Mc GrRAw-HiILL BOooK COMPANY - INC. Mc GRAW-HILL BUILDING 330 WEST 42nd STREET NEW YORK,N.Y. September 22, 1942 Mr. Forrest C. Allen Director of Physical Education University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas Dear Mr. Allen: As requested in your letter of September 19 to Mr. McGraw, we are sending you under separate cover five copies of BETTER BASKETBALL and these are being sent complimentary for your distribution. Very truly yours, Ant. hs Curtis W. McGraw. ~ GEOMEARTHUR eSONS [eauboo, WISCONSIN Mee Of 4 Supe Tork.s Supeyy legree Bore September 2, 1942 University of Sansas Department of Physical Education Lawrence, +sanses Attention: Mr. Forrest C. Allen Director of Physical Education, Varsity Basketball Coach Dear Mr. Allen: : | Thank you very much for your letter of August 29th with the good news regarding the 200 dozen hesvy duty SUPER-GYM towels with the red stripe which youe-re requisitioning for your department. We certainly do appreciate this opportunity to serve you, and we sincere hope that the State Business Manager approves your recom mendation of our firm for handling this order. We have been very fortunate in taking care of a good meny of the needs in the State of Kansas through the office of the State Business Manager, and we sincerely hope that this will come through in the regular form. Thanking you again, “Ir. Allen, and with the writer's kindest personal regards, we are, Yours very truly, GEORGE McARTHUR AND SONS Andrew Mf. McArthur AMM’ ma September 19, 1942. MeGraw-Hill Book Company, 330 West 42nd Street, New York City, N.Y. Dear Sirs: Will you kindly mail me by return mail ten (10) capies of “Better Basketball", at the usual author's rate? I will remit the price immediately upon receipt of your statement. Sincerely yours, Director of Physical Education, PCA:AH Varsity BasketballCoach. — September 19, 1942. nese Mr. Curtis We MeGraw, MeGraw-Hill Book Con, f $30 West 42nd Strect, Hew York City, N.Y. a Dear li. HoGraw: I wonder if you would be kind enough to send mé author's copies of “Better Basketball” which I may pose of to good advantage. } | F I am ordering tan copies of the book to be sent to me which I will pay for when I receive the bill for the, but I would appreciate it if you can send me the five! author’s copies in addition te the ten. i Thanking you for your courtesy, 1 am / Very sincerely yours, ae Direotor of Physical Education, FCA H Varsity Basketball Coach. Lewrense, Kansas October 17, 1942 I eam sorry that I haven't had a chance to chew the fat with you for quite some time, but I am dropping you a line confidentially to let you know of the activities of our mutual and good friend, Dr. - John Outland. It my be improper for me to blame the good doctor for this activity, but the trail is very obviously his, as I see it. Ted O'Leary saw me in the stadium at the Marquette game and he told me confidentially that George “Speed” Atkeson, the old foot- ball player here and now president of the K. U. Alumni Club in Kansas City, had a set-up that would do the job athletically. He proposed to T that Ted be the basketball coach at the University of Kensas and "Speed" be the athletic director, that Dr. Glenn Cunningham be head of the Department of Physical Education, and that perhaps Mike Of course, it is a laugh because with the outlook for foot- ball in the colleges most precarious and with the diminishing financial returns from the game, no school can afford to hire an athletic dir- - the coaches, and rightfully, perhaps, the , 3 I said to Ted, “Ted, this is not "Speed's" idea. The whole thing is Dr. Johnny "Meddlesome Mattie" Outland'’s thinking." As soon as he mentioned Glenn Cunningham, and by the way, Glemn is a fine — friend of mine, he showed the machinations of the good doctor's brain. Dr. Johnny apparently is very fond of me. I think perhaps he is figuring on asking the legislature to put me on a handsome pension for life. I know he wouldn't forget me. But I did want you to mow that Speed, who happens to be Don Ricksecker's son-in-law, and who incidentally is out of a job at the present time, needs one. Can't you do something to help the poor fellow? All he did was to flunk out here at the University and finally reinstated when a lawyer threatened to sue the Board of get when he had flunked out. He ie was a motor cop on the police force during his football days, and I think Speed would do pretty well as athletic director of something. eS ee ee ee but just wanted to pass the word along to you. Two years ago Dr. Johnny called one of my very good friends in Kansas City, Saeed, wane & demir deta 130k lk, and told him then that there was just a lot of trouble in the athletic department at the University and something should be done about it. My friend said, “Doctor Outland, if you are talking about Phog Allen you might just as well forget it, but es for the rest of them, I don't care much about it." Dr. Outland had to admit that the troublesome little fellow was ~ Phog, and he went away rather unhappy at not being able to obtain his ; away from the desk because I know that you are short handed, and as I read your sport colum I em impressed with the fact that you Oe re Harrison and Dan GONG. I don't know how a rugged old man like yousould keep eternally at it. . Sincerely yours, Direstor of Physical Education, FCA:AH Varsity Basketball Coach. (- it " January 15, 1943. _ Mr. C. Be MeBride, a Sports Editor, Kansas City Star, Kansas: —— _ . Dear Mags seth my phone conversation regarding Kelleher, etc., Mr. Kelleher states that I was endeavoring to drive a wedge between the: east and the west. I told you over the phone that I was the ~ organizer of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. This came about when the Basketball Rules Committee deleted the dribble from the rule beok. Dr. Meanwell, L. 8 St. vohn and the old guard - were leer _— the rules cometh ten. ee I was ‘nite afore the National Stonnttionn2 piatekten. in Des Moines at the Drake field house along with Knute Rockne. Knute Rockne spoke on "The Pedagogy of Football" and I spoke on “The Pedagogy of. Basketball". ‘Two days prior to this meeting at the field house the Basketball Rules Committee had abolished the dribble. In my speech on “fhe Pedagogy of Basketball" I assailed the National Basketball Rules Committee as autocratic and highehanded besause they had not checked with any of the guaches of the country to determine their opinions; but because Meanwell felt that the one bounce in the game would be better than the dribble they followed his recommendation. -I received about 160 telegrams from coaches over the comtry stating that they desired the dribble retained, and for me to vice their protest. My contention was that the dribble in basketball was synonomous with the broken field run in football. (It was spectacular and also it permitted a closely guarded player to break into the open for a better pasa. It also permitted a player to carry the ball to vantage points to set up a play. It added aparkle and color to the geme and a clever dribbler was a cross between a fine hurdler and a broken field rumer. The Kansas Relays came on in about ten days and the Drake Relays were a week after this, so I called for a meeting of all the basketball SS ae be held at Des Moines at the time of the Drake : Relays. We had a great turn out. and the coaches elected me chairman of ‘ that group. We protested to the rules body and set a meeting-for the Coaches Association to formulate an organization at Chicago during the time of the N.C.A.A. track meet. Before the N.C.A.A. track meet in Jume the Rules Committee rescinded their rule regarding the dribble and left the rules as they were. The deletion of the dribble took place in April and the Rules Committee put the rule back in May. However, the coaches went ahead with their organization and elected me the first president of the rules body. I was re-elected the following year, and it happened that I am the only coach ‘to serve two terms as president. I am not boasting about this the fact that I organized and fought for the rules for the good of the game would not show very constructively that I was wedge betwoon any group. Rather,I have worked for the betterment of basketball rules from the beginning. For a number of years I was chairman of the Research Committee for both the Basketball Rules Committee and the Coaches Association. The last two or three years I have refused offices in the Coaches Association because I felt that there were too many fellows in the Rules Committee trying to get certain things done for their betterment rather than for the geme's betterment. Nat Holman and a lot of these fellows have had their faces all over Longine Watch advertisements, others have sponsored bananas and Postum and so forth, which I think is against the best ethics of the coaching profession. I have never been with or for any particular group, but em for the betterment of the game. My argument was to bring @ referee from each section so they would bring the proponents of the different styles closer together. Having officials only from New York when you are meeting New York coaches is not doing for the game the thing that many of the coaches hope. Hank Tha told ms to throw away all the plays we had and just roll, which means pass at angles and run in curves, and set up the post play because the east knows nothing about post plays. That article that you have by Irving Marsh states the oppertunity of different coaches, which is about the same as what Hank Iba said. about one in four games among the top teams, and then they will be lueky to win that one if the westerners used the same system as the easterners of having all western officials. Wouldn't you say, Mao, that from the east to whip a western tegy? ‘That is why my argument has been made, that the west is much better than the east when they go to the east and play under eastern restrictions and still defeat them on the easterners | the floor. The east (is wprogressive. They poohepoched Nat Holman made a statement that he would never let any of his boys use a one-hand shot which shows a prejudice against certain western and middle western activities. The difficulty is that the easterners think New York ie the center-of basketball. It is not. It is the center of publicity of basketball because it is the' clearing house, but the easterners have not changed their idea of a pick-off en ee interpretation. I believe this will augment what I gave you before. Sincerely yours, 7 Director of Physical Education, FCA:AH Varsity Basketball Coach. a a March 19, 1943. ee eee | kc ce The Kansas City Star, : : “ ; Kansas City, Mo. | Just a follow-up on the Cox - Olsen - Edwards story. I forgot to mention that in 1959 Oklahoma and Missouri tied for the Big Six championship with Kansas third. That was the first year of the N.C.A.A. play-off, you remember. .I was the. Fifth District. . representative and Edwardes at that time had nothing. to do with the. CAA. tournament, except membership on the Fifth District championship committee along with you, Dr, King, John Truesdale, and I. You perhaps recall the difficulty I had in getting the Big Six to sanotion a repres- entative for the tournament. I had to eall Dre Bergman, ee College and ask him to poll the conference for a votes. Drake and Oklahoma As & Me had tied, end so had Missouri and Oklahoma, so Missouri refused to participate in the tournament. You doubtless remember some of the jockeying that took place between Drake when we had the discussion in Kensas City. I believe you were present at the meeting, but Edwards refused to come and Missouri turned thumbs a ee eee Demers ad Renee Re. nem BS ond. Shirkey was very cool on the proposition. - . The play-off was alk ila hak age a and in the first night's game Oklehoma A. & M. met Drake. A. & M. won handily, and then the play-off was between Oklahoma and Oklahoma As & Me SS ee on ee Sie Seen Rees oe Se es eee entative. ou will reuenber that George Hdwards had little or nothing to do with that tournament. ia Then in 1940 Kansas, idiot sok tediuheds whek ba! Min abode ship, and then Edwards came rather actively in to the play-off. It was arranged to play the play-off of the triple tie in Wichita, Kansas. The drawings were made in Kansas City and while in the hotel room of the Kansas City Athletic Club, with Dr. King, George Edwards andothers there, we : called Bruce Drake over the phone and arranged for the drawings. I have George Edwards did, oi3h 1224983 sgh yd Hi peal bie ga. of sea bi fitzye saganye’ figafiyl yefinttes Hii dee drew Southern California, with - ings, everything being aboveboard. fu* oF gebek. iiss i 3334: He nae ind sige upstage SB8Aq Tit iM GEE s ag ie memory stexts only from 1941, and does not oe aneees ees ee So perhaps Mark Cox's bine 4 rept a ies | ele iy piiph yi a ds E te Tn iis iat Hepa ay s ye c Ta : aby 1G oh | as 88 Te Ho if that historical resume appeals to dil HE oe ii it i i ie e iftes pil iL a “dbs ae you, you sectiocus or as you like of stuff there that very to run it, but I imow would thoroughly eat this all of that in secti any or to control the Olympics, as he has donewith the N.C.A.A. by putting his handy-men Friday, Olsen, in there. He is directly answerable to St. John anc Griffith, and of course must do their bidding. I wilso told you that for years J. We St. Clair was chairman of the nominating committee, end if you will look through N.C.A.A4. records for the past twenty years you will find that Professor French, of Ohio State, is chairman of the committee on committecs. Westbrook Pegler could write as good a one about the NCAA. as he has written about Tom Pendergast. Very sincerely yours, Director of Physical Biucation, FCA:AH Varsity Basketball Coach.