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Show ootms seek' MSA! wm iiomsi::. . Tribe Apt to Flounder Unless Johnny Allen's Arm Shows Improvement Br GATLE TALBOT . NEW ORLEANS, March Jl (AP) A two-day study of the Cleveland Indians ha convinced me they will need plenty of luck to finish ai hifh in the coming American league race ai they did In the last, when they wound up third after buckling in the latter Pitt Board Gets Bowser ForMentor Br rKANK MATTHEWS PITTSBURGH. March Si (UP) Charles W. Bowser (tapped inte big time football coaching today with a three-year contract at tha Uni-versity Uni-versity of Pittsburgh. Pitt's board of trustees at tha hum time opened an investigation of athletic turmoil at tha school. Bowser has been in private business busi-ness for the past year, but has IS years of coaching experience, including in-cluding two terms as assistant coach at Pitt and head coaching positions at two small colleges. Dr. John Bain (Jock) Sutherland, who was Pitt's coach If rears, quit March 4 because of "Intolerable' oonflict betweea his athletic department de-partment and tha universltr administration. admin-istration. ' Investigating Committee After approving tha Bowser contract, con-tract, which reportedlr carries an annual salary of 17600, the trustees appointed seven of their members to an Investigating committee. This was at the request of Chancellor John Q. Bowman. Only a few hours before Mayor Cornelius D. Scully, a Pitt trustee, had Issued an open letter denouncing denounc-ing the "great god hush1 at Pitt and demanding that the board remove re-move any "cause for criticism." 'stage. "I'm prettr certain I saw three clubs in Florida New Tork, Boston Bos-ton and Detroit that will take the Indians' measure. Their once great pitching staff is beginning to fall apart, and they still are inadequate at second base and shortstop. Oscar Vltt, their manager. Is a lot quieter than ho was s year ago. . The Indians for tha past several sev-eral seasons have been able to count upon Mel Harder, Johnnr Alien and Bob Feller to give them brilliant pitching en about three days hot of fear. This was a truly fine "big three." But now H looks to me like they've lost Allen, and that's a blow thry cant sist five. 1 Allen, you might recall, hurt his arm pitching In the last all-star gams at Cincinnati after having set a phenomenal record for the first half of the season. Hs wasn't worth a cent to the club after that, dropping drop-ping something like eight out of nine starts. During the winter they BOB FELLER Ths committee Included such prominent Pittsburghers as Ernest T. Weir, Leon Faulk Jr, A. W. Robertson, Rob-ertson, Arthur E. Brown, Norm an MacLeod, C W. Ridingsr and Dr. Edward Weidlein. Alumni Kegrets ' Two other developments marked tha aftermath of Sutherland's resignation. res-ignation. Ths Pitt alumni council adopted a resolution regretting "that our university . , . should suffer conditions to sxlst which rendered it impossible for him (Sutherland) to continue to aerve It"; and Don F. Saunders, secretary of the General Alumni association, resigned because be-cause "my services to too association associa-tion are no longer of value, because I have become Increasingly unsympathetic unsym-pathetic to soma policies of the university uni-versity administration which I believe be-lieve to be detrimental to the best interests of tha school and alumni." Bowser conferred today with applicants ap-plicants for Jobs as assistants. One man believed certain to be on the staff was Albert (Luby) Demeolo, Panther captain in 192ft, Bowser learned his football under Pop Warner at Pitt in 120, ml and 1921. Hs broke into coaching as an assistant at Grove Oty college. slit open nut eioow ana romovoa one of thoss "spurs" that have become be-come so fashionaMs with our toas-srs. toas-srs. Working Slowly For a week he's been trying to limber the wing up slowly, using a halting, half-hearted motion that brought a lump to my throat Even if by some miracle ths wing finally comes back completely, Alien won't be ready to pitch before the first of Mar, and then only In relief roles for a while. By that time I'm afraid the American league parade will have swept on past the Injuns. Harder still Is a great pitcher, and I think the coming season will bo ths one In which ths "kid," Bobby Bob-by Fellsr, finally establishes himself him-self alongside the Johnsons, the Alexanders and ths Mathewsons. But it takes mors than two pitchers te keep a club up there nowadays. 1 Tva finally got Feller using change of pace," said Vltt That waa the last thing ho needed te make him a eemplets pitcher. Walt until Ton see these battera breaking their backs oa his alow ana. Ths team's vsteran shortstop, Lya Lery, a holdout finally pulled into camp yesterday and signed his 1939 contract ut his position seems to be occupied by Jimmy "Skeeter" Webb of Meridian, Miss. Webb is the frail looking but euro fielding player who was taksn away from the St Louis Cardinals In that general gen-eral housecleaninc by Commissioner Commission-er Landis Just a year ago. Averlll Still Missing Indian officials professed indifference indif-ference to the whereabouts of their holdout outfielder, Earl AveriiL They only deny most emphatically that they are trying to trade him to the St Lou la Browns for Don Feffner, though I don't see why the denial, for they certainly oould use Heffner at seond base. As it is. they must depend upon Odell Hale again. With five outfielders la camp such as Jsff Heath, Ben Chapman, Bruce Campbell, Julius Sokers and Roy Wsatberly, the Indians can struggle along very nicely without Averill, even though be hit 430 hut year. |
