The Key West Citizen Newspaper, October 27, 1954, Page 6

| Conchs Gird For Crucial | Miami Beach Typhoon Tilt Seek To Justify Surprise Ninth Rating In State By JIM COBB Citizen Sports Editor The Key West Conchs, heartened with the. unex- pected news that. they have been named the 9th rank- ing prep school football team in the state, will buckle “down to heavy work today Page 6 THE KEY WEST CITIZEN Wednesday, October 27, 1954 Navy Aids Planning For Third Lions Club Conch Bow] Tilt Final plans were iaid Tuesday for the Third Annual Conch Bow! football game when members of the Lions Club football committee met with Rear Admiral George C. Towner and his staff. The game, pitting the Pensacola Naval’ Air Station and the Eglin Air Force Base gridders, will be Played at the high school stadium Dec, 3. A three day fiesta is being Planned in conjunction with the football game, which last year at- tracted the largest crowd ever to ‘abacapg @ Sporting event in Key Proceeds of the game will be split between the Lions Club Blind Fund, the March of Dimes and the Navy Relief Society. Admiral Towner, as in other ,|¥ears, has thrown the resources see it,” was ment coach Ed Beck- ial ie & i E i 7 Hh i » ra & é Et f 1 Hl BE zaF g 3g 2 . : a have shown in their ey’ll stress the same mental football that then five straight vic- Conch backs can find a "lL go through it. If they that hole, they’ll throw command is still that the Key West top strength for the in yesterday’s DeMerritt, who the Constance cLain who suf- oulder. Flanagan, Harper Go Is TV Feature. Del Flanagan, number two rank- ing welterweight, collides with H power The drills E g pe a bs FFs Fee i E g a pelle ge z &! a 3 a g E } s ge ally televised bout at the Winter- land Arena, San Francisco, on Oct- 2. larper makes his bid for big- Tecognition in this the 209th Ribbon Vout TV program. 10-round contest is to be aired a_network of more than 100 TV stations at 10 p. m. East- ern Standard Time with station WTVJ channel 4, the local outlet, Flanagan, flashy St. Paul, Minn. boxer, likes to win by piling up with crisp left jabs and ef- Flanagan skyrocketed in his di- vision wifh a victory over Johhny Saxton inja Blue Ribbon Bout last December. Known as a “cutey” fe boxing fraternity, Del is fast, boxes with “finesse, .and packs a lot of power. of local Navy activities squarely behind the Conch Bowl committee. In addition to providing housing and food for the participating teams, the Navy is loaning bleach- er seats to take care of the expect- ed capacity crowd and aiding in the ticket sale of the game. Louis Carbonell, chairman of the affair said yesterday that the Lions Club is pointing for a 10,000 gate at the game — which would be a new record for Key West. In addi- tion to the game, the 127 piece Uo- ral Gables High School band will be on hand for a huge parade set for Dec. 2 sponsored by the Junior Chamber of Commerce and for the halftime show. The Lions Club aux- iliary sponsoring a beauty contest to select a Conch Bowl Queen to reign over the festivities. Senator George Smathers will head the list of distinguished guests here for the affair, Sports NEW YORK (—There was. an item on the sports page the other day which said that Ralph Branca, at 28 years of age, had been waived out of the big leagues, a washed- up pitcher who didn’t know which way to turn next. Immediately three pictures came to mind of this tragic young athlete who only a few years ago appeared destined for greatness. : In the first picture he was sitting all alone on the Brooklyn Dodgers bench, a brilliant but nervous kid of 21, waiting to start the first game of the 1947 Series against the New York Yankees. He had won 21 games during the season and was, perhaps, Manager Burt Shot- ton’s logical choice to face the Bombers in the opener. But just sitting there and waiting while his teammates took their pregame practice obviously was an ordeal for the dark, intense young- ster. A reporter, we recall, com- mented quietly that he doubted Branca would get two balls over the plate. He was wrong, though. The kid got it over and the Yank- ees racked him up. In all, he pitched & 1-3 innings in the Series and was ganged for 12 hits and 8 earned runs. Some might say that the -ex- perience burned itself into Bran- ca’s mind, and they could be right, for he never again was to be quite the pitcher he had been at 21. The most games he ever won after that was 14 the following year, and by 1951, when he threw the most famous gopher pitch in base- ball history to Bobby Thomson of the Giants, his won-lost mark was done to 13-12. The second vivid picture that comes back had to do, of course, with that fatal pitch which the big fellow delivered in relief. The Gi- Roundup By Gayle Talbot indulging in a maudlin scene around home plate. We recall watching the stricken pitcher stuff his glove into his hip pocket and bow his head and slowly begin the long, long walk out to the Polo Grounds dressing’ rooms. The third picture was the night of the annual baseball writers show only a few months later, and the ballroom of a local hotel was filled to the highest level with figures of the national game. And suddenly there ix the spotlight on the big stage were both Branca and the man who had laid him low, Thom- son. You never heard such a com- motion as went up, most of it out of sincere admiration for the boy from Brooklyn. Branca sang his lament in a good tenor voice, with scarcely a quiver, and Thomson, the hero of the skit, thanked him in kind for having ‘tossed up exactly the ball he wanted. It was easily the high- light of the show, and there were some misty eyes around a pre- viously jolly gathering when the last note of the duet had died. The incident about convinced the baseball world that Branca had tthe heart of a lion, just for having shown up if nothing else, and we heard the belief expressed more than once later in a long n ight that he finally was ready to take up again where he had started four years before. But it wasn’t to be. The next year there was arm trouble and Branca got into only 16 games. ‘Two seasons ago, in °53, Mana- ger Charlie Dressen permitted him to work in only seven innings be- fore he gave up on him for good, and in July o f that summer Branca was waived out of the National League. Detroit took a chance on him, then the Yankees. But now ants, just miraculously catapulted | Branca, who should be right at the into the World Series on Thom- , Peak of a great career, is looking son’s blow into the stands, were | for a job again. Ohio State Victory Seen Over By CHARLES CHAMBERLAIN CHICAGO W — Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan and Pittsburgh mixed knockout drops in the Ol’ Swami’s tea leaves last week. he’s trying to recover: OHIO STATE 27 NORTHWEST- ERN 18 — The bristling Buck- eyes have bounded into the No. 1 ranking in the AP poll off their ; | 81-14 decision over Wisconsin . . . Northwestern, after eight succes- WISCONSIN 14, IOWA 7 —Here’s vote of confidence that the Badg- that : Northwestern By AP Writer j gradually working back up the jladder after league setbacks to | the Hawkeyes will have the home | town cheering section behiud them at Iowa City. MICHIGAN 20, INDIANA, 13 — The Wolverines may cool off after | single-winging over Minnesota 34- |9, but mot enough to be upset by Indiana . . . Maybe the Hoosiers are ready to jell, like Michigan did against the Gophers. PURDUE 21, ILLINOIS 13 —Len Dawson’s passing and Bill Mura- kowski’s bull-like rushes should keep the Illini working overtime + « - Ilinois’ line and blocking still looked pitiful in a ragged 34-6 tri- umph over Syracuse, .. J. C. Caroline may be more than a match for the Boilermakers, how- ever... The Ilinois halfback has Approval Of A’s Deal Is Foreseen Soon By TOM BRADSHAW PHILADELPHIA (®—~Barring un- foreseen developments, today marks the final hours of the Mack baseball dynasty—a half century of Philadelphia Athletics owner- ship by Cornelius J. McGillicuddy. Tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. the own- ers of the other seven American League clubs gather in New York to vote on sale of the A’s stock to ne eight-man Philadelphia syndi- cate. If their vote is favorable—and, Arnold Johnson notwithstanding, there appears little chance it will be otherwise—the only Mack con- tact with the Athletics will be a one-ninth share’in the club retained by son Roy Mack, and the title of honorary president bestowed on Connie Mack Sr. Johnson, Chicago businessman who “almost” bought the A’s ear- lier this month and then lost out to the Philadelphia group, announced yesterday he planned to attend the league owners meeting in New York tomorrow and stated he was “still interested-in buying the Phil- adelphia franchise for transfer ‘to Kansas City.” However, League President Will Harridge, in announcing the meei- ing, said the owners would con- |sider the sale of the franchise to the Philadelphia syndicate. He made no mention of Johnson. Whether Johnson will make an effort to be heard at the New York session—and whether such an effort would be successful— will have to wait until tomorrow for answers. ~ The general feeling in Philadel- phia last night was that the long, hard struggle was nearly over, with the Athletics destined to re- main in the city where they were first fielded as an American League entry by Connie Mack at the turn of the century. If the owners approve the sale to the syndicate, there will remain only the formality of exchanging the syndicate’s cash for the A’s stock. ¢ Connie Sr. will be handed—prob- ably at a meeting in Philadelphia Friday—$604,000 for his 326 shares. Another son, Earle, is to get $450,- 000 for his 126 shares, and Rey will receive $200,000 cash and re- tn a one-ninth interest in the club. Northwestern Seeks Victory Over Buckeyes EVANSTON, Ill. —The victory- starved Northwestern Wildcats could turn this dismal season into a real success with a triumph Sat- urday over Ohio State. Coach Bob Voigts, flustered be- cause his team has lost three of its last four games by one touch- down, realizes Ohio State is the No. 1 team in the nation. “Ohio State is a very fine team,” he said yesterday. “I think they’re better defensively than they were last year and they have a good forward wall. Both (Bobby) Wat- kinds and (Hopalong) Cassady are real good and that Cassady ean break up a ball game any time. “But we’re out to beat them, and we can do it, I think, if we play the type of ball we did against Michigan in the last half. Cassady, of course, is our big problem.” Northwestern fell before Michi- gan 7-0, but the Wildcats held the Wolverines to a scant eight yards rushing in the second half and fin- ished with a big advantage in the statistics. Bothered with fumbles most of the season, Northwestern appears | Michigan and Ohio State . . . ‘Ami | 2, have solved the problem. The Wildcats lost the ball only twice to Pitt last Saturday. However, the Panthers scored in the final seconds to win 14-7, fense . . . Look for more passes being thrown his way from now on. MIGHIGAN STATE 19, MINNE- SOTA 13 — Figuring the Spartans’ speed can knock out the Gophers’ split-T machinery. NOTRE DAME 21, NAVY 14 — A big upset could be brewing here, for the inspired Middies have one of their better teams and will be shooting for their first victory over the Irish since a 32-13 con- quest in 1944 . . . However, the Key West Conchs To “Live It Up” The Key ay *ecf taperwes Pl live on the when jcurney te Miaml Beach See urday, thanks to Louis a nell, general manager of Key West Kennel Club. Carbonell has arranged for them to stay at One of the most luxurious hotels on the Beach. ‘The team is slated to leave Key West Saturdsy morning and rest untit game time. Name of the hotel is being withheld so that the Conchs will not be bothered by well- wishers. And Carbonell came up with another little item Tuesday — a police escort for three buses stated to carry Key West fans to the game. The byses, Car- bonell said, will be met at the Miami city limits by an es- cort and taken through the city in high style. Then, when they cross the causeway to Miami Beach, they‘ll be escorted by - the police department of that Cuban Club Blasts The Giants, 20-7 The Cuban Club reared back last night and pinned a 20- 7 defeat on the hapless Poinciana Giants in an Island City Winter Baseball League encounter. The Giants, it says here, put up a great fight. They sent Papo Que- sada, who started on the mound for the Cuban Club, to the showers in the third when they scored their seven runs on seven hits. Bob Lastres, who relieved him, allowed but two hits for the bal- ance of the game while hurling shutout ball. Michaels handled the twirling for the Giants in the first six and two- thirds inning, giving up six hits and seven runs in the first five frames. But the bottom fell out of the ballgame in the sixth and sev- enth innings and the Cuban plated 13 runs to win the ballgame. At bat, Danny Lastres had four hits and Joe Lewis had three safe- ties. Acevedo, Bob Lastres and Leon had two hits while Joe San- tana had two hits for the losers, one of them a triple. Cisco also had a triple. Winter league action will resume Thursday at 7:30 p. m. in the Wick- ers Field Stadium when the Junior Conchs meet the USS Bushnell. ‘The standings: Junior Conchs Cuban Club USS Bushnell Poinciana Giants Army Leads Nation In Total Offense NEW YORK (#—Three of the na- tion’s top five teams in this week’s Associated Press poll are rolling along with devastating ground at- tacks and two of them, Army and UCLA, are in the midst of spec- tacular streaks equalled in major college “ NCAA Service Bureau statistics. released today showed Army has moved into first place in total of- fense with an average gain of 446 yards a game. The Cadets are second to Colorado in rushing of- fense with 340.4 yards a game to the Buffalo's 345.8, UCLA leads in scoring with 44.2 points a game and is third in ground attack, making 318.3 yards per start. Unbeaten Oklahoma, the other highly rated team in the AP poll, is fourth in rushing at 296.2 yards. Army racked up 600 yards against Columbia Saturday, 532 on the ground, a single - game high for the season. UCLA ran 498 yards in whipping Oregon State 61-0. It came on the heels of the Uclans 720 rout of Stanford. No other team in modern times has scored 133 points in consecutive games against major opponents. Second to Army in total offense is Cincinnati with 402.7 yards a game. Arizona is third at 396. The air is expected to be full of passes during the Oregon-Wash- ington game this Saturday. Ore- gon ranks No. 1 with 185 yards via passes a game. Washington is third with 165.2. Oregon has thrown 156 passes to 153 for Wash- ington. The best pass completion average, however, belongs to Cal- ifornia, which owns a 62.8 percen- tage. Purdue and Alabama lead in Basses with 12 each. ——_ TUESDAY'S FIGHTS poston Jackie Blatt 150%" Dallas, and Lulu Perez, 131, Drew, 10. eet teary Hietee nt bu Irish have had two weeks to pre- of pare for this — and they needed | i234 it. (Friday Night) DETROIT 14, MARQUETTE 13 — Cincinnati w able to pin only a 21-13 licking on Detroit, but smashed the Warri- ors 30-13, ‘ SEC Gridders Hold Heavy Scrimmage Sessions Wed. Vanderbilt Points For Rice Battle By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The only two Southeastern Con- ference schools still looking for their first 1954 football victories took opposite paths yesterday in the search with heavy scrimmages. Vanderbilt, stung by successive losses to Baylor, Alabama, Missis- sippi and Georgia, pointed for Saturday’s encounter with the pow- erful Rice Owls by staging a rough defensive workout. Tulane, reeling from four losses — they managed a pair maged for an hour and a half on offense. The Greenies face Auburn this week. Injuries hit both Georgia entries. End Laneair Roberts broke his jaw at Georgia while Georgia Tech lost Flankman Jimmy Dur- ham with a badly bruised leg. Neither could match Tennessee in the department of cripples, how- over. The Vols reported their first three tailbacks, key men in the single - wing offense, would miss | Saturday’s game with North Caro- lina. With Pat Oleksiak, Jimmy Wade and John Majors out, Coach |Harvey Robinson said senior Bob- by Brengle would open against the Tar Heels. At Nashville, Vanderbilt Coach Art Guepe said he was happy about the Commodore showing on defense. “‘The men gave us a, lot of good, solid tackles out there today,” he said. Tulane’s passing game pleased Coach Andy Pilney, who also beamed at several long runs made by halfbacks Pete Morere and Tommy Warner. Quarterbacks Fred Wilcox and Earl Hubley did most of the passing. : Mississippi State, fresh from its amazing upset triumph over Ala- bama, tuned its offense for Sat- urday’s encounter with Florida. Disappointed with Maroon passing in games thus far, Coach Darrell Royal ordered his halfbacks and fullbacks to start throwing. The Maroons skipped contact work. Florida welcomed Bobby Knight, an end who is back from military service. Knight worked out in the spot usually occupied by Welton Lockhart, the Gators’ second best pass catcher. Lockhart nursed minor bruises from last week’s loss to Louisiana State. LSU coaches gave the Bengals a few new ground plays for use against Mississippi Saturday night. After a brief drill on the new wrinkles, Coach , Gaynell Tinsley CORAL GABLES, FLA. — Uni- versity of Miami's football team has demonstrated its ability to win football games in either of two ways — either the Hurricanes hold | possession of the ball — or else they pile up big yardage on fewer | plays. Against Baylor, Miami had the | ball 64 plays to 52 for Baylor and |won that by a touchdown. Against Mississippi State, the Hurricanes held the ball 80 times, gave it to Mississippi State for 45 plays and won that one by two touchdowns. In the Maryland game, the Hurri- canes were in charge of 79 plays to Maryland's 41 and the fans are still trying to figure out why the winning margin .was only’ two points, Furman actually held the ball for 63 plays to only 55 for Miami in their tilt but Miami averaged 9.47 yards on every rushing play to gallop hime 51-13. And Holy Cross, too, had the possession edge, 62-61 but the Crusaders did them- selves no good on nearly half of their plays as 21 of their passes were incomplete or intercepted by Miami and half-dozen other tries Cassady Named College Back Of The Week By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Wisconsin’s Alan Ameche wasn’t kidding last week when he tabbed Howard (Hopalong) Cassady, Ohio State half back, as an “under- rated back who should be Ail America.” Coaches and sports writers en- thusiastically seconded that nom- ination today when they picked 177- pound Ohio State junior as The! Associated Press Back of the Week for his performance against Wis- consin last Saturday. “Cassady was the difference,” Said Wisconsin Coach Ivy William- son. “‘He’s been the big guy every year against us. He does these Hurricanes Show Classy Offense ended in losses. Miami 5.07 yards every time it to come home by a TD Margin. Which method of squelching the Opposition will be used against Fordham this week is in thy laps of the gods. Only thing for: sure is that the pass-minded Rams will |come close to the record of 39 aes attempts chalked up by Ho- }ly Cross — may even ‘Surpa: \if the Miami pass defense fetvonh, Through the fans may figure the Hurricanes home in a canter in this one, the team has me such il- lusions. They remember that they were top heavy favorites last and collected a 20 - averaged Tan a play things all the time — and just when they hurt most.” Where ‘“‘Hoppy’ really hurt the Badgers was by intqgcepting a pass and racing 88 ya for a touch- down that put Ohio State ahead switched the varsity to defense against favorite Mississippi plays. At Kentucky, Coach Blanton Col- lier’s biggest problem was com- placency. The Wildcats appeared a bit cocky after upsetting Georgia Tech and coaches feared they were taking Villanova lightly. _ Mississippi, shocked last week by Arkansas, held its roughest workout in weeks. Coach Johnny Vaught scrimmaged the Rebels on offense and defense for more than an hour. He noted improvement in the team’s attack. Auburn Coach Ralph Jordan told his Plainsmen to hit harder and called for better tackle play. He got prompt results. Tackles Frank d’Agostino, George Rodgers and Ted Neura were impressive. Alabama scrimmaged for the upcoming clash with Georgia, and quarterback Bart Starr and tackle Ed Culpepper got in their first rough work in s everal weeks. : Key West Rated 9th In Florida Football Poll MIAMI @—Miami Edison High, which has swept past five stout opponents by convincing margins, tops the Miami Herald’s weekly Big Ten prep football poll. For the first’ time since the poll was started five yeaTs ago, Miami Edison’s Red Raiders received all |] 22 first place votes from coaches and sports writers taking part in the poll to give them 220 points, 38 more than second place Miami High, Key West and Live Oak made | the grade for the first time. Key | West beat Constance 21-7 and Live Oak turned back Jacksonville Beach Fletcher. This week’s big game sends Mi- ami Edison against seventh-place Pensacola, beaten only py Jack- sonville Lee. 1. Miami Edison 2. Miami Senior High 3. Miami Jackson 182 10-7 im the third quarter. After that, Wisconsin's defenses fell apart and Ohio moved to three touchdowns in six plays. Cassady didn’t expect to score when he grabbed Jim Miller’s pass, “I just got it and thought Yd run as far as I could,” he ex- plained. “‘Somebody threw me a got down on the sidelines near our bench, I thought maybe I could go if I cut back.” He cut and, as Coach Woody inde put it, “turned on all the 3? In addition to that run, Cassady gained 59 yards in 7 runs from scrimmage, caught 2 passes for 25 yards and did some great block- ing. Since 1920, while U.S. population has increased about 51 per cent, U.S. crop land has remained at about 400 million acres. For Home or PHONE 2.5658 — 614 Front Street ° NAVARRO, INC. 601 Duval St. Tele, 2-704 Commercial Use... We Are Prepared To Furnish You’ e: With Clean, Pure