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Show FRANK K. BAKER, lfcXmk)i TfLEORAM SPORTS IDITOH Last year jj was Kent Ryan of Utah Aggies. A few-seasons few-seasons ago it was Frank Christensen of Utah. For one brief spell is was "Phantom" Pete Wilson of B. Y. U. Long before that it was Earl (Dutch) Clark. Today it is Byron (Whizzer) White who is making the football public from Maine to California conscious that the boys play deserving football here in the Rockies. Gridiron fans from far and near will listen to the tales about C. U.'s "Whizzer" and they will argue long and loud, especially hero in the mountains, about which was the greatest, the moat brilliant star of them all without definite decision. But while they make all this fuss about an unsettlable question, their discussions dis-cussions about the respective merits of these stars, the football public is helping the Rocky mountain athletes take their long deserved place in the athletic firmament of the world. As Richard Vidmer recently wrote in the New York Herald-Tribune, Herald-Tribune, there waa time antj not so long hence, either when "no one even knew that any colleges were playing the game except Yale, Harvard and Princeton. Then the east, as a whole, held away. e e But fellows like Walter Eckeriall. Willie Heston and . Dutch Schults bobbed up la the middlewest. Later cam Brick Muller and his contemporaries on the Pacific coast. And Be McMillan, Dixie Howell, Peter Pund and their like to bring a beam to th southern sector. Then there were such players as Bobby Wilson and Sammy Baugh in th southwestern area." All doing their bit to convince th self-complacement self-complacement areas along th Atlantic coaat that they weren't "th only pebbles on th beach' when it cam to collegia! football. .see Now this beam of understanding steamed to a blinding blind-ing glare by the torn toms of publicity in the wake of White's amazing performances is falling more brilliantly than ever before on the Rocky mountains. ,ven the great "Dutch" Clark never had the national attention which is now being accorded the Buffalo ace. Here indeed is a great vehicle on which Rocky mountain football can ride to a new prestige. Here is a Phi Beta student, a Rhodes scholar candidate, a thoroughly personable youth, who remains absolutely unspoiled and gracious amid his laurels as C U.'s student president and star of gridiron, basketball basket-ball court and baseball diamond. As the nation's leading scorer with 122 points and the producer of brilliant runs such as his 9 1 -yard gallop against Utah, this great R. M. C player is bound to gain attention. eve Th nation's gridiron critics were prone to pay little attention to R. M. C. performers in th day of Clark, Chris-tensen Chris-tensen and ether outstanding players of their time. It took a mighty lot of promotional effort t gain a berth for Clark a th Associated Presa all-Amarica team decade ago. It took f plenty of high pressure salesmanship t land a similar sim-ilar spot for Chriateruwn a th United Presa team five year age. Th job waa a little easier last season when Ryaa was accepted by each aa august body f authorities as the sitting n th All-America Board of Football, directed by Christy Walsh. S when th rest of th nation began hearing great tales about White's remarkabl prewesa this season, they paid mor attentloa thaa asual. Th country Is beginning be-ginning t approcaat th brand of ball played her la th mountains. a a Already White has been accorded all-America berth by one agency with national scope the Newspaper Enterprise Enter-prise association, which serves a great group of newspapers news-papers throughout the United States. Sports Editor Harry Grayson of that organization names White at quarterback quarter-back on his team in preference to men like Hackney of Duke and Kinnick of Iowa. Grayson in his comment about this star, he calls "the most publicized small-school player in the country says that "everybody who has seen White tries either to compare com-pare to contrast him with Dutch Clark, the professional, profes-sional, whose name is mentioned everywhere in the same breath with that of Jim Thorpe, with no apologies, and who also came out of the Rocky mountain conference." As Grayson points out, too, these critics differ. Some say White at this stage is Clark's peer. Others say not. But the fact that White is good enough to be compared to the same ace is enough for Grayson. He picks White, and in so doing may perhaps be establishing the forerunner! to other honors which may follow. The Telegram's recommendation rec-ommendation helped gain White a weekly mention in ICill is aa Fsimsig Paa . 1 : Backseat Driving (Continued from Pracodln. Pago the all-America board's hall of honor. As such, he is one of the candidates for their team. Obviously the day is past when the country will dismiss Rocky mountain aces with "honorable mention," and that promises to be a fine thing for the new and stronger "Big Seven" which will begin operation here in this area in January. Not all people go to Paris in the spring. Erie Ryberg is there now and has therefore missed the local gridiron sea- . son. He didn't forget the L'tah Aggies, though, for whom he is such a loyal booster. Coach Dick Romney and the Aggie griddersvreceived a cablegram from their distinguished supporter on the eve of today's game with L'tah. It read:' "Fight 'cm, Aggies. Good luck." |