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Show Pffi WK AM. know tin! wnr l;,n't over yet lni'l tlictl! Iiin't one of nil wliu known when thin j ;i j n y dy will nirlvr. lint wi; lit c;i;;t k now it won't l.-iiit forever, null Hint we enn't lo:;e niile:;s we bent 0111 wlvin. t In lit thin j joint Unit I would lil'.e to Hive yon a new po:;!.wiir roiijor profcii-iiionnl profcii-iiionnl i;port which , lniiienK to be him-ketl.all. him-ketl.all. I got the ti) nnd the idea from Serjt. Herb CJoren, a former for-mer .sporting writer on the N. Y. Sun who Is stationed now ut the Greensboro, Greens-boro, N. ' C, iiaiiic Training Center No. 10, which rales first among army basketball bas-ketball teams. Grantland Rice It is Sergeant Goren's belief that basketball is not only ready for its plane In professional sport, but that in addition army and navy teams could turn in a tremendous Job for the war effort in the way of bond selling and aiding the Red Cross. I agree with Sergeant Goren. For basketball is the game that has more combined players and spectators spec-tators than any other sport. "The best basketball in the country coun-try is played by service teams," Goren says. "Great Lakes dominates domi-nates the Midwest. Norfolk Naval Training station and Mitehcl Field stand out along the Atlantic coast. Greensboro's Army Air forces team is cleaning up in the South's tobacco belt. St. Mary's Pre-IIight is the headlincr on the Pacific coast. "Basketball interest has grown tremendously with its spread to army posts and navy bases. It is altogether likely that the game will emerge in the postwar period on a big-league professional scale. This is a natural outlet for the great bulk of basketball talent that flourishes throughout the service stations . . . a natural outlet, too, for the huge following that has been drawn to I the game. "Given a Judge Landis to assure its integrity and keep faith with the fans, it can hardly miss. A high commissioner must rule the sport. It is the first step to professional success. "I do not know why such interest cannot now be sustained by playing an Army-Navy basketball game in New York's Madison Square Garden. Gar-den. Or in the Chicago Stadium, j Put it anywhere even in Soldier j Field and it would come close to 1 selling out. Sooner or later your basketball fan can visualize a world scries that will be the court game's counterpart of baseball's October classic." The Greensboro Team I talked to Sergt. Herb Goren at the baseball writers' dinner. "I am amazed," Goren told me, "at the number of pre-aviation cadets ca-dets on our post who have become sold on the game. Next to their affection af-fection for the mechanics of flying, they'd rather talk basketball than anything else. "Put such an army team in the Garden against any of the crack navy teams Great Lakes or Norfolk Nor-folk Naval Training station or any of half a dozen others and it would be a cinch to swell the funds in Army and Navy Emergency Relief. "Here are a few of the players on the Basic Training Center No. 10 quintet: "Pfc. George Senesky: Holder of the intercollegiate scoring record at St. Joseph's, Philadelphia, last season. sea-son. He is the choice of Philadelphia Philadel-phia sports writers as the outstanding outstand-ing athlete of 1943. "Pfc. George Mahnken: Six feet eight inches tall one of the tallest military policemen in the army. He was an All-America center last season sea-son at Georgetown. "Pvt. Dick Gray: Captain at Vil-lanova Vil-lanova two years ago and a professional profes-sional last year in the American league. "The attitude of Senesky may be taken as typical of this whole team. He is a bright boy, and when the war is won he could step into any job and prove his ability. But basketball is in his blood. If the professional game were placed on a big league level, he would be one of the first to join the ranks. "Big Mahnken feels the same way. He is eager to go across as soon as the basketball firing ceases but he wants to come back into the sport on a businesslike basis. John points out that there are thousands thou-sands of basketball players in the service who hope to see the game conducted on a major league scale, so that they could enlist their services serv-ices to the thing they know best." Tunney for Competition "The report or the rumor that I am against competitive sport is just 100 per cent wrong," Comdr. Gene Tunney, just back from the South Pacific area, told me. "I qan tell you this the navy V-program V-program was worked out in my office. of-fice. This encouraged competitive football, baseball, basketball, track and field, swimming and every other form of competitive sport. I, with other navy men, was completely |