Page 6
THE BATTALION
College Station, Texas Wednesday, September 29, 1965
FROM THE
Side^i
ineA
By Larry R. Jerden
A giant is stirring in the mud
dy Brazos River Bottoms. His
strength first showed partly in
the Baton Rouge night a week
ago, and was seen full-force Sat
urday in Atlanta. The message
is getting around fast: The Ag
gies Are Back.
The fever is somewhat slowly
gripping the wide campus. No
longer are the students existing
through football season, casting
a wishful eye at the basketball
team. For the Aggies, football
is respectable again. You can see
it at yell practice, where, in ad
dition to corps underclassmen,
are found seniors in boots, ci
vilians, and girls mixed with the
khaki-clad lads.
You can sense it on the cam
pus and hear it as week-end plans
suddenly change and a caravan
starts forming for Lubbock. It
just may not be such a long foot
ball season, after all.
The vanguard of Aggie sup
port for the season was well in
evidence in Atlanta. In addition
to the 30 or so Corps Seniors,
there were civilians and under
classmen, mothers, sweethearts
and exes. There was quite a yell
sounded when the Aggies scored,
followed by the traditional si
lence with each point!
Some traveled from College
Station, one ex came from New
York, and servicemen came from
nearby bases to support the Ag
gies.
All were impressed by the
friendliness of the hosts, the
pleasant city of Atlanta, and the
winning Aggie Team.
And Head Coach Gene Stall
ings! The team won the game,
but it was his leadership, plan
ning and inspiration that have
started the Aggies on the way
back.
The question of the week:
Where was the Aggie Band Sat
urday night?
Aggie Notes and Quotes
Three sophomores and a jun
ior were in the opening A&M
backfield against Georgia Tech.
Wingback Dan Westerfield was
the junior. The sophs were QB
Harry Ledbetter, halfback Bill
Sallee and fullback Dan Schnei
der .... Schneider, of Trafford,
Pa., had a personal cheering sec
tion on hand. His mother, two
brothers and their wives and his
girlfriend, made the 17-hour auto
drive to watch him play . . .
Coach Gene Stallings told
Bryan-College Station TV view
ers Sunday afternoon . . . “Our
bunch of narrow-shouldered, skin
ny-legged kids just did a great
job . . . they just kept scrapping
and it was a big victory that took
a lot of doing . . . they proved
they were willing to pay the
price and the win proved to them
that things come to those who
prepare themselves” . . .
Jerry Nichols received a gash
in his forehead that required
eight stitches but A&M team
doctors Henry McQuaide and Tom
Moore had him ready to return
to action so quickly that he
missed only two plays . . . Texas
writers staffing the A&M-Geor-
gia Tech game included Mickey
Herskowitz of the Houston Post,
Charles Carder of the Houston
Chronicle, Bob St. John of the
Dallas News, John West of the
Bryan Eagle . . .
Kachtik Masters End
When the talk gets around to
good solid football players on the
1965 Texas A&M squad, the name
Jerry Kachtik always is men
tioned quickly.
Coach Gene Stallings told his
Sunday TV viewers “If you had
eleven Jerry Kachtiks on your
team, all you’d have to do would
be sit back and say ‘Go get ’em
Kachtiks.”
DEFENSIVE END JERRY KACHTIK
Stallings Praises
Aggie Comeback
If Stallings believes in Kach
tik, the senior defensive end from
Rio Honda has an even stronger
faith in the new Aggie coach.
“Our good showing against
LSU and our win over Georgia
Tech is all coach Stallings’ do
ing,” Kachtik says. “He and his
staff got everyone in good shape
and they made us believe we
could win. I really believe every
thing he says and I know you
can make your own breaks if you
keep plugging away as hard as
you can.”
This is the first year Kachtik
has ever played defensive end
but after two games he looks
like a veteran. He was a half
back both ways his sophomore
year at Rio Hondo High, a full
back-linebacker his junior year
and then he played both halves
his senior year. At A&M, until
last spring, he was a fullback-
linebacker.
Hondo, we had 23 players on the
squad and 14 of us played. We
won 11 and lost 1.”
In two games this year, the
Aggies have had 45-player travel
squads and about 30 have gotten
into the games.
The two big things about play
ing defensive end are “contain
ing” and “offside pursuit,” Kach
tik says. “Grady Allen proved
the value of offside pursuit when
he came from the opposite side
to recover that Georgia Tech
fumble in the endzone.”
Defensive halfback Jim Kauff
man, who plays the same side as
Kachtik, is sold on Jerry. “Kach
tik and I have to coordinate a
lot of things. He’s a real foot
ball player and I have great con
fidence in him. He has a lot of
football knowledge and he’s a
leader on the field.”
Kachtik is majoring in pit
cal education and plans to it
on at A&M and get a masti
degree in either PE or ft
tion. Then, he wants to he
a coaching career.
This week, however, his at!<
tion is focused on Texas Ttc
Red Raiders.
NCAA Marks Fal
To Western QB
SPORTS
By GLENN DROMGOOLE
Battalion Editor
Aggie coach Gene Stallings
Tuesday praised A&M’s fourth-
quarter comeback that earned a
14-10 victory over Georgia Tech
for the Cadets’ first win of the
Ted Nelson, SWC 440-yard
dash champion from Andrews,
Tex., was in on one play and
made a 16-yard pass reception
that kept alive A&M’s first TD
drive in the fourth period . . .
Lloyd Curington’s TD pass catch
was the first scoring play of his
varsity career . . . He scored two
TDs as a freshman . . .
Coach Bobby Dodd’s post-game
comment: “I thought our (Geor
gia Tech) offense was great to
day compared to the way we
looked last week (against Van
derbilt) and our defense held up
well except for the last half of
the fourth quarter. We are hurt
ing personnel-wise defensively. It
was a very exciting football game
and a tough one to lose.”
Texas Leads Poll
(A*)—Texas, Arkansas and Bay
lor all received top 10 points.
The vote with points in a 10-9-8-
7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis and first place
votes in parentheses:
Texas (15) 2-0
Purdue (14) 2-0
Nebraska (13) 2-0
Arkansas (3) 2-0
Louisiana State 2-0
Kentucky (1) 2-0
Michigan 2-0
Notre Dame 1-1
9. Michigan State 2-0
10. Georgia 2-0
Other teams receiving votes
included: Alabama, Arizona,
Baylor, Duke, Illinois, Iowa,
Maryland, Mississippi, Mississip
pi State, North Carolina, Ohio
State, Oregon, Pittsburgh, South
ern California, Washington State,
West Virginia, Wyoming.
Aggies play first home game
October 9.
season.
“We’ve tried to teach our kids
that if they really want it—no
matter if we are outpersonnelled
—we can come from behind in
the fourth quarter,” the rookie
Aggie head coach said. “T h e
thing that really pleased me was
that fourth quarter.”
Stallings told area newsmen at
his weekly press conference that
the winning pass play from quar
terback Harry Ledbetter to half
back Lloyd Curington was de
veloped at halftime.
“It’s actually sort of silly to
put in a play at halftime, because
there is the chance that it will
do more harm than good. But
when you’re behind you have to
take those chances.”
The play covered 26 yards and
put A&M ahead for the first
time this season. The touchdown,
coming with 1:24 left in the
game, climaxed a dramatic
fourth - quarter attack during
which the Aggies collected all
their tallies.
“Curington’s only play at wing-
back was that play. I didn’t even
know if he could line up at wing-
back,” Stallings said.
Curington, who alternates at
tailback with Bill Sallee, was
shifted to wingback for the play
because of his speed.
“I sent Sallee in for (wing
back Jim) Stabler, shifted Cur
ington to wingback and just
prayed,” the A&M mentor de
scribed his strategy. “It worked
though, so that’s the main thing.”
Stallings, pointing to the Ag
gie date with Texas Tech Satur
day in Lubbock, told the writers*
“They’ve got a bunch of big ol’
strong, mean-looking folks. I
know they’ll be trying to avenge
that loss last week. That’s just
human nature.”
“The thing that concerns me is
MY team,” he continued, “not so
much the other team. I can’t go
to the game hoping (Tech tail
back Donny) Anderson fumbles
every time he gets the ball.”
Stallings said the Red Raiders
have an excellent kicking team,
hard strong-running backs and
good size.
Singled out for outstanding
performances in the Georgia
Tech game were:
—Curington, who caught the
game-winning touchdown pass
and gained 40 yards in eight car
ries.
—Jerry Nichols, who played
the entire game as defensive
halfback even though he suf
fered a serious cut on his fore
head in the fourth quarter and
worked A&M’s last defensive
stand with 12 stitches in his head.
—Ledbetter, who completed 8
of 17 passes for 112 yards, passed
for one Aggie touchdown and ran
the other.
—Joe Wellborn, Ken Lamkin
and Grady Allen for outstanding
defensive effort.
Stallings said he read in an
Atlanta newspaper Saturday
morning that Georgia Tech coach
Bobby Dodd “knew we couldn’t
run wide.”
“Maybe our kids didn’t read
it,” he noted.
The relatively small A&M
squad is nothing new to Kachtik.
“During my senior year at Rio
NEW YORK (A>)_Texas?!
em’s pitch-catch combinatk
quarterback Billy Stevens a>.
flanker Chuck Hughes is keep!
the statisticians busy at I
NCAA Athletic Bureau.
Stevens has clicked for eij
touchdowns and 797 yards
completing 37 of 68 passes ini
first two games, according
figures released Tuesday,
best previous mark in major a
lege ball was seven in the fi
two games by Bill Wade at Vi
derbilt in 1950 and 611 yardsl
Stan Heath of Nevada in 1!
NCAA rankings by completi;
put Stevens in third place ana
passers.
MinlctArlSuppl
'Pictufee.
923 SaCo!!«g« Avi-BryanJ^
like,
milit
towa
and •
the <
way
Nort
down
in tl
empt
tion
1
Viet
panes
Just
deep
was i
TOWN
HALL RECORD SPECIAL
at
SHAFFER'S
UNIVERSITY BOOK STORE
THE ENTIRE SELECTION OF THE BROTHER'S FOUR
THE ENTIRE SELECTION OF THE LETTERMEN
$1.00 OFF
FEATURING THEIR NEWEST
THE BROTHER'S FOUR TRY TO REMEMBER
THE HIT SOUNDS OF THE LETTERMEN
We Have The Record You Want When You Want It