The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1939-01-12

lake, but as busy as the bug inside
Mexican jumping bean, coordinating all
departments that come under the
physical education setup, coaching four
athletic teams, arranging schedules and
transportation and contracting for Of
ficialS.
Working with him is probably as
active and well qualified staff as can
be found anywhere: Peter E. Moroni,
assistant director; Max Herseth, boys
swimming coach; Miss Madalynne
Grevich, girls swimming coach; Miss
Eleanor Kuntz, in charge of othe girls
gymnasium classes, and Steve Smrekar,
at present coaching the high school
basketball second team.
Students from the fifth to the seventh
grades spend As minutes once a week in
the gymnasium and As minutes in the
pool, while those from the seventh
through high school, who receive no
recess periods, spend one hour.
| Lower grades are also included in the
setup, with teachers conducting vari-
GUS games at recess time that are
supervised by the department. This
work is conducted by Miss Kuntz and
Miss Grevich, who visit the grades
once each week. They also conduct
dancing classes for plays and operettas.
Junior College enrollees take gym
twice a week to keep in good physical
trim but do not participate in SWIM
ming.
Both the high school and Junior Col
lege have women's athletic associations
that sponsor hiking, tobogganing, skat-
ing, basketball, etc., for their members
after school hours, these activities re-
placing interscholastic sports.
Lectures in hygiene are also con-
Quoted by the department, giving it a
well rounded program designed to
build sound bodies and healthy minds.
This physical education program is
not all work and no play, far from it.
In fact good share of the work is
disguised by games, contests, and ac-
tivities of one sort or another that
keep the students interested in the
more important part of the program,
regular physical exercise.
In the gym the boys take part in
ltumbling, calisthenics, work out on the
horizontal bars, and play basketball and
volleyball. In the fall they participate
in touch football, and in the spring,
baseball, relays and various stunts.
A similar gym program Is conducted
for the girls with some of the more
strenuous sports excluded and along
with it they are taught rhythm, dancing
and balance. Younger girls take part in
stunts of the self-testing type. When
they feel that they have become pro-
f1cient in certain activity, they are
allowed to place a star on chart OPP
posite their name indicating that they
have passed a certain test.
In swimming classes every student
from the fifth grade up is taught to
swim. They are also instructed in the
fundamentals of life saving and safety
in the water. Along with this the girls
play cage ball, the boys water polo, and
both take part in relay competition.
Swimming is perhaps the most i'm
once an individual learns to handle
himself in the water he never forgets it.
In competitive sports, about eight
football games are played each season,
IS high school and IA Junior College
basketball games and the girls and
boys swimming teams participate in
about eight or ten meets. Jaysee foot
ball will be inaugurated for the first
time next fall, with Ely member of
the Northern Junior College confer
ence. A number of basketball games
are also scheduled for the Junior high
team.
1t has been the policy of the athletic
department not to cut the basketball or
swimming squads, giving every boy or
girl who wishes to come out some sort
of competition.
The department has turned out host
of renowned athletes and teams In
1929 the high school basketball squad
set record in winning both the dis
trict and regional tournaments and tax
ing part in the state meet. Junior
College teams have always been able
to hold their own in conference COM
petition, and have been noted, along
with the high school, for upsetting the
big boys along towards the last of the
season.
The performance of the 1897 football
team, which tied for range honors with
Virginia, is still fresh in the minds Of
sports fans. The 1890 squad set a
record of which only few in the
country can boast. 1t went through
the season without being scored upon,
with only a scoreless tie with Eveleth
to mar an otherwise perfect record
The 1929 track team took the 9th
district meet and a very elaborate
trophy, purchased especially for the
event by the entertaining school, so the
story goes, because it was so sure of
winning the meet. But Ely upset the
applicant and returned home with
one of the largest cups in a very fine
collection. Along in the last of the
20s, track followers will recall the eff
forts of Bobbie Nicholas, the one-man
track team, who rolled up the points
in nearly every event on the schedule
Ely has been particularly fortunate
in producing ace swimmers who have
captured their share of state champion
ships. Joe Grahek took the state div
ing crown three times in row as did
hi ~. rle-r y