you are hoping Waco can cop again. Who’ll win? I dunno. * ❖ * Here’s wishing you the merriest Christmas that you have ever spent. May every day that you the at home be spent in eating, sleeping, danc- ‘ng, collecting money, or watching a football game. May you forget that we had no water here at college. Let joy be unconfined. And then let us all return with memories of that full