Football
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Football
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Edition
ROOM 5 ADMINISTRATION BLDG. - VOLUME 42 COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, MONDAY MORNING, SEPT. 21, 1942
2275
NUMBER 47
Cadet Gridsters in Final Preparation for LSU Tilt
Enrollment
Of 6000 Is
Expected
1794 New Students
Already Admitted;
1448 Are Freshmen
Approximately six thousand stu
dents are expected to enroll for
the sixty-seventh session starting
this week, states H. L. Heaton, act
ing registrar of the college.
To date 1794 applications for
admission to the college for the
fall term have been accepted. Out
of these 346 are transfers from
other schools, making a total of
1448 scholastic freshmen already
admitted.'Applications are still be
ing accepted and the present fig
ure Ivill probably be greatly in
creased, stated Heaton.
Housing the Cadets this year is
expected to be a major problem
of officials since the navy and
marines ocupy six of the largest
dormitories. •
A plan has been submitted for
housing the overflow from the
regular dormitories in private
homes of the community around
the college.
The 1942 Texas Aggie Football Squad
.........
8 t i? . - X'-. 1 .. . fe > r: . :
Front Row, left to right—Henry
Foldberg, Dallas; Don Luethy,
Monahans; Felix Bucek, Schulen-
berg; Bill Sibley, Abilene; Ray
Mulhollan, Belton; Weldon Maples.
Fort Worth; Bill Henderson, Hous
ton.
Second Row—Ed Sturcken, San
Antonio; Bobby Williams, Eldora
do; Jake Webster, Sweetwater; Leo
Daniels, Bryan; Willie Zapalac,
Bellville; Cullen Rogers, Mart; Jim
Montgomery, Moran; Wayne Cure,
Gilliland.
Third Row—George Wilde, Gra
ham; Ed McMullen, Lufkin; Fred
Walker, Houston; Ranza Adams,
Pearsall; Damon Tassos, San An
tonio; Jennings Anderson, San An
tonio; Vernon Belville, Yoakum;
J. T. Sample, Dallas; Barney Welch,
Stephenville.
Fourth Row—Walter Steyman,
Bastrop; Leonard Joeris, Abilene;
Bill Thomas, Sweetwater; Floyd
Hand, Pasadena; Bill Redus, Am
arillo; Ed Dusek, Temple; Law
rence .Payne, Fort Worth; Ben
Stout, Dallas; Owen Moore, Ama
rillo.
Fifth Row—John Whitacre, Ste
phenville; Jim Wilson, Dallas; Dan
Levy, Corsicana; Fred Page, Ama
rillo; Dick Hill, Amarillo; Norman
Brown, Corpus Christi; Jerry
Sparkman, Houston; Jamie Daw
son, Crockett; Truman Cox, Donna.
Sixth-Row—Arthur Mercer, Tem
ple; Dickie Haas, Corpus Christi;
Louis Buck, Mathis; Laddie Liska,
Runge; Melchor Gonzales, San An
tonio; Pete Slaughter, Houston.
Joe Biry, D’Hanis; Bill Compton,
Austin; Bill Andrews, Amarillo;
Ed Ogdee, San Benito; John Stout,
Handley.
First Group of Freshmen Gridsters Report
To Lil Dimmitt; To Scrimmage Varsity Tues
The first group of an expected
80-man freshman team reported to
Coach Lil Dimmitt Saturday after
noon. No workout was held but
uniforms and all other formality
was attended to before the pros
pective gridsters were finally re
leased. 1
They will begin practice Monday,
Cooperating with the varsity in
scrimmage sessions and other in
cidentals.
Among those present were the
two aces of high school football,
Marion Flanagan, Sweetwater back
and Beryl Baty, flashy Paris back-
field star.
0dd-1000 Football Minded Cadets To
Make Long Trek to LSU Fray Saturday
A crowd of 100 Aggies will ac
company the Aggie football team
when it goes to Baton Rouge for
the first game with the L. S. U.
Tigers. The “Twelfth Man” will
travel the customary way as they
Lightnin Leo Daniels Brightest
AgProspedSinceDick Todd Era
By Dillard Spriggs
He’s not big and he’s not little;
he’s just middle-sized, but he’s a
whale of a football player. That’s
right we’re talking about Leo Dan
iels, better known as Lightnin’
or maybe Lopin’, and even some
times Piano Legs. This is the boy
that the Aggie hopes for a 1942
championship depend upon.
Leo hails from nearby Bryan
and in his high school days he was
one of the state’s best prep school
backs, receiving numerous mention
for a position on the all-state team
in his senior year. Few teams
were able to stop him and against
the 1939 Waco high school team,
which went to the state finals, he
took the opening kickoff and re
turned it some ninety yards for a
touchdown. Also in the same year
Leo played in the Texas state
North-South all-star high ♦school
game and amazed the spectators
with his elusive running and his
passing accuracy.
In his freshman year here at
Texas A. & M. the first squad’s of
fensive attack was built around
Lightnin’ Leo. The idea proved
successful because the fish won
their share of the games that year.
It was last year that Leo show
ed the Southwest what a good
player he really is. Playing be
hind the conference’s most valuable
backfield man, Derace Moser, he
was voted the outstanding sopho
more in the Southwest during the
1941 season. This year the Aggies
are counting on him to be one of
the most brilliant backs in the na
tion.
Daniels possesses <. ,1 the quali
ties of a top notch triple threat
backfield ace—he’s a speedy and
shifty runner, a better than average
punter, and he’s exceptionally ac
curate with his aerials. Leo will
not be the chief signal caller—
that’s Cullen Rogers’ job—but he
is a smart field general, and will
be able to carry on when Rogers
447 yards for the Aggies. In the
punting department he ranked as
one of the best kickers in the lea
gue with an average of 38.4 yards
in 16 kicks. As a ball carrier he
hang out their thumbs and hitch
hike to the game, in cooperation
with the Office of Defense Trans
portation by not using the trains
or busses.
Already Aggies have begun to
campaign to educate the people of
Lousiana as to the Aggie hitch
hike science by sending stories to
papers in the towns they will pass.
Curley Brient has already put in
a good word via ( the Fitch Band
Wagon broadcast.
The uniform for the game which
all Aggies should wear is the
number two uniform. Walter Card-
well, cadet colonel, and Rocky Su
therland, president of the Senior
class , have requested that this
Ags Hold 6-3
Lead in LSU Series;
Last Game In 1926
When the Texas Aggies take on
the L. S. U. Tigers at Baton Rouge
next Saturday, it will be the first
meeting of the two teams since
1926 when the Maroon and White
triumphed 28-0.
Both teams have tangled 11
times with the Aggies holding the
long end of the margin. They have
won six, lost three, while the other
two battles ended in ties.
Much, however, has been changed
since those days and this year’s
tilt, the season’s opener for both,
promises to be among the toughest
on either schedule. Far from a
warm-up the game is more likely
to be a bitter battle between two
of the nation’s top rated elevens.
Here is the all-time record of
the Aggie—L.S.U. series:
Year AGGIES L. S. U
isn’t in the game.
Despite the fact that he wasn’t
a regular in 1941, Leo completed
36 passes out 73 attempts; gaining
picked up 70 yards in 39 carries,
however losses on attempts to pass
lowered his average. Leo lived up
(See DANIELS, Page 12)
1906
1907
1908
1913
1914
1916
1917
1920
1921
1922
1926
22
11
0
7
63
0
27
0
0
46
28
12
5
26
7
0
13
0
0
6
0
0
uniform be worn to and from the
game.
Many Aggies will make a real
vacation of the first corps trip as
plans are being made by many to
visit important spots in Louisiana
as they will have a week’s lapse
between terms.
Most Aggies will hit the road be
tween Monday and Friday,.and by
Saturday morning the invasion of
Baton Rouge will be a fore-gone
conclusion.
Henderson May Not See
Service Because of Injury
Tackle Situation Still Obscure; Aggies
To Leave For Baton Rouge Thursday Morn
By Mike Haikin
Battalion Sports Editor
The Texas Aggies, after an intensive training of three
weeks, will taper off with light exercises the next few days
as they make final preparation for their opening clash with
the L.S.U. Tigers Saturday night at Baton Rouge.
Coach Homer Norton has been giving his charges plenty
of work these past few days in a feverish attempt to have
his gridsters ready for their stiff test to come. Most of the
squad is in good shape, with in--f-~
juries, however, still- popping up
here and there.
Bill Henderson, the Aggie pass-
snatching wingfmen is still a ques
tion mark for Saturday since his
back injury a few days ago is
only in the recovery stage. Norton
however has indicated that he will
start the tree-top Houston sensa
tion. If, by some unforseen cor-
cumstances, Henderson should be
laid low by his injury, Henry Fold
berg, sbphomore prospect will pro
bably take over the flank position.
Foldberg has been the starting
end ever since Henderson’s mis
hap.
Another question mark for the
coming Saturday fray is the tack
le slot. Since Don Luethy’s collar
bone injury, Norton and Line-
Coach Bill James have been in a
dither as to who would play the
tackle slot come the L. S. U. game.
Weldon Maples, husky 195 lb.
guard and Wayne Cure, burly
208 lb. guard, have been alternat
ing at the tackle berth with good
results and both may get the start
ing call. Ben Stout, great sopho
more tackle prospect, is another
candidate for the job and may start
should he shake off his injuries.
Stout has been out with carbuncles
for two weeks but is slowly round
ing back into shape. Bill Andrews,
Jim Montgomery, Leonard Joeris
and Harold Attaway are other
gridsters fighting it out for a
tackle post.
Should Maples be moved to
tackle, Felix Bucek, the lad who
scored that $50,000 touchdown
against Arkansas last year, will
move into the starting guard posi
tion to go along with Ray Mul
hollan.
All-Conference Bill Sibley will be
at his customary post at center.
Sibley has been looking as good as
ever since the first day of prac
tice, and upon his shoulders rests
the defensive tactics of the Ag
gies.
The backfield will be composed
of Cbllen Rogers at the wingback
post and calling signals; Leo Dan
iels, tailback; Willie Zapalac,
blocking back; and sure-toed Jake
Webster at fullback. Bobby Wil
liams, versatile backfield star; Ed
Sturcken, flashy all-around back;
Jennings Anderson, sophomore
wingback; and George Wilde,
triple-threat sophomore start are
others expected to see plenty of
service.
Leaving Thursday morning at 2
o’clock, the Ags will arrive in Ba
ton Rouge Friday at which time
they will take a short workout at
the L.S.U. field.
How To Pronounce
Some Aggie Names
Every year radio announcers,
sports writers and commentators
find it very hard to pronounce
some of those “Notre Dame” or
“Fordham” names, so the Publicity
Department of A. & M. diciphere
somfe of the hard-to-say Aggie
names before they send them out.
Here are a few examples:
Player How-ti-say-it
Bucek Bue-check
Dusek Do-seck
Hass (not Haws) Hass
Luethy Lew-the
Mulhollan Mull-haul-ann
Steymann Stie-mann
Sturcken Stir-ken
Wilde (not Wild) Will-dee
Zapalac Zap-a-lack
Just to Get Somebody Straight!
Not TCU or Texas But Aggies
Invent the Traditional 12th Man
There is hardly a college any
where but what is steeped in tra
ditions of one sort or another, but
so far as research can determine,
no college in the United States
has a “twelfth man” on their foot
ball team, but that is what the Tex
as Aggies have.
The entire student body of near
ly 7,000 young men all under mili
tary training and discipline and all
wearing regular army type of uni
form, have come to be known by
the appellation of the “twelfth
man” and here is how it happened.
In 1922
Back in 1922 the Texas Aggie
team of 1921 was playing a post
season football game in Dallas,
Texas, on New Year’s Day, with
the Praying Colonels of Centre
College. The game was one of those
rough and tumble affairs and fin
ally Coach Dana X. Bible, then at
Texas A.&M. College, realized that
one more injury would leave him
without another back to send into
the game.
Maj. S. King Gill, M. C., a
physician of Corpus Christi, Tex
as, had been a member of the squad
that year but lacking the exper
ience and ability of the others, he
had not been taken on the trip
with the team. However, like all
Texas Aggies, he made the trip at
his own expense and had seen Bible
before the game and jokingly had
told the coach he would be in the
stands if he were needed.
Gill Goes In
Bible remembered that state
ment and sent one of the yell lead
ers into the stands to find Gill
and tell him to come to the dres
sing room and suit up so he could
be used if needed. Gill responded
but all available records fail to
show that he played in that game.
However, records show that he did
win two football letters, two in
basketball and three in baseball
before rounding out his career at
Aggieland.
Since that day the Aggies have
stood the full length of every
football game so that they will be
on their feet and ready should
the coach ever call upon them to
respond with another player, as
they did with Gill back in 1922. So
strong is this tradition that in 1940
when the Aggies played U.S.L.A. in
Los Angeles, about 200 Aggies
made the trip and had seats in the
fifty-yard line section. True to tra
dition, they stood up when the game
started but when the other fans
made a crjr about them standing
all the time, they vacated those
prized seats and all went into the
end zone where they could still
stand without annoyance to the
other fans.
The next time that a coach invok
ed his prerogative to call upon the
“twelfth man” for help was in
1930 when Coach Matty Bell, who,
by the way, had played for Centre
in that 1922 game, when they
lost 22-14 to the Aggies, and then
coach at Texas A. & M., found
himself short a center and asked
the “twelfth man” to produce one.
Again they responded with Lt. Joe
Love, a former freshman center,
who is now on active duty with the
U. S. Army, as is Dr. Gill. Love
did not letter in that year but be
fore he hung up Jiis elects, he had
won two varsity football letters
despite the fact that he weighed
but 155 pounds and stood only
five feet, nine inches.
Same Spot in ’41
In 1941 Coach Homer Norton
found himself in the same spot
that Matty Bell was so he broad
cast his plea to the “twelfth man”
and again they responded with
nine candidates, but a shift of
Maurice Williams from end to cen
ter solved the problem and the
“twelfth man” candidates went
back into .the stands to await an
other call.
Who can say now what one of
those boys might carve himself
a niche in the Aggie list of
Aggie “greats” before he is thru?
And once again the Texas Ag
gie tradition of the “twelfth man”
has been re-affirmed.