Evening star., 1938-12-30
-Four Branches Make
CiN's Youngsters
Sports-Minded
.
Central, Tech, Eastern
And Western Reop
Major Benefits
BY GEORGE HUBER.


A real incubator for high school
and even college athletes Is the
Boys Club of Washington, whose
four branches scattered through the
city keep sending out a steady
stream Of sports-minded and trained
youngsters.
Bozey Berger, twice All-America
collegiate basketball guard; Dopey
Dean, George Lassise, Billy Vermil-
lion, Joe Sullivan-to mention only
a few-are among the scores Of ath-
letes who were members of the club.
Each branch Is a hotbed Of COM
petitive activity where the boys re-
ceive their early training and
teaching in the fundamentals Of
sports, and when they reach high
school they are ready to be shaped
into championship teams.
Along this line it is interesting to
note that the four schools that have
dominated high schools sports, Cen
tral, Tech, Eastern and Western all
draw their students from areas in
which clubs are located. Roosevelt
has no branch of the club near It
and one result of this is that sell
dom does it have teams that even
approach championship caliber.
Serves Central and Tech.
The Central Branch. oldest unit
of the club, serves Central and
Tech, and probably has sent out
the greatest number of high school
athletes in the last 10 or Is years.
Will Thompson. all-high basketball
center at Central, who broke two
track records in school, received his
early training there. He now is
mainstay of the University Of
Florida track team.
Other Central Branch boys to
star in school are George Lassise Of
Tech, one of the best basketball
players ever turned out locally; Billy
Vermillion of Central, all-high foot
ball and basketball player; Bozey
Berger of Tech and Maryland and
now an infielder with the Boston
Red SoX; Joe Lynch of Central
and Mount st. Marys. now with
the Federal Bureau of Investiga-
ton, and Sid Gordon, last years
high scorer and now captain Of the
Wilson Teachers College basketball
team
Dopey Dean, Eastern star of few
years ago, also came from there, as
did Lew Hayman, currently a men,
ber of the Columbus University box
ing team. Other Boys Club pro-
ducts well remembered for their ae-
tivities in high school are John
Mandes, Mario Gregario, Buck Cas-
kins and Barney Smith of Central;
Ev Russell, Sid Schulman and Ber-
ME Leib of Tech; Francis Collins
and Jerry Conley of Gonzaga and
Tommy Nolan and Ben Zola of
Eastern.
Western Well Supplied.
The Georgetown Branch reason
ably enough has sent practically all
its graduates to Western. Irving
Needle, Larry Stanton, Tommy Say
lor and Hop Lomas were the nucleus
of the 1887 championship basket
ball team. George Barnes is play
ing basket ball and football there.
Henry Oertel, now promising base
ball and basket ball prospect at
George Washington, is another
Georgetown Branch boy. Ray Rem,
Irving Hilleary, Hal Beatty, Frank
Hughes, Frank Dwyer and George
Chamberlain also are the list of
outstanding scholastic athletes who
received their early training at the
Boys Club.
Eastern has received a majority
of its stars from the Northeast
Branch. Russ Lombardy and Lee
Lusby, all-high basket ball players
last season, are two well-remember-
ed players from there. Les Cooksey
of the present quint is another.
Sam and Tom Hook, who probably
we're two of the greatest all-around
high school athletes, are Northeast
Boys Club alumni. Joe Sullivan,
the Eastern baseball player who had
a tryout with the Senators, is
another. Among the other Eastern
ers who came up from Northeast
are Ray Michael. Bernie Panetta,
Chick Hollidge, Carroll Collins and
John Stasulli.
The Southeast Branch, newest
unit in the club, gave Eastern two
members Of its last football team,
Eddie league and Wiggie Kidwell.