Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1948-09-17


BILE in Chicago-too many reports
to follow.
What too many people over
look is this: 1t is the material,
not the coach or the manager,
that has the final say. Ger
tainly, the manager and coach
have roles to play-often impor-
tant roles. But not even
Frank Leahy or a Fritz Crisler
was ever as important as the
material. No Leahy, a great
coach, was ever up to a Lujack,
a ConnOr, a Fischer, or a Ca
robSki.
OF course, big part of a man.
ayers job is to get the best materi-
al. That is also a big part of the
coach'S job in football-and this
goes for the colleges as well as the
pros.
A winning baseball team needs
that pitcher or that hitter-more
than one of them. A winning college
football team needs that passer,
ball carrier and blocker.
The coach gets far too much cred
it for victory and far too much
blame for defeat The same is true
of a pennant race. They pile too
many olive blossoms on the winner
and too many strands of poison ivy
on the loser.
Many a big league manager has
been made = and many one
wrecked-by the material he had.
Don't forget this in the build-up and
the knock-over.
Start of Passing
The passing game in college
reached its peak last fall The COL
leges had Bobby Layne of Texas,
Chuck Conerly of Mississippi,
Harry Gilmer Of Alabama, Johnny
Lujack of Notre Dame, Tony Minisi
of Penn, Ray Evans Of Kansas, Bob
Chappius of Michigan and many
others.
These have all moved over into
the pro group. With Paul Governali,
Sammy Baugh, Sid Luckman, Otto
Graham, Glenn Dobbs and others
at work, the passing game will
reach another peak this fall.
Who started the passing game?
Here's a contribution from Buck
O'Neil, lusty old-timer:
Dear Grant:
Il was interested in your column
on Merrilat, end at West Point in
the decades purpled by time. You
spoke of Chicago and Michigan
using the forward pass back in 1906,
the year that the play was intro
duced into football.
Chicago had a pretty fair
sort of quarterback that year,
fellow named Walter Eckersan.
He was las pounds of wildcat,
and he is the mani believe
who caught Willie Heston from
behind in one game between
Chicago and Michigan.
No matter about that, but Eckie
threw passes to Fred Walker,
fire end of the Maroon, and beat
the Wanted Minnesota team through
the air. EckersaQ to Walker was
one of the great pass combinations
of their day and time
Ahead of His Time
"Glenn Warner had some great
pass experts at Carlisle, and one of
the earliest combinations was Mt.
Pleasant to Exendine and Gardner.
Warner, always ahead of his time
in coaching, developed the tech
nique of sending linemen down the
field with his ends to block out the
halfbacks. The Indians were ter
rife in the air and, of course, their
skill was attributed to some roman
tic bridge between the Indian and
the occult.
There was nothing mystic
about the skill of the Indians,
although guys like Exendine
and Gardner, and that great
lineman of the era, Newashe,
who played end and tackle with
equal skill and aboriginal fero-
city, were really out of this
world. The foundation of Car
isles success was laid on block
ing the halfback.
Navy used the forward pass In
1918, but it was haphazard thing.
Harry Blodgett, Middle halfback,
told me that his orders were to
fade five yards and throw the ball