The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1940-12-26
a s.s. Centre SPORTS s L ;ss E w:st

Sport 8
Wags- &
BY Chuck Rattle
Directors Are
Valuable Men
Basketball Plane
On Steady Rise
Slip In Type Is
Boon To Writer
Stan Nelson Begins
Possible Score Top
Pins Difference
In All Games
KlObe's 1856 Helps
Team Beat Style Shop
While basketball takes a little
layoff, we'd like to point out some
thing. If you'll ask the boys who
play the game they'll tell you some
thing like this. That the really
valuable men on the teams are
those boys with a knack for direct
ing the play. They're sometimes
known as sparkplugs. Often
they're offensive giants; but more
than often they do small share in
scoring, and combine certain rare
qualities in defensive and offensive
play. All the time they're setting
up the play, alert, observant.
The role usually occurs in the guard
position because in that post a man
is able to watch the entire court.
The systems now in use have some
thing to do in placing the role in
the hands Of guards. On Sank
Centres twice championship club
there were Jud Conkey and Don
Kringen, both handy in that capac-
ity. Conkey carries on the role
this season for the Buccaneers.
Sennes, for Osakis winning club of
last year, is called by some an
astute play director. :. Outstand-
ing one of recent years was last
years Bob Millner, Of Bertha. . .
It is not that one wants to mini
mize those high scorers, but the
play director is like the blocking
back in football-often the forgot
ten man. -.
As soon as a team begins to
lose, particularly to centers
smaller than itself, there Is
much talk Of blows to civic
pride and the like. 1t is
probably good psychology to
use on boys who aren't winning,
but 1t is not entirely a true pic
ture of the case. It seems
obvious that q town of more
people should at least nine
times out Of ten drub the teams
of smaller towns to a fare you
well. But to those who
watch the long run trends Of
the game, there is an angle
that's encouraging. =. without
any further ado, we can say
that thus far Sank Centres club
has failed to come up to It's
supposed par. But the over
all pictures Is that "podunk" is
dead.
In fact during the district tourney
a year ago this column carried that
very statement. For the competi-
tive plane of all basketball has so
raised in the past ten years that
Upsala, for example, Is no longer
the old Upsala, nor is Swanville,
nor is Brandon, Bertha Parkers
Prairie or the rest. +. . In fact the
district meet last year-that found
both Glenwood and Alexandria out
of the race before it had begun
was startling reversal of the theory
that the big town always wins. ..
Now we like to have Sank Centre
win-every game too. We feel those
same sinking pangs that touch all
followers of the game when Up
sala or Swanville move over here
and impudently slap us to defeat
in our own bailiwick. But we
believe that this raised competitive
plane is healthy for the game. We
are personally tickled pink that on
occasions these smaller schools
bring out a bunch of boys who can
really go to town, make real COM
petition. We dislike seeing it
at the expense Of lowered standards
of play in the larger centers. u.
But the trend is generally favor
The fact is today that the
only place the larger towns
have an advantage Is In the
material selection. Basketball,
requiring only 6 or 8 good men,
has pared that some. To the
smaller accrlres the benefit to-
day Of more standard coaching
methods, more standard types
Of courts and equipment.
This is not to minimize credit
to smaller schools who come with