Slants on Sports

One of the first letters we opened in the office Monday morning on out return from the Penn relays at Philly was a quaint little note. Our secretary filed it under the “C’s” with the two other crank and complaint epistles that we have received thus far.

In part the letter says, “I learn from reliable sources that you are a former City College man. Perhaps that accounts for one thing I don’t like about you. The other thing is the fact that you don’t write enough on checkers and chess and devote entirely too much space to the Communist College of New York.” Pleasant chap, this egg!

FRIEDMAN MOVES

Believing in a policy of giving the reader what he wants we wrote a story that will please him no end.

Benny Friedman, chief stock-holder and head man of C.C.N.Y. gridiron preferred, is looking ahead to the football surprise he’ll hand New York next fall. He not only hopes to produce a strong winning team but is using the old Friedman psychology on the job right now.

Old grads stopped teaching for a moment when they first heard the news that Friedman was selected as the new coach. They almost asked for sabbatical leave when the news first leaked out that Friedman would hold spring practice, Incidentally, this year marked the first time in athletic history at City College that a football team held spring training. It is merely one of the many signs of the new deal in Lavender athletics which ###he coming of Friedman heralds.

SAFETY ABOVE ALL

Scheduled to come to a conclusion last Friday, a select group of thirty-seven players will continue to scrimmage twice a week at Van Cortlandt park for another month. This came about because Friedman did not think that his charges had received sufficient scrimmaging experience under him.

For the first few weeks of the spring drill the new coach drilled all his men on the pure fundamentals of football, stressing blocking and tackling. The head mentor’s pet aversion is a player who may pass well or kick excellently yet at the same time is a poor blocker or tackler. Several of last year’s veterans have tentatively lost their posts because they cannot meet the technique demanded by the former all-American player. At every session, Friedman is emphasizing safety in football above all. His teachings are designed to secure the utmost amount of protection for the player and thus far spring injuries have been negligible.

EXCELLENT COACHING STAFF

The majority of coaches throughout the country choose as their assistants men who are versed in the system of the game the head man is expounding. Usually a former player on a university team is chosen. Friedman has gone them one better. He has no “one special system.” He personally thinks them the bunk. And when it came to selecting his aides he seems to have picked, in our estimation the finest coaching staff in the country. Where else can you find a man with Mielziner’s playing and coaching experience working towards the same goal as a Paul Ribbett, who by the way is taking care of the ends, or a Doc Alexander, taking care of the centers and guards, under their great boss, ###enny Friedman? It does seem ### be one of the strongest coach### units in the east.

### and it is due to the excellent in action of these coaches that the City eleven has shown such splendid results in spring practice. Last week, the Columbia scrimmage revealed a perfect example of the new spirit that the Lavender gridders have been inspired with. The boys were full of pepper and kept shouting to each other, “Let’s take the Bowl away from these Roses.” And, in the first five plays that Columbia attempted, with several Stanford game veterans in the lineup, the Lions lost four yards.

SCHOOL FOOTBALL CONSCIOUS

It does appear that City is losing some of its class consciousness, that only a minority are interested in Dean Gottshall’s literary endeavors, and that most of the students and grinds at St. Nicholas Heights are surreptitiously reading a football guide book behind Griffin’s “Math Analysis.”

Usually the turn-out at C.C.N.Y. has been poor but this time 250 candidates answered the coach’s call for first practice. Uniforms were distributed to sixty-five men but even with the help of his aides, the unprecedented number of enthusiasts proved too unwieldy to handle. The squad, as a result, was divided into four groups practicing at different times so that every man might receive his proper share of attention under the wizard hands of the chief coach.

The cut made last week was the first this spring. The staff felt that it would be bad for the morale of football at the school if any preliminary cuts were made. But football needs a few other things besides enthusiasm to function properly and only those boys with promise, weight, brawn, and the ability to take coaching, were kept on the squad.

TRAINING CAMP

With the Lewisohn stadium so badly torn up, the squad has been organized into groups who travel to the Bronx by truck. Instead of a team A or team B. Benny is no doubt referring to his men as the First Truckload or the Second Truckload. Rumor has it that Mike Kupperberg, last year’s captain, carries three men on his shoulders when no room is left. However, Mielziner, the line coach, carries the trucks.

The thirty-seven athletes who remain on the squad will form the nucleus with which Benny will work from now until June and whom he hopes to have back when the St. Nick outfit leave for training camp.

Friedman is convinced of the necessity of such a camp and this in itself is another promising aspect. Years ago, City went away at the beginning of each football season and turned out teams that were talked about. In fact, the last time the Lavender had a gridiron contingent at camp, the eleven made football history in the east. Its high scorer. Eddie Dubinsky, was up with the nation’s leaders and the boys produced five victories, the best record to date.

Now, you might argue, from what source is Benny to get his new material? The following may serve as an answer. Friedman is embarking on a lecture tour of New York City’s high schools. He will talk on the value of athletics in health and discipline. We have a hunch that application blanks for admission into City College will be distributed by the jayvees to the youngsters as they leave the auditorium.

TENTATIVE LINEUP FOR 1934

For next season Benny has a tentative nucleus as his first team selection.

Ends-Dwyer and Mayer

Tackles-Juliber and Isserson

Guards-Velkoff and Tolces

Center-Luongo

Backs-Schwartz, Cooper, Sidrer and Rockwell.

Luongo is a crack man at center and is one of the best pivot men City has had in years. Velkoff and Tolces are fighters. The latter is built along the style of the all-American guard who played for Notre Dame several years ago, Burt Metzger. Juliber and Isserson make ideal tackles. They have the heft and the brawn, are hard and fast chargers, and are quick to size up an opponent’s play. We have never seen the ends in action but reports have it that they are hard men to take out on end sweeps and they cover the gridiron in record time when going down under kicks.

The backs, Sidrer, Cooper, Rock-well, and Schwartz are a well balanced bunch. “Yudy” Cooper can plunge hard and crack a line wide open. He is an excellent blocker and won the Parker Plaque in 1933 as the outstanding man on the City College eleven. He can boot the pigskin in a fashion to delight any coach’s heart and even Le Roy Mills, the great kicking expert, praised this young Jewish athlete for his remarkable footwork. Cooper can place the ball in any corner of the field from any angle. Sidrer is a good passer, a hard runner, and an excellent forward pass snatcher, despite his poor vision. Schwartz and Rockwell are new-comers to the Varsity brigade but nevertheless have proved they’ve got what it taken.

All in all, this is a very fine nucleus around which to build the hopes for a great 1934 eleven. if Friedman continues this magnificent work, the possibility of fulfilling this writer’s most cherished dream may come true-victory over Manhattan.

THE SPORTING CALENDAR-RIDGEWOOD GRAVE

Tonight Abie Coleman, “the Jewish Ape Man” meets Rowdy Rudy Dusek in the feature finish bout of the evening at the Ridgewood Grove. George Hagen faces Casey Columbo in one of the attractive supporting events that fill the card.

FIRST MACCABI CHAPTER IN UNITED STATES

Milton Magid has the distinction of organizing the first Maccabi chapter in this country. His members have been officially accepted by the U.S. Maccabi organization, according to Dave White, executive secretary of the American Maccabi division.

Magid, a former German American Athletic Club track star, severed his connections with that club and linked himself with the Jewish athletic group. He has already enlisted sixty men. A formal installation of chapter will be held at the end of May.

Although many chapters have been in the process of formation since February 1, when the U.S. organization was officially chartered, Magid’s group is the first of the clubs to attain the desired number of members who have paid up their annual dues.

MACCABI SPORTING DINNER

Tomorrow night at the Hotel Brittany the administrative board of the American Maccabi association will tender a dinner to the leading Jewish sportsmen in the East. These men and women have signified their willingness to become national chairmen of their respective sports and have shown a decided interest in the Maccabi movement in this country.

Those who have accepted are Benny Friedman, Saul Mielziner, Dr. Joe Alexander, all professional football players and at present the coaching staff at C.C.N.Y.; Sammy Stein, the wrestler; Sol Furth, Olympic star; Milton Sandler, national 600 meter record holder; Nat Osk, boxing star, and Miss Charlotte Epstein of the Women’s Swimming Association. Benny Leonard said that he would be present too.