Slants on Sports

Without a doubt pulling an oar in a varsity shell is the most gruel-ling of all sports. A four mile grind on the river is equal only to four football games played consecutively without rest or time outs. This sport takes more out of a fellow than water polo, tennis, soccer and lacrosse combined. For here once the starter’s gun has been fired there are no moments of let-up, of easing or coasting along. It is a steady, heart-breaking, and ruthless sweep onward and only the best qualify.

Besides the enormous stamina that an oarsman must posses for this terrific shell game he must acquire a rhythmic pull which in itself is tiring. And still, this sport has great numbers of enthusiasts and candidates applying for positions in the boat despite the prodigious strength that it takes to be a sweepsman.

TWO COLLEGES IN CITY HAVE CREWS

Of the ten metropolitan colleges for men only two boast of having their own crews. Manhattan College blade wielders are still inexperienced but that school has more men in its boats than many a larger and longer established university. Columbia, made famous on the river by the great Glendon family, is the other institution which has a complete crew. The Lions are proud of the fact that they have a varsity eight, a jayvee outfit and a freshman shell that consistently sweep on to cross the finish line first.

JEWISH LADS ON COLUMBIA CREW

Coxswain Solomon is one of the few Jewish oarsmen on the eastern waterways. Another is Myron Michelman, stroke of the Columbia eight this year. Both of these sailors are seniors and have been with the crew for the last three years. They have made this their only sport because of the long hours of practice throughout the year that has to be put in.

The coxswain is the man who keeps the rhythm and steers the boat. He is responsible for the morale that exists in a shell and it depends on his knowledge of the young bladesweepers at what point in a race they can let everything go.

The stroke on the other hand gets the signals from the cox’un for an added few beats and he sets the pact. If he should be dipping his oats at the rate of thirty-four strokes per minute, the seven behind must be pulling away at the same rate of speed. Should the stroke pick up his beat, it is the duty of the cox’un to check the other lads in the boat.

Thus at any regatta you can hear the chunk of the oars and the shrill cries of the coxswain as he shouts, “Stroke, Stroke! Pick her up number seven! Get the swing number four! Stroke, fellers, stroke!”

Despite the fact that these two boys start their crew practice in the early fall and continue indoors until they shove off for outdoor practice, Solomon and Michelman are considered two of the outstanding scholars and athletes of the June ’34 class. Both are seniors and will graduate this June.

Columbia crew followers will have a chance to see these boys in action next Saturday at Annapolis, when the Lion oarsmen meet the Midshipmen.

N. Y. U. HOLDS PREP SCHOOL DAY

More than five hundred entries have been filed for the twentieth New York University Interscholastic track and field meet which will be held at Ohio Field tomorrow. The meet renewed after a lapse of ten years is part of the N. Y. U. Prep school day program at University Heights. Entries have been received from fifty-eight high schools throughout the east.

DRAWS STELLAR TRACK MEN N

Some of the outstanding scholastic track and field performers of the East will be seen in action on the Ohio Field cinder track. Among the top-notch performers in the various events will be Marty Glickman, of James Madison High School, and Vernon Grant of New Rochelle, in the one hundred yard dash.

Marty is also a star backfield man on his school team and was a member of the All-Scholastic footbaal eleven picked by the press last season. He holds the P. S. A. L. title for this distance and is being counted on to set a new record tomorrow.

Another record holders who will participate in these games is Danny Taylor, of New Utrecht High, entered in the shotput event. His strongest opponent is another metropolitan athlete, Abraham Simon of John Adams.

EXHIBITION PERFORMANCES

These games, renewed after a long lapse, boast of marks which have been equalled and bettered consistently by the prep and high school stars during the outdoor season since the last event in 1924. The field at University Heights has been rebuilt and remodeled and will be ready for a day of fast stepping. Based on the records of the past few years in scholasic circles most of the N. Y. U. marks should fall before the pounding feet of the young athletes.

Besides the thirteen listed events there will be exhibitions by an N. Y. U. relay team selected by Coach Von Elling of the Violet track squad. George Spitz in the high jump, Sol (Happy) Durth former Hall of Fame track luminary and Olympic star, and Peter Zaremba, intercollegiate hammer and throw winner will also perform.

SOCCER SHIFTS

Major soccer rivals of the city are paired in the American League card arranged for this Sunday afternoon with the New York Americans tackling Brookhattan at Starlight Park and the Brooklyn Celtics clashing with the Brooklyn Hispano at Commercial Field, Brooklyn.

A week ago the standing of the American League soccer teams was as follows:

Next Wednesday we shall publish in full detail the present soccer situation as it exists in N. Y. City today, discussing such clubs as the Hakoahs, Hatikvahs, and Jordans.

BENNY FRIEDMAN ACTIVE

Following two weeks of intensive work on fundamentals, Benny Friedman, head football coach at C. C. N. Y., has decided to see his squad in action and consequently has ordered heavy contact work for the remaining two weeks of spring practice. The squad has been divided into groups and will engage in impromptu battles.

Benny has instructed his charges in only six plays and one or two formations but this will be sufficient for his present purposes. He merely wants to get a slant of the material he will have to work with next September. Thus he will learn the potentialities of next season’s squad and how well they have absorbed the fundamentals.

Friedman says “there will be no one system at City College, for all this talk about systems is a lot of bunk. We will try to fit our style of play to the material available, keeping it pliable and adaptable to fluctuations in man power and other variables.”

Already the coaching staff has cut down the number of candidates from 250 to seventy-five to facilitate spring work. The beef, brawn, and muscle men have been kept whereas all those who came out because of the lure of Friedman’s name, backed by an enthusiasm for the game have been weeded out.

THE SPORTING CALENDAR

Tonight at Staunch Arena in Coney Island, Abe Coleman meets Sid Nabors of Tennessee in a time limit bout. Sam Cordovano will oppose Ernie Dusek, Omaha roughneck, in the feature engagement to a finish. Cordovano is one of Columbia’s football coaches.