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University Daily Kansan
Friday. Nov. 22, 1957
JIM LETCAVITS
JOHN FRANCISCO
JOHN TRAYLOR
JIM HULL
WALLY STRAUCH
Eleven Seniors To Play Last Football Game Saturday
Thirteen KU seniors, including seven starters, will take the field for their last football game Saturday when they go against the Missouri Tigers.
Co-captains Bob Kraus, Massilion, Ohio guard and Wally Strauch, Elmhurst, Ill. quarterback, head the list. Both have been indispensable to the Jayhawkers this year, Kraus with his hustle and spirit and Strauch with his accurate passing arm.
In the opener with TCU, Kraus was all over the field, making tackles and blocks and inspiring the other KU players to their 13-13 tie against one of the toughest opponents on an unusually tough schedule. This is Kraus' third year as a starter and his seventh year under coach Chuck Mather, who came here at the same time from a high school in Massillon, Ohio.
Strauch was an alternate regular his sophomore and junior years and held the same position this year until an injury side-lined Bobby Marshall. Since then Strauch has accounted for a lion's share of KU's yardage with his passing and has scored a few touchdowns himself
Other seniors who have started all or some of the KU games are end Jim Letecavits, Massillon, Ohio; treckles Frank Gibson, Massillon, Ohio and Jim Hull, Wichita; half-backs John Francisco, Massillon, Ohio and Charles McCue, Lawrence
Letcvits was picked on the all-conference team in 1956 and does almost all of KU's putting. He has been a starter for two years and
BOB KRAUS
Gibson was also all-conference in 1956 and is in his third year as a starter. He is possibly the quickest lineman in the league.
last year ranked fourth in the league in pass receiving with 246 yards on 14 receptions.
Hull is fast for a big man and lettered both his sophomore and junior years. He has been playing outstanding football since mid-season when he shed the extra weight he carried in September. He weighed in at 252 pounds.
Francisco has been an alternate regular for the past two seasons at left halfback. He was shifted to the right side in spring practice last
Eleven KU seniors, including and is sure to win a place in KU's record books as a ground gainer. His best play is an off-tackle slant which was very effective in the 35-34 upset win over Colorado this year.
McCue started half of the games last year after transferring from Coffeyville Junior College. He gained 453 yards last season to rank seventh in the conference in rushing. He also placed fourth in the conference in scoring with 48 points, led the KU team in pass interceptions with three for 89 yards.
Lynn McCarthy, St. Peter, Minn., the third co-captain, has been plagued with injuries this year and has not seen much action. He was also out most of the 1956 season with injuries. As a sophomore he led the team in tackling with 35 individuals and 16 assists.
Paul Swoboda. Dupo, Ill. guard, was one of the least heralded men at the first of the year, but he has been a defensive stalwart in several games.
John Traylor, Massillon, Ohio halfback is a 2-year letterman who has shown greatness at times. He is fast, but very small and is used mostly for spot duty.
Bobby Robinson. Peru halffallback, was a regular last season but has been used on the second unit this year behind Homer Floyd. Robinson is one of the best all-around players on the Jayahawker sound.
Jerry Baker, Minneapolis fullback, is a two year letterman with great drive, and above average ability as a linebacker.
AAC Responsible For Saving Many Athletes From Ineligible List
In less than four years the withdrawal rate of athletes has been cut from nearly 50 per cent to equal the all-University average thanks to a unique faculty group, the Athletic Advisory Committee.
Charles Leone, associate professor of zoology and chairman of the committee, said that during the fall of 1953 so many football players were on the verge of becoming ineligible that Chancellor Franklin D. Murphy formed the AAC.
A study was made to seek means of salvaging the large percentage of athletes failing and thereby inelegible to compete. Mr. Leone said.
"Athletes spend a lot of time on the practice field, and it is easy for them to drift outside the life of the University and feel that they are somehow set apart," Leone said.
"An adviser who helps the player settle his problems, both academic and personal, can show the player that he needn't be different and that he is not resented by faculty or students because he is an athlete," he said.
One step in helping the athletes was moving
them out of a separate housing area, and letting them mix with other students in various living districts.
About 50 faculty members serve in the advisory group. Advisers and advisees are teamed up according to departments, so the interests of the two are the same.
"We don't in any way make it easier for an athlete. He takes the same courses and fulfills the same requirements as other students. But since he spends much of his time working out, getting his classwork is often harder for him," Leone said.
At first just football was included under the advisory program but later all other sports were added.
Advisers and coaches receive academic progress reports on their advisees several times during the semester.
Two members of the committee accompany the teams on each road trip as faculty representatives to the college or university visited.
Phog Wanted Field House Since 1927
When Dr. Forrest C. (Phog) Allen began his dream of a new field house for KU in 1927, he must have foreseen the days of teams with seven-foot Wiltt Chamberlains that could pack crowds in 17,000 seats and run up scores above 100.
But it took 16 years before his dream was realized. $ _{1} $1953 the state legislature voted the final amount for the $ _{2} \frac{1}{2}$ million dollar field house.
From a capacity standpoint Allen Field House is the second largest on-campus playing arena in the nation, seating 17,000 persons. It is outranked only by Minnesota with a capacity of 18,250. No other arenas in the Big Eight can accommodate five figure crowds.
The scoreboard which hangs over the playing court is one of the finest and most unique in the country. It is probably the only one in the nation which will score up to 199:
Scoreboard Unique
most score only to 99.
Basketball has been a leading Kansas sport since James Naismith, inventor of the game, was made associate professor of physical training at KU in 1898. When he took over his job, Fraser basement was the physical education department and the scene of basketball games.
The Jayhawkers, one on each side of the board blink every time Kansas scores. This idea was suggested by Allen after he saw a similar one in St. Louis.
When facilities became inadequate there, games were played in the basement of old Snow Hall. Often a skating rink near the Baptist Church was pressed into use for the games.
concrete went into building the field house to build a side-walk two feet wide from Lawrence to Topeka. The 700,000 bricks if laid end to end and two feet high would make a wall more than eight miles long.
If the 2,700 tons of structural steel which went into building Allen Field House were drawn into a wire, a wire fence four feet high could be run from San Francisco to New York and there would be enough wire left over to build the same kind of fence around the state of Kansas. Enough
The 245,000 board feet of lumber in the roof alone is enough to frame 40 five-room houses. The 35 tons of paint would paint 55 five-room houses, and the amount of electricity that is needed to light the arena would run 55,000 clocks.
When the field house was nearing completion in 1954 The Daily Kansan began a campaign to have the new arena named for the man who has been called "Mr. Basketball" throughout the nation, "Phog" Alien. More than 1,047 ballots were sent in voting in favor of the name and The Daily Kansan submitted these for consideration to the Board of Regents.
On December 17, 1954 the board announced that the new field house had been officially named Allen Field House.
LYNN McCARTHY
JERRY BAKER
PAUL SWOBODA
CHARLIE McCUE
FRANK GILSON
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