FOUR
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN, LAWRENCE, KANSAS
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1945
Batchelder Wins First in Swimming
Swimming five length of the pool, 250 feet, on one breath, Ted Batchelder, PT 5, won first place in the V-12 underwater swimming meet in Robinson gymnasium yesterday.
John Higdon, PT 7, and Dan Burtlett, PT 9, tied for second place with four lengths. The runners up will swim again today to break the tie and decide the second and third place winners.
Fourteen men, representing all PTs, participated in the contest. The least distance was two lengths, 100 feet.
feet.
Speaking of the importance of the underwater swim, Chief Gathings, in charge of V-12 intramurals said, "It may not be an exciting event, but the navy stresses underwater swimming. When a ship sinks, a sailor's life may depend on his ability to swim away to safety under a blazing pool of oil or gasoline."
In addition to running off the tie for second in the underwater swim, the finals in the 100 yard tournament are scheduled for today in the gymnasium. Today's events will wind up the present intramural program. The winning PT will be announced tomorrow.
Bolivian Student To Enter University For Spring Semester
Alfredo Infante, from Bolivia, will enter the University as a special student the second semester. J.H. Nelson, assistant dean of the graduate school, has announced. Infante has received a Rotary International scholarship, and plans to study commerce and business administration.
mute and business
At present the Bolivian student is an economic investigator at the American Embassy at La Paz. He will arrive in the United States sometime next week.
Commerce Sorority Initiates 14 The commerce sorority at LS.U. initiated 14 members recently.
SUNDAY—One Week
By JIM MORDY
Although track was plugged in this column Tuesday, it was not meant to run down other sports in so doing. Dr. F. C. "Phog" Allen has risen in defense of basketball and football, presenting several interesting viewpoints on the subject.
Other Point Is Debatable
Sportorials
Dr. Allen believes that if track is the oldest game in the world, and its history is intimately tied in with the lives of the ancient Greeks and can be traced even further back to the days of the cavemen, that there is something wrong with the sport if it lacks crowd interest.
The second viewpoint is entirely true. Track meets often drag out for three of four hours and only a small percentage of the time is spent in actual competition, the remainder being up or taking down equipment, or issuing second, third, or last calls for entrants in various events while the crowd waits.
Dr. Allen thinks two main reasons for the lack of interest in track by the masses are the fact that it is an individual sport, and the slow and uninteresting manner in which the meets are run off.
The argument that track is uninteresting because it is an individual sport is more debatable. Dr. Allen calls attention to the Kansas Relays, outstanding track event each year at the university, as owing its success to the fact that people come to see the passing of the baton in the team sport of relay racing. He thinks that all track meets should be a series of different types of relays, with individual events thrown in as a sideshow.
Boxing has attracted thousands of people to stadiums and arenas and more thousands to listen over the radio. Now boxing is an individual sport, and it is not the mass struggle that draws spectators to the ringside. It is the lightning-like punches, the sense of power held back and unleashed against an opponent, the emotion of combat and victory which accompanies a knockout that is interesting to the spectators.
Although there may be more interest in relay racing, the big names of the individual stars seem to be a more important drawing card to fans. Baseball is perhaps the first sport to recognize this fact. Babe Ruth drew an immense salary because his name increased the gate receipts. A larger crowd is always on hand to see the league's best pitchers engage in a duel than if the pitchers are little known and have
unimpressive records. Two years ago fans were interested not only in whether Kansas could defeat Oklahoma for the Big Six basketball crown, but in the duel between the Sooners' Gerald Tucker and Kansas' Charley Black or Ray Evans.
To summarize the situation, it seems that track is uninteresting largely because of the way in which it is put over to the spectators. Basketball has only fairly recently attracted large crowds, partly because of its newness in the field, with the aid of the publicity expert who knew the right backing and several necessary changes in procedure, the track sport might again regain its long-lost interest.
Boxing Individual Sport
Must Pay Its Way
Track can not expect to obtain better coaches unless the sport can pay for them. At practically any school track falls far behind basketball or football in receipts over expenditures, because of the present lack of crowds. The schools cannot
VARSITY
Shows 2-7-9
Thursday
"A Lady Takes A Chance"
JEAN ARTHUR
JOHN WAYNE
FRIDAY and SATURDAY
"THE MAN IN HALF MOON STREET"
Paramount presents
with NILS ASTHER
HELEN WALKER
DIRECTED BY RALPH MURPHY
WOMEN'S INTRAMURALS
ROBERT PAIGE AKIM TAMIROFF
7:30 p.m.— Sophomores vs. Juniors
8:30 p.m.— Freshmen vs. Seniors
Lt. Theodore Scott Sent To Winter General Hospital
Lt. Theodore Scott, a former student and member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity, was wounded in a jeep accident in France while serving as a member of a tank corps. After several week's care in a British hospital he has been brought back to the United States and is now in Winter hospital in Topeka. Mrs. Scott, a student in the College, is spending a part of her time with her husband.
be expected to subsidize track to any great extent. Therefore schools naturally hire football or basketball coaches, and the small high schools get only those coaches who can develop a team in a sport which will draw a crowd and pay into the school's cash box.
Bill Introduces Cadet Compulsory Training
Topeka, (INS) — A bill introduced in the Kansas legislature yesterday may make military training compulsory for all high school boys in the state over 14.
Narren to Fly Mustang in Italy
It provides for 30 months of training and incorporates a $200,000 appropriation for a state high school cadet commission which would be under the direction of the state adjutant general and the Kansas school superintendant.
Lt. Richard L. Warren, of Garnett, has been assigned to a veteran 15th army air force P-51 Mustang fighter group in Italy. He was a junior in engineering when he entered the army air forces in February 1943. He completed his army basic training at Jefferson Barracks, Mo., and was awarded his pilot's wings at Moore Field, Texas.
BUY U.S. WAR BONDS
U. S. Navy Photo
BATTLE REPORT TO ALL HANDS
Meeting the communication needs of our armed forces requires all available manpower and manufacturing facilities. That's why telephone equipment cannot now be built for civilian use. After the war, Bell Laboratories' scientists and workers at Western Electric will turn again to their peacetime jobs of designing and making telephone equipment for the Bell System.
EVERY seaman and officer aboard our Navy's fighting ships instantly hears the call to action, follows the battle's progress over a special type of announcing system made by Western Electric.
On carriers the entire crew, topside and below deck to oilers and ammunition passers, can hear first-hand accounts direct from the pilots themselves on how it went "upstairs."
BELL TELEPHONE SYSTEM
"Service to the Nation in Peace and War"