June 2lst, 1941

My, Burton C. Lemmon
Route 8, Box 605
Tacoma, Washington

Dear My, Burton:

Your letter became mislaid in a mass of correspondence
and I'm just now answering some of these letters.

In reply to the questions you asked:

1. I might state that the best way to get the complete
rules revision immediately after the meeting would be for you to
corresponde with your Eighth Collegiate District Representative
Chairman of the N.C.A.A. Basketball Rules; that is, Heck Edmondson
of the University of Washington at Seattle.

2. It is adviseable to stop playing basketball, I would say,
two years after a man has graduated from college. Of course many men
continue far beyond that age. But, generally when a man gets out of
college he is forced to work regularly and he does not have the time to
keep his body in condition. Basketball is one of the most strenuous games
played and it is a great strain on the kidneys and heart of a man that
takes on the form of so much violent exercise.

2

3. Of course I like the stratified transitional man for man
defense with the zone principle. "Better Basketball" explains that |
better than I can in a short letter. And too, even the zone defense is
better than the man for man defense for the boy because it is an
economy saver of energy. It is much easier to play the ball under the ©
type of defense I advise rather than the strict man for man defense.
When you play the man for man defense, you're more apt to foul and
naturally it's more fatiguing.

4. Yes, I do think that those who love to play basketball
can go stale. Any team that scrimmages too much is apt to go stale.
We work on fundamentals much more than we do on scrimmage work, and we
scrimmage very little. After the first month and one-half we do not
average ten minutes of scrimmaging a day.

5. I'm not opposed to State Tournamemts because any boy
desires to see how: good he really is, either individually or collectively,
and the only way these boys on the team can find out is to play in a
tournament and although they may not be satisfied with the result, at
least they have had a try. And too, when they are beaten, they have
respect for their opponents and if they never play in a tournament they
don't have the same high respect for their opponent or winner.