Evening star., 1937-11-25
ARKANSAS, vANDY
PROVIDE 4 STARS
Southwestern Loop SO Well
Matched Choice of Best
Eleven Is Problem.
BY MATTY BELL,

IN MY opinion, four of the South
western stars belong on any all
Southern team chosen. They are
i Benton, Hale, Routt and Sloan.
Glowing reports have come to me on
Andy Bershak, leader of the North
Carolina eleven, which must be ranked
among the South's best teams. He has
been three-year sensation.
Kinnard Of Mississippi has been an
outstanding tackle all year on club
that has been having its share of
rough shedding. Hinkle and Merlin
Of Vanderbilt convinced me in their
game against my Southern Method
lists that they have everything that Is
required of players at their positions.
Both were top-notch stars and un-
dersand they have been consistent in
all games.
In my book Hinkle is all-America
talent. He's as great center as I've
ever seen. and I'm not unmindful Of
the presence of some other stars. My
team played against Wojciechowicz of
Fordham last year and against Ki
Aldrich of T. c. u, both top notch.
and I have followed scout reports
closely on Aldrich's performance this
year.
Kilgrow 'Bama Sparkplug.
Joe KILGROW has been the spark
=" plug, chief sthreat and inspiration
Of Alabama in its fine winning drive.
He apparently can do everything. The
same can be said of Byron Rohm Of
l.. S. U. and Hackney of Duke, both
OF whom mustered support for all
America selection.
For the all = Southwestern team,
standout talent in the line positions
and a scramble in the backf1eld that
offers as tight a fit for individual
honors as the teams had in their
wild battle royal for the conference
championship, force me to pick 13-
man squad.
Competition has been so keen among
the individual stars that all coaches,
I am sure, have shown more interest
than usual in the conference race.
I've conferred with several of them
and have had my scouts keeping a
close tab on player performances and
have been partly guided by their find
ings.
At quarterback and at right half.
at each of which have listed two
players to alternate, it would be
quite possible to drop either one and
have an eleven that any coach would
be proud to direct. But. in making
these reductions, it would be neces-
sary to slight players whose perform
ance justifies much more recogni-
ton.
e., Two Sterling Quarterbacks.
FOR example, Billy Patterson's
passes shot down six teams in a
row, including three in the conference,
to win Baylor temporary considera-
tion as one of the Nations outstand-
ing elevens. At the same time.
Dwight Sloan. who stepped into the
breach when injury forced the highly
ranked Jack Robbins to the side
lines, turned in stretch of all
around football, offensive and de-
fensive. running. passing and punt
Ing as fine as we've seen in this Sec
ton.
Over at right halfback it certainly
would be unfair to exclude Davey
OBrien, high individual scorer of
the conference. who shouldered the
burden of running his team, doing its
passing and punting, large part Of
its defensive work and played and
starred practically every minute Of
every game in the toughest schedule
any Southwestern eleven ever
tackled.
Ernie Lain, Rice's sophomore SEN
sation, was equally scintillating How
he WAS to the Owls is re-
fected in the record showing they
were shut out in their first three
games before he got his chance, then
he turned them into championship
favorites almost overnight. This
crew. that had been dubbed scoreless
wonders, won its next three games,
against Texas, Austin and Arkansas,
then tied Texas A. and M. In the
process 1t scored nine touchdowns,
Six OF them on passes Lain threw and
two Of the three others on runs by
him across enemy goal lines.
Some critics may be able to sift
the evidence finer and eliminate two
Of these four, but I can't with any
feeling Of doing justice.