Evening star., 1942-06-11
Game 10 Retain Spirit.
Value Though Below
lis Normal CaIiber
Pros Hard Hit, Losing
Heavily and Landing
Fewer From Draft
By GRANTLAND RICE,

Special Correspondent OF The Star.
There now are thousands of col
lege football players, not overlook
ing l48 National Leaguers, on ac-
tive service in the Army, Navy and
Marines. This is an underestimate
And there are many more on their
way.
In the face Of this we have been
asked far and wide what will be-
come Of football this next fall.
As far as one can offer guess
on June date, football will keep
under steam with the men that are
left. This goes for both the COL
leges and the pros. 1t has been the
wish of both Army and Navy that
football be carried on, even with an
increased number ST players. Army
and Navy teams will be at full speed.
Above all other games. this is
football Nation. I am referring to
high school. college and profess
sional players. plus the many mil
lions who make up the camp fol-
lowers. SO YOU can figure it out that
football will be the last game to 90,
II it goes at all Which it won't
Gophers Offer Case in Point.
In the matter of college play we
can take Minnesota as a typical case
along the upper plateau.
In this connection George Barton,
the sage of Gopher football, writes,
Il am afraid MinneSota's national
championship days are over for the
duration, but the Gopher will do
pretty well in Big Ten competition.
six regulars are gone from the
great line of the past two years
Fitch and Ringer, ends: Odson, tao
kle; Levy and Pukema, guards:
Flick, center. And. of course, Bruce
Smith and Bob Sweiger from the
backfleld. Gone also is Bernie Bier
man and three Of his coachi!l, staff"
But it might be mentioned here
that as long as Minnesota has
back named Bill Daley and tackle
named Dick Wildung the Gopher
has something more than a mere
nucleus on hand. Daley is big
part of any backfield, and Wildung
is a big part of any good line. And
there are others around in Norsemen
gold.
South Has Three Powerhouses.
From this crows nest two Of the
best-looking college squads will be-
long to Georgia and Texas A. & M.
And you can add Texas. OF course,
you must remember that more than
one or two things may happen be-
tween now and late September.
The strength of the different
service teams still is summer
guess, but Judging from most of
their schedules they will have some
thing more than tackling dummies
on guard. ~0W
1t might be noted here that foot
ball is only part Of these cadet
training Centers. Football will be
but one-fifth or one-sixth part of
the 10 or II hour conditioning drills,
at which boxing, wrestling, hurdling,
etc, will keep them spinning like
human tops from dawn to dark.
The added rivalry between college
and service teams will add to the
general interest of the game. despite
the fact that 10000 or 10000 crowds
might be on hand when the whistle
blows.
Pros Are Doing Their Bit.
There are now 148 National League
football players in active service,
with others on their way soon.
Twenty-eight of these players hold
commissions. Eighty-three joined
up with the Army, IS with the
Navy and nine with the Marines
and 20 of this group are flying.
Each year the pros draft some
200 top-rank players. They will get
few from the draft list this fall.
But as Steve Owen of the Giants
puts it: While we've all lost good
men and keymen, we'll have enough
left to carry the game along until
more men are called. This will make
it a closer race-a better race.
I'VE won't have those Chicago
Bears of last season to look at"
Big Steve said. "Halas has lost his
share of stars, and he had more
stars to lose. At this spot can't
see any standout team. But I'm
sure we'll have an interesting season
with enough material left to go
around"
All of which, with the colleges,
the Navy and Army teams, plus the
pros, should find the American
landscape and atmosphere packed
with more flying footballs than any
past season ever knew. And there's
a good chance that most of the
old-fashloned college pressure will
be lifted when it comes to raiding
parties in the land Of promising
talent.
(Released by the North American