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OB RU etal Release No. 356 (5h)

mts, Cn? G-19 SP-3 N

BERKELEY, Dec. 21=-"Bob McKeen is one of the truly great centers, a throwback to
the old=time pivotmen. I consider him a better all-around center than Don Schlundt of
Indiana,"

That's the unreserved oninion of Pete Newell, California's new basketball coachy
Newell is qualified to compare McKeen wd Schlundt, since he had been head mentor at
Michigan State for the last three years and his Snartan fives met Schlundt and the
Indiana juggernaut many times during that period,

In oraising McKeen's all-court performances, Newell goes on to say that Calie .:
fornia's 6-foot, 7-inch, 220-pound center and cantain is every bit as valuable to his
team as Tom Gola is to LaSalle. Gola, of course, is generally regarded as one of the
finest college players in the history of basketball.

Another cage expert who has joined the McKeen bandwagon is Howard Dallmar, the
ex=Pennsylvania mentor now coaching at Stanford. After seeing McKeen perform twice
this year Dallmar told San Francisco basketball writers, "McKeen is better in all
denartments than Wake Forest's Dickie Hemric, who is also bidding for All-America
center.honors,"

Johnny Wooden, the UCLA cagemaster, is also lavish in his praise of the Bear
vivotman, After McKeen almost single-handedly wrecked the Bruins while leading the
Bears to two stunning victories over UCLA in the Westwood gym two years ago, Wooden
had the following to say:

"McKeen, though only a sophomore, is a tremendous all-around center. I would take
him over Washington's famed Bob Houbregs."

In that series McKeen, then a beardless youngster of 19, scored 20 and 2) voints
on successive nights and owned both backboards,.

McKeen is now a senior, aid although he is about to re-write every scoring record
in California basketball history, it's his all-around post play that is admired most

by his legion of fans,
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California fields 42 teams in 22 sports in 497 contests yearly — the greatest intercollegiate athletic program in the United States