Show e New York Post ServIce Public Paying Off on in Gridiron orld YEARS VEARS ago when Democrats and still doing busi- busi business business ness as such life was considerably easier for a sports writer Every Every- Everything Everything thing had a tag on It was classified with seemingly as much perma- perma ce as the two major political par par- parties parties ties There were only two big leagues the American and the National No Noone Noone one had thought at that time to iden iden- identify the Yankees as a separate or or- or organization any more than they had yet conjured up such cute labels as curve ball league ball last league hitters league and pitchers league Situation Is Changed ly hy Irish and Pitt Only football had anticipated the modern trend There was for in- in instance instance stance the matter of properly as- as assorting assorting sorting the coaches Once that had been easy You merely put them into two groups lucky fellows with jobs in the Ivy league and sad agents hoping there would come a aday aday day when they would have a pay roll big enough for them to compete with the Ivy league in the higher educational educational field Then the classification changed Notre Dame and Pittsburgh two in- in institutions institutions which for years had been doing well enough in preparing young men for lor the travails of teach teach- jog ing and bond selling enlarged their scope Forthwith the spotlight centered on the two vo men of undoubted genius who had been responsible for this pickup With the generosity that Is proverbial among newspaper men the press credited each of them with having a system Other coaches copied their strategy Soon it be- be became became came the habit to refer even to such long established practitioners as Gil nobie or Yost as followers of the Warner system system or the Rockne system Obviously there was some error here and there in such groupings but the general rating was pretty well accepted One day I asked Rockne l If he believed there was any sense in such regimentation N No 0 he replied Theres only one way to classify coaches or teams either for that matter Win Win- WinDers Winners ners Ders or losers That's what hat It all boils down to lo Midway in another football sea sea- season season son and knee deep in gentlemen who are claiming all sorts of new classi as the result of municipal and state elections throughout the nation I have been thinking about that reply Both Sides End Up by Blaming Teams I am not entirely satisfied with and the Pity Poor Us groupings Actually there is very little difference between the claiming the nicest things are arc going to happen in this best of all possible worlds and the to Pity Poor Us-es Us whining in advance Both sets usually wind up by blaming it all on the team Saturday night leann l Meanwhile hile since opposing coaches and the operators of foot foot- football football ball pools arc cynical men they have fooled nobody save people play football pools It also returns us to where we started Perhaps because like oth- oth other other er voices or of the people alumni usually ally do their in November I could try the rating once suggested Ly by the lamented sports commentator commentator tor Dill Bill McGeehan This was Coaches sure of their jobs and coaches who never say a word even when the music prof flunks the on- on only on ly running halfback left with two legs Yet what good does that do us Almost Immediately we discover that some of the men sure of their Jobs are arc so new to success that they have not yet et had real opportunity to tomake tomake make a failure of it Conversely some ome of the boys who have lost everything save the franchise took their nose dive because they were too loo smug while at the top lop That brings us back to the Rockne rating Winners and losers True men who compose the groups often interchange so quickly that it is di di to tell who is coming md and who is going Yet with all other things equal there are men who will fum- fum fumble fumble ble and men who will go on for touch touch- touchdowns touchdowns downs The essential difference is there in all sports Sometimes form lorm holds for a day sometimes for a season Anyhow the public pays off And come to think of It arent aren't sports very ery much like that greater reater game aDle of politics tilt NOT IN TilE BOX OX SCORE he started his news Dews newspaper writ writ- writer paper career as a sports er Henry L l the eminent author and aDd critic now confides he event In sports has seen only one six years lie says that was a com com- combat combat bat between two lady wrestlers and aDlI i although he was highly entertained when one ODe of them bit the other In Inthe Inthe the leg he departed feeling sorry they had not killed each other War Warnow Warnow The year twenty Man o 0 now weighs 1375 1315 pounds more than thaD he scaled during bid racing prime Add wInter occupations of ball ball- ballplayers ballplayers Mule Haas operates n a players tavern In Jersey Ethan Allen con contin- contin continues tin ues to write a book a about b 0 u t baseball Adolio Adolfo Luque Is r is- is ising d 3 ing game chickens In Cuba Buck New New- Newsom NewT Newsom T som is about to buy buya a pool parlor down tn fn Carolina Joe Cas- Cas Cascarella Cascarella F is carella is warbling love sonnets over n the air waves Carl Hubbells Hubbell's hurry AdolIo Adolfo Luque to get back to Oklahoma Okla- Okla Oklahoma homa after the World Series was not not because he was greatly con con- concerned concerned about his pecan groves Al- Al Although thou though h he has been playing the game only two winters the cele- cele celebrated celebrated southpaw has become one of the nations nation's most ardent golfers Says his wife tells him hes he's crazy but he just cant can't help getting out outon outon on the course rain or shine Only five he of the sixteen hockey Davey Rangers Kerr Babe Pratt Cecil Dillon nillon Butch Keelin Keeling and Frank Boucher are married Goose Gustafson defense Philadelphia man with the Rangers Ramblers farm team was voted the most valuable player In the North North- Northern Northern ern Class J D baseball league last summer lie Ile played first base for forthe forthe the Winnipeg Maroons and can also playa play a hot game of basketball Joe McCarthy of thc tic says a baseball manager does docs most of his worrying In the winter usually about things which never happen Coach Chet Wynne who played with George at Notre Dame claims he does docs not get gel the material at Kentucky that lie he did at Auburn Also feels that the climate which is often more of the West Mid than Dixie variety works against him Tells Why Its It's So Hard to Pick Golf Winners Notes on why its it's almost as dim difficult cult to pick golf gol winners as t it is to get football selections right Ky was 30 pou pounds ds overweight last summer Jimmy Demaret has the smoothest swing in golf goll but lacks the winning urge Harry Cooper is sucker money for the bookies because he lets his nervous temperament lick him Horton Smith just cant can't get the touch of Eastern courses Vie Vic Ghezzi is too easily diverted by outside allure allure- allurements allurements ments Jug l is lost on Florida courses Tony Galento who never uses sparring partners always bills Man lan Manager ager Joe Jacobs for them anyhow v after a fight ilis friends insist that one of the first things Middle Middle- Middleweight weight Balsamo did when he started fighting star bouts was to buy a washing machine Cliff Wilson very good line line- lineman lineman man wanted to go to Navy but missed on OD the appointment because of some dental trouble Dave Albritton Ohio States State's Olympic high jumper who will double as a hurdler next spring is conducting an or- or orchestra chestra this winter Carl Brum- Brum Brumbaugh baugh new Dodger backfield ace and former assistant to Coach Bez- Bez Bezdek Bezdek dek of the Cleveland Rams scored three touchdowns in six minutes against Alabama in 1928 Henry Armstrong the feather feather- featherweight weight champion plays the violin and piano and sings In the choir He likes to bowl and once was a apin apin pin boy Doctors claim his heart action is slower than normal and he shadow boxes six rounds in the I dressing room before entering the ring for a fight Sports writers Titers ably have coined more nicknames for lor him than for any battler of modern times lIe has been ni nick k- k named Homicide Henry Henry Hus Hank the CalifornIa Com Com- Comet et Black Blizzard Cyclone Cyclone- Buzz Windmill Terry Sa w- w Windmill Spider Terry McGovern Aside from being a lit lit- little little tle gentleman he is the greatest fighter in the ring today Harry Gilmore of Chicago was the first featherweight champion large large- largely largely ly because he claimed the title when the class was established and rec- rec recognized to in 1887 1881 flow many old old- timers remember that Dal usually recalled as a lightweight succeeded him on the throne Tb The feather class limit in those days was pounds After Arter beating Abu Abo Attell In five rounds Brooklyn Tommy Sullivan held the title for nearly four years Then in 1908 he lost It back to Attell who kayoed him In four rounds Louis Kid Kaplan now DOW n a Connecticut ance man performed an almost un- un unprecedented unprecedented feat after winning the title via 13 the elimination tournament lie refused for a fight say say- log Ins he could not Dot make the weight and would not take money under uDder false pretenses Johnny Kilbane held the title the longest U 11 years Eugene who succeeded him was champion for only one oue month Noble Kizer who will spend the winter at Albuquerque N M ex ex- ex expects peets to return to Purdue in time to conduct spring football practice |