Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-04-18
PENN STATE TO HAVE WORLDS GREATEST SPORT PLANT; TRIO
Finest Athletic Plant in
World For Penn State

How vitality important Penn State
College officials consider whole
some. open-air sport as the prime
aid TO keeping America At IS proved
by the announcement to-day that
this institution will establish an
eighty-acre playground. where
twelve football games can be played
simultaneously, with forty tennis
matches going full tilt, four soccer
games, two la crosse and the same
number of hockey encounters, ten
basketball contests, half a dozen
volleyball battles and a hundred or
more men cavorting about a cinder
track. with several groups of golf
ers In the background.
Rumor is that a wealthy alumnus
will also equip a monster steel and
concrete building, big enough to
stage a football game, and also u
vast swimming pool. Penn's weekly
newspaper, The Collegian, is author
ity for the statement that the trus-
tees have already set aside the land
for this project and that work will
begin the present summer. 1t con-
tinues:
'Under the direction of Hugo
Bezdek, head of the college de-
partment of physical education, eV-
cry student who is physically able
is actively engaged in one or more
forms of athletic sport. The plan
has worked so well that the de-
mand for more room is imperative.
N
and the athletic association are
combining to make over the eighty
acres into the most complete play
ground of it's kind in the country.
Athletics for every student has
been the slogan of Bezdek, former
football coach at the University Of
Oregon, and it is largely due to
his untiring efforts that the plans
are about to be realized. His
theory last fall developed several
football stars at Penn State who
otherwise would never have been
heard of in that capacity, and his
plan has worked equally well dur
ing the winter. The scheduled
location of the Center county col
lege makes the environment such
that it is a simple matter to get
every student interested in some atm
letic sport.
"a nine-hole golf course has been
laid out by an expert and is now
being developed. 1t is expected TO
be ready for partial use within a
month. Other developments are e4-
pected to follow during the sum-
mer.
"There are chances that work on
the athletic building will be started
bv fall. The trustees of the college
have already accepted plans offered
for their action by prominent
graduate, and it is intimated that ne
will foot the bill.
THE building will be 400 feet
long. 100 feet wide and thirty feet
to the first beams. The front of the
building will be two stories in
height and will include the offices
of the department and others, such
offices as may be necessary.
Immediately behind the OFFICES
will be the gymnasium. There VIII
be a permanent wooden floor, large
enough for the laying out of three
basketball courts and surrounded
by a dirt track, one side of which
will be a 1O0-yard straightaway.
The rest of the floor space will be
of dirt and will be divided by means
of curtains into baseball cages and
special sections for track, football
and other sports, thus enabling
practice to be held indoors when
ahe weather will not permit out-of-
Aoors work.
The rear end of the building