Evening star., 1938-11-12
Stars Injury Means
Possible Collapse
OF Entire Team
Players Like Goldberg,
Luckmun and Eshmont
Rated indispensable
BY GRANTLAND RICE,
Special CnrreSnnndent of The Star


ITHACA, N. Y, Nov. 12.-No foot
ball coach likes to hang too much
Importance on any one of his play
ers. There always is the lurking
danger that If coach builds his
team around one player, the player
may be injured, and when he goes
down the team will crash about him.
But sometimes boy comes along
who literally compels his coach to
rely on him to a terrific extent.
Marshall Goldberg of Pitt is a
current outstanding example. So
is Sid Luckman of Columbia And
rapidly veering that way is Len
Eshmont of Fordham. Goldberg
and Luckman are seniors and Esh-
mont is sophomore. By the time
he is a senior the chances are he
will be as vital to his teams sue
cess as Goldberg and Luckman are
to theirs. The" signs point that
way plainly. A player of this type
usually can be sighted in his sopho-
more year. He has so much stuff
he just can't hide it under his
ineXperience.
No Denying Goldberg.
Goldberg, one of the greatest play
ers ever to wear Pitt uniform
and remembering all the great play
ers who have worn the gold and
blue under Jock Sutherland and,
before him, Pop Warner, that is
saying a lot for the young man
forced Jocks hand in his sophomore
year. Jock doesn't like to use a
sophomore for more than a few
minutes at a time-for two reasons
One is that he may blow up sud-
denly under pressure and, possibly,
cost the loss of the game. The
second, and most important, is that
1t is a long time between a boy S
first game as a sophomore and his
last as senior, and if he plays
very much during his sophomore
year he may lose his enthusiasm
for football before his senior year
has expired.
Sutherland tried to bring Gold
berg along slowly, but the boy just
couldn't 60 that way. Every time
he dashed out on the field he DOM
mated the play of the Panthers
and it 60 SO Jock simply couldn't
afford to keep him out, either for
the sake of the team or of the
boy himself. When he was out the
team was weakened and there was
the chance that by keeping him out
Jock would wreck the boys superb
confidence in himself.
So Goldberg roared along through
his sophomore and junior years, get
ting better all the time and mean
ing more and more to the Pitt team.
Then came the crack-up. Goldberg
was injured in the Fordham game
and could take part in only three
plays in the Carnegie Tech game
and 1t must have been more than a
coincidence that Pitt lost to Car
negie Tech, for, despite Stebbins,
Cassiano and Chickerneo, that Pitt
backfield isn't the dream backfield
without Goldberg.
Lou Had Small Choice.
Lou Little didn't like to hurl
Luckman into such prominence as
sophomore, but he had small choice
in the matter-certainly not even as
much as Sutherland had in the case
of Goldberg, for Lou hasn't the man
power that Sutherland has. 1t prob
ably would not have mattered in the
least, however. Luckman stood out
so strongly that Lou undoubtedly
would have had to use him in any
case.
For three seasons now Sid has
been the main prop-and sometimes
the only prop-of the Columbia
team. Whether the team has won
or lost, Luckman has been in there
throwing passes, carrying the ball,
blocking for the other ball carriers
and playing fine defensive game.
No wonder Little aged a couple of
years be- cen halves in the Cornell
game Whel2 Luckman was being
taped in an e4*ort to make it pos
slble for him to bend over without
suffering too much pain from a body
injury he had drawn in the first
half. Lou wasn't worried about that
game. Cornell had it we'll in hand
and even Luckman couldn't do any,
thing about that. But Lou saw his
team crumbling about the tortured
body of its star.
Happily, Sid recovered from the
injury within week or so and will
be able to play for the balance of
the season.
EshmOnt Picks Team Up.
Eshmont struck across the hori-
zon with startling swiftness this
fall. There had been some little
talk about him before the season
opened, but it is doubtful if any
one, including Jim Crowley, knew
just how good he was. Then, all at
once, everybody knew
OF course, he is far from being a
polished player as yet. He has his
weaknesses, the most pronounced of
which are seen when he is on the
defense. Because of that and be-
cause he is sophomore, Crowley
spaces his assignments and picks
his spots for him. But Jim will
not be able to do that very long.
The boys very presence 'on the
field means too much to the team.
Jock Sutherland remarked about
that after the -Fordham game.
Il never saw boy who picks up a
team as he does" Jock said. 1T
really is amazing the lift the other
players get as soon as they see
him running out from the bench"
(Copyright, 193SD