Salt Lake Telegram | 1937-03-01 | Page 14 | Back Seat Driving

PRANK. Kt BAKE R UJLmmJ . ' TI ItOrUM IPOUTt tDITOH " From Joe Christensen and Joe Hervetz of the A. A. U. basketball committee comet the pleasing word that the local organization will pay the entry fee of the Intermoun-tain Intermoun-tain champion to the national tournament at Denver next month. The local tournament starting Monday, March 8, will be completed Friday night, March 12, to enable the winning team . to enter the national meet the following week. Thla arrange- merit plua the guarantee of the team's entry fee at well as the expressed hope that gate receipts at the local meet will enable ' the inUrmountain A. A. U. to contribute still more substantially to the champion's expenses to Denver la a definite step forward - In A. A. U. basketball. A number of local A. A. U. meets In the past have been held too late for the champion to be entered in the national tournament, tourna-ment, and material help has been entirely out of the question In recent years. The local committee realizes the importance of . making victory in the local meet really worth while, and as the tournament grows It intends to put more and more toward the Winner's expenses, Christensen declares. Despite a couple ef lean years, the committee lias takea care ef some old accounts, Christensen advises, and it is anticipating the time when sectional tournaments may be held In different sections of the intermountala country to qualify teams for the local meet The double division of senior and Junior competition . - will probably bo continued because a great many clubs agreeable to playing In the lower classification hesitate to take their chancel against some of the outstanding teama ." found la the upper division. The problem of designating a junior team from senior team it still pretty tough and lies largely upon the judgment of the arbiter. If the time comes, though, when the local A. A. U. can finance the senior division winner . and perhaps give tome help to the runnerup, too, these reluctant re-luctant clubs will be more willing to get into the senior division. In fact, the committee it toying now with a - plan to assure both finalists of their entry fee at Denver, y . which ought to be an inducement to a few (earns to forget for-get all about the junior division and take their chances in ' the open class. From the crowd standpoint. Salt Lake City has almost too much tournament haakethall at thia time of the vear. There is '. the stato high school tournament, the interstake competition and - all-church finale In the M Men leagues, the collegiate gamea and the A. A. U. meet All thia on top of the varioua league play . loavea the local customers pretty well fed up on the game, and their enthusiasm la needed if the different events are to be financed fi-nanced as they need be. All of which (eta us around to the age-old cry that it will be tine thinf when there's tome place besides the Deseret gym In the state suitable for taking care of a major tournament With better gymnasium facilities, Utah county could undoubtedly '. make it rousing success of an A. A. U. or a church tournament, and help relieve the traffic here at the same time. According to Dave Freed, chairman of the junior : chamber of commerce committee sponsoring the Elli-. Elli-. worth Vinet-Fred Perry exhibition here Tuesday, the Des-; Des-; cret gym will accommodate a tennis court nicely. ' The gym floor it 50 feet wide between balconies and I Is about 150 feet long, he says. A tennis court, "36 feet wide for doublet, and only 30 feet wide for tingles, fits , comfortably into this width. The state tournament clay courts at Forest Dale are only 120 feet long from back- atop to backstop and play Can be carried on in 110 feet v if necessary, so the local committee believes the visiting " atari will find the gym fairly adequate to far as room is concerned. Tea additional lights, each of 100 watta la power, will ho suspended overhead and bleacher seats will be provided foe at least I90t people, Freed says. The doubles match at 1:11 o'clock will epos the program, with the singles ached-uled ached-uled te start about f:lS. George Lett wiU team with Vines . and Brace Barnes with Perry ta the tandem event.