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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 12, 1942)
LI" LUM'l)' mtg* I » * r 1 * > 9 » ■* -J* w A Ag Cagers Card 3 Games^ntySeven GridstersAre Given Letters Battalion Sports Editor Cage Team Shows Plenty of Possibilities; Cokinos Looks Like All-Conference Material They’re not of championship calibre but they do have plenty of possibilities. That, in a nutshell, is about what one can say about Manning Smith’s hustling Texas Aggie basketball team after its initial showing of the year last Wednesday night. Of course, it would be pure folly on my part to judge a team by its first game, but I think in the Ag gies’ case that might be permis sible. The fact of the matter is that the Maroon and White wear ers gave a surprisingly pleasing performance and many fans left with an idea that the 1942-43 A&M basketball year would be filled with all the thrills that were amassed by Marty Karow’s five last year. One thing, I’m sure many of the patrons noticed, was that for the first time in a number of years the Aggies sported a five-man team instead of that one-man show which has been so characteristic of past Cadet fives. The team this year seems to be balanced with each member of the quintet having a definite part in the game. It was very pleasing to look at the box- score and see the points so widely distributed among the players con cerned. The hustling and exceptional spirit and basketball ability of ball hawking Mike Cokinos is going to pay much dividends in the long run. That little Beaumont scrapper has already given basketball at A&M a real boost with his ever- hustling showmanship, hitherto and this year should find him right in the midst of things when all-con ference honors are being passed around. Mike has always been an above-the-average floorman but un til recently lacked that certain eye for the basket. Nothing was wrong with that optic last Wednesday for he hit the mesh six out of the 15 times he tried, which is pretty close to 50%. Add the 11 times that Co kinos was credited with “feeding” the ball to a scorer and you can readily realize where his value comes in. Another surprising performer was Jamie Dawson, tree-top center and one of the two tall players on the team. His defensive play at the start of the tilt lacked a bit of polish but the second half found him almost in midseason form. Jamie also looked exceptionally good in retrieving the round ball off the back-board, something the Aggies haven’t been able to accom plish for many years. Lack of height may prove to be disadvantageous to the Ags when they play such teams as Arkansas or Rice but speed may help cover up that defect. Shooting from the foul line is still ragged and may prove to be the difference between a good and bad season just as it did last year. Reserves are few and far between and that’ll cost Manning Smith’s five some. All those criticisms are based on one game. Undoubtedly the team will improve before the year is out. They will be in the thick of things in the race and are going to give a few of the favored teams plenty of trouble. „ Sports Squibs From Here and There; Willie Zapalac Accepts Invitation to East-West Tilt; . . . Willie Zapalac, the hard hitting Aggie blocker, has received and accepted an invitation to play for the West team in the annual East-West game held at San Fran cisco . . . Babe Hollingbery, Wash ington State coach, and one of the co-coaches of the West team, had plenty of praise for Zapalac’s fine playing against his team at San Antonio last Saturday and assured Coach Homer Norton that he would do everything in his power to get Willie to San Francisco ... It seems as if Zapalac hit the jackpot because he was also nominated by the football squad as president-elect of the “T” club . . . the rest of the entries—track, basketball and base ball—will get their’chance at nom inating their president but I don’t believe tliey can find anyone better than the big Bellville gridster . . . incidentally that was a prepaid po litical advertisement . . . the foot ball curtain rings down on the reg ular 1942 season this afternoon with the UCLA-USC game at Los Angeles headlining the day . . . This corner picks the Trojans, USC to you, by a couple of touchdowns primarily based on the statements made to this writer by Jay Stoves, hard-hitting tailback and Bill Rem ington, superb center, both from Washington State who declared that Southern Cal was a very un derrated team indeed . . . they figured that the latter would trim UCLA wherever the two teams played . . . Coach Homer Norton returned to college from a very successful hunting trip only to put on his travel clothes again and head out for Dallas for the annual conference meet, the first part of which was held last night . . . Ditto for Lil Dimmitt, who, while there, will take in the Sunset-Highland Park state quarterfinal game to night ... Should the conference decide to vote freshmen eligible for varsity competition then both the track and baseball teams are going to benefit immensely . . . the dia- mondeers will inherit Ernest Genth- ner, tree-top gridster from the Fish team and all-district first baseman while in Dallas, and Red Turner, sensational pitching star from Beaumont . . . the thinly clads will add Frank Savigne, superb sprint er from Rhode Island, New York . . . Assistant Sports Editor Mike Mann will take the fatal step De cember 19 with Ada Noah in a ceremony at San Antonio . . . he’s done some fine work on the Batt this year and the corner takes time out to wish him and his future missus the best of luck in the world ... A note from the Randolph Field public relations officer has it that Woody Bell, former Texas Aggie baseball great and a veteran of the Texas league, is slated to get his wings December 13 when he be comes a full-fledged bomber pilot after graduation from Kelly Field . . . Plans are still under way to form an A&M boxing team . . . Gus Link, famed college pugilist, heads the project and all interested are urged to contact Gus at the earliest moment at 64 Milner . . . Repeating our high school predic tions for the day—Sunset 6, High land Park 0; Amarillo 33, San An gelo 7, and Lufkin 27, Breckenridge 13 . . . Quintet Has Two Games Scheduled WithRandolphField . Coach Manning Smith’s Texas Aggie basketball team will hit the road Tuesday afternoon for San Antonio where they are scheduled to play four games, including a couple with Randolph Field, a team they took in stride last Wednesday, 54-41. Other games on tap include a tilt with St. Mary’s Thursday aft ernoon and a tussle with Duncan Field the following day. The games with Randolph are scheduled for Wednesday and Sunday. Following the San Antonio trip, the Ags will swing into Corpus Christi for a two day stand. There they will meet Jack Gray's power ful quintet on one day and engage Marty Karow’s five the following day. More service games are on tap for the Christmas holidays but have not as yet been worked out by Coach Smith. Meanwhile, the team went back to resume hard practice schedules and Friday afternoon saw Manning Smith run his team through a gruelling two-hour scrimmage pe riod. The starting lineup of Mike Co kinos, Leland Huffman, Pete Wat kins, Jamie Dawson and Les Pe- den continued to work with pre cision-like skill and drew much praise from Head-mentor Smith. The highlight of the past two sessions has been free-throw shoot ing, something that the Cadets were invariably weak in their tilt against Randolph Field. Each play er was given so many shots from the foul line and expected to make a certain percentage. This proced ure was followed until the player hit almost perfection. Rogers and Simmons Are Elected Co-Capts Twenty-seven members of the Texas Aggie football squad have been announced as grid lettermen for the 1942 season in a release by the athletic council. Following the announcement, the team met and elected Cullen Rogers, wing- back and signal caller of the team as well as the leading pass re ceiver in the nation,' and Elvis (Boots) Simmons, hard blocking end, as honorary co-captains of the past Aggie team. Both are seniors. Those that were given letters included the following: Ends— Boots Simmons, Somerville; Bill Henderson, Houston; Marion Slaughter, Houston; Truman Cox, Donna; and Floyd Hand, Pasadena. Tackles—Henry Foldberg, Dallas, Don Luethy, Monahans; Wayne Cure, Gilliland, J. B. Montgomery, Moran; Leonard Joeris, Abilene; and Walter Steymann, Bastrop. Guards—Felix Bucek, Schulenberg; Ray Mulhollan, Belton; Weldon Maples, Fort Worth; and Ed Og- dee, San Benito. Centers—Bill Sib ley, Abilene, and A. J. Mercer, Temple. Backs—Leo Daniels, Bryan; Willie Zapalac, Bellville; Cullen Rogers, Mart; Jake Web ster, Sweetwater; Ed Dusek, Temple; Barney Welch, Stephen- ville; Vernon Belville, Yokum; Otto Payne, Amarillo; Bob Wil liams, El Dorado; and Ed Sturck- en, San Antonio. Highlight of the lettermen re leased by the athletic council was the fact that Bill Henderson earn- (See AGGIES, Page 4) v HIGHLITES by^Ttlike Tffann There are more than 23,000 miles of designated and maintained high way in Texas, about three-fourths of which can be classed as all- weather roads. FOR COMPLETE SATISFACTION Try Our FOUNTAIN SERVICE AND SANDWICHES GEORGE’S Across From New Y Another group of unsung heroes of the Intramural department is the flock of Aggies who are em ployed by that department to act as officials of the various intra- mural sports. These men seldom receive any praise but they are con stant recipients of criticism, most ly in fun, how ever, from the boys who play in the games they referee. Mik. Mann These boys are just plain Aggies, like the rest of us and they are constantly try ing to do a good and fair job. Of ten their decisions do not fit just right with the aims of one or other of the teams. When this happens the student official is the target of much criticism. Often the boys are just doing a bit of good-natur ed kidding but sometimes these disputes lead to friction between the teams. The next time we are out play ing an Intramural game and the referee is confronted with a tough decision, let’s not be so quick to gripe at him if the decisions does not go our way. The chief aim of these boys is to call the game in as fair and equal manner as they are able to do. If anyone has ever earned words of praise it is this group of boys who do the officiat ing the Intramural games. A lone basketball match was played in the Class A division be tween C Cavalry and F Engineers. The Cavalrymen were victorious with a score of 19-4 over the En gineers. Gruy starred for the Cavalry squad with a total of 14 points. Carrington accounted for four points for the winners. The Engineers’ two field goals were made by H. Q. Haile and K. E. Esmond. C Coast Artillery freshmen won a ping pong match over C Signal Corps by a score of 2-1 in Class B competition. x. The playoffs in Class A Hand ball and Class B basketball are now well under way and the final matches will be played sometime next week. Class A tennis playoffs have been bracketed and actual playing will begin as soon as good weather and the movies allow. Two league playoffs, A Coast Artillery vs. 3 Headquarters Field Artillery and Infantry Band vs. A Quarter master, must be played to decide the occupants of two of the brack ets. Other outfits who will have representatives in the Class A tennis eliminations are: G Infantry G Coast Artillery F Coast Artillery E Infantry A Infantry 1 Headquarters Field Artillery American Legion L Infantry D Engineers E Coast Artillery C Engineers. Tumbling- Team in Need of Members; Contact Stephens Prospective members for the Aggie Tumbling team are being sought by Bobby Stephens, team captain. Numerous pleas and re quests have been transmitted by all means of communication but evidently all of these entreaties have fallen on deaf ears. This is a team which is conducted and su pervised by its own members. It is not supervised by any faculty de partment and all stunts and tricks are originated by the members. Lacking a coach the boys have al ways worked hard and put on many thrilling exhilntions which have earned them much praise. Aggies, here is a chance to get on a real, cooperative team which is free from outside supervision. The members do all the planning and work and consequently, receive all of the good words of praise. Come on, old Army, see Bobby Stephens at Dorm 11 or go to the mat room at the gym any after noon at 6 p. m. Valuable Angora Journal File Given to Library Angora goat raisers of Texas are the recipients of a priceless gift in the form of handsome bound copies of the Angora Journal for the years 1915 to 1938 inclusive, which have been presented to the A.&M. College where these ex clusive annals of the progress of the development of the Angora goat and mohair industry in the United States are on file in the College Library and available to all interested in the American An gora and mohair industry. This file of the Angora Journal, Playoffs Are Underway BATTALIONil_ Saturday Morning-, December 12, 1942 Page 3 Status of Freshman Athletes To Be Decided Today at Meet The annual fall meeting of the Southwest Conference opened last night and will continue on through today primarily to decide the age- old question whether or not fresh men entering college will be elig ible to participate in varsity ath letics. Because of the recent 18-19 year old draft law, many of the conference schools are going to suffer consequent loss of some of their star athletes and most of the schools are requesting the per mission to play freshmen. One of the few remaining col legiate athletic groups in the coun try that has not yet given in to freshman participation, the con ference is considered certain to pass a rule allowing the first-year men not only to compete in foot ball next fall but also to carry on through spring sports this year. While there is a possible likeli hood of a sharp curtailment of the sports program in general, it was not believed the entire athletic setup would be scrapped—and in fact it was not considered likely even the spring sports would be cut out entirely. The conference fathers—the ath letic chairmen of the respective schools—had . their annual meet last night while the business man agers, athletic directors and coach will have their meeting this morning at 9 a.m. Attending the meeting of the faculty group included: J. S. Wat erman, Arkansas, conference head; E. J. Kyle, A.&M; J. D. Bragg, Baylor; H. E. Bray, Rice; J. S. McIntosh, S.M.U.; Gayle Scott, Texas Christian, and J. C. Dolley, Texas University. Coaches Homer Norton and Lil Dimmitt both departed yesterday afternoon for Dallas where they will participate in the conference meet. Following the meet, Coach Norton will return to College Sta tion only to pack up and grab a train south for Montgomery, Ala bama, where he is slated to be one of the co-coaches of the South team in the traditional football battle between the North and South. Handball And Basketball In Semi-Final Stage By Mike Mann 8th Corps Headquarters hand ballers moved into the semi-final round as they defeated D Engineers by a score of 2-0 in a quai'ter final class A match. Frost and Schaper, together with Burgess and Ho ward, won the deciding matches for the Corps Headquarters team. The third game of the series was still in progress when the first two were finished and play was ceased as the Corps Headquarters group had taken the victory. Two eigth final handball match es were played and the winners have moved into the quarter rounds. E Engineers took C Chem ical Warfare and H Field Artillery beat A Field Artillery. The scores of both games were 2-1. Starring for the E Engineers team were Sutherland, Hampton, Flowers, and Huff who won the matches while Hardin and Kuyken dall won the single match for the Chemical Warfare squad. H Field Artillery stalwarts in cluded a team made up of A. Cok inos and Pactrick and another con sisting of M. Cokinos and Leske while Knetsar and Reed came through to take the lone bout for the A Battery team. Class B Basketball F Coast Artillery decidedly trounced E Field Artillery by a score of 21-1 in a quarter-final match. L. A. Smith and S. L. Jen kins, with six points each, led the Coast team to the victory. E Field (See ’MURAL SPORTS, Page 4) SWC Rates Second Place Natl Despite Early-Season Setbacks By Paul B. Williamson 1942 Intersectional Record, 200 Evenly Matched Games Section Games W L T Pet. Southeast .64 40 19 5 .664 Southwest ..42 20 19 3 .512 Pacific Coast 26 11 11 4 .500 East .58 26 27 5 .491 Missouri Val. 64 24 26 4 .481 Midwest .75 35 38 2 .480 Rockies ..22 8 11 3 .432 South Atlantic 59 20 33 6 .390 Southeastern football teams won practically two out of three of their intersectional contests through Dec. 5 of this 1942 season. That put the football teams in the states of the Southeastern conference very defi nitely ahead of those of the other, football provinces of the nation this year. In 64 intersectional games played —in which so-called breathers or push-over games were not counted —Southeastern teams won 40, lost 19 and tied 5; for a winning aver age of 66.4 per cent. Incidentally, or rather very importantly, it should be pointed out that the Wil liamson System does not consider games like those between Tennes see and Dayton, Georgia Tech and Davidson, Ouichita (Southwest) and Peru (Mo. Valley), Dartmouth and Miami of Ohio, and other simi larly matched football contests as representative in comparing the in tersectional strength of the sec tions represented by the teams in such cases. It is trite beyond words and is obviously misleading to say, for instance, that because a relatively powerful Eastern team like Dart mouth whaled the stuffin’ out of a little team like Miami of Ohio, ergo the East should be credited with an intersectional victory over the Middle West in that game. The Southwest was intersection al runner-up to the South this sea son. In 42 intersectional games, teams from the Southwest (includ ing teams from Arkansas, Okla homa and the Border conference) won 20, lost 19 and tied 3; for a Issuing bonds locally for high way building in Texas was given its first impetus by an act of a special session of the Legislature permitting subdivision of counties for road improvement purposes. The largest outdoor swimming pool in the world is located at Bal- morhea State Park, 41 miles south west of Balmorhea, Texas. Scientists are not sure where civ ilization began, but everybody knows how it may end. edited and published by the late A. C. Cage during this formative period of the development of the American mohair industry, is the gift of his widow, Mrs. Ada B. Gage, 1748 N. E. 50 Avenue, Port land, Oregon. winning average of .512. The above table is based on games between both major and mi nor teams in the various football sections. However, no intersection al game was used in compiling the table in which the two teams play ing each other were more than 7 points apart in the Williamson Rat ings of that week. During the ten years in which the Williamson System has issued its annual table of intersectional records the Midwest has always lead in number of intersectional games played. Of course, one rea son for that is that that section has relatively more teams and is bounded by more intersectional provinces. Again this year the Midwest lead with 75 intersectional games or 9 more than those of the Southeast. This year the Pacific Coast play ed only 26 intersectional games, which was well under their usual quota. When it is noted that Pa cific Coast intersectional games include those played by Coast teams with teams from the Rockies and the western part of the Border conference it is very clear that dif ficulties of transportation and oth er war troubles accounted for the relatively low number of Coast in tersectional games this season. The 1942 season was remarkable in one way for the unusually small number of tie games everywhere. It is further odd, therefore, that there were 16 intersectional tie games this year as against 5 in 1941. The average percentage for the whole nation comes out at .494 be cause tie games were figured into the percentages, each tie counting as a half-game won and a half game lost. The best answer to the soundness of any system for predicting the outcome of football games is given by the system’s reliability in call ing the turn on intersectional con tests. On the average it should be easier to compare the relative strengths of teams in the same league or section than those from separate areas. In the above 200 intersectional games, the Williamson System called only 26 wrong and met with only three upsetting ties. That gave a win-or-lose record of 86.3 per cent correct on closely to reas onably closely matched intersec tional games. Which is almost as- toundingly correct! War and priorities Won’t bother you Cash for all When you trade with Lou t®| He’s RIGHT W.fk YOU/ Do yoJ trjJe WE NEED TO BUY Your; LAMPS — SLIDE RULES ADVANCED ENGINEERING BOOKS DRAWING INSTRUMENTS LODPOrS Trading Post J. E. Loupot, ’32 North Gate