December 10, 1941

Mr. Ralph Dennis
2922 Stevens
Parsons, Kansas

Dear Ralph,

I have received your post card and will endeavor to answer your
questions to the best of my ability. — |

I am enclosing an excerpt from “Who's Who In American Sports”
which, I believe, will give you the most important events in ny
life. | :

 

Of course there have been a great number of great basketball
players at Kansas. It would be very difficult for me to select
any few as the “best”. Each man contributed some unique and
personal ability to make his team a good one. last year I had
Howard Engleman, my son, Bobby Allen, and John Kline whom I have
called “The Three Musketeers". These boys really had what it took
to be great ball pleyers. Each had courage and a drive and the
spirit which would not admit defeat. Of course they were also good
athletes, but a good athlete without spirit isn’t worth a great deal.
In past years I have had such excellent players as Ray Noble, Milton
Allen, Francis Kappelman, John Bunn, now Director of Basketball at
Stanford University, Arthur ("Dutch") Lonborg, at present,f Coach
of Basketball at Northwestern University, Ray Ebling, Fred Pralle,
“Frost"(Forrest) Cox, Lee Page, Tom Bishop,and many otherse —

 

fhe new fan-shaped bgckboards are the result of a great deal of re-
search. A large number of shots were charted in regard to just where
they hit the backboard or the goal itself. It was discovered that

a great number of the shots were made at the backboard rather than at
the goal. ‘The players had learned to shoot at the backboard and carom
the into the basket rather than to shoot at the basket. Finally,
it was decided to eliminate a great deal of this type of shooting by
leaving only the most vital area of the backboard - the area just around
the basket. - Thus the fan-shaped or lima bean type of backboard.

When basketball was in its infancy the backboard was made large so that
the spectators in the galleries could not lean over the railing and
hit at the ball. ;

By using the new fan-shaped backboard a great deal of additional
seats are now aveilable for spectators behind the goal, and players