Thursday. Jan. 9, 1958 University Daily Kansar
Page 5
ults
BOB BILLINGS—Has 2.84 grade average (Daily Kansan photo)
Kansas can still win the Big Eight conference, but with Tuesday night's loss to Oklahoma, the path to the top is going to be a lot rougher according to junior guard Bob Billings.
Billings, a 5-foot 11-inch product of Russell, Kansas, was almost a student of the school whose team defeated the Jayhawkers Tuesday night. If Billings had attended OU he wouldn't have seen action against the Jayhawkers Tuesday night. For it was Oklahoma's football coach, Bud Wilkinson, who wanted to get Billings when he was a standout quarterback on the Russell High School football team.
Conference Path Tough, Billings Says
"But I couldn't have done better than I did in coming to KU." Billings said. In my estimation this is the best school in the nation. I couldn't have made a finer choice."
Billings was almost to make the move to Soonerland but the combination of a chance to play on the same team with Wilt Chamberlain and the personality of Jayhawker coach Dick Harp were enough to change his mind.
Billings Praises Harp
Harp is a fine basketball coach, but he's more than just that," Billings said. "He's a tremendous character builder. He would rather build a man than win a game."
Billings, in an interview with a Daily Kansan reporter, Wednesday said his basketball career started when he was old enough to throw a basketball up with both hands. His real competition started in the fifth grade.
"We had fifth and sixth grade teams organized. We used to play other fifth and sixth grade teams
"I've been really fortunate in that I've had exceptional coaches since I've started playing. Coach Harp and Jerry Waugh have been a tremendous help." he said.
throughout the county." he commented.
In high school Billings excelled in football, basketball and track. He won nine letters in the three sports. In his senior year he was captain of the football team. He also made All-State that year in basketball. Russell High won the state championship three of the four years he was in school.
Commenting on the two recent losses of the Jayhawkers, Billings said, "We've gained the knowledge in the last two games that if you work, many things are possible. It's hard to force yourself to play as hard as you can when you have a boy like Wilt playing with you. There's a tendency to not play at top performance."
He said the loss last night was going to make the upcoming Big Eight race just that much harder. He added that if Chamberlain gets well and everything comes along, the Jayhawkers could possibly go a long way.
Still A Good Chance
"The effort was in the Oklahoma game, but we lacked leadership," he said. "We had them several times towards the last but we just let them creep up on us again."
"I think there's a great possibility that the Big Eight champion will be decided March 8th at Manhattan," he said; but I hope we can cinch the title before then."
The Boston Celtics have so much all-around talent in the Nationa Basketball Assn. this season that even when stars Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman are having a bad night they still manage to win.
Celtics Continue Strong
By UNITED PRESS
Cousy and Sharman, both of whom average around 25 points per game, didn't even reach that figure between them Wednesday night, but the Celtics won anyway, beating the punchless Minneapolis Lakers, 107-87. Cousy netted 15 points and Sharman's 5 tallies all were from the foul line.
Lakers with 23 points. The Lakers, the scourge of the N.B.A. when manager George Mikan was playing, have deteriorated into the loop's weakest team. The loss was Minneapolis' 27th against only eight victories.
Elsewhere, the New York Knickerbockers zipped to an easy 123-105 victory over the Cincinnati Royals in the opening game of a doubleheader at Detroit and the Pistons rallied on Harry Gallantin's basket to edge the Syracuse Nationals, 109-197, in the nightcap.
Tom Heinsohn, one of the Celtics' bright new stars, canned 16 points to lead the Boston scorers, while the veteran Vern Mikkelsen paced the
KU's Gym Squad Faces Denver,CU
The team, an outgrowth of interest generated by several KU students who have entered AAU and other gymnastic competition in the past few years, began workouts Nov. 1 and has had one meet, a 36-52 loss to Fort Hays State Dec. 19.
The first KU gymnastics team in the history of the University will compete in its second and third meets against Denver University at Denver Friday and Colorado University at Boulder Saturday.
The team is organized as a club and is financed by the student activity fund rather than the athletic fund. Its season will end in the latter part of March.
The team gave a trampolin exhibition between halves at the KU-Canisius basketball game Dec. 4 and will give two free exercise exhibitions during the remainder of the basketball season, one at the KU-Colorado game Monday night.
6 Men to Colorado
The men making the trip to Denver and Colorado Universities are captain Bob Lockwood, Gene Vandegrift, Stanley Allen, Larry Prather, Dan Grover, and Bill Steele.
The events composing each meet are parallel bars, trampolin, tumbling, free exercise, high bar, long horse, and side horse. In dual meets three men from each team are allowed to enter each event and five places are given with 6,4,3,2, and 1 points scord for the places.
Dick Laptad, graduate student in physical education and coach of the team, said each man selects his own routine for each event, usually the most difficult routine that he can do well, and then he adds to it with experience. The routines are judged in the meets on the basis of 100 possible points, 50 for difficulty and difficulty of continuity (flow of stunts) and 50 for form and execution.
Laptad said the biggest problem now is the team's lack of experience. He said it requires years to become an accomplished gymnast. He said, however, that he has great
Wichita Tops North Texas
Wichita scored on 21 of 31 free throws attempts while the Texans made good only 16 of 32 to account for much of the Shockers' lead throughout the game.
DENTON, Tex. — (UP) — The Wichita University Shockers defeated North Texas State Wednesday night to take an 80-54 Missouri Valley Conference basketball victory.
Ken Ward of North Texas took scoring honors with 18 points and Wichita's Joe Stevens hit 16. Center Elbert Urban of Wichita scored 14.
Basketball Scores
By UNITED PRESS
Army 74, Rutgers 72
Army 74, Rutgers 75
West Virginia 76, Villanova 75
George Washington 80, Georgetown (D. C.) 78
New Haven Tehrs. 55, Hartford 44
Fordham 81, Syracuse 79
Tennille 64, Penn St. 45
expectations for the team's future. Only one junior is listed on the 12-man roster. The rest are sophomores and freshmen.
South
Western Kentucky 70, Oklahoma City 56
Navv 63. Gettysburg 45
Maryland 74. Duke 49
Florida A&M I24, Bethune-Cookman 73
Might Be Conference Sport
Midwest
Youngstown 82, Baldwin Wallace
70
Illinois Tech 67, Navy Pier U. of Illinois 50.
John Carroll 86. Case Tech 74
Bowling Green 104, Western Michigan 74
Laptad said there is some pressure to make gymnastics a Big Eight Conference sport, but the general feeling is that wrestling will be the next sport to achieve that position for KU.
Indinana St. 57, Hanover 52 (overtime)
At present, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas State, and KU are the only Big Eight Conference members with gymnastic teams. The KU team will meet the other three during the season.
Dayton 70. Detroit 54
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Emporia St. 53, Washburn 52
Techniques for the construction of exhibits developed at the K.U. Museum of Natural History are being copied throughout the world.
Wichita 80, North Texas St. 54
St. Mary's (Tex.) 66, Corpus Christi 64
Air Force Acdemy 44, Adams St. 42
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K. U. is 9th in the number of alumni listed in "Who's Who in Engineering."
K. U. runners have won 11 straight league cross-country championships,
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