Thursday, February 22, 1951
THE BATTALION Page 5
Walker
Davis Makes Habit
* Of Overcoming Ills;
Dad Follows Team
I By FRED WALKER
Balt Associate Spoils Editor
When he was nine years old he was stricken with polio.
’ In September of ’48 he entered A&M and embarked upon a
glorious career on the basketball court. Last Saturday he had
a fever of 104, but, still flu-ridden, he took
the field against SMU Tuesday to play 35
minutes and tallied 19 points. Again Walter
“Buddy” Davis had valiantly overcome a
painful physical handicap to become the
hero of the hot^r.
Buddy appeared to be anything but well
after the game was over. He looked pale
and haggard—and tremendously happy. It
wasn’t the biggest smile that ever crossed the
6’8” center’s face, but it was there, never
theless.
Congratulations were delivered from
many people, but the things—said and un
said—from Davis’ wife, Margaret and his father, Frank Davis
of Nederland, topped them all. One couldn’t have found a
prouder parent and wife on the face of the earth.
Speaking of Frank Davis brings another story to mind.
They say that the most ardent fan is the Brooklyn Dodger
. partisan, but every last one of them can take a lesson from
Buddy’s father.
When Walt was a freshman, Mr. Davis would come up
from Nederland—180 miles—to watch his son if the Aggies
only had a scrimmage with Allen Academy. This year Mr.
Davis has missed only one game—the Arkansas tilt.
No Place Like Home
On January 16th, however, Walter’s father made a
mistake. It wasn’t just the fact that he covered 700 miles
to see that first SMU game, it was what occurred on the
^ way home.
As everyone knows, Beaumont is a fairly large city,
somewhere around 90,000. That last two or three hundred
miles must have caught up with Mr. Davis for he claims
that he doesn’t remember going through Beaumont. This
is where the mistake came in. He told Buddy’s mother
that he jerked awake several times to find himself run
ning on the shoulder of the highway.
Mrs. Davis sternly told her husband that he better
stay home for a while for she was “too old to start look
ing for a new husband.”
The few people present to hear Mr. Davis tell this
one had a good chuckle at this down-too-earth advice, but
they also found out where Buddy Davis gets his grit,
forcefulness and good old sense of humor.
Our hat off to the Davis family—both of them.
•
I Baseball Coach Beau Bell has been working the boys a la major
league. The first day he had them run rabbit—run until they were
bushed. Whether-or-not A&M baseball has a good year, the fans will
know that every last player is in good enough physical condition to give
his best.
For the last several days the 70-odd men that reported for try
outs have been doing some light batting, fielding and pitching. They
will probably have the kinks worked out by Friday for Bell plans to
start inter-squad competition then.
The ax will begin to fall on Saturday when the ex-St. Louis
Brownie starts to cut that huge 70 to a traveling squad. Former Ag
gie star center fielder and new St. Louis Cardinal Wally Moon has
been assisting Bell.
•
Although Harry Stiteler and his Backfield Coach Gil Steinke gave
staff has been held up considerably his charges some sweet lessons in
by the weather and its damaging broken field running and pass de
results, the head football coach fense. Minus the use of a ball one
started his men on the grind again back would run down field in a
» Monday. series of zigs and zags while anoth-
Fundamentals took the limelight er tried to keep in front of him.
’ and Ray George and Dog Dawson Stienke took the runner’s position
put the linemen through plenty of after a while and gave one lad a
. hoops. Dawson seemed to take sound demonstration. He zigged
particular delight in “siccing” the when he should have zagged.
‘ mds on a tackling dummy that was Stiteler is well pleased with the
secured vertically at both ends. hustle that the squad has shown
When an eager wingman attack- thus far. He plans to scrimmage
ed, the man had to keep a stiff con- the boys every day and end the
tact with it or be catapulted six week with an inter-squad battle
»r seven feet. In another two weeks each Saturday. Next week he plans
those boys will be able to move a to start working on some running
bulldozer. plays for his quarterbacks.
Two to Go
After the basketball game Tuesday night, coach John
Floyd refused to take any of the credit for the victory.
Said Floyd:
“The boys deserve all the credit; they played a mag
nificent game.’’
SMU coach Doc Hayes followed up by saying that
the Aggies are the best team I have seen this season.
They’re in now.
It must be said here, however, that Floyd takes his
games one at a time, and A&M still has to face Rice,
who upset the Frogs, and Texas, a team about which too
much cannot be said in A&M circles.
f Here and There
“I think Mr. Spink is full of prunes,” was what Ted Williams had
to say when Taylor Spink, publisher of the Sporting News, remark
ed that no baseball player should be paid over $35,000 annually ....
. Abe Saperstein’s Harlen Globe-Trotters have scheduled 301 basket
ball games for 1951, mo're than a college team would schedule in 10
years .... Joe Harris, basketball forecaster, called the Rice-TCU and
SMU-Texas upsets last week .... Irony: ten days ago LIU coach
Clair Bee said that a coach’s judgment of his players is not infallible.
“I worked with boys a long time, but I could be wrong,” Bee de
clared. Three LIU stars arc no.w facing a jail sentence for taking
bribes The Yankee Clipper, Joe DiMaggio, went over the $1,000,-
000 pay mark when he signed his ’51 .contract for a reported $100,000.
A 1 hind--sonic To Win
Walter “Buddy—The Hand” Da
vis shows how he picked up his
new nickname Tuesday when
A&M beat SMU, 49-43.
Though indistinguishable in the
galaxy of players collected
around the west goal in DeWare
Field House, Davis is neverthe
less recognized by his educated
mitt which here collected two of
its total 19 points during the
flashing contest.
Clutching anxiously at Davis’
arm is Jack Brown, while Char
lie Lutz looks hopelessly on.
Going up with Brown is John
DeWitt and through the mass of
humanity, is seen the No. 13 of
Marvin Martin.
The man in the rear with the
pained expression is Freddy
Freeman.
Owls Can Shape SWC Lead
Heavyweights Top Card
In Little Gym Battles
By JOE BLANCHETTE
Batt Sports Staff
v : The heavyweights stole the show
from the other weight divisions on
the Wednesday Intramurals Wrest
ling card. The top bout of the af
ternoon was undoubtedly the R. C.
Giescke—Fred Klatt battle.
: Although Giescke pinned Klatt in
1:40 of their scheduled five min
ute clash the crowd’s interest was
centered on the two bruising grap-
plers.
In the only other heavyweight
battle of the afternoon Mac Max
well of B QMC earned a 7-1 deci
sion over Scott of the Maroon
Band and Grubbs pinned Ralph
Hartman.
123 Found Class
If Skeet Cameron of G AF just
teal fye whistle by
King of I AF in 4:59. Rudy Riviera
of D Vets edged by Park of B
'Engineers on a 6-3 decision.
137 Found Class
Lindley of C AF decisioned Avila
of A Armored, 5-1 while Harold
Turner of L AF tossed Bob- Brad
ley to the canvas in 2:12 of their
bout. Hood of A FA stopped Un
derwood of C Infantry 10-2.
130 Found Class
Bill Scott of E FA recured a
firm hold on Goldstein and immed
iately pinned th e supplyman in
1:15 as Fletcher of I AF was drop
ping Huey of C FA to the mat in
2:51 of their match. Patton of HAF
gained a 7-6 win over George Laing
of L AF.
Ill the only 157 lb. match of the
Intramural card yesterday Bob
Braslau of Company 7 pinned An-
dfew$ pf Company 8 in 2 AO,
The Texas Aggie Basketeers, at
present all alone at the top of the
Southwest Conference heap, will
move stealthily into Houston Sat
urday night to engage the giant
killing Rice Owls.
Although the Aggies have now
fully labeled themselves as “the
team to beat”, they may find that
they have bitten off more than they
can chew when they go after the
Owls.
The last time that the two quin
tets tied into each other the Ag
gies came out on top 51-39. This
was the least number of points
that Rice has been limited to
this season. In that game the Owl’s
No. 1 man, center Joe McDermott,
was restricted to 6 points by a
watchful Buddy Davis.
Giant-Killer
Suffering one of the worst sea
sons that they have had in quite
a while, the Feathered Flock 'will
be.striving to knock another con
ference leader from its lone post.
When they beat TCU 54-49 last
weekend, the Horned Frogs also
had been the sole possessor of the
conference lead.
Only a little more than a month
earlier, TCU had torn Rice to
pieces and set a conference scor
ing record to the tune of 87-66.
Joe McDermott, 6’ SVa” center
from Lufkin, has been “Mr. Rice”
all season. The second year letter-
man senior is the current confer
ence scoring leader for points scor-
(See RICE CONTROLS, Page 6)
“Vour Home
A way-From-Home
MOVE YOUK MEM BEE SHIP
TO THE CHUKCH OF
YOUE CHOICE
??
‘TVs the
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C hristian thing to do.'
ollegiate thing to do.
FIRST
BAPTIST
College Station
(Block North of
Post Office)
FIRST COLLEGE AVE. CALVARY
BAPTIST BAPTIST BAPTIST
Bryan
Bryan
(Block South of
Courthouse)
(Just East of
Bryan High)
Bryan
(Half-way
to Bryan )
The NEW BAPTIST STUDENT CENTEK
(by North Gate Bus Station)
* Recreation
Room
* Snack Bar
* Spacious
Lounge
Erected by Texas Baptists and
supported by above churches
for your enjoyment.
All AGGIES Welcome!
AGGIE VESPERS
Daily
Except
Wednesday
7:15 - 7:45
P. M.
Southeastern 1st Wetter
Foe; Tankers Meet OF
By B. F. ROLAND
The Aggie tennis team will open its 1951
season tomorrow afternoon at 2 p. m. when
it takes the court against Southeastern.
Rated with Texas and SMU this year as
one of the three top teams in the conference,
the Aggie netmen to claim this ranking are
Ray DeBerry, junior; Royce Tate, junior;
Dick Hardin, senior; and Eugene Letsos,
sophomore, all of whom will start
against Southeastern.
All the netters, except Letsos
won a letter for the 1950 season.
DeBerry, a San Angelo High
School product, played the No. 1
singles last year and the No. 1
doubles with Tate.
Tate, Corpus Christi High School
star and 1948 state high school
doubles champ, was the No. 3 sing
les player last yeai', besides being
on the No. 1 doubles team.
Hardin, who hails from Amarillo,
filled the No. 4 singles and No. 2
doubles slots last year.
The top freshman on the 1950
Fish team was Letsos. While play
ing, high school tennis in Galves
ton, he gained the state high
school doubles finals in 1948 and
was a 1949 singles finalist. Letsos’
triumph came a year later when
he won the state TAAF singles
crown.
Two sophomores who will be
heavily called upon to furnish re
serve power will be Tom West of
San Antonio and Don Farmer from
Galveston. The grapevine has if
that both will be capable of filling
any vacant spot on the team.
Bookies Tired
Of Being Taken
In B’ktball Fix
By MURRAY ROSE
AF Feature Writer
R. J. DeBerry
New York, Feb. 22—(A*)—Maybe
the bookmakers will solve the prob
lem of fixes themselves. A big
bookmaker told us he has stopped
taking bets on college basketball
games.
“By next year,” he said, “none
of the big money commissioners
will handle ’em. I got clipped for
five grand on one dump and it’s
not going to happen to me again.”
Bookie Operation
Our informant is a layoff man.
In business, he might be called a
wholesaler. Fie doesn’t do much
business with regular bettors. Most
of the wagers he handles are from
other bookmakers in different cit
ies.
The individual betting money
that he does handle, however, is
wagered by plungers. Most of the
bets he takes are from $500 up,
the “up” reaching into five figures.
If he gets too much “action,” he
spreads some of the bets to bookies
in other cities.
“Dumps are arranged by punks,”
said the bookie. “The regular deal
er wants honest sports. We make
our living by the vigorish (the
regular percentage or commission
for taking bets). We got the vig
running for us and we’ve got to
win out in the long run.
“The punk is out to clip us. He
fixes a game and tries to catch
us.”
“How did I happen to get caught
^(See BOOKIES, Page 6)
By JOE HOLLIS
The Aggies Mermen will splash water
against two of the strongest teams in this
part of the country this weekend in P. L.
Downs Natatorium.
The first meet, scheduled for 3 p. m. Fri
day, will be against the Oklahoma Sooners.
The next afternoon the Ags will play host
to the Rice tankers at 2:30 p. m.
4- “Oklahoma is stronger than last
year,” says Coach Art Adamson,
“and they won last year so we ex
pect them to give us a rough time
since we are about the same
strength as last year.”
The meet with Oklahoma Friday
will be the fifth contest for the
cadets in the 1951 season. The
first time A&M Aquamen took to
the pool they came out with second
place honors in the SWC Relay.
Baylor fell next to the Aggies
with a left handed score of 55-20.
Northwestern Louisiana State fell
next when the Aggies drowned
them to the tune of 42 to 33.
Coach Adamson will rely heavily
on the sei’vices of both Van Adam
son and Ralph Ellis, who garner
ed A&M’s only first place points
in their recent meet with SMU.
Despite their first place points the
Ags were dunked 30-55.
Bill Sargent and Tommy Corn-
stock will also be in there splash
ing for the Aggies giving able as
sists to Adamson and Ellis.
Wallace Elected
Baseball Captain
Guy Wallace, senior letterman
shortstop from Dallas, has been
elected captain of the 1951 Aggie
Baseball team by his teammates.
The five-foot-nine-inch Wallace
has earned two varsity letters in
Aggieland baseball, and this year
will be seeking a third. In the 1950
season he was one of the leading
hitters at A&M with a .306 average.
While in high school at North
Dallas, Wallace was honored with
All-District distinction. One year
he was All-State.
All SWC
At A&M Wallace rated all
Southwest Conference two years,
and, in 1949, was named AAU All-
Southwest.
mm
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Cheese . . 21b. carton 91c
2— NO. 2 CANS DIAMOND
Spinach 29c
3— CANS WILSON’S
Sardines . . . 20c
GIANT SIZE
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Tomatoes cln, 23c
2—NO. 2 CANS TEXSUN
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SWEET, JUICY FLORIDA—200 SIZE
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Specials for Friday & Saturday - Feb. 23rd & 24th
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