The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-01-05
By LACK CUDDY

(Un1Ce0 Press Stam NOEreSpOnuenSb
 New York, Jan. 5.-(BUP)-Fail- ure of self-centered sports leaders to cooperate and have a national co-ordinator appointed, following Pearl Harbor. was advanced as 3 major reason for the bleak uncer- tainty now beclouding the sports future.
 Bigwigs of baseball, racing. box ing and amateur athletics were said to have feared that a national CO., ordinator might curtain tEeir per- Sonal powers-might dim their re- Spective spotlights. They couldn't see the mountain for the mole hills.
 AS a result, sportsmen themselves pointed out, there has been nc spokesman at Washington to repre- sent the vast sports induStry-in which millions of dollars are invested which contributes to the enter tainment of millions-and which re- ceives more publicity annually than any other American industry
 There has been no spokesman at Washington to present war-burden- ed officials with facts regarding the general sports Set-up or regard ing specific branches. No spokes- man to acquaint harried officials with sports contributions-or lack of contributions-to the war ef- fort. No representative empowered to crack down on selfish. short sighted individuals, whose greedy operations threatened the wartime welfare of an entire sport-like rac- ing. There has been no definite liaison or link between sports and the government
 Uncertain
 Thus, those who have begun to think about the matter asserted lack of national co-ordinator has prevented sports in general. and specific brands. from being given a definite wartime status. No one in sports ever claimed that their com- petitive entertainments were "es- sential" to the war effort: but Yir- tually all felt that sports contrib. uted in some degree to civilian and service morale. That degree appar- ently never has been evaluated - i it actually exists. Hence. sports the unknown quantity - the TX" oi wartime effort - have been tolerat- ed by the government. At time: the perplexed officials at Washing. ton seemed to regard sports as white swans of morale: but recently they seemed to view them as ugly duck lings.
 At intervals since Pearl Harbor, various columnists have warned of the necessity of sports co-ordina- tor Ford Prick, president of the National league. was understood to favor such an appointment. Certain prominents. like Senator Scott Lucas of Illinois. became interested. But the late Commissioner Landis, for one, was vigorously opposed to a CO., ordinator Czar LandiS would brook no possible encroachments on his power. Abe Greene. presi- dent of the National Boxing asso- ciation, favored a co-ordinator; but not the chairman of various state commissions. The Amateur Athletic Union was dead-set against such an appointment. And so it went. with nothing done.
 Now the situation is changed. Most brass hats in sports would welcome appointment of a co-ordinator for the duration. The ban on racing and the re-examination of athletic 4-Fs and discharges has altered the view. Perhaps 6 co-ordinator would be the Moses to lead sports out of the quicksands. they said. The lads are looking longingly at Col. Larry MacPhail, figuring he would he an ideal man for co-ordinator be- cause of his knowledge of the mili- tary set-up and his familiarity with sports.