ronirle Sporting Green BILL LEISER PHOG ALLEN WRITES The Other day we pippdseet the option of some basketball coaches who are~agitating for lifting the basket from 10 feet, its present elevation above the floor, to 12 feet. It was a labor of love, inasmuch as we are of medium height and long have suffered from the elbows of tall goons in side- walk crushes. The object of elevating the basket is to reduce the physical advantage of 6 foot 6 guys whose only claim to athletic glory is their freakish ability to drop the ball through the hoop from close up. Our humble piece won the eye of Dr. Forrest C. Allen of Kansas who, although he was not present at the birth of basketball in 1892, has long been considered the god- father and leading theorizer of the game. : “Phog” Allen was out here to see the regional playoffs of the N. C. A. A. on the Exposition grounds and upon his journey home, took pen in hand to scratch us a letter on the stationery of the Union Pa- cific club car between Ogden and Omaha, en route to Lawrence, Kas. - Although Dr. Allen got off some profound suggestions to improve the game, we were more impressed py the quality of his penmanship. The eee educator writes a beautiful Spen- HELEN VINSON -cerian hand, the kind that illuminates high school diplomas, marriage licenses and baptismal certificates with mated doves and branches of palm trees around the border. We expected the director of physical education of the University of Kansas’ to write a legible hand at his desk, but what amazes us is the steadiness of his venmanship aboard a train. nK- ;) NO CHICKEN TRACKS ON HIS LETTER 1 Dr. Allen’s letter is free of hen’s feet, blots and oH thane slips of the pen that characterize most letters written aboard a lurch- ing train highballing through the steppes of Nebraska. On our few excursions East we undertook to write letters home on railroad stationery but soon desisted when we learned our jerky scrawl, caused by the motion of the train, was intefpreted as evidence that we were in our cups again. The only explanation we can offer for Dr. Allen’s model penman-. ship is the Union Pacific was stalled for half an hour on a siding and during the delay he busied himself at the writing desk. ~ : He writes: _ “I want you to know how very much I appreciated your timely comment on elevation of the basket to a height of 12 feet. (Not at all, Doctor, glad to do it.) “Of course, this would apply only to the college player. No change is suggested for the high school teams. -“QOregon’s Frankensteins showed the travesty of normal sized men (Oklahoma) fighting against impossible altitudinous behemoths at the Treasure Island tournament. “It is proposed that a field goal count three points and a free throw from the 20-foot line one point. A player accommodates the muscles of his eyes and accessory muscles of the hands and fingers to height as quickly as he does to distance, so height is no more of a handicap than shooting a little farther out on the court would be, “The new rule would be a decided aid to the official, if’ adopted, because the two-shot foul when driving in for goals would be entirely eliminated because there would be no incentive for drive-in layups, ~ the things that causes most misery for officials. “Then, also, the three-second time rule in the lane would be out as the shot would be more advantageously made from some distance out. The back-up nudging play in in oe is so much grief on fouling would be lessened. [ CHANGE WOULD REDUCE INJURIES 7 “It would also reduce injuries under the backboard due to the above-mentioned hard drive-ins, with pushing, etc. I have in mind Bobby Moers of Texas, a victim of this situation. “The rebound arc of disbursement would come out forther on the court, loosening up the defense and allowing the offense to work through a compact zone defense. It would eliminate much hipping by big husky guards desiring to maintain their close position. under and near the basket. “Many people are asking, ‘Why not. an 11-foot basket instead of @ 12-foot?? My answer is that soon there will be goons who will reach an 11-foot basket as easily as they do the 10-footer, and then again, a 12-foot hoop will cause the ball to rebound farther out on the court, thereby clearing the area under the basket of massed players. “Already the European and Asiatic nations whose athletes are smaller men have complained of the exceptional height of American basketball players in the Olympic Games. Basketball would be more popular the world over if the hoop were elevated, thus giving nations of shorter men an equal chance. “By adopting a 12-foot basket the Basriniisadion that now exists in favor of the giant of stature would be materially reduced and this fine winter sport would become sounder, faster and more exciting. “There are many more good reasons I have not time to write here. It was good of you to print your comments. (’Twarn’t nothing, Doctor).. Sincerely yours, «““FORREST C. ALLEN,” Director of Physical Education, University of Kansas.” J. Donald Budge and Frederick John Perry are to do a pro oe ( Ca 160 Page 2H, Col. 4 "me Sports News — Dyas ee eater The New Basketball When the rule makers decided that the jump in basketball should be eliminated except as the opening play of the game and the starting play of the second half, they started something which promises to furnish more talk pro and con than any rule change that has been made in any sport that I can recall in many years. It had for years been felt that the jump placed too much of a premium on having,a tall center, and it was to eliminate this that the change was made. That there was, under the old rule, too much of a premium on having a tall center cannot be questioned, and we are quite in sympathy with doing away with that. phase of the game; but it begins to look as if the way this had been accomplished was not proving satisfactory to a majority of the coaches, and we base this assertion on the number of complaints which have been registered during the com- paratively short time the new rule has been in. effect. No Rest During Halves The new rule which is now in effect states that the team which has just been scored upon may take out of bounds immediately after the basket. has been made with the throw-in being made from outside court, the defender being required to stay at least py. star artist ' a Yard away. Now, so far as can be seen on : the surface, there is nothing which would seem to indicate such a radical change in the game as the rule really makes. The change has not only taken the premium off height, but it has increased the element of speed to a surprising degree. Basketball has always been a fast game and one of the most exacting as regards stamina; but, played under the new rule, it is even faster than ever before, and I am inclined to think that it is now faster even than hockey. Speed has for some time seemed to be one of the most attractive features of sporting events; but it now looks as if it had reached a point where it was overdone, and some way must be found to curb it, without giving up the good feature of the rule which eliminates the height premium. Two Suggestions of Merit Many suggestions which their advocates claim will fix things up are being proposed, and there are at least two which seem to contain con- siderable merit. One of them is to bring back the jump, but have the tip- - off men rotate. That is, each man on the team would perform that duty in rotation. And, on the assumption that all of the players would not be tall men, the inequality which has existed in the past would be equalized. The other. is to have the ball given to the referee after each basket and have him give it to the man who is to throw it in, and whistle when play is to be resumed. In this way the players would get.a breathing spell similar to that which used to exist between jumpoffs under the old rules. Under prevailing conditions, it will be necessary for a basketball team to consist of some 15 players if the game is not to slow up to a very unsatis- factory degree through the boys becoming too tired to keep going at top speed. se “Better Basketball” aeiatie Forrest C. Allen, head basketball coach at the University of Kansas, and a recognized authority on the sport, has just written a book on the game. It is entitled “Better Basketball.” Profusely illustrated with some 163 photographs and 86 diagrams of play, the reader is given a very clear idea of the points which the author makes in explaining various offensive and defensive plays. It is from the Whittelsey House press of the Mc- Graw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., and sells for $4. PHOG ALLEN IS ONE OF THOSE GUYS WHO WRITES ON MENUS” We feel a bit silly for talking about basketball in this bock oe weather and we wouldn’t do it except we have been intimidated by Dr. Forrest C. “Phog” Allen, the Kansas man, here for the con- vention of American Association for Health, Physical Education | and Recreation. Dr. Allen is director of physical education and basketball coach : at University of Kansas and long has been considered one of the pro- gressive brains of the winter sport. When he was out here a few “weeks ago for the N. C. A. A. col- legiate playoffs at Treasure Island, Dr. Allen struck a sympathetic note with us by advocating elevation of the basket from 10 feet to 12 feet to take the game away from 6 foot 5 goons and restore it to athletes of standard height. In recent weeks, Dr. Allen has been an overland commuter be- tween Lawrence, Kas., and San . Francisco. Before he entrdined for a our town for the second time, he — | stopped off at the Hotel Morrison : NIBS PRICE in Chicago, and while foraging in the dining room, wrote 33 reasons on the back of the a la carte men: why the basket should be hoisted. We always believed the greatest contributions to the fund of knowl- | edge are penciled on restaurant table cloths and menus. If Dr. Allen | had come to us with a neatly typewritten list of arguments we would | not give him this valuable space, but because his thoughts were scrib- | bled on the Morrison menu between the soup and entree courses we are ' convinced of their merit and sincerity. In private life, Dr. Allen is-a most. pious and conservative man who shuns the flesh pots of likker and terbaccy, but professionally he is a radical soul who would keep the game in a constant uproar with shock- ' Ing rule changes. > > | GREASE SPOTS ON HOTEL MENU, So : °° We have not space or inclination in this climate to reprint Dr. Allen’s 33-point program here because some of his handwritten items run into the roast beef au jus and eggs Florentine on the Morrison menu and are not legible to our eyes. However, we are happy to advance two other innovations which Dr. Allen sponsors, namely, the convex backboard and the streamlined backboard, both of which seem worthy to us. “These changes were put before the recent meeting of the national rules committee, and although no action was taken, I do not expect any for a year or two at the earliest,” said the doctor. “There is no reajyon why the backboard should be flat, no more than the basket shovld be anchored at ten feet. Both were established by arbitrary judgment. Basketball is a young sport and is still in the uncouth stage. We should welcome, rather than resent, suggested changes in physical equipment. “The convex or curved backboard was invented by oe Maune | of St. Louis. Mr. Maune is a middle-aged citizen who is a red hot fan. He holds no patent on the scheme and nobody has a financial interest | in it. With the help of G. R. Chervenka, a research engineer, Mr. Maune designed the convex backboard and freely offers the idea for the good of the game. “I'd like to see it adopted two « or ioe years from. now, when prejudices have been broken down. A curved backboard would — Continued on 1 Page on, Cnn 5 |Discourse on Rowing| i oe spectators by giving a wider angle of vision to fans seated in corner seats. It would also help players by making corner shots easier. The curve would add 249 square feet of shooting and banking space.” The smaller backboard is a subject close to Dr. Allen’s heart. It is his contention that the 33 per cent of the wooden area is never used by players, except to stop wild pitches from falling into the laps of specta- tors. Players with good eyes aim for the basket and. not for the useless extent of wood five feet from the hoop. “T’d like to see the backboard cut down one foot on each end, | six inches off the bottom and one foot off the top. This would give us a backboard 2% feet by 4 feet, enough space for any player who has an idea where the ball is going,” explains the Doc, “The smaller backboard would emphasize the size of the hoop by contrast. It would give players a more prominent target to shoot at. Spectators in end seats would have a better view of the court. The large and useless backboards we now use cut off the vision of hun-. dreds of fans.” We promise this will be the last basketball story we will do until the fog rolls in. | FREDERICK SPEAKS FOR ROWING - A piece we wrote the other day on crew inspired an answer from Walter Frederick, University of California publicist. He says: “In a recent column, speaking about the University of Washing- ton boys arriving in Oakland a week before their regatta with Califor- nia on April 15, you ask: ‘How does crew get away with it?’ “You said, in part, ‘We are curious as to how.crew gets away with a leisurely trip when other athletes are shipped to and from their destinations with the speed of Federal prisoners en route to McNeil’s Island,’ “How much consideration have you given the following points: “No. 1—Washington, along with California, has to make this one- ' week trip (five school days) only ‘once every two years. Crewmen lose | only two and one-half days a year from classes. (What do you think | the Trojan baseball team is doing up here all this week?) Answer: The Trojans are up here busily playing games and will ‘depart as soon as they are through. They didn’t arrive a week in ad- yance, but barely in time to dress. _ “No. 2—Football, baseball, basketball and track teams compete on | gridirons, courts, diamonds and cinder tracks that are fairly uniform in all localities. Wind, weather, tide and general water conditions on ' Oakland Estuary and Lake Washington are vastly different. Answer: Don’t you ever think gridirons, courts, diamonds and cinder tracks are uniform, my good man. Ask Nibs Price if Oregon’s court at Eugene was as comfortable for the Bears as their home pa- ' vilion. The only essential differences between the water in the Estuary ' and Lake Washington is that the estuary is dirtier. CALIFORNIA BOYS ARE BRIGHT “No. 3—Three years ago, Coach Ky Ebright of California made _ study of grades ‘of 55 members of his varsity crew. The average crew- man’s scholastic grade was ABOVE that of the non-athletic students, and not a single oarsman received a failure mark. Just this week, two crewmen were elected to Phi Beta Kappa.” Answer—Hoo-ray for the bright boys from California! But what about Washington’s men? We wrote our original piece about Wash- ington, not about California, so Mr. Frederick’s defense of the pre- | cocious Bears is off the point. We seem to recall a dispatch from Seat- | tle, printed Wednesday, of a Washington veteran of Poughkeepsie being pinched by the faculty. “Do you still think California crewmen should catch the last train north when it’s their turn to visit Seattle?” Answer—Yes. They lost last year, anyhow. Why arrive ‘a week in advance to lose when it can be done cheaper by oes Friday morning? Vet ALL ng Gte eX: ‘ A . od iY / EONA 4 HICKS Managing Dirgctor WR a 58 Sea a) eS Sekai’ — : a8 x 2 GRAND BALLROOM — CAMEO ROOM Providing ideal facilities for con- ventions, sales, meetings and affairs of all kinds. Acoustics per- fect. With its many halls, dining rooms and varied display space, the Cameo Room can be easily arranged to accommodate gath- erings as large as 2,000 or as small as 20. THE ULTRA MODERN TERRACE ROOM "Chicago's Theatre Restaurant’ —the favorite dine and dance rendezvous of all who demand sophisticated night club atmos- phere and superlative food. Celebrated orchestras and out- standing entertainers are always featured. Tables are arranged in tiers to provide unobstructed view of stage and dancers. Moderate prices prevail. 70 degrees air- conditioned in summer. THE BOSTON OOYSTIER HOUSE Famed for over sixty years not only for the finest in sea food but for general excellence of cui- sine. Luxury dining at moderate cost. Air-conditioned. 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The BUNGALOW The penthouse bungalow is a luxuriously furnished seven room home atop the Mor- rison roof (one tenth of a mile above the street). It is the favorite home of visiting celebrities. It consists of a living room, 3 double bed rooms, each with bath, din- ; eT | vs : ing room and kitchen. Especially suited for - " private dinners, banquets, parties, wed- BUNGALOW LIVING ROOM. Famous decorators and artists designed the dings and de luxe affairs generally Avenitl: furnishings which were specially made for this suite. Dignity and luxury is in every detail. able at surprisingly moderate rentals. od ; BUNGALOW BED ROOM | e BUNGALOW DINING ROOM Ss Offering the utmost in comfort. And Elegance without ostentation, reflected in the above all — quiet, because high above Se smart appointments and intimate surroundings. the noise of the street. Z The rug was specially designed and loomed. il WM March 7, 19396 Here is the proposition that I offered Mre Listone I proposed that we take the cash receipts of the National Intercollegiate Tournament for their first two nights last year, and that our NCAAs committee allow him that amount of money for his rental plus an added sum this yeare I proposed that we then, as a determiner for the added sum, take the entire total gross receipts of Liston's Intercollegiate Tournament for last year and compare them with the total receipts this year, and that we increase the rental for the first two nights of this year, namely Monday and Tues~ day, according to the proportion of the increase in total gate receipts of this year over last year's tournamente In other words, if Liston's tournament this year grossed twice as much as last year, we would pay double the rental for Monday and Tuesday nightse It must be taken into consideration that Liston's tournament would go on and not be interrupted only by pushing some of their games so they would be played during the day rather than at night. This would be velvet for Liston's tournament, end I considered it a very fair propositione Furthermore, I agreed that he could count his advance sale that has been made by the Chamber of Commerce in this year's grosse Liston stated that he had about 2,000 tickets solde We had agreed to admit these tickets free so far as deductions on our part were coneerned regarding the totalse er Kebehascopic Re = Swothaton es Ee Le Two or three decades ago physical education was not an integral part of the educational sential of our American colleges. It was given time in the school activities rather grudgingly. The progress of physical education was suffering a two-wey bloc. First, educators were frowming upon a system which lacked @ well-organized body of thought to support ite Second, the men and women who were leading the cause of physical education had received their professional training in speciel physical-training as - > normal schools, outside of the life and atmosphere of general educatione Consequently they were partially ignorant of the Ze general educational trendse They regarded their work as a detached problem which had to do only with the physical and muscular aspects of the student and not with the acquirement of mente.l, moret social benefits. The earlier system was structurally minded and thought only in terms of anatomy and muscular physiquese The whole plan was lost in a single grevve - that of structural vigilance and care of the physical body, with no great thought of functional relationship to education in generale Se The main function of education is “to train the human mechanism towards efficiency as an instrument of self-expression, with reference to the various opportunities and responsibilities of life". All agencies of education should aim at these common endse This does not mean that extra curricular activies should contribute an amount comparable to that furnished by the curriculum; but they should be integers in the plan. One century of American pioneer work in physical education showed the place of motor activity in the school curriculwm, and, 4. despite the incompleteness of the plan, kept the idea alive wntil educators could present a program which wes physiologically and psychologically sound and pedagogically acceptable. The new type of physical education maintains en organic relationship with the educational programe It otands four-square as & neuromuscular program to aid education not only in rounding out the physical, mentel, sociel and emotional being in its care, during the four or more on of college life, but in sending the student home with a lifetime recreation, - with a favorite sport which will insure for him activity and freedom in his maturitye 5e I fear, at times, that some of our leaders have been much like the tongue-tied family whose young som came dashing indoors exclaiming, “Oh, Mamaj There's a flog in the fling! There's a flog in the flings" The mother, with a disgunting reprimand, corrected him saying, "A flog in the flingé* Can't I ever teach you kids to talk flopper?" | At this moment the father sternly admonished, "Talk flopper, now you've flixed iti" I will now introduce our esteemed Chancellor Lindley who will, I hope, tell us how to "flix" the wrongs, in our present physical education programe tps jai Csi ft ln Oe Vhk ee tel whe