Page two to F. C. A. «=< Feb. 26th,

I guess the differenee is being at the head of the class in a small
town and in a poor, ill-lighted, small, narrow, etc. court and at the foot
of the class in a big University. I remember now what Gene Johnson (Salina)
told me and as it turns out, he was exactly right in the case of Max, though
H thot he was bluffing then, and still do, and it just happens that he hit it.
I can't recall his words, but it was about this: "Max is a smell-fry boy from
a smell town and he won't ever be able to do a good job of warming the bench
at Kanses U, The spectators there pay to see their favorite sons play, and
the spectators come from the cities," Then he went on to tell me what he
could do for Max and offered him three jobs and said he would not have to
wopk at any of them. ‘So you can see what I thot of him, Itil say this,
Allen, that when I wrote to you I really and honestly thot he could play
ball and I was sincere in it and felt he could anywhere and play a good
grade of ball with any college team. I now feel ashamed that fhat I talked
too early and failed to consider the future,

 

It is peculiar how a fellow can let himself be affected by some such
thing as that. I got the letter at noon and read it and tried to foget it
that afternoon, That night was a wierd, stormy one, and my people were all
away and I went home and tried to reason a little with myself, but could
not and I spent a waking night of horror, First I regretted that Max had
become careless with his time and himself, but that was not the worst. The
horror was that it was a night in which hope died within me that Max
might make a record as a basketball player that would be reputable; but by
morhing I gave up and knew I had as well forget it. I wondered wherein I
had been at fault as I am enough of a Fatalist to feel that maybe the Lord
might be punishing me in some way. If the Lord is, I wish he would make
it known to me, About that timefit was early morning, and I tumped the radio
to get the result of yow game at Stillwater. I heard it right away and that
made me feel no betéer, though I had felt that KU might lose that one. But
at that, the loss of game meant very little to me in comparison to the
loss of a cherished hope,

On the Hill there, a While back, many of the boys would talk to me aq
bout Max and most of them would brag on him and two of the leading players
confided to me that 'he was good enough to be playing.! It made me mad at .
them and I have not liked them so well since, for I was sure they were not .
telling the truth, and I wondered if they thot that I had no idea of what a .
good player looked like, I went on to make a little inguiry from three
parties close to the team and asked them, ~~ if Max showed any
promise in the 'Bt games he had played in. ere is about what they said:
That he did not -= that he was hardly good enough for the B team -= and
one said that he would never get any place there because he was very mediocre —
and likely on a given night there would not be a spectator in the crowd that )
would care, or be there to see him play. I felt they were sincere in what |
they said. Possibly theye were wrong and while I thot they had a little
nerve to tell me that, yet I had ‘tasked for it' and so maybe they complied.

And right along the same line, in the Kansan of the same date I noticed
a little item which might have meant nothing to anyone else. It was ree#
gerding the reserve men and what they meant to the strength of the team, In
mentioning them, I think all were named with the exception of Max, and I won—-
dered if he was so far down the line that he was not worth mentioning and I )
could imagine that maybe he was just a hanger-on. I look the Kansan over — |
and so far as I recall since the season opened, 1 nave never seem his name |
mentioned, and I Awshed that some day he would make a lot of fouls in practice
so they could refer to him in some way, if only as a ruffian or something. |

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