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University Daily Kansan Monday, Sept. 10, 1956.
Fullback Post Up For Grabs
Fullback is the most nebulous position in Kansas' 1956 football outlook. Last year's regular, Dick Reich, has been claimed by graduation, leaving it open to seven candidates.
They line up this way; lettermen Joe Held and Jerry Baker; service-returnee Larry Carrier; sophomores Homer Floyd, Pete Gnam, Mike Fisher, and Jim Brooks.
Held and Floyd were the top contenders during spring drills. The former is the lone senior in this corps and was an occasional starter last year when Reich was hurt. He was the club's fourth-ranked rusher last year on 107 net yards, after being converted from end. He does not carry the speed coach Mather would like to have at this slot, and must improve on defense. However, he plays with aggressiveness and high desire and could stretch his hustle into a starting job.
Floyd was moved over from left half, from which position he scored five touchdowns, four of them on long runs, as a freshman last year. He is the fleetest back in Mather's stable and is a sharp open-field tackler and good pass defender. At 170 pounds, he yet must show whether he can absorb the battering of this workhorse position. But he played the spot for Mather in high school and will be given a thorough trial through the early going.
Chance for Baker
If he could shake a steady plague of injuries, Baker could grab the top spot. He was running ahead of Reich last year until injured the first week of practice. A succession of ailments limited him to brief action, although he played enough to letter. He is the best linebacker among the fulls and a stout straight-ahead runner.
Injury also shadows Fisher. He was kayoed with a lame neck in spring practice and remains on the doubtful list for action this year. He was the trouble-shooter of last year's frush backfield, playing right half as well as full. He is a tremendous battler with overall promise and might grab the job if he is able to play.
Gnam did not play freshman football, but improved so steadily during spring drills he moved up to No. 3. At 202, he is strong and tough, and should help from the outset of the season. Brooks is a promising linebacker and stout bucker.
Carrier carries intriguing possibilities. He was a right half as a sophomore in '53, but did not see enough service to letter. He combines speed and power, but was held back by defensive weaknesses prior to entering service.
Stalcup Ranks KU In Second Place
"Kansas ought to be picked for an Orange Bowl trip this season because they have 19 lettermen, 19 IBM machines, and 19 transfers," Sparky Stalcup, Missouri University basketball coach, told the Breakfast Optimist Club in Kansas City last week.
Avoiding any early-season predictions about a second-place finish for Missouri University, Stalcup did say that the Tigers should be better. He listed the excess of line material, a good sophomore crop, and high morale as reasons for an improvement in Missouri's stock.
Stalcup said he was disturbed by the tendency of coaches to start talking about second place and conceding first to Oklahoma University. The conference as a whole was generally improved and it should be one of its greatest seasons, he said.
Halfback John Francisco, will need a net of 356 yards through 1956 if he is to overhaul John Amberg, 1948-49-50, fullback, at tenth place among KU's all-time career-ground gainers. Francisco, acquired 489 yards as a sophomore, last season. Amberg gained 485 in his three seasons in Jayhwak silks.
HOMER FLOYD. FULLBACK
Defensive Coach 1957 Baseball Joins KU Staff Outlook Good
One new addition has been made to the Kansas football coaching staff during the past summer. Tom Triplett, a 1939 graduate of Western Kentucky and head coach for the past five years at Muhlenberg, was named to replace John Kovatch, who served through spring practice.
He will coach linebackers and defensive ends.
Triplett was an all-Southern selection at guard during his senior year at Western Kentucky. He served as line coach at Muhlenberg for two years before taking over the head coaching job in 1951.
A 10-Year Veteran
10-Year Veteran Paul Schofer, a 10-year veteran with head coach Chuck Mather, will coach the backs. He joined Mather when Mather was head coach at Hamilton, Ohio, high school, moved with him to Washington High in Massillon and came to Kansas with Matter three years ago. Schofer is a graduate of Wittenberg College.
The most versatile playing background owned by any Kansas assistant is that of Lauri Wartiainen, Jayhawker tackle coach. At Denison University, Wartiainen played blocking back, center, and end.
Wartiainen served as freshman coach at Denison from 1933 to 1935. He then shifted to Baltic, Ohio, high school in 1937, to Mt. Vernon, Ohio prep school as line coach and basketball assistant in 1941. After two years he became head coach of all sports at Jones junior high in Massillon and moved to Washington high in 1946. He stayed with Mather when the latter came to Massillon in 1948, and moved to Kansas with him.
Dave Putts, center-guard coach,
joined Coach Mather's staff at Massillon in 1948 immediately after graduation from Miami, Ohio, University. He was a regular guard on Miami's 1948 Sun Bowl champions.
Putts' guard-mate and roommate at Miami was Dick Piskoty, Kansas end coach. He is now serving his third year on the Jayhawker staff. Piskoty was coaching all sports at Massillon junior high school when he transferred to Kansas in 1954.
Serving As End Coach
The third-ranking veteran of the Kansas athletic department is Wayne Replogle, a football staff member since 1940. He is now serving under his fifth head coach at Kansas. He fills the dual role of chief scout and head freshman coach.
Repogle is an outstanding figure in state sports history. He was all-Kansas fullback in 1924 and 1925 while playing for College of Emporia. He was also a 13-foot pole vaulter. In 1928, he won Olympic trials in the pole vault and discus throw at Casper, Wyo.
A premature look at the Kansas Jayhawkers' 1957 baseball season finds the prospects even better than the same time one year ago. With seven of the first nine men returning, Coach Floyd Temple is hoping to better last season's 14-5 record, the best percentagewise since 1923 when Kansas won 10 while dropping only two.
The only two members of last year's team lost through graduation were center fielder Bob Conn and third baseman Punky Hougland.
Leading the team next season will be pitcher Ron Wiley. He won seven and lost two last season and was the team's leading long-ball hitter. He hit seven home runs and drove in 25 runs to lead the league in both departments. He placed high in the batting race with a .356 average.
Larry Miller is expected to share the pitching duties with Wiley. During the past summer, Miller was one of several Kansas baseballers who played under Coach Temple for the Topeka D-X Oilers. The Oilers finished fourth in the Kansas semi-pro baseball tournament and seventh in the national tournament. Miller was voted the most valuable player in the Kansas tourney. His record for the summer was 14 victories and 3 defeats.
Gary Fenity and Fuzzy Martin will probably round out the pitching staff.
The brunt of the catching will be done by Barry Donaldson, back for his junior year. He turned in some fine performances last season and played for the Topeka D-X Oilers this summer.
Jim Trombold is a likely starter at first base. He batted .371 in Big Seven games. Coach Temple said that he intends to move shortstop Barry Robertson to second base to make room at short for Bud Bloomfield, a Coffeyville Junior College graduate. Robertson hit .356 in Big Seven competition and was selected to the second team of the NCAA 5th district all-star squad along with Wiley.
Coach Temple stated that he will try outfielder Don Steinmeyer at third base. One of the outfield positions will be held by Eddie Dater. Dater led the Big Seven with a .475 batting mark.
Although he would make no predictions, Coach Temple hopes his team will finish as high or higher than its third-place finish in 1956.
Only new opponents on Kansas' 1956 football schedule are UCLA and College of Pacific, replacing Washington State and SMU. COP is bringing up a great sophomore halfback in Dick Ross and will field one of the coast's best tackles in John Nisby.
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