--The Score Card--
Salute to Dutch Lonborg

BY FRANCIS J. POWERS.
A SALUTE to Dutch Lonborg and his five rawhide kids
for landing Northwestern third in the Western Con-

ference basketball race. That’s the best a team could do,
which didn’t play Indiana and with the Illinois’ “Whiz
Kids” off in a class by themselves. Northwestern never
had more than one capable reserve, after
George Felt was lost early in the season.
And for the second Illinois game it didn’t
even have Ronnie Schumacher, that one
capable reserve. So depleted was North-
western’s ‘manpower for that game, that 24
hours before the whistle, Lonborg had to
call out Ray Vincent, a tackle who had
passed up basketball this winter. So over
the season it was Otto Graham, Russ Wend-
land, Bud Hasse, Nick Vodick and Bobby
Jake, who goes to the Army tomorrow, who
went most of the route. 3
There’s a special salute for Bud
Hasse, the balding senior. Over three
Seasons, Hasse played forward, center
and guard and never gave anything but
his best. “He’s a coach’s player,” said
ha hei ht age Lonborg by way of farewell to Hasse
and Lynn Waldorf could offer the same praise for Bud’s three
years at end on Purple elevens. Cool and crafty, it was Hasse
who often rallied Northwestern to a victory.

For the second season, Otto Graham was No. 2 among Big Ten !
scorers. His 189 points was a new 12-game record for Northwestern |
players, breaking Joe Reiff’s 167 which was good enough to top the:
conference sharpshooters in 1933. Graham’s total was better than
the old conference record made by Chuck Carney of Illinois, but that
mark already was long gone under the firing of Andy Phillip.

In some respects, Nick Vodick was the outstanding sophomore
player of the Big Ten season. At the start, Vodick had little but
strength and enthusiasm. As one scout remarked, along in January,.
“Vodick is a great player so long as he doesn’t have the ball.” But
at the finish, Nick had developed into a smooth workman and was
rapidly becoming a crack shot. Lacking height, Nick played center
at a disadvantage but has the makings of a great forward or guard
if Pe to compete his remaining two seasons.

x * &

: There’ s an extra salute to little Bobby Jake, the “Whang Leather
Kid,’ who never missed a game although he played with a broken
nose, blackened eyes and a lacerated scalp and lip. The Army’s
getting a scrapper in that boy. There’s also a salute for Ronnie
Schumacher, that one capable reserve, who picked himself off the
floor to make a last-second basket that defeated Iowa and made third
place possible. And there were few better guards than Russ Wend-
Jand, whose “hot nights” meant several victories. They didn’t have
much height or any great speed but they had plenty of EEE,
those Northwestern third placers.

a * %

He’s a great coach, the Dutchman. In 16 seasons at North-
western he’s finished out of the top five in the conference only
three times. His teams have finished one-two-three eight times
and fourth five years. Twice they were champions. Yet except
for Joe Reiff, Frank Marshall and Otto Graham, Lonborg never
has had any really great players. He took ordinary material and
made it good by sound coaching tactics and the loyalty of his
men. Seldom does a former Northwestern basketball player visit
the campus but what he winds up in front of the Lonborg fire-
place or at the dinner table. © /

It would be nice to see Lonborg with material. The sort he had
in the days of Reiff, Marshall, Bus Johnson and Bert Reil or the sort
you now find at Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. The alumni don’t
do right by Lonborg. Too often, lately, he’s had to build his team
around boys who also were football players, Graham, Hasse, Vodick,
Clawson, Benson and Kruger, to name a few. That situation alone
gives most other conference teams an advantage of a month or so
practice at the start of a season. There’s no use mentioning the lack
ofa fieldhouse which is another handicap.

But Lonborg never complains. He just takes what he gets,
practices here or there and welds first-division teams. If the alumni
ever complain about Lonborg, Northwestern should fire the alumni.

 

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