Show Is steaming up fo or r th the v 1 hottest midsummer sport c caral Z val in recent history first there will be another big money all american open golf tournament involving heavy cash then the allstar all star ball game arrives where there ww will be an entirely different attitude on the part ot of the national league for a big change while t these h e Is e maneuvers are grantland rice taking place tony zale and rocky graziano will begin the final stages of their training for or what should be bowings box ings best show in many years certainly tony and the rock topped the book last summer including two heavyweight championships and the flop there louis fault it belonged entirely to a pair of palefaces known as conn and mauriello MaurIe after the zale graziano melee Is out of the way the arlington classic will arrive this may be one of the biggest races of the season coming along at a high spot of the racing year so here we have chicago crowding in golf baseball boxing and racing all in the championship mold through a three week stretch the zale graziano meeting will be the stati sta ridout dout it should he be one of the most dramatic middleweight contests in the long history of the ring it may not carry all the fury and destruction of their first meeting but it cant miss as a thriller there have been some great middleweight dle weight fights in the past but none had bad the color this pair can take into the ring and you can wager a few sester ces this time that the national league going to concede the allstar game in advance 0 0 star coach missing spring football practice which draws little publicity despite the many thousands getting ready for next tall fall has an absent star who will be missed badly in the home of the crimson tide his name Is frank thomas Alaba mas able abla leader who has had to retire because of illness and now Is the athletic director of the southern institution red drew who happens to be another coach of class Is in charge of the squad sixteen years ago back in 1931 thomas succeeded wallace wade at alabama when wade left for duke an ex notre darner thomas was short and stubby with a pair of keen alert eyes and a thorough knowledge of football in every department part ment acab alabama ina have picked a better man for in thomas 16 years at alabama the crimson tide from tuscaloosa won games against 22 defeats five games ended in tie score in seven bowl games which include rose sugar cotton and orange bowl contests the thomas alabama record Is five victories against two defeats these are pretty fair marks in big time competition it also might be added that in this period thomas developed such a all ll 11 americans or near all amer icons as don hutson jenkins and don whitmire later with navy johnny cain hupke dixie howell bill lee riley smith tarzan white holt rast vaughn mancha and harry gilmer he rates gilmer who has one more year as the best college passer he ever saw and predicts a brilliant pro future for his pound back in case he decides to take up professional play in addition to strong intersectional competition tommy had to battle battie his way through a fast moving circuit that included such stout opi ponente as tennessee duke georgia tulane vanderbilt and many others who always played for keeps one reason tor for football strength in the south has been the quality ot of its coaches with such leaders as bob neyland of tennessee frank thomas of alabama wallace wailace wade of duke wally butts of georgia bill alexander and bobby dodds of georgia tech red sanders of vanderbilt der bilt henry frnka of tulane carl snavely of north carolina and many others who knew their heir stuff with his former aid red drew at mississippi thomas made a brave attempt to leave a sick bed and coach his team from a stretcher last fall fail an impossible assignment dixie hangs on it has 11 as been a matter of 19 years since a kid ballplayer by the name of fred dixie walker reported to the albany ga club of the southeastern league dixie blew in from his home hamlet villa rica ga at the age of 18 ills his record shows that in hi bis 18 years of wandering dixie has been delivering base hits tor for 13 different clubs but with such hitting stars as stan blus lal joe and others far down the list walker Is still baseballs leading bombina c tion hitter hitler meaning batting average age and runs roos batted io ia |