Evening star., 1954-01-06
BY the Associoted Press


CINCINNATI, Jan. 6.-Pitts-
burgh and Penn State are the
key institutions in at least three
proposed college athletic con-
ferences being considered here
this week.
The whole business Of realign-
ing the colleges into new, tighter
groups still is in the discussion
stage at the NCAA convention.
But there's enough talk to indi-
cate that there's a trend in
that direction. And the colleges
involved will admit they've had
some "feelers" from those inter-
ested in forming the new con-
ferences.
One proposed lineup would
include Pitt and Penn State,
Army. Navy. Pennsylvania. Notre
Dame. Duke and North Carolina.
An alternative would substitute
Oklahoma for one of those eight
colleges.
Arkansas Mentioned.
Another story is that Arkan-
sas. successful in the Southwest
Conference. will drop out and
join with Tulsa, Oklahoma A6M.
Texas Tech. Hardin Simmons
and Houston in a new league.
while either Louisiana State or
Oklahoma will join the South
west loop. Still another is that
the Southeastern Conference
Will split up along geographical
lines.
None Of these reports can be
confirmed. and If the changes
take place, it won't be for a year
or two. But reports from re-
liable sources here say the East's
Ivy League has agreed to inau-
gurate round-robin football
schedule in 1856. This would
virtually freeze out Army and
Navy from the Eastern football
program.
The still unconfirmed reports
have it the presidents of the
eight ivy" schools met Decem.
Der ID and agreed they'll play
one another as soon as present
commitments are cleared I'D.
With nine-game schedule limit,
this would leave only two dates
open for the service schools.
Blaik Sees Tieup Necessary.
When and If this takes place,
Earl Blaik. Army athletic direc-
tor, admits his team and the
Navy may be forced to seek
some conference tieup to get the
kind of schedules they like.
Blaik. who admits Army has
been approached on n'various con-
ference proposals, merely shrugs
his shoulders and asks: where
does that leave us?"
Pittsburgh apparently is the
college that figures in nearly
every proposal and Pitts ath-
letic director. Tom Hamilton,
bends so far backward that he
almost touches the floor trying
to avoid saying anything defi-
mite.
Were complimented that the
other colleges should consider
us that way" Hamilton said,
"but we aren't taking the initi-
ative in forming any new con-
ference. Naturally we'd be in
terested if we were approached
by colleges we'd like to play"
Pitt Still Not Accepted.
Pitt, frozen out in an effort to
join the Big Ten. still hasn't
been accepted by the old Eastern
colleges which began to ignore
Pitt in the old high pressure"
days. And it has a huge, ex-
pensive stadium which must be
filled regularly. Penn State, an
other potent Eastern independ-
ent, faces the same situation in
a lesser way.
These two figured Importantly
in the proposals advanced a
couple of months ago by Bud
Dudley, Villanova athletic direc-
tor, and in another conference
suggested by the University Of
Cincinnati.
Pennsylvania repeatedly isn't
too happy in the de-emphasized
Ivy League setup; Dartmouth
recently called of its scheduled
games with Army; Harvard did
the same thing a couple of years,
ago. and there aren't any COM