Page 7
By KEN BRONSON
Kansan Sports Editor
Looking over the past eight weeks, we decided that our term on the sports desk must have been the zaniest of any in a long, long time. Not that we had a lot of work to do but rather things happened that neither we, nor any-elle expected.
We hit; Kansas' January loss to Oklahoma A&M; KU track team winning its meet over K-State and Oklahoma; Kansas' victory over Oklahoma A&M in February; Kansas' victory in the Big Seven indoor meet; and B. H. Horn and Harold Patterson earning spots on the all-Big Seven team.
We missed: the KU football coach; outcome of the Maxim-Moore fight; the Kansas losses to Colorado and Missouri; KU's track team being defeated in Michigan State Relays; LaSalle winning NCAA (we guessed Kentucky), and Dallas Dobbs selection to the all-Big Seven team.
in January we wrote a column of predictions of things to come in 1954. Here are a couple of things we hit and a few of the things we missed.
But we still figured we did pretty well considering the upsets and everything else that went into the just-completed season.
-KU-
Let's look at the things that happened during the first eight weeks of the spring semester.
Kansas football fans were surprised when the University named Charles V. "Chuck" Mather to be head football coach. Mather in turn, brought four assistants with him from Massillon, Ohio, to complete the football picture.
Wes Santee set a new indoor mark for a dirt track when he ran 4:04.9 in a triangulaar meet at Michigan State. two days after he had led the KU distance medley relay team and the sprint medley relay team to new American records in the Michigan State Relays.
Kansas jumped back from its defeat to Colorado to win eight games in a row before losing to Missouri in the season's finale. The Missouri loss threw the Big Seven into a tie between Colorado and the Jayhawkers and the Buffs won the now historic draw to earn the NCAA berth.
Beta Theta Pi won the intramural Hill championship after defeating defending champion Phi Delta Theta in the Fraternity "A" championship game.
The Kansas indoor track team won the Big Seven indoor meet in Kansas City and the Kansas fresh team romped in with another first place in the freshmen telegraphic meet.
The Kansas swimming team grabbed off second place in the league meet at Ames, Iowa—the highest finish ever turned in by a KU swimming aggregation.
-KU-
The next eight weeks on the sports desk will be reserved for Dana Leibengood, a Lawrence boy, who we know will do a fine job.
And with baseball, track, golf, and tennis in the limelight, it should be a busy time.
Pitching Top Problem Facing Stanky's Cards
Friday, March 26. 1954 University Daily Kansan
St. Petersburg, Fla.—(U.P.)—The St. Louis Cardinals are going all out to win the 1954 National league pennant, but Manager Eddie Stanky is afraid that he might not have enough pitching to do it.
Otherwise, he feels his club will $ ^{\textcircled{2}} $
Otherwise, he feels his club will be a too contender all the way.
"Pitching will tell our story in 1954." Stanky said. "Right now I have only three starters I can count on and one relief man. That means I'm going to have to come up with a lot of pitching' strength and I frankly don't know whether the talent is there."
It may be that the Cardinals will try to deal for a hurler before the season opens for Stanky could well be loaded with good trading material if two rookies come through for him—Tom Alston at first base and Alex Grammas at short. That would mean he could deal such players as Solly Hemus, who is being sought by several clubs, and Steve Bilko, the heavy hitting but poor fielding first baseman.
Harvey Haddix, the 20-game winning left hander; Gerry Staley, who won 18 last season, and Vic Raschi, the $75,000 purchase from the Yankees, are the only starters Stanky is counting upon now with the aging southpaw, Al Brazle, the No. 1 bulpen finger.
Stanky is hopeful that Stu Miller, who won only seven in 1953, will win a starting berth and that two Pacific Coast league graduates, Royce Lint and Memo Luna also can make the grade. Lint won 22 at Portland, Luna 17 at San Diego. Other prospects are Tom Poholsky, back out of military service, and two sore-arm righthanders, Joe Presko and Eddie Yuhas. Yuhas had a great freshman year as a reliefer in 1952, but arm trouble plagued him all of last season. Presko won only six games while losing 13.
All in all, the pitching picture is not bright, but so long as owner Gus Busch keeps on pouring money in his ball club there is always the chance that they will strengthen that department.
The outfield is all set with Stan Musial in left, Rip Repulski in center, and Enos Slaughter in right. A rookie, Wally Moon, has looked good and may win the No. 1 utility spot with Peanuts Lowrey also in the picture.
Only Red Schoendienst at second and sophomore Ray Jablonski at third are set in the infield. Alston and Bilko are fighting for the first base job with Grammas, Hemus, and Dick Scofield in the battle for he shortstop post.
Santee, Two-Mile Team Run Tonight
The Kansas two-mile relay team of Art Dalzell, Art Koby, Allen Frame, and Dick Wilson will run in the Chicago Daily News indoor track meet tomorrow night in Chicago stadium.
In the feature attraction—the Bankers' Mile—Wes Santee, great Jayhawker miler, will pit himself against four of the Midwest's top milers in an effort to lower Gil Dodds' indoor board track mark. It will be the last indoor meet of the year, the Jayhawkers getting right into outdoor action next week-end at the Texas Relays.
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