The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1941-09-18
ELY TO MEET H|BBING
IN DEFENSE OF TITLE
Great Odds Face Iron Me-
Tonight as Conference
Race Begins.
THE RECORD.
1939-Ely Z, Hibbing o.
1940-Ely 6, Hibbing 0.

Ely junior college will take the first
step in defense of its half of the
Northern Junior College conference
title at Hibbing tonight. Opening
kickoff is at 7:30 o'clock. 1t is prob
able that a portion of the game will
be broadcast.
Tomorrow night Itasca will make the
initial defense of its share of the crown
at Eveleth. Northern junior college of
Ashland, Wis, will keep an engagement
at Virginia the same night to complete
the opening conference schedule. Du-
luth will be idle.
The Iron Men will make their
home debut Saturday, Sept. u, with
Virginia as their opponents.
While the local college has faced
great odds-and has come home with
the bacon-during its two years in the
conference, this season it will be called
upon to open hostilities more in an
under-dog role than ever before.
What lies ahead of the co-champions
from the Vermilion range is hidden
behind cloud of uncertainty that only
competition on the gridiron will dis
pell.
The opening tussle will bring together
teams coaches by the ranges most
seasoned athletic directors, Edward T.
Buckley of Ely and Frank doc"
Savage of Hibbing. What these two
cagy veterans of dozens of athletic
encounters will pull out of their bags
of tricks before the night is over will
keep everyone guessing. The only sure
thing is that once the opening whistle
has sounded it will be all fight and
no quarter until the final play has been
called.
doc" Savage repeatedly has one
eye on a squad whose members are vir-
tual giants and the other on the con-
ference title for 1941. Answering to the
roll call tonight will be heavyweights
ranging from 232-pound Herman Press,
a tackle, down through group of
200 Founders to "Tiny" Brown, 160-
pound end.
There are but three lettermen avail
able for the Cardinal eleven, but max
ing up for this deficiency are likely
group of high school stars from half
a dozen range communities. III" win
ners from the club that bowed before
Ely, CO. year ago are Earl Schramm,
fullback; Merit Choquette, tackle, and
Vincent Barage, guard. Three additional
members of last seasons squad are
available.
Matching brains and Drawn with
this crew of likely looking prospects
will be Coach Buckley's entire squad
of Fl men-one man short of making
two full teams.
The record the Iron Men are called
upon to protect is one that had handled
defeat to the Cardinals for two sue
cessive years-one that has even kept
the Hibbing club from scoring single
point! Such a top-heavy assignment
faces no other team in the conference,
with a possible exception of the Itasca
eleven, but the Windy Connors coached
club has an edge over Ely because of
the larger territory from which to
secure material
Fourteen men were named by Coach
Buckley as most likely to be in the
starting lineup Nine of them are
fresh from high school competition.
Ends include Don Prola, Ted Grahek,
and Joe Kuzma, props, and Andy
Luthanen; tackles, Peter Handberg and
Dan Mestnik, college 1ettermen; guards,
Don Myntti and Leland Brennan, fresh
in college. and center, William Mills,
letterman.
The backfeld is made up entirely OF
men who received high school sheep
skins last spring One is ineman
converted into back and the other is
a swimmer getting his initial baptism
in the sport of blowing through en-
circling arms. They include Tony Ora
hex, the lineman; Wayne Bolitho, the
ex-paddler, and Ed Grahek, Roy
Johnson, and Jim Pete, all backs on
the 1910 Memorial high eleven.
Available as reserves are Sig Olson,
William zaverl, Robert Gordon. and
Marvin Buskala, linemen, and Owen
Childers and William Anderson, backs