The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-03-29
HOW ABOUT REFORM?

TINE curtain is down on the basketball
season, but back of the curtain rises ire
mendous camor for reform
The time is here tor new deal in conduct
of the annual state basketball tournament of
the Indiana High School Athletic Association
or thousands of cage fans are utterly wrong.
Chief Poohbah Arthur L. Trester and his
principal aids stand indicted on six counts
conservatvely counting
They are charged with incompetent han
ding of tickets for the major sport event of the
winter here, deprving hundreds of fans of
opportunity to see the play.
They are charged with incompetent hand
ling of the crowd after the thousands who at
tended had entered Butler feldhouse.
They are charged with continuing system
of tournament play that perils the health of
scores of athletes, at an age when they are not
matured sufficiently to stand up under the
tremendous strain.
They are charged with playing politics in
choosing tourney officials
They are charged with providing totally
inadequate facilities for press and radio the
two agencies which have made their highly
profitable enterprise possible
They are charged with gross discrimination
against the press in bowling to AL Feeney state
safety director, state fire marshal, state this
and that and few other titles allowing him to
broadcast from the edge of the floor when
other announcers and reporters were barred
from this favorable position.
They are charged with other things too
numerous to MENTION and hundreds of fans
and coaches and basketball officials over the
state are ready to back these charges.
1t looks as though the time is ripe-or
overripe-for Mr.. Trester to take deep bow
and start for the exit with his chief hench-
man housekeeping along in his immediate
rear
Trester. early in the week of the tourna-
ment. announced that only 800 seats would
go on sale, after all applications and early
reservations had been handled. Press reports
of the first games showed that 1000 seats were
vacant This fact was not properly advertised
so thousands of eager fans were prevented
from attending.
Tickets unsold and returned for other rea-
sons by principals in many cities of the state
were refused by tourney officials, despite the
fact that they had been accepted all other
years and sold in this city.
The reserved seat system at the fieldhouse
became bowling farce after the big crowd
TANNED its way into the building 1t is doubt
ful if more than 80 per cent of the fans oc-
cupied the seats which they bought The
usher setup was a complete breakdown. The
first arrivals seized the best seats and those
who came after them accommodated them
selves as best they could.
The press sat in a makeshift area in a bal
conv aisle. level with the bowling fans who sat
ahead of them and beset behind by shrieking
mob of partisan rooters who made proper COW
erage of the play virtually impossible.
Adding insult to injury, Fire Marshel, etc,
etc. AL Feeney moved his broadcasting equip
ment TO the edge of the floor and stayed there,
despite the twittering of Gar Trester and the
roars of protest from newspaper reporters.
When the tourney ended, thousands
vaded through mud to their cars and wound
up in one of the worst traffic jams in history
because of inadequate preparations to handle
the throng.
The charge is openly made that choice OF
officials for the meet was dictated solely by
politics, friends of the board of control of the
III S. A A. being given the berths and COM
petent officials being barred. Among those left
out in the cold were two of the best in the
state-Dale Miller and Stanley FEEBLE
Last, but foremost in Importance comes the
charge that the system of play is dangerous to
the health of the players. Lads still in their
teens have not the stamina to undergo the
grueling test to which they were subjected in
the tournament Greencastle, which lost the
final tilt, played three games on Saturday two
of them overtime affairs.
college COACH who observed the players
when they returned to Greencastle, declared
today that all the players appeared for two or