| OCR Text |
Show Pfl CECRETARY KNOX of the navj recently advocated a plan for th training and development of oui youth along competitive lines, in eluding a year's compulsory military mili-tary service for those of 17 or 11 years. This is an essential plar that can't be overlooked. While military training can't b started before 17 or 18, we still believe be-lieve that there vlitM! should be a big T""'" 1 advance along ; , the lines of body ; t j building and com- i , " v j petitive sports at i 1 younger ages, in- ; j eluding those 14 f 'w" " j and 15 years old, f ' t v, 1 who in too many . J". cases today are 1 t overlooked. L These young . Jj boys deserve a far better pro- Secretary Knox gram through their schools or from their communities commu-nities than they have ever received. "The time to start with these boys," Hurry-Up Yost once told me after thirty years' experience, "is in the high schools not in the colleges. col-leges. We need boys coming on with stronger legs and stronger bodies, bod-ies, boys much better physically equipped in the mass." One thing is sure there will be a big demand for high-school talent in our colleges next fall, so far as football is concerned. High School Stars "Football will be almost entirely the development of high-school players," play-ers," Frank Leahy of Notre Dame told me. "I think it would surprise many millions if they know hou many kids of 17, just out of school, carried on so brilliantly this Ias1 season, Tulsa's 147-pound Ford was just one of them. They were at Indiana, In-diana, Ohio State, Pittsburgh all over our football map tearing intc veterans who outweighed them 20 oi 30 pounds and holding their own Passers, runners, kickers, blockers all steaming with spirit. And jusi out of high school. "These are the kids we must de pend on next season for our college football. And we'll all get our share It may not be the greatest footbal season ever known, but it will b full of fire and action and excite ment, played by boys on their wa to war." Frank Leahy might have men tioned a kid named Kelly on his owr squad, a 17-year-old Chicago high school entry who was one of th best backs of the year. He might have mentioned Glem Davis of West Point who came t( the Army with only high-school ex perience or Bill Paschal iron Georgia Tech, the best running bacl of the pro year with the New Yorl Giants five minutes freshman ex perience. There is one weakness in this set up. This is the pressure that i; sure to be put upon high-school tal ent, the 17-year-old entries, all ove; the United States. I have already watched the beginning of this opera tion get its start. As a guess I'd say the best schoo football state in the country is Tex as. They are thicker than quail h that state. The next entry is Ohio Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Call fornia are close up. New England isn't so bad, either In fact, New England has given thi game more than her share of high school stars. What about the South? They ar more scattered down around cotton land. Too many southern school lack the coaching and the mohe; that other sections have. The ma terial is there, but a lot of it is sti in the raw. Ask southern colleg coaches. , The same is true in New Yorl city, where the high-school kids ge only half a chance. Don't ever be lieve these New York kids couldn' hold their own if they ever had a: equal break. The idea is to get back of high school or school football and give i a much bigger play and a much bel ter chance than it has known so fai As the Army doesn't seem to b interested, this is another spot wher Navy Secretary Frank Knox can d a world of good. How It Looks for Basebal On a recent trip through the Soul end Southeast, one of the firs queries ofTercd was this ' What will happen to pro basebal in 1944?" There was only one answer to this "It all depends on the progress c 1 the war and the size of the casualt list." The coming invasion of Hitler' Europe will supply most of the stc ry. A German collapse would mak a terrific difTerence, more to th lives of our fighters, but also in minor way to all sport. But Gei many hasn't collapsed yet. Admitting that all professions sport is a pin point in important' ajrainst the needs of war, only German collapse at the rim of sprin would help baseball. By April o early May there will be too man taken if the war is still setting th same furious pace. And none ( these could be turned h"-k in time |
