Beau Geste--

 

(Continued from Page 1.) _

 

Linn county on Shuttleworth’s bid

'S-| of $116,000, their disappointment

could be felt throughout the big
Iowa field house.

But when Bill Fletcher, cap-
tain of the runnerup Thunder-
bolts, took the ball from Shut-
tleworth and promptly asked the
Waverly captain to step for-
ward, a roar of mingled delight
and surprise exploded in the
Waverly cheering section.

Fletcher repeated his request,
and finally all five Waverly start-
ers came forward. ‘Are there five
captains on this ball club?” in-
quired Auctioneer Brayton.

The crowd of 6,500 then heard
Fletcher tell the Waverly boys
‘|they were as clean a team as the
Thunderbolts had met all year.
And then: “This ball belongs to

the best team in the state, so we Iowa

want you to have it to put in
your trophy case back home.”
He then gave the ball to Jim
Strotman, Waverly’s star guard.
Before, he yielded the stage to ;
Fletcher,’ Shuttleworth, who won

all-Big Ten mention as a halfback |——

on Howard Jonés’ undefeated
football teams at Iowa in 1921/8
and 1922 and whose son, Bill, is
a a on the Franklin cage squad,
said: :

“These boys have come a long/¢
way against heavy odds. We're
very proud of them—just as proud
as if they had won. That’s why
we bought the ball—we wanted
them to have it, to do with as|}
a/they wish.”

Fletcher took over from there,
and a gesture without parallel in
‘\Iowa high school basketball —
since the bond auction is a war-
time innovation—was written into
the books.