OCR Text |
Show Sports Here and There by Al Abletc 1056 has been a great year, starting on January 1st when Ohio State beat UCLA in the Rose Bowl. Baseball had a great year capped cap-ped by a seven game victory for the Yankees over Brooklyn. High lights, of course, was the no-hit game by Sal Maglie in his great comeback and the all around play of Mickey Mantle, who in my book could be the greatest ball player in the history of the game. If he doesn't attain those heights it will not 'be because he hasn't got the tools, great arm, great speed and, an . abundance of power. Then again there was the perfect game pitched by Don Larsen in the World Series, the first in the majors since Charlie Robertson turned the trick for the White Sox in 1922. Thrills galore every day and every game In boxing we saw -the youngest young-est heavyweight in history take the championship and the retirement retire-ment of one of the greatest of all time, Rocky Marciano. Of course .the thrill for us in ;Utah was the great climb made by our own Gene Fullmer. They put him in with the best in the division and he came out with flying colors. Next Wednesday night, January 2, 1957, he will go in against Sugar Ray Robinson for the middleweight championship champion-ship of the world. I am going along with him to attain that goal. Yes, boxing gave us many j a thrill Football found the great Oklahoma Okla-homa team go on to 39 straight victories and again top the rankings. rank-ings. It found Iowa winning its first Eig Ten championship since the crly twenties. It found Wyoming Wyo-ming going to an undefeated season sea-son and then being ignored bv all the Bowls. It found the P.C.C. making the most nonsensical ruling rul-ing that could possibly be conceived con-ceived by man. This was the year of the Olympics Olym-pics and it found Russia winning the team title 'by taking their gold medals, in what we term the minor sports. In track and field the U. S. was so far ahead it wasn't even a contest. Basketball produced the great Bill Russell, a man that fired the imagination of every fan. It found Kansas coming up with one Wilt Chamberlin who is rated rat-ed as the greatest of all time. Utah had a great team and now finds them strong again with a Bingham boy supplying a great deal of the power. Jack Mannion will make his name of that I am sure. In golf it was the young fellows fel-lows pushing the old pros out of the picture. Fellows like Jack Burke and Billy Maxwell as well as Dr. Middlecomp. Bowling reached the big time on TV and in purses. Yes it was a great year. .May 1957 be even greater. And from this corner a Happy New Year to you all. Al o |