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Show peaklng Released by Western Newspaper Union. ONE of the most famous and colorful col-orful coaches in football history bowed out of the game recently when the College All-Stars met Chicago's Chi-cago's pennant-winning Bears for the Army-Navy Relief fund. For Robert C. ("Bob") Zuppke, the All-Star tilt was the final game of his career as a W' 1 f ' ' coach. Zuppke, already al-ready approaching legendary proportions propor-tions at the University Univer-sity of Illinois, where he coached for 29 years, resigned last j fall to accept a pen-j pen-j sion from the schooL His last game, as mentor of the All-Stars, All-Stars, was a fitting Bob Zuppke cIimax t0 a thri11" studded lifetime in harness. Zuppke carries his memories of seven Big Ten conference championships champion-ships plus many an upset that brightens the pages of Illinois athletic ath-letic history. There was the day when his often-beaten often-beaten Orange and Blue moved to seemingly insurmountable odds against one of Minnesota's greatest teams. The Gophers were at the top of the conference, Illinois at the opposite extremity. But Zuppke had been pointing for this one and his gallant squad were responsible for one of the biggest football upsets of all time. Games against Michigan supplied Zup with a pair of his greatest coaching coach-ing thrills. Greatest Thrills The first of these was back in 1924 October 17, to be exact. Michigan was the visiting team at the dedication dedica-tion of Illinois' huge new stadium. The schools hadn't met the previous year and had tied for the Western conference crown. Illinois never nev-er will forget the famous Redhead who almost single-handed single-handed shattered Michigan defenses. Re(J Grange In that memorable tilt Harold ("Red") Grange, the greatest football player ever molded by Zuppke, scored four touchdowns in the first nine minutes of bis first B7cr Ten game. irmwir'Tars' later FrHz Crisler, Michigan's capable leader, made a slight error in judgment when he remarked that Tom Harmon was a better back than Grange ever was. The Wolverines were favored to win by as much as 40 to 0. But Zuppke had his theme for a pre-game talk to his squad. He had his team steamed up to fever pitch. When the smoke had cleared away the Illini had won 16 to 7 for one of the most astonishing football results of the decade. When Commander Gene Tunney of the United States naval reserve declared that football is practically useless to the war effort as a man-conditioner, man-conditioner, Zup was the first to take up cudgels for the game. It was quite a while ago that Zuppke said: "Those who want to abolish football never played it," but his feelings are as strong as ever. On Cooperation In questioning Tunney's knowledge knowl-edge of the subject, Zup pointed out that army and navy personnel must learn to co-operate in groups. Prize fighters fight for themselves. "Football," "Foot-ball," he said, "develops "de-velops initiative and leadership qualities. Ten men subordinate subordi-nate themselves in a plan they have learned so that one Gene Tunney man can advance. They develop and follow a leader." The football profession hasn't always al-ways dealt too kindly with Zuppke, but he always has been one of the most enthusiastic exponents of the game. No doubt he had a wistful look in his eyes as he watched the material at his disposal for the All-Star All-Star classic. Given a few of those backs his latter-day teams at Illinois Illi-nois would have been battling it out on even ground with such teams as Minnesota and Notre Dame. But don't forget, he'll continue to have memories. And the memory of only one player Red Grange would be sufficient for almost any football coach. SPORT SHORTS C Track architects design racing strips to allow four feet running room for each horse. ft When Hunk Anderson. Bears' line coach, was a Notre Dame lineman under Rockne, he was known as "rockers" to his teammates because of his exceedingly flat feet, ft Bill Norman. Milwaukee outfielder, outfield-er, recalls a night game he played for Oklahoma City against Fort Worth. It lasted 21 innings and Fort Worth finally won, 4-3 at two o'clock the next morning. |
