Page five =

The report recommands the discontinuance of "the permission granted in the past to
the Notional Federation of State High School Athletic Associations to print the
summer edition of the basketball rules." The chief objection appears to be that
those who advetise in the book inclwe the molded ball and the small backboard with
the articles they advértise. Aside from the fact that it is rather presumptions
for this group to tell the National Federation what it can and can't do and to tell
the manufacturers what they can and cantt advertise, the statement might pass ex~
cept for one small detail, The special summer edition of the rules has not been
published for two years. It was published at that time ot the request of the Natiar
al Committee for summer coaching schools at a time when the almanac edition of the
guide could not be ready until the Fall. It was sold for 13 1/4 cents per copy and
out of the receipts a royalty was paid to the National Rules Committee and out of
the profits (of which there were none), the High School grmp sent their own repre-
sentatives to the annual meeting. That is "Big Business". Being a couple of years
behind developments is sometimes a virtue.

The Conclusion

ii, a cure for 211 the evils that have kept the game from development farther than
first in popularity among the sports, the report would purge the committee by (a)
finding from the NCA, "just how" thoy select their representatives, an. (b)
getting rid of those who have been members of the rules committee for several years,
incluiing the Canadians, and (c) taking a leaf from the book of the Football Ry,les
Committee which operates more or less jncepencently and will have none of this
joint committee idea. The (a) ought to easy and those who will cooperate can prob-
abiy be found. In (b), it might be wholesome to go through the history of the com-
mittee during the period during which the game his developed. James Naismitinas a
member for many years, So was L. W, St. John, who expressed (1) the belief that
the College Coaches Gould do a fine piece of work in research and the improving of
the coaching profession -- and (2) the hope that the group would not make the
mistake of attempting to duplicate rules activities which are already weil super
vised by a National Rules Committee which represents the millions who are inter-
ested in basketball for fun and for buiding school morale as well as those whe mike
their entire living from the game. There was HE, A, -‘etzdorf and George Hepbren and
Ralph Morgan and Herb Reynolds and others who could be named and who were helping
make basketball a great game while some of the present report mkers were stiil in
short pants. On the present committec, thae who have been there for soc length
of time and wh. sat with some of these men are [swald Tower, J. U, Crocker, Or.
John Brown, Jre, Ee J, Hickox ond Floyd Rowe. The writer has been elected by tre
18,000 high schools throvgh their regular state and national organizations for sev
eral short terms. The selection is by about the smc obnoxious democratic mevnod
that is used in choosing a local dog-catcher or a basketball coach or the prosident
_ of the Usited States. The report intimates that I am a "permanent" membor «= a
thing which I did not know == but which God cught to lmow.

Ag a member of the Conmittec, I nave scen the hundreds of school groups -- Coaches,
Orficials, Directors, Administrators, Players, Spectators =-- originate and cevelop
ideas for the game. == 4 ball to fit the hands of high school and college players,
the encouraging of the use of a lergercourt, the nonscontact screening rule based
on siow motion pictures, the elimination of most of the center jumps, ‘the use of
alley marks on the free throw lane and of restraining circles for the jumps, making
it possible to use a 4efoot end area, the molded type basketball which is now a Life
saver for thosc who must use one ball for many games, the small backboard and a re=
codification of the rules into a form more or less suited to efficient stucy in the
many rules clinics and which is a coce instead of merely a collection of rulos,.

Mister Scratch is ready to stand on that record. He will now return to his usual
routine of kicking a few helpless dogs, sneaking pennics from blind men an‘ burne
ing down a few orphan asylums.