Wednesday, Dec. 13, 1961 University Daily Kansan
Page 9
By Bill Sheldon
The University of Minnesota student paper. The Minnesota Daily, has just completed what appears to be a very extensive and what is hoped an accurate survey of the nation's student sports editors. This poll was conducted with the purpose of selecting an All America team and a ranking of the best college teams in the nation.
IN MANY CASES it is actually the student editor who has the best chance at the "inside dope" since he has the advantage of knowing the players not only as they are on the field but as individuals off the field. Thus a student editor has the opportunity to see "behind the scenes" and discover many of the things which a player might not normally reveal to a writer for off-campus publications.
Polls such as this are not uncommon with the major wire services, various coaches' associations, magazines, newspapers and individual writers doing the same, but this poll seems unique in that it is a survey of the opinion of the student editors.
Therefore a poll such as conducted by the Minnesota sports staff gives the student reader an opinion from another student and not from some writer who possibly does not have quite as close contact with football at a given school.
This is not to say that the writers for newspapers in the locality of universities are not as qualified as the student editor to formulate and express their views on who are the outstanding players on a team, in a conference or across the country. It just means that here is an opportunity for a much snubbed collective body—the participating student editors—to prove their insight of inter-collegiate athletics.
THE RESULTS of this poll vary little from those already made public, which appears to be the result of the general publicity of certain players.
This publicity factor is one of the major criteria for any selection in choosing an All America team. This, of course, is not the best basis for the awarding of such an honor but unfortunately plays a far too important role.
The selections of the Daily Kansan agree almost to the man with the findings of the poll. There are only three discrepancies on the first team.
FIRST, THE POLL FOUND Wisconsin's Pat Richter and Maryland's Gary Collins as the popular choices for All America at end. The Kansan agreed with Richter's selection but had Washington's Hugh Campbell at the other end.
Here is another weakness of such a poll. Such a selection, based upon one thing, cannot take into consideration the all-around performance of any player throughout the season which is the apparent reason why the majority picked Collins over Campbell.
The reasoning here was the outstanding pass-catching record which Campbell has compiled in his three seasons. This selection was based purely on statistics.
Campbell was listed among the three honorable mention choices on the poll.
THE FIRST TEAM TACKLES on the poll are Bill Neighbors of Alabama and Bob Bell of Minnesota. The Kansan had Utah State's Merlin Olsen, runner-up in the UPI "Lineman of the Year" voting, in place of Neighbors.
This selection was based, in the main, upon the heavy publicity for Olsen although there appears to be little choice among these three linemen. In cases such as this, it is only a matter of personal preference which slants the decision.
The other "miss" was at guard. The Kansan agreed with the choice of LSU's Roy Winston but has harsh criticism of the selection of Colorado's Joe Romig not only as a member of this and every other first team All America squad, but as "Lineman of the Year."
IT SEEMS THAT the selectors have fallen into the deadly pitfall of believing what they read and hear and not what they see or find out on their own.
Of course it is impossible for every writer voting to have first-hand knowledge of a player and herein lies the "making" of many All Americas, especially Romig.
After watching Romig play against the Jayhawkers twice, and being greatly unimpressed, it hardly seems logical to consider him the best man at his position in the nation.
FIRST, ROMIG HAS been constantly injured the past two seasons and has actually played a great deal less than many of the others in consideration for national honors.
Second, if a player can show only a better than average but not outstanding performance on two occasions, and is cited for his play (by the UPI) in only four games of 10, how can there be such a fuss made about the player?
But, most important in taking issue with the selection of Romig as a first team All America, is a conversation with one of the KU linemen who has tangled with Romig for three straight years.
"Romig is nothing on offense. I don't think he can play offense very well at all. I was able to do anything I wanted against him; go around him, go over him, under him or through him as I pleased. I just don't think he can block very well," said the Kansas player.
THIS JAYHAWKER (it would seem unfair to him to reveal his name) apparently has not been greatly impressed with Romig's greatness.
"On defense Romig is good because you can't get at him to make a block. Playing linebacker as he does makes it hard to get to him. He roves all over the field and this makes it impossible to assign a man to hit him," said the player.
IN EXPLAINING the selection of Romig for his many honors, the greatest portion of comment has been about his defensive ability. Certainly, he is an outstanding defender but it appears he is not even average on offense.
Therefore, it is hard to fathom that Romig should be the "best" lineman in the country, or even among the top four, if he can only play half the game.
The opinion then is that Romig is just another in a long line of "made" stars.
Ohio State topped the Minnesota poll as the No. 1 team by one vote over Alabama with Texas, LSU, Mississippi, Minnesota, Colorado, Michigan State, Arkansas and Utah State rounding out the top 10 in that order.
THE OTHER FIRST team selections by the student editors were Alex Kroll (Rutgers) at center, Roman Gabriel (North Carolina) at quarterback, Bob Ferguson (Ohio State) at fullback and Jimmy Saxton (Texas) and Ernie Davis (Syracuse) at the halfbacks.
KU's Curtis McClinton was named to the second team and John Hadl was listed among the honorable mentions.
Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises—Samuel Butler
Missouri was picked 14th and the Jayhawkers tied with Rice for 16th.
Page-Creighton
FINA SERVICE
1819 W. 23rd
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United Press International It's an old story in college basketball that a team which hits the road can expect to bite the dust.
Wake Forest Bites Dust at Florida
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And that's exactly what happened to Wake Forest, the nation's 10th-ranked team, when it journeyed to Gainesville, Fla., Tuesday night to play the Florida Gators.
United Press International
WAKE FOREST was "Bustin' out all over" to get back on the winning trail after Saturday's loss to top-ranked Ohio State but the Gators took an early lead and maintained it through a frantic second half to score a 71-65 victory.
The loss was the second in four games for Wake Forest and at least temporarily wiped out the Deacons' pre-season hopes to achieve the No. 1 national ranking.
A crowd of 7,200 saw the Deacons battle back in the second half until a jump shot by captain Lou Merchant gave Florida a 54-52 lead with 5:57 to go. With a minute and 35 seconds to go, Florida had built the lead to 65-58 and Wake Forest's scrambling last-minute all-court press proved futile.
Chiefs, Jets Win Pro Doubleheader
United Press International
The Tapers had a chance to tie in the last 35 seconds, but Warren Spraggins missed a shot and Herb Lee was fouled in the battle for the rebound. His free throw iced the contest.
Los Angeles and Hawaii downed San Francisco and Washington in a double-header of American Basketball also-rans at Los Angeles last night.
The Chiefs nipped the Tapers, 84-81, in a frantic battle.
Dave Mills, former Seattle ace, and tall Jeff Cohen from William & Mary hit 23 and 19 respectively.
The Jets, playing without their starting guards, dumped San Francisco 96-89.
The score was tied 17 times before Dan Swartz of the Jets hit a three-pointer with four minutes left to put the Jets ahead to stay. It was 90-87 with 35 seconds to go as Larry Friend hit another three-pointer to salt the game away.
CLIFF LUYK scored 24 points to lead Florida while Len Chappell, 6-foot, 8-inch star of the Deacons, tallied 21.
Big Bill Spivice had 29 to dominate the proceedings, while ex-NBA ace Kenny Sears had 24 for the Saints.
Another twin bill is on tap tonight in San Francisco where Hawaii will take on Los Angeles and San Francisco will host Washington.
Coach Ed Diddle, in his 40th year as coach at Western Kentucky State, was hospitalized awaiting surgery, but his Hilltoppers gave him the 734th victory of his career when they beat Northwestern Louisiana State. 93-66. It was the 25th straight home victory for the Hilltoppers.
Illinois defeated Creighton, 70-61,
St. John's University walloped Oklahoma,
homa, 68-49, DePaul whipped Denver,
79-50, North Carolina State
edged out Maryland, 73-68, in overtime,
Butler surprised Bradley, 80-77,
St. Bonaventure beat Bellarmine,
89-58, and Duquesne scored a 63-44 triumph over Bowling Green in other major Tuesday night games.
DAVE DOWNEY scored 22 points and pulled down 21 rebounds in Illinois' triumph; 5-10 Ivan Kovac diagnosed Oklahoma's sagging man-to-man defense and led St. John's to its second straight victory of the season; M.C. Thompson's 18 points were high for DePaul; junior guard Jon Speaks scored six points in the overtime and had a game total of 25 as North Carolina State won its second game in three starts; Gerry Williams tallied 30 points as Butler scored its third victory in four games and handed Bradley its second loss in three games; 6-6 soph Miles Aiken's 35 points paced St. Bonaventure, and Duquesne triple-teamed 6-10 Nate Thurmond to hand Bowling Green its first loss in five games.
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