74 WILLIAM STEIG Gridiron G-Man By Richard L. Neuberger The young athlete from U.C.L.A. was identified by knife scars on his back. He had, in addition, three complete sets of names. All this was irregular, and Ted Key was ruled ineligible. This incident, together with a few score more, made the professors (who run football on the West Coast) uneasy. They hired G-man Edwin N. Atherton to look into irregularities. Mr. Atherton is now at work, and apprehension among alumni everywhere is acute football teams are locked in a tense struggle for the championship of the Pacific Coast Confer- ence and an invitation to the Rose Bowl, mention of Edwin N. Atherton makes fervent alumni shudder and hard-boiled coaches blench. His arrival in any college town on the Pacific seaboard sets 200-pound fullbacks to mopping their foreheads and hiding in the closet, and starts football fans wondering what might take the place of their favorite sport these crisp Saturday afternoons. Yet the name of Edwin N. Atherton appears in neither football programs nor newspaper line-ups. Multitudes never rise to hurrah his achievements on the gridiron. : This leads to the conclusion that Atherton must occupy a unique position indeed. He does. He is the first Federal Bureau of Investigation graduate ever assigned to ferret out the low-down on college foot- ball proselyting. And he has official sanction for the job. The faculties of the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Athletic Conference have hired him to discover how and why behemoth young men suddenly appear at their colleges, perform mightily on the gridiron and do not become ill-fed, ill-housed or ill-clothed during the process. In simpler language: Where do the heroes get their money? The professors want to know. They have commissioned Atherton to find out. So right from the beginning he has a different status than anyone Jitcot the sundown rim of America, where eight Collier's for November 19, 1938 Enthusiastic alumni have always done their share in maintaining the "gravy train” for the athletes else who ever pried into intercollegiate football. Previous muckraking of the athletes’ financial affairs has had to be conducted from the outside. Much of it has been on the sly. The investigators have had to resort to snooping. Atherton, however, can arrive on a campus as conspicuously as he pleases. No keyhole sleuthing for him. His task has faculty approval. Any nimble halfback or colossal guard who refuses to re- veal to him the source of the money that pays for T-bone steaks, corduroy trousers, college tuition and tickets to the junior prom may find himself nervously holding down the carpet in the dean’s office. On the Trail of the Gravy Train The inquiry into the finances of the gridiron heroes was authorized late last December at the 1937 meet- ing of the Pacific Coast Conference. The “gravy train” is the way some cynics refer to the practice of bestowing slight emoluments on young men of football prowess, and the gravy train formed the meeting’s No. 1 topic of discussion. Edwin N. Atherton, after being in charge of the F. B. I. offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles, had resignec to go into the investigating business for him- self. He had just made a sensational report on graft in the San Francisco police force and he was the chief investigator for the Better Business Bureau of Los Angeles. Here was the fellow to do the job. The pro- fessors would put a veteran of the G-men on the trail. Can a boy of 21 go through a hard football season, hold down a job, and still find time for classes? Mr. Atherton would like to know Professors grow sternest when they compare the football coaches’ salaries to their own Investigation of subsidized athletes has caused some uneasiness on certain West Coast campuses What better way to find out who was financing what athletes, and why, when, where and how? To understand these occurrences, certain circum- stances must be explained. The Pacific Coast Con- ference is governed not by coaches and athletic directors, to the intense disgust of those individuals, but by professors. One professor represents each of the ten schools in the conference. The schools are- University of Southern California, University of California at Los Angeles, Stanford University, Uni- versity of California, Oregon State College, Univer- sity of Oregon, Washington State College, University of Washington, University of Idaho and University of Montana. The last two institutions, however, do not compete for the football championship. The whole probe has the coaches in such a funk that Atherton repeatedly assures them his informa- tion will not be used to declare ineligible the athletes performing at present. Whatever he uncovers will apply only to future situations. “My investigation,” said he not long ago, “is for research purposes and not to dig up evidence of pro- fessionalism that will disqualify from amateur sports any player now competing in the conference.” Atherton, who is forty-two years old and who spent eleven of those years in the service of Uncle Sam, is about halfway through the prowl of the Western athletic scene. He has been surveying conference sports since January. The task will be completed late next spring, when he will present to the professors *NEW INVENTION... the SurcoatConstruc- tion with the Talon fastener. Makes possi- ble the first slide-fastened medium-length coat that can’t bind at hips... that always drapes perfectly. A coat, in addition, that’s easier to put on and take off. See the Surcoat today at men’s and department stores. TALON, INC., MEADVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA INC., ORIGINATORS OF THE SLIDE FASTENER TALON SLIDE FASTENER * MADE BY TALON, 76 WAY do dole. Mh WS aA AU or Black and White tt MILLIMETER FIL vA 9 SPEEDS MAT S-L-0-W MOTION KEYSTONE Ws Exdlizan E/Ufe lu e Precision-built ¢ pocket-size e light- weight e Universal focus £3.5 Wollensak lens e interchangeable with telephoto e three speeds e visible footage indicator e audible signal ¢ long range e built-in view finders e motor lock « takes Agfa Economy film. Free literature describes exclusive economy features. Visit your dealer! KEYSTONE MANUFACTURING CO. 293 A STREET, or MASS. Mea: Ny BAD Prt Te ita WO Tea Koen etna em Cerra “RECLAIMO” Attached tv AUTOS-TRUCKS-TRACTORS: | Sill OIL CHANGING Ordinary oil filters only remove solids and none of the other ree destructive matter—there- by making frequent oi] changes necessary. “RECLAIMO”— The Filter-Refiner keeps crankcase oil Clean amd Oily indefinitely by removing solids thru filtration—and gasoline dilution, water, corrosive acids thru theuse of ex- Wm-Schwalge Patents, haust et a tern mak to eee a thing of the place resent oi Ts oo ng 0: t bpm of “RECLAIMO.” Re ee ad some of thelr rernar FREE booklet ‘‘Oil Ga mneabont oil than has ever r been povenied 3 before and may save you a m alot of money. DON’T DELAY! y of this booklet from wri RECLAIMO MFG. CO.. 2306 N. Western Ave., Dept. U.S. BUREAU MONEY BACK season ware YOUR HUEY F / ES, Po-ke-no makes evenings at home exciting . . . gives parties ac- tion and thrills! It’s sweeping America! Young and old love it! 2 to 13 can play. Takes only a minute to learn. In stunning black and red gift box. Includes 12 handsome, durable playing boards, 200 chips in rich colors, com- plete instructions. A welcome gift. @ See Po-ke-no at your dealer’s today. If he doesn’t have it, send $2 for prompt, postpaid shipment. Address: U.S. Playing Card Co., Dept. C-4, Cincinnati, Ohio. Collier's for November 19, 1938 what they hope will prove to be the most detailed and authentic report ever com- piled on the financing of college football players. The report will be presented in secret, but it unquestionably will require Grenadier Guards to keep every news- paperman west of the Rockies from lis- tening at the keyhole. Each college town is morally certain that the most scan- dalous portions of the report will con- cern its bitterest athletic rival. The general trend of the questions has seeped out, and the public has gathered at least an inkling of what the inquisi- tive professors seek to know about the gravy train. The Players’ Catechism Here are some of the questions, as passed on by the athletes who have had to answer them: How did you happen to go to this par- ticular college? Did you pay your own transportation here? Were any special inducements made to you by alumni? Why did you select the courses you are taking? Did anyone connected with athletics tell you to register for easy subjects? What were your average grades in high school as compared with your grades in college? Do you have a tutor? Who pays him? Have you a job on the campus? Who got it for you? Do you actually have to work at it? Where do you get the money for your college tuition? For your board and room? For your clothes and other inci- dentals? What special favors are shown you because you play football? How many complimentary tickets do you get for each game? Do you sell them? To whom? What do you average each Saturday from the sale of these tickets? Have you a job in the summer? Who .: got it for you? Would it be taken away _ if you no longer played football? What is the total amount of assistance you receive each month in the college year from any source whatsoever? Do you get a scholarship from the college? Is this help entirely contingent on your participation in football? Atherton resorts neither to threats nor bombast in getting replies, although some of the coaches and athletic direc- tors think the specter of faculty disap- proval is threat enough. He merely makes it plain that his next move will be to check the truth of the answers. What is the cause of all this? What made the professors start talking about the gravy train at that conference meet- ing last December on Del Monte’s sun- bright shore? Why is the Far West the scene of the country’s first faculty-spon- sored, detective-conducted investigation of football proselyting? What started the whole rumpus? Tempting, indeed, are the rewards of football success on the Pacific Coast. The team annexing the conference cham- pionship automatically represents the region in the Rose Bowl. This usually adds about $85,000 to the athletic cof- fers of the college that gets the bid. Then there are all sorts of other post- season games—and the weather is balmy in California when New England is sheathed with ice. There also are gold watches and movie jobs for winning players, and fatter pay checks and greater glory for winning coaches. Some of the Pacific Coast Conference athletic departments have whopping in- comes from football. Numerous big games attract as many as 70,000 people. Even in the frontier Northwest, the teams of Oregon and Washington usually meet before a crowd of 35,000. And always at the end of the gridiron trail the treasure-trove of the Rose Bowl awaits the conference conqueror. None of this money goes to the ath- letes whose performances bring it in at the turnstiles. They get help from other sources. Some of them are given prefer- ence at actual jobs, such as mowing campus lawns, waiting on dormitory and fraternity tables, sweeping out build- ings and stacking books in the school library. Usually college towns reserve as many public pay-roll spots as possible for the lads who roll up touchdowns. Private jobs are also set aside for the football heroes. Captain Butch Morse of Oregon got a choice assignment tak- ing charge of a busy service station. Mitchell Frankovich, a_ triple-threat U. C. L. A. quarterback, was chauffeur for a while for Joe E. Brown, the wide- mouthed movie comedian. A mighty youth named Stanley Kostka followed Doc Spears from Minnesota to Oregon. He washed dishes for a while in the Far West. Then Spears quit as coach at Oregon. Kostka turned back toward the rising sun, and ended up in his home town as an All-Big Ten fullback for the Minnesota Gophers. In most conference colleges, athletic scholarship funds augment the money from jobs. The word “scholarship,” of course, refers exclusively to capacity on the gridiron rather than in the class- room. In some instances the “scholar- ships” are paid directly to the players. At other times they are applied in the form of vouchers against such routine expenses as campus tuition, fraternity dues and dormitory bills. The scholar- ship funds are obtained not out of foot- ball gate receipts, but are solicited from patriotic alumni and fervent sports fans. The University of Oregon Webfoots re- cently tried to get proselyting money by asking graduates to “give a buck for a Duck.” Alumni were canvassed with regular subscription blanks. Many of the athletic scholarship funds are thus financed with five- and ten-dollar drib- bles. Occasionally wealthy “angels” pour in.a whole golden stream at once. A few weeks ago several prominent industrial- ists added $2,700 in a single chunk to the gravy-train coffers of a conference team. All along the Pacific seaboard, par- ticular colleges are reputed to have in- dividual angels who are more than generous in keeping nimble athletes off the WPA. The Doheny oil family has been partisan to the football success of Southern California, and Joe E. Brown is a zealous enthusiast for U. C. L. A. An important oil magnate near Long Beach is reputed to have considerable to do with the number of California boys scor- ing touchdowns for Oregon State. A Way to Eliminate Hypocrisy And so the story goes. This is the background of the situation into which the professors have intruded Atherton and his investigation of athletic prose- lyting. — There is one group of football fans in the Far West who look at Atherton’s survey with considerable optimism. They think it may be the means of elim- inating hypocrisy from intercollegiate football. Once all the facts about the gravy train are known, they believe an effort will be made to adopt uniform standards for assistance to football players. This would do away with the camouflage of giving financial aid in the form of soft jobs and outright donations. The fans who take this position insist that some sort of help is necessary if a boy is to play football and keep up in his studies and at the same time meet the expenses of an education. Why not the same amount of assistance at each college? Why let the size of a school’s gravy train determine the quality of its football team? If Atherton’s peek into the proselyting problem does something about this situation, one group of fans, at least, will regard his enterprise as a success. FALLING HAIR ——— Scalp—Patchy Baldness? Glover’s Mange Medicine and systematic massage WAKES UP your scalp; activates the blood vessels and tissues. Its tonic-like effect makes your scalp glow and feel delight- fully refreshed. Helps check excessive Falling Hair; aids new hair growth in Patchy Baldness; relieves Dan- druff and Itching Scalp. IMPORTANT! Shampoo at nome with Glover’s Medi- i cated Soap. Cleanses and removes the Medicine’s clean pine tar odor. Your Druggist sells both. Ask your Barber about the value of Glover’s Mange Medicine Treatment. He 4 knows! GLOV ae Haare MEDICINE EYE SPECIALISTS’ FORMULA ACTS IN SECONDS! @ New way to clear and soothe tired eyes. Eye-Gene acts differently. Contains six ingredients—one which clears red, veined, bloodshot eyes (*due to fatigue, late hours, glare, "driving, etc.). 2 drops SonshG, Se re- fresh tired, dull eyes ike extra hour’s sleep. Good Housekeeping approved. At drug, dept. conayarnce EYE-GENE @= RUPTURE IF you suffer from this dis- ability—and your doctor ad- vises the use of a proper- fitting support—write NOW J for full information regard- ing the famous BROOKS RUPTURE APPLIANCE The principal points of this form of truss:—-Made for the individual requirements of each case (not a stock truss)—light, cool, comfortable, sanitary (washable), no metal springs or hard pads, low . priced, designed for all forms of reducible rupture in men, women and children, and SENT AL TO PROVE IT. Free details sent in ele envelope. ' All correspondence held in strict confidence. BROOKS CO., 504-A State St., Marshall, Mich. t. and 10c stores. sees Armen Here’s News! Iodent No. 2 toothpaste and powder is scien- tifically com- pounded by a Dentist and guar- anteedtoSAFELY remove most stubborn stains—even smoke stains—from hard-to-bryten teeth, or money back. Have bright, sparkling teeth like millions do. Get refreshing Iodent today. OTD) TOOTH PASTE 82-2 Gtso POWDER HARD TO BR’ TEN nog FOR TEETH EASY TO BRYTEN The fruits of failure are not so allur- ing. In the rough-and-ready jamboree of Pacific Coast athletics, character- building and ivy-covered traditions do not compensate for 21-0 pastings. The coach who loses soon finds himself with walking papers stuffed into his re- luctant hands. No jobs as movie grid- iron heroes await players over whose prostrate forms touchdowns are scored. Unsuccessful teams stock no college treasuries, and neither do they build sta- diums, basketball pavilions or tennis courts. So the pressure to win is terrific. That means plenty of pressure and competi- tion in the gentle practice of inducing young men with broad shoulders and sinewy muscles to matriculate at Dear Old This-’n’-That. The New Wild West In the past five or six years, the scramble among the conference colleges for star prep-school athletes has been about as grim and savage as were the old wars on the coast between cavalry dra- goons and hostile Indians. From their cloistered classrooms, the professors have watched in horror as rival coaches, athletic directors and alumni have fought over ace halfbacks like starved wolves at a caribou feast. This melee over prize football mate- rial is not necessarily confined to such near-by colleges as Oregon and Wash- ington. Frequently it extends vast dis- tances into the Far West. The greatest high-school athlete in Portland’s history was Bobby Grayson. He was heralded as the boy who would make Oregon State the conference champion, for surely he would go to the campus where his brother had been be- fore him. But Stanford, 700 miles away, was not unmindful of the unstoppable qual- ity of Bobby’s line smashes. Stanford Collier's for November 19, 1938 ried about busily. Oregon State saw its dream of football conquest fade. Pretty soon Bobby turned up at Palo Alto— and his family, too! Needless to re- mark, when he came back to Portland as an All-America and rammed Oregon State around like a locomotive nudging empty boxcars, boos and hisses were plentifully mingled with the other noises of the trouncing. In 1933 the University of Oregon had a hard-driving team that tied for the conference championship. Then some prying professor noticed that of the eleven varsity performers, both tackles, both halfbacks and a guard were from California, a guard and the fullback were from Minnesota and an end was from South Dakota. This left three players from the state of Oregon. And the beards of several scholarly profes- sors trembled perceptibly when it was discovered that the football players from afar had been spared the out-of- state tuition fees required of other students. Eligibility squabbles rock every foot- ball circuit, but those in the Pacific Coast Conference have been especially volcanic. They have had all the tumult of the frontier West and none of the re- straint of the genteel East. Not so long ago a line-pulverizing fullback for U. C. L. A. was found to have played football elsewhere under two different names before he began performing in the Pacific Coast Con- ference. The other nine colleges raised a din of protest that sounded from the Mexican border to British Columbia, and the professors ruled ineligible one Ted Key, alias William Gelhausen, alias Tex Maness. The affair assumed a bizarre and garish tinge when Professor J. Earle Miller of U. C. L. A. established identification by scars on Key’s back from knife wounds suffered when he was a deputy sheriff in Texas. With Key rolling majestically through opposing |. alumni in the Portland area scur- forwards, U. C. L. A. had gone through | _ "Okay, here's the setup: Finger and Louis watch out front; Manny, Lips and Frank bring the cars around back; Stink and Rossi lug down the bags and the arsenal; Joe comes out with me and the dough, and Nino leaves a note the milkman shouldn't leave no more milk” G. MILLIGAN 77 WELCOME CHANGE FOR CIGARETTE SMOKERS The price of the world’s finest mentholated cigarette is down — to the level of other popular cigarettes. @ Change to Spuds— pocket the change—and give yourself a treat! @Spuds are milder, much more refreshing— premium quality at no premium in price. CHOICE OF PLAIN OR CORK AT THE NEW LOW PRICE REMEMBER, IT’S THE SAME SPUD Made of the same choice tobaccos — seasoned with menthol by the exclusive Spud process — at a new low price. Why pay more? © The Axton-Fisher Tobacco Co., Louisville, Kentucky OMING at you, it looks like a mil- lion. Going away, it looks like good fortune you’ve missed. — A lot of fussy care went into the way it looks from the rear—you know, that’s the angle from which it’s oftenest seen. E LOWER BUICK 1939 PRICES AR —Jower than last year, ’d expect, wer than you fe lower even than some sixes Going or coming, it moves like a honey bee about its business. Better look quick if you want to see it—one sudden “swo-o-o-sh!”’ and it’s gone! : How about it—is this stunning 1939 Buick really as lively as it looks? Well, just try it and see— you'll find it the car and the value of the year! Miaybe a bullet gets off faster. Maybe a rabbit can beat it on the jump or a skyliner lead it from point to point. But you'll never want a highway cruiser that answers quicker to the green light’s ‘“‘go’’—that slips more deftly through the holes in trafhc—that with keener relish eats up the miles. , That bonnet houses a full complement of eight cylinders, and Dynaflash cylinders at that. All four wheels dance on BuiCoil NO OTHER CAR IN THE WORLD HAS ALL THESE FEATURES DYNAFLASH VALVE-IN-HEAD STRAIGHT- lower. . . chassis sealed against wear and EIGHT ENGINE .. . world’s ablest eight, dirt. wittepreritene teycents Sing of: TIPTOE HYDRAULIC BRAKES. . . safe, sure, BUICOIL TORQUE-FREE SPRINGING... .flut- | smooth stops at a touch. ter-free ‘‘full float’? ride—anti-skid ‘safety —longer tire life. MORE VISIBILITY . - up to 413 more square inches of safety glass i in sedans. HANDISHIFT TRANSMISSION . . . gearshift on the steering post, out of knee-way. KNEE-ACTION FRONT SPRINGING... with new geometry for banking effect on curves and light, positive steering. TORQUE-TUBE DRIVE. . . nearly two inches ROOMIER UNISTEEL BODY BY FISHER . trunk, No Draft Ventilation, Silent Zone body mountings, built-in defroster connection. CROWN SPRING CLUTCH... . 9 parts in- stead of 41, longer trouble - free life, quicker shifts. “CATWALK-COOLING”. . . radiator at point . of greatest air pressure. OPTIONAL REAR AXLE GEAR RATIOS . take your choice between powerand speed, brilliance and extra gas economy. FLASH-WAY DIRECTION SIGNAL. need for arm signals in bad weather. - with lighted Oe a ee ae springing of stout spiraled steel; no quiver or shiver shakes the luxurious body in its flight. You'll see the world—lots of it—for this sightly Buick now parades the passing pano- rama through windows with up to 413 more square inches of outlook than before. In every 1939 Buick you get the skilled engineering and sturdy quality tradt- tional to Buick—enriched by all the extra value wwhich General Motors science and Buick work- manship can provide. GENTLING EVERY JAR, BuiCoil Torque-Free Springing is this year even softer, smoother . . . still a vital safety factor. It reduces skid risks and makes rear tires last longer. Every inch of it says, ‘‘Let’s Gol”? Other things you'll like: A gearshift out goforthewayit goes for you. of knee-way. Front wheels that “bank You'll find it obedient and willing, a car that holds the curves for you. Brakes that stop on . : : : . its marks in cross-winds, bears sharp around a dime—and leave nine cents change. , : ; curves without slide or slew. Go see this lovely lively traveler. Drive [ny fine—we think you'll like all of it—from its it—feel its magic yourself, first-hand. looks to the way it lives up to them. Won’t you You'll find it beautifulinactionasin aspect—you’ll try it out—and see? ‘Buicks the Beauty!” EXEMPLAR OF GENERAL MOTORS VALUE 80 Collier's for November 19, 1938 lung Wirederful GOES ON INSIDE CELLOPHANE EXTERIOR GENUINE FILTERS PACKED ONLY IN THIS RED AND BLACK BOX NEWEST SHAPES 66 BAFFLE SCREEN / INTERIOR Used filter shows juices and flakes trapped within; preventing raw mouth, wet heel, bad odor, frequent expectoration. No breakinginneeded! Water test proves cellophane exteri- or will not permit moisture or saliva to break down per- fect functioning of filter. Stem and bowl stay dry and sanitary. Only filter com- ining 66 baffle interior and cello- phane exterior. Greatest scientific smoking i invention. Keeps juices in fil- ter, out of mouth. FINEST BRIAR MONEY CAN BUY EAL RMB eS manay4 Dram ELA Ingram’s Cream’s a Shaving Quickie... Simple, Safe and never Tricky. —E. E. WICK, MINN. THE THRIFTIEST. PINCH of Ingram’s foams up into billowing brushfuls of luxury lath- er. And it’s cool, Cool, cool! Get eco- New Iver Johnson Streamline Model Be boys: The last word in bicycles! Fully equipped. Hi-Carbon, seamless tubing frame, chromium fork, chain guard, rear mirror, park- ing stand, platform luggage carrier, leotitte hornlite, coaster brake, balloon tires, etc. Earn this and other big PRIZES such as a wagon, a tent, football, gold watch, typewriter, musical instruments, movie machine—any of < 300 Bie Pri over 300 different items! | ig rizes-—~"\rake MONEY, too! It’s “ easy—and fun. Just deliver our three famous magazines to customers you secure in your neighborhood. Need not interfere with school or home duties. You can earn a prize the FIRST DAY. Mail this coupon at once and we'll start you right away. Jim Thayer, Dept. C-240 The Crowell Publishing Co. Springfield, Ohio fices, Large incomes from Doctors, hospitals, sani- tariums and private patients come to those who qualify through our training. Reducing alone offers rich rewards for specialists. Write for Anatomy Charts and book- yp. \let—They’re FRE! THE joteee of Swedish Massage 1601 ~ Bivd., Dept. 814, Chicago i l College of M ITCH STOPPED IN A HURRY BY D.D.D.:- Are you tormented with the itching tortures of eczema, rashes, athlete’s foot, eruptions, or other externally — Age caused skin afflictions? For quick and happy relief, Address use cooling, antiseptic, liquid D.D.D. PRESCRIP- TION. Greaseless and stainless. Soothes the irrita- City State tion and swiftly stops the most intense itching. A 35c trial bottle, at drug stores, proves it—or money back. The Perfect Radio for Travelers! €ROSLEY BIGGEST Little RADIO, the A mite in size, but mighty in volume emir value. 5 tubes (including ballast) with beam i power outputandagenuineelectro-dynamic A speaker. Easily carried in your traveling rR bag. Operates on AC or DC current. in Requires no ground. Brown plastic case. A Da O- VW xX} XK LX Lx} DDD) THE HAND GIVES YOU IDEA OF SET’S SIZE LS OCD \ \ Crosley engineers 4 apply broadcasting Hl experience to im- proved design for, Crosley radio fe receivers. THE CROSLEY RADIO CORPORATION POWEL CROSLEY, JR., President CINCINNATI, OHIO Nyt, “Lookin’ fer somethin’, Bud?" | } \) i WY, WNP) NY W, PAUL BROWN the conference unbeaten, but its ad- versaries did not demand that it forfeit those games. Football teams in glass houses seldom throw stones, and in recent years on the Pacific slope California, Stanford, Southern California and Oregon all have won victories with ineligible players. Stanford marched to the Rose Bowl in -1934 with a lineman who had extended his years of ineligibility one season too far. Imported Elevens Washington, in its turn, has been the target for catcalls and hoots because of the numerous young men on its football team from Chicago, two thousand moun- tain-strewn miles away. Such illustrious and mouth-filling names in recent Washington athletic history as Fritz Waskowitz, Matt Muczynski and Steve Slivinski have been those of Chicago citizens. Oregon State had its turn being roared at when some of its gridiron stalwarts were on the public pay roll for work done in college buildings the same day they played football in New York City on the other side of the continent. This seemed an impossibility even in an era of rapid transportation, and a state po- litical administration wobbled peril- ously for a little while. The enlisting of Atherton to get to the bottom of the proselyting system came as the climax to this long series of developments. There have been a mul- titude of conjectures as to why the pro- fessors from all the colleges agreed to have him pry into the heretofore un- divulged secrets of the gravy train. One possible reason for the unanimity with which the former G-man was added to the conference pay roll is that the rubbish in the other fellow’s yard al- ways seems dirtier. Another is that teams such as Southern California and Stanford, located near large centers of population, have watched their adver- saries from the outpost Northwest roam afield like explorers in search of foot- ball players. Coaches of the Oregon and Washington teams hover hopefully around the gridirons of California’s nu- merous junior colleges, waiting to corral or ambush potential All-Americas. There, hint the California partisans, is something to get at! And the confer- ence members in the Northwest wilder- ness have long had the notion that in the California cities the money spigots of the athletic departments discharge a perpetual golden flow. Many of the con- ference colleges have what are called Commonwealth Scholarship Funds to finance hard-pressed football perform- ers. When these funds themselves are hard pressed in the Northwest visions of contrasting wealth in California are the most rampant. But more significant than jealousies among the various colleges, so far as Atherton’s assignment is concerned, is the fact that between faculties and foot- ball enthusiasts no enormous quantity of love has ever been lost. Professors’ faces are sternest when they compare coaches’ salaries with their own, or when they learn that swift quarterbacks and gigantic tackles get favors and privi- leges not granted Phi Beta Kappas and scholarly thesis writers. On one confer- ence campus dissension sprouted out of the fact that the football coach got $12,- 000 a year and the dean of the law school $3,600. This lack of affection between class- room and gridiron had a unique mani- festation at the University of Oregon a few years ago. Athletics at the Pacific Coast Conference colleges are managed not by the colleges themselves, but by separate entities known as Associated Student corporations. Not without some faculty advice, several undergraduates in the law school suddenly contended that it was illegal to compel students to pay dues into these corporations. A Jolt for the Conference The athletic department, not to be thus confounded, hurried to the legisla- ture and got a law passed making it legal. The law students, also not to be confounded, drafted referendum peti- tions to put the law on the ballot. Fac- ulty members gleefully chipped in fifty-cent pieces and dollar bills to help pay for the printing. A state-wide cam- paign ensued. In mournful tones, the athletic department warned the people that if the law did not pass the Univer- sity of Oregon might have to evaporate from the football scene. On election day the law got 50,971 votes, but 163,191 were cast against it. In the university town it lost by a margin of almost 6 to 1. A significant point was it got scarcely any votes in the precincts where the pro- fessors voted. The rest of the conference looked at the Oregon election returns and gave a collective shiver. Was that what the voters thought of intercollegiate foot- ball on le Pacific Coast? Would the Orego ncident spread elsewhere? This fear ~emed valid, for similar legal pro- e ngs have just been brought by ding young lawyers against the As- Aciated Student corporation at the /University of Washington. Not since the ' yoters canceled the Associated Student dues has Oregon’s football team been in the first division. And the profes- sors, prior to hiring Atherton, implied that the whole episode was a hint to do something about the gravy train. Will the investigation result in that something being done? Probably ail the big colleges in America will watch intently for the answer to this question, because Atherton himself maintains, “The Pacific Coast Conference is not faced with any peculiar problems of its own but is confronted with the same dif- ficulties which beset college athletics all over the country.” The one-time F. B. I. agent makes it clear that al- though the gravy train may be diluted, it most certainly will not“be emptied out. He believes that most of the lads who play football must earn their way through college. Making the Gravy Train Legal How, he asks, can they do both these things and also keep up in their studies? Intercollegiate football is a rigorous game. It requires intensive practice and rigid conditioning. Trips are long and games give hard knocks. Can a boy, twenty-one or twenty-two years old, go through all this and still hold down a job and go to classes? Atherton thinks such a schedule would impose a strain on the constitution of an African elephant. “The results of my survey,” the former G-man says, “will be carefully analyzed by the faculty men and from this analysis the conference hopes to be able to establish definite and reason- able rules concerning legitimate finan-_ cial aid to athletes. These rules will be enforced by an organization set up by the conference for this purpose.” Such words are reassuring, but the coaches and athletic directors are hold- ing their breaths and waiting to see what happens. Some of them are not so sure that an incident that occurred a short time ago might not have been the cul- minating event in persuading the profes- sors to hire Atherton. Collier's for November 19, 1938 Reed College is a completely aca- demic little institution in Oregon, from which its young president, Dexter M. Keezer, likes to take pot shots at big- time football and condemn the confer- ence schools for being “immersed in commercialized athletics.” One day he was scheduled to address an alumni meeting. He had no particular message to impart, so he addressed them humor- ously—or at least he thought it was hu- morously. He said Reed College had stayed out of big-time football long enough. The situation would be remedied by hiring the best team in the country. Players would be paid a going wage for their services, getting from $70 to $100 a month. There also would be a special faculty solely concerned with the duty of doing the players’ lessons for them. As an added inducement to the athletes, ‘the profits from football games would be divided on a 50-50 basis, with half going to the college and half to the play- ers. The athletes’ share of the gate re- ceipts would be impounded in a trust fund, with each player getting his cut on graduation day. The boys would be re- warded in direct proportion to their value to the team. A touchdown would net so much money, a tackle so much, a completed pass so much, and right on down the list. Keezer expressed the hope that this would result in a do-or- die spirit and a’ will to win never before seen on a football field. These words were duly reported in the press. The next day the Reed College gym- nasium swarmed with brawny young men. They jammed the place to the doors. All wanted positions on the won- der team of the age. Hundreds of letters came from coaches desiring to lead this super-aggregation. In the early morning hours Keezer was dragged out of bed by an urgent long-distance telephone call. “Say, is this Doc Keezer?” asked the | voice of a football coach of some fame in the Far West. ‘That idea of yours is great stuff. It'll have all this other two-for-a-nickel business beat a mile. Let me coach ’at team of yours and we can lick our weight in mountain lions. Any kid who gets $100 a touchdown is gonna score. ’At’s all—he’s gonna score!” Keezer hung up the phone sadly and went back to bed. “They say they bought tickets on the fifty-yard line and they're going to sit on the fifty-yard line” ROBERT DAY 81 No BULGE Not just service but presentable service, is the mark of true shoe quality. Ankle-Fashioning, exclu- sively Nunn-Bush, prolongs good looks, improves fit, adds to comfort. New Low 75 50 4 Few Prices 7 ne *10 Higher Nunn-Bush ‘The Walton Style 3766 NUNN-BUSH SHOE COMPANY e Milwaukee e New York ¢ San Francisco There is a Nunn-Bush dealer near you. ‘ qn& CASH ‘ PROFITS. OYS, look!. An electric movie machine that you can run in your own home. A 200-power microscope with which you can watch tiny animals fight in a drop of water. A flashy new deluxe bicycle. These are some of the 300 prizes we are offering Crowell Juniors. It’s easy—and fun—to earn prizes and make money. Just deliver our three popular magazines to customers whom you can soon obtain in your own neighborhood. This need not interfere with school or music lessons. Many boys earn their first prize in a few hours. Perhaps you can, too. This op- portunity is too good to pass up. Mail the coupon below and get started earning PRIZES and making MONEY right away. We'll send you a beautiful 32-page Prize Book. MAIL THE COUPON »> You'll have heaps of fun—and you'll make money—by running your own movie. We furnish a comedy or Western film with your machine. Earn your own Christmas gifts, besides. Build a bank account. Don’t delay. Start earning MONEY and PRIZES now. Mail this coupon. Jim Thayer, Dept. C-241 The Crowell Publishing Company Springfield, Ohio Dear Jim: I want to earn PRIZES and make MONEY. Start me off and send me a Prize Book. Name Age. Address City. State.