Show packs power punch By MARION DUNN gold in this hilltop school and the gold is a young man with a definite future in the coaching if university officials will take a The fact that the Ute baseball team looked like the best-coached nine on the west side of the conference last spring is due in no small way to the part Tommy had in coaching We don't want to take anything away from Vadal Peterson he's a great basketball But Tommy has all the ear marks of a great baseball TOMMY got his start at Hing-ham high school where he ranks as one f their all-time great baseball From there he went io old Gemmell club of the Industrial The were loaded with some of the best semi-pro players in the but Tommy took over a regular spot in their and caught the eye a Red Sox In the sum- mer of 1942 he signed a. professional contract with Boston was sent to their farm club at O. Tommy played in the first game and blasted out two singles in three trips to the From then on he held down a regular spot until late in the season when his father Tommy then returned to Utah to be with his That ended his play-for He signed a contract with Uncle Sugar's armored division for fifty smackers a HE FLAYED ball with the for a while then hit the ETO where he suffered an injury which shelved his baseball playing entered the university in 1945 and majored in physical hoping to coach when he Then the athletic moguls of the Skyline Six placed baseball on the agenda and Tom reported for the The school was in a bad Baseball was new to and Vadal was new to baseball When Tommy was ruled ineligible of his short lived pro career Vadal realized how important he could be to everyone in an assistant coaching and Tommy was eager to The results were The team looked had a lot of hustle and will to They played ran the bases well and were well but they dropped two heartbreakers to the and that was the TOMMY walked onto field there were many comments about his striking blence to Leo In uniform the is they look love baseball and play to win through sheer love of the They've both been in arguments on the but for different Leo argues at the drop of a and this obnoxious habit has earned him the Tommy argues for his During the final BYU game at Derks field last spring a Cougar fouled one of Larry Wilcox's prized offerings toward the lower Glenn the diminutive went after the ball and reached for the pellet when the extended hand of a spectator obstructed his Nielson made a beautiful one-handed Tommy tore out of the dugout and told the fan off in terms strong enough to prevent the recurrence of the The man was Thornton member of the Board of Regents and holder of a lifetime pass to all university athletic Off the field Tom's to the Tom is unassuming and thoroughly He graduates next quarter and will be looking for a We don't claim that he's a young man with a but he is a young man with a baseball Most unusual entertainment oi a the Summer Festival of SHOW BOAT and NIGHT'S Box Office Second South and Main St. |