er

 

MAJOR JOHN L. GRIFFITH, Commis-
sioner of Athletics of the Western
Conference for the last nineteen
years, has been intimately associated
with sports ever since he was a stu-
dent at Beloit College. For five years
he was President of the National
Collegiate Athletic Association, and
is at present its Secretary and Trea-
surer. He also served as a member of
the American Olympic Committee.

WESTERN CONFERENCE BASKETBALL

| | ieee in the Big Ten, as nationally,
has been recognized for its superior qualities
as a game of youth.

It is a rugged game, and it is the rugged games
which are making their greatest contributions in
these times. They are the games which, by their de-
mands of physical stamina and fortitude, are build-
ing men better prepared physically for the rigors
of their times. They are the games whose demands
of moral stamina and fortitude sharpen the com-
petitive instinct and equip their players to take
punishments and disappointments but return un-
subdued, better defenders of their nation’s welfare.
as citizens in times of peace and as members of
the armed forces in times of emergency.

The high schools and colleges of the nation,
since the last war, have given increasing attention
to those athletic programs which best develop the
desirable qualities of leadership and loyalty. The
Big Ten is particularly indebted in the progress of
its programs to the sports emphasis of the high
schools in its Mid-Western area. It is perhaps sig-
nificant that a recent survey among 4,723 high
schools in the seven states of the Conference area
showed that 4,662 schools, or 98.9 per cent, sup-
ported basketball teams. :

The Western Conference was organized in 1895,
four years after the invention of basketball by Dr.
James Naismith, and it appears that the sport was
being played at Conference schools about that time.

By 1901 intercollegiate basketball competition
was being conducted but in wholly unorganized
fashion. In 1905 five members of the Conference,
Chicago, Illinois, Purdue, Minnesota and Wiscon-
sin, met to organize the Western Intercollegiate
Basketball League, sponsoring formal schedules. As
other institutions adopted the sport on an inter-

collegiate basis or were admitted to Conference
membership, competition extended to its status as
a Big Ten sport.

The high caliber of play throughout the history
of the sport in the Conference has been mani-
fested of recent years in the record made by Big
Ten teams in National Collegiate Athletic Associa-
tion tournament competition. In 1939, first year of
the tournament, Ohio State, the Conference cham-
pions, went to the tournament finals before meet-
ing defeat. In 1940 Indiana, which had placed sec-
ond to Purdue in Conference competition but which
had twice defeated Purdue during the year, repre-
sented the Big Ten in the tournament and pro-
ceeded to a championship victory. Last year Wis-
consin, the Conference champions, repeated that
championship performance in the national tourney.

Conference teams are limited to 20 games during
the regular season, and in 1942 will for the first
time play 15 of those games against Conference
opponents in a near round-robin schedule of home-
and-home games. In 1941-42, however, the Confer-
ence Faculty Representatives have given special
permission for 21 games to be played, to accommo-
date the scheduling of contests with service teams
from Great Lakes Naval Training Station and Cha-
nute Field. Rantoul, Il., both of which number on
their squads several former Conference athletes.

In the Western Conference we are proud of the
quality of play of our teams. Their fast passing.
hard running, and aggressive tactics are in keep-
ing, we believe, with the kind of game Dr. Naismith

‘visualized fifty years ago. Basketball holds an im-

22

portant place in the scheme of things at all Big
Ten institutions. The players like it and the public
likes it, and they are two good tests of a sport’s
real worth.