| Show tl CELANO T THIS HIS fighting game In the wai wat wainow now going on isn't handled enby en en- tir ly by athletes or famous com These have certainly done their share share but but they are not the only ones In the big show A few days back I happened to run into a pair of old friends friends Blondie Blondie Saunders and Rosr Ros r ic ie ODonnell O'Donnell two of West Points Point's best v football players When the Japs attacked at r t tacked Pearl Hart Har Har- Harbor bar bor Blondie and Rosie Rosin now a genf gen gen- general f 4 eral and a colonel i- i happened to be in inA inthe A the thc air above Pearl Harbor when the tho rF J Japs aps came overt over Grantland Rice They were up ther there shooting Later on they had an even greater record in the South Pacific They did a few incredible things which they refused to talk about Both are stout believers in football foot football ball and all other forms of competitive tive sport in the way of war training train ing whether it be land or sea or air air- fortress or tank or bayonet But nut both hoth believe that too little credit has been given to the clerks the fellows from the farm the kd kids from Crom the city streets the sporting unknowns who have been handling guns or planes over the South Pacific Pacific Pa Pa- chic or over Italy or Germanys Germany with rUh the coolness and courage nl I Istar star could overmatch Most of these fellows have played I games of some sort and have the right spirit of competition But you never heard of them in sport The Bigger Job Some Some fellows General Blondie Blond Blondie ie ic Saunders said have the im impression impression impression that only great athlete athletes have bave starred in this war I believe in football and all contact body sports But I dont don't believe these men have deserved the credit the th clerks and the water soda-water and the mechanics and the farm kids have earned who have gond gong through hell without batting an eyela eye eye- eyelash la lash she They were not good football players play ers or good basketball players or good baseball players or ring prize-ring fighters They were just about 80 per er cent of the kids of this country so far Car as any headlines were con con- But nut when the showdown came along the ground or in the theair theair theair air they were still America willing willing willing will will- ing to give their lives away to win winn But dont don't you think I asked Blondie and Rosie that football and other such to man-to-man or body- body pressure games are a big help Theres no question about that Rosin Rosie ODonnell O'Donnell said In an all all- out war you go all out And that includes everybody The trained competitors from sport have the call They know what it means to tobe toby be by under fire even college fire But Ive I've been in spots when kids who never uever had this chance were just as asgood asgood asgood good as any great sporting star could possibly be Ive I've seen them look right in the face of death and even laugh Ive I've seen them look into almost certain human destruction and carry out their jobs to the finish How Y Youth Feels The grip that football has on the youth of this country is an amazing thing For football is also a grind and hard work It isn't all glory For example this last season due largely to army regulations Harvard Harvard Harvard Har Har- vard Boston college Vanderbilt and Tennessee had to abandon football At least that was the early plan It U was the young football players many of oC them minus coaches who ho picked up and got going again at least with Informal games At Ohio State Paul Brown told me we had no navy trainees We had to depend on F's 4 and kids under ander 18 Yet we had 45 men out to play one of the hardest schedules of the year We finished with a total squad of 35 men The kids knew In most cases there wasn't I even ven an outside chance to win win not not against such teams as the I Purdue and Michigan But they were keen to try it outI outI out I think 1943 19 has been footballs football's toughest year We have the chance tow now to do some better matching for a a chance we never had this ast season I think you will see games Barnes much more evenly played as Ohio State and Illinois were matched in fn one of the most ng games of the season There hould be more civilian games There here will be bc quite enough service cams earns and navy trainee teams to up first class schedules all allaround round around the m map Letter From Fron India Captain Zimmerman who a year ago was sporting editor of the Los Angeles t Times writes from India We are arc a long way from home he said but all service men Ive I've seen are keen about getting the sporting news We had the World Series replayed for us a day late over aver the air but it would have been lust just as welcome a week or a n month later I have talked to many of hem about the sporting programs ack lack In the states especially baseball base hase- ball all and football The They are all for tor it fJ J. J ct u S |
