Show speaking of sports basketball hits ts top ranking in American Sport t by ROBERT mcshane flege porty ORTY SEVEN years ago a col lege boy invented a game to fill up the existing slack between football and baseball seasons his name james A Nai Nal smith the game basketball back in 1892 young naismith merely wanted a game that would supply proper exercise to athletes in the winter without the drudgery of ordinary gymnasium routine he borrowed some rules from rugby lacrosse and hockey A loosely knit game to begin with it was often played with as many as 40 players on a side at first the inventor experimented with a circle on the floor for his basket but the goal tender parked himself in the circle and scores were impossible he then tried a hockey net but too many points were tallied finally the balcony caught his eye and he decided to place the basket out of reach of the combatants host popular sport the springfield college undergraduate then asked the janitor tor for two boxes to nail to the balcony unable to find them the janitor returned with two peach baskets because of that insignificant trifle we have basketball instead of bomball box ball forty seven years later this college boys brainchild Is played by 60 nations and some athletes more persons either watch or play it than any other form of athletic activity on the globe some statistician once figured that in a year either shoot baskets or gaze on others who do has phenomenal the sport has had bad a phenomenal phenomena growth in the past and its future possibilities stagger the imagination basketball is almost a religion pocket billiards by CHARLES C PETERSON president national billiard association ot of america and worlds trick shot champion T w sa s1 X C I 1 A lesson no 7 this diagram is the first actual mt jut shot and break to make anis shot requires absolute accuracy in striking the object ball M right in order to keep your cue ball from hurdling or jumping the table keep continually alert on holding your cue level since striking a cue ball below the center vill ivill keep it on the table I 1 would advise that you strike your cue ball slightly below center the most glaring fault of novice players when the object ball is near a cushion is to elevate the butt of the cue this in the majority of cases causes the cue ball to leave the table in the midwest particularly in indiana where one tournament drew an entry list of tea teams ms composed of players and reserves one indiana town with a population on of has a basketball arena seating new yorks madison square garden has done much to send basketball rocketing to hitherto untouched heights the garden has become a court rose bowl for teams from all parts of the united states all negro bout djoe HEN heavyweight champion joe louis enters the ring january 27 to meet confident john henry lewis it will be the first time the bomber has met another negro since april 25 1935 when he knocked out roscoe toles of flint mich in six rounds there are numerous reasons why his ring opponents have not been of his bis own race big league fight 1 1 3 p champion joe louis promoters have always been wary of all negro bouts and have always had bad a curious carious prejudice against them chief among the reasons is that a large pere percentage percenta enta ge of fight fans stayed away out of sheer indifference to the outcome anything that lessens the gate receipts is naturally arsenic to promoters there are other reasons why it is unusual to see top negro fighters throwing leather at each other in the nations big arenas far too many mediocre white boys have advanced a long ways through reputations built up by fixed fights negro fighters facing inferior white fighters have been forced to go into the tank in order to earn the most meager living exploited as reputation fodder they were forced to play ball with all types of promoters and racketeers however the abandon with which two negroes fought led those promoters to believe that they had lost their hold on the managerial strings stretching to the fighter louis has cleaned up the white field and lewis is now his bis outstanding opponent its a break for john henry because his style Is best calculated to bother louis much in the same manner as did bob pastors lewis too can use the money the light heavyweight championship was not as lucrative as it might have been and john henry is aggressively confident that is a tremendous asset in his favor j fuel uel for the debate regarding shutout S statistics games in the two major leagues last st season merely furnish additional ammunition to baseball tans fans who argue the relative strength of the two circuits there were shutout games in the two leagues 83 93 in the national and 47 in the american that still prove anything to league enthusiasts national league supporters have the shutout records to back up claims that their league excels in first rate pitching american league tans fans argue that there are more powerhouse sluggers in that league and have the same figure to support their contention meanwhile he argument continues with both sides using the same statistics to prove their case football danger fo FOOTBALL protective equipment charged with being responsible for one quarter of all injuries caused by bodily contact will go on trial the latter part of december with the national football coaches association serving as judge and jury while many coaches believe that the use of hard and unyielding equipment constitutes the greatest danger in football it is not likely that changes in that equipment will be drastic it is argued and rightly so that the viry very cause of many gridiron accidents is also a protective factor which keeps many a player from froin serious injury A committee named by the abel national football coaches association has studied the equipment used by 25 major colleges throughout through out the united states and in the near future will report the findings of their survey W A 11 alexander of georgia tech elmer layden chairman will undoubtedly call for several changes particular fault is found with the type of shoe cleat which screws on to a metal post extending from the shoe sole when this cleat is broken off and the post exposed it can easily s become the cause of deep cuts or painful abrasions abrasion S when less dangerous protective equipment is found equipment that will afford safety to the same degree as does present equipment then both coaches and players will welcome it elmer layden of notre dame has devised what is probably the best football helmet from a viewpoint of safety the layden head g guard has a soft leather leathe r top cushioned ed with foam rubber on a sturdy fiber case sport shorts dolored COLORED fighters hold five of the eight worlds boxing titles long island basketball team has scored more than a point a minute each game during the last five seasons golfers at the rosanne club in melbourne australia are requested not only to replace divots divits but also to sow seed reggie mcnamara veteran cyclist who retired two years ag ago 0 competed in six day bicycle races winning 20 ice hockey has been making rapid progress in scotland with three new major rinks rink s recently opened world championships in lawn bowling will be decided in san francisco during the 1939 exposition 0 western newspaper uni union on |