The Daily Alaska empire., 1947-03-20
ALL-ALASKA BAIL CHAMPIONSHIP K
 HOTlY DISPUTED


 ketball championship of Alaska reached new high yesterday as Superintendent of Schools A. B.. Phillips sent a wire to Anchorage challenging them second time to play series with Juneau.
 The wire offered a play either in Juneau CT Anchorage, and made a specific guarantee for the visit ing team. Anchorage High School had refused the first challenge be- cause they said their team had dis banded March 4 and because Jul neau had refused to play them in the Fur Rendezvous.
 In the wire sent yesterday Phil lips demanded to know by what right Anchorage High School can claim the championship title of Al aska when they have not played the games that would give 1t to them. The claim had been made in the Anchorage High School stu dent newspaper, on the basis that their team had won first pace in the Fur Rendezvous.
 Southeast Alaska, with half again as many high school students as West Alaska, was represented by only che team at the Rendezvous, and that one not serious con- tender this year for the Southeast championship. The team was from Sheldon Jackson High School at Sitka.
 A letter was also received by MT. Phillips from Principal w. w. Lahnum of Anchorage High School, which implied that the champion ship belonged to them because of their victory in the Fur Rendez- vous.
 Their claim is that ouneau's re- fusal to play in the Rendezvous, made because the tournament was unofficial and decided nothing and because of the lack of any expense guarantee, meant that Juneau for feited any claim to the champion ship. At that time Juneau was not the first team of Southeast Alaska.
 If Anchorage refuses to accept the challenge of Juneau as the champions of Southeast Alaska for @ series Of games, then Juneau has every right to claim the All-Alaska championship for herself by for feiture," Phillips said today.
 Phillips states that he is in favor of an inter-regional championship series to be played at the end of each years season. In his letter de- clining the Fur Rendezvous invita- tion, he had suggested that as a possibility
 Principal Lahnums letter in an- swer to last weeks wire challenge ignored the suggestion; it stated that Juneau had forfeited any right to the championship in refusing to enter the Fur Rendezvous tourna- ment.
 Lahnum went further He sug- gested that every year there should be a tournament at Anchorage taking in all the high schools of Alaska. That would mean that Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Douglas, Sitka, Sheldon Jackson, I,,.oo,, o,6 >occillv IJaipoc and Skagway would have to travel ev- cry year to Anchorage.
 There, if the plan is adopted, they would meet teams from Fair banks, Nome, Palmer, Cordova, Seward, Valdez and Anchorage. Ac- cording to figures from the office of the Commissioner of Education, for September, l946, there are 651 students in high schools in seven Southeast Alaska towns.
 Haines was not included in this total, nor Sheldon Jackson High School at Sitka, with at least 100 students The competing high schools of West Alaska have a total of 582 students, in comparison with an estimated total of ITS for South east Alaska.
 The most fair way to decide an All-Alaska High School Champion ship team, said Phillips, would be to hold an annual series of three games between the two regional first place winners.
 This should be played alternate years in Southeast Alaska. The people in Ketchikan or Sitka might like to see their team play an AL askan championship game once in a while too" Phillips commented