Evening star., 1937-12-23
LACK Of RESERVES
|SGREAT HANDICAP
Sponsors of Change Point
to Premium Placed Upon
Good Condition.
By ORLO ROBERTSON,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

agreeing that elimination of
" the center jump speeds up
action and appeals to specta-
tors, many basket ball coaches and
officials believe the innovation involves
physical hazards for the players, espe-
cially in small colleges and high
schools lacking reserves.
Those coaches and officials opposing
the new rule on the grounds it puts
too much physical exertion on the
players were the most outspoken in
Nationwide survey conducted by the
Associated Press.
Supporters of the change empha-
sized it puts a premium on good phys.
ical condition and produces fairer
test Of playing strength, besides giving
spectators more action. They point
to the elimination of advantages
gained by team possessing an unusu-
ally tall center and cite the better
balanced competition now, with pos
session of the ball going to the team
scored upon.
The comment of Howard Cam,
coach at New York University, was
typical Of those opposed to the new
rule because of its speed requirements.
It's still early in the season, but
already two of my men are pounds
underweight," said Cam. "It simply
is too strenuous for the players. I've
noticed the last Ave minutes of
game usually are wasted because Of
the players physical exhaustion"
Cams Argument Backed.
JOINING him in apprehension for
the players, unless a school is
blessed with plenty of reserve material,
were: George Keogan, Notre Dame;
Bowser Chest, one of the South's lead
ing officials; DR.. F. c. Allen, Kansas;
Leonard Sachs, Loyola (Chicago);
Chick Davies, Duquesne; Nick Kearns,
Big Ten official; Roy Mundorff,
Georgia Tech; Herb Dana, West Coast
official; Jack Friel, Washington State;
DR.. Herbert Rotchford, Pacific Coast
referee; Claude McGrath, Gonzaga,
and Dave Walsh, Eastern official.
"It would require at least 10 to Is
men to complete game and not in
jure the players physically" declared
Kearns. In recent game two play
ers, who under the old rules never
wanted to hear the final gun, said:
When in the hell is this game going
to be over?'"
1T literally calls for running the
insides out of players" said Friel, to
which Rotchford added: Its too
tough for the boys. 1t is bound to
have after-effects"
Dana suggests alternating the CEN
ter jump and throw-in while Allen
would have the players jump in rota-
ton after a basket to eliminate the
advantage Of tall center.
THE new rule means you need 10
good men, alternating teams, to keep
up with the wearing pace" declared
Mundorff.
Chest and Walsh, New Jersey high
school principal, fear it will burn out
schoolboys before they reach college.
New York public schools already have
taken steps to give longer timeouts
between quarters. McGrath suggests
the Rules Committee limit each play
er's playing time.
Coast Coaches Defend Charges.
HE rule attempts to dictate what
kind Of boys shall play the
game" said Max Hannum of Carnegie
Tech. tits shame to score and then
forfeit chance to regain the ball i'm
mediately"
Defense of the new code was led
by the coaches of the Southern di-
vision Of the Pacific Coast Conference,
who sponsored the change after two
year trial. They include John Bum
Of Stanford. John Barry of Southern
California and Nibs Price of Cali
fornia.
Rallying around them were Bill
Marwood, dean of Philadelphias scho-
lastic coaches; Nels Norgren, Chi
cago; Clement NJ Eyler, Nashville
member of the National Rules Com
mittee: "Slats" Gill, Oregon State;
George Edwards, Missouri; Louis
Meme, Iowa State; Osborne Cowles,
Dartmouth; Wes Fesler, Harvard;
Harry Rabenhorst, Louisiana State:
Jimmy Kits, Rice Institute; Clarence
s. Edmundson, University of Washing
ton; Bobby Morris, Seattle arbiter,
and Arthur Lonberg, Northwestern.
To H. c. Doc) Carlson of Pitts
burgh and Howard Hobson of Oregon
1t doesn't make much difference.
Hobson finds that it keeps his play
ers in better condition, while Carlson
believes the boys will accustom them
selves to the change and so regulate
their pace.
After all. the idea is still to get
the ball through the hoop more often
than your opponent" said Carlson