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Show VlpAmANDl I THIS happens to be a world packed with trouble. There is a new trouble lor each season a rainy spring, a hot summer, a foggy tall, a wrecking winter. Now with another autumn here, with football moving In, some interloper inter-loper starts new trouble. It happens this way: "Will you pick," he writes, "the most valuable valu-able lineman, the most valuable back, the greatest kicker, the greatest great-est passer and the best pass-receiver you ever saw?" The odd part of this complicated request is that it is quite a simple one with one or f - possible excep- I MV- tions. P f No- ! The great- PfZ" est lineman The K- I p - vote here goes to r Cal Hubbard of Gens''' Gen-s''' j i tenarv' Geneva and I"- VT I severaI Pro outfit5-I.- pt- I Fat Henry was a great tackle one of Gotland Rice fer-many fer-many Schultz, Bulldog Bull-dog Turner and Mel Hein were all great centers. Pudge Heftelflnger was a great guard. But Cal Hubbard Hub-bard was an entire line. "Put old Cal out there to back op your line," Bo McMillln used to say, "and he'll stop a whole team. He is the most valuable player I ever saw." Cal is around 6 feet 5 or 6 inches tall. He weighed around 260 and he was both fast and shifty. He , could kill off a running game better than anyone I ever saw. Cal was tike a fast-moving mountain moving mov-ing in on you, tackling at both ends and the middle. No. 2. The greatest all-around back Two men fit in this picture. One Is Jim Thorpe. The other is Bronko Nagurski. Thorpe could rip his way through a line. He could circle an end. He was a good passer and a good pass-receiver. He was a great defensive back when he felt in the mood. And he was the greatest all-around kicker of the lot punting, place kicking and drop kicking. i Nagurski Was Powerful j Nagurski was a greater power, back. He was also a great tackle and a star end. Bronko wai the1 best all-around football player, including in-cluding both backfleld and line play, that football has known. No. 3. The greatest kicker He. has already been mentioned. Thorpe and Strong were the two best I've ver seen. Ralph Kercheval of Kentucky Ken-tucky was magnificent. Sammy Baugh has been a great kicker for over a dozen years. No. 4. The greatest passer-It passer-It is at this point that one can wander off into the Jungle. The choice gets down to two men and if yon know football at all, yon know who they are. Gus Dorais, Benny Friedman, Arnold Ar-nold Herber and Ace Parker were all fine passers among many more. But there are only two In that plateau country above the field. They are Sam my Baugh and Sid Lnckman. I've talked with many a pro and run into many an argument that involves this pair. Baugh is a great kicker. Luckman is rated a better field general. But when it comes to passing you can make your own selection. I talked recently with one of the best coaches In the National league. "For all-around team value," he said, "I would rather have Luck-man Luck-man than Baugh and Hutson combined. com-bined. "I know how valuable Baugh is. I also know how valuable Hutson was. But in running a team, combined com-bined with his deadly passing. Luck-man Luck-man is the most valuable football player I ever saw." Few Coaches Would Agree I might add that the coach referred re-ferred to wasn't George Halas but an eastern entry. He would also find few coaches willing to agree that Luckman was more valuable than Baugh and Hutson combined. This combination could wreck two leagues. Both Baugh of the Redskins and Lnckman of the Bears are beading for the sunset country ! at the end of the read. They have taken heavy punishment for 11 er mere years starting with T. C. V. and Columbia. In the way of exceptional skill and unsurpassable competitive aplr It, they have done more for pro football than anyone I've ever known. Harry Gilmer, Bobby Layno and Johnny Lujack have enormous shoes to Ml when Sam and Sid decide to leave the field which may be in 19-19. No. 5. The greatest pass-receiver Hutson of Green Bay. There have been many good ones. But only one Hutson. It might be noted in this connection, connec-tion, with pro football under discussion, dis-cussion, that the All-America conference con-ference has turned In a good Job in leveling the leagus by balancing team strength. |