Evening star., 1960-10-25
A &c CHISON'S
: ANGLE
Football No Game to BIoik
SY LEWIS + ATeHIsoN

A COACH WHO CALLS staR meeting at am. on
New Years Day to start planning for the following season
hardly could expect be popular Earl Blak did it at
West Point but he wasn't seeking popularity He wanted
victories and he got them as he explains in his newly
published autobiography "You Have to Pay the Price
The seemingly cold calculating colonel gladly paid the
price and was rewarded with record OF 1855 victories, A
defeats and II ties Nowhere in this eaty book prepared
with Tim Cohanes able assistance will you find shred OF
regret for the hours Blak devoted to football It was no
game to him It food and drink 1t was passion and
he was driven by Unsuitable desire for perfection
Blaik was key figure in several memorable football
episodes among them Dartmouths nth down" game
with Cornell and it's "2th man" play against Princeton
There was West Points temporary break with Navy and
its later break with Notre Dame But for him the most
Important and saddest Of all the socaed crbbng
scandal lii 1851 In which 81 football players including his
own son, were among 90 dismissed from the Military
Academy for breach of the honor CODE Blsk deyotes
chapter to refutng the charges against the cadets bam-
ing archaic academic system and crtcizng unnamed
superors for their hghhanded disposition Of the case
! A~
Z CURIOUSLY JOHNNY LUJACK'S decision to enroll at
Nore Dame instead Of West Point paved the way for the
rupture with the Irish Army, Baik writes took series
OF defeats from Nore Dame without protest. and consid-
cred 1t unsportng Of the South Bend school to lure
Luiack away after he had settled on West Point series
of scurrous letters Bak plus the noisy verbal abuse
of Notre Danes Subway alumni" finally proved to be
too much.
." The game" Blaik writes, was generating form
of psychological hate detrimental to the best interests OF
the United States Army" -.... .
He is certain the break good for both schools For
thing not until relations interrupted did 1laik
get to really Frank Leahy Notre Danes coach and
backsappng storyteler himself Blaik seldom frat
ernized with other coaches while playing them"
a near-break with Navy came over Armys refusal to
adopt the threeyea eligibility rule It settled by
penced note from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to his
military aide which read "From West Point will
abide by the three-year rule It cost Army the services
of the late Bill Guckeyson haback and probably the
greatest an-around athlete in Marylands history and
Center Carl c. Hinke AAmercan at Vanderbilt who
since has been elected to footballs Hall OF Fame
'.'. -
OLD ARMY COACHES, including Washington's own
Bi JONES' well-remembered games famous plays and ALI
American heroes l page after page Of the book The
accent is Army, of course but most football fans will
find pleasure between its To Col Blaik, football
"war limited terrain" It hard 1t was cruel
in sense but it made leaders Of men and fine military
officers, and that was his goal.
J Baik calls the 946 Notre Dame eleven zone Of the
best Of all Irish teams and its line well as the 1947
ne zone of the best have seen He calls the 1914
Army-Navy game the greatest Of them all in the long
service series. Baik ranks his 1914 Army squad as the
greatest but calls his 1945 first eleven the best team.
BUT the best football he witnessed, he says, was
3O-minute ntra-squad scrimmage featuring backfeld
OF Arnold Tucker Glenn Davis Doc Blanchard and Dean
Sensanbahgher Dick Walterhouse against second
platoon with backheld of Doug Kenna, Dale Hail. Max
Minor and Bobby Dobbs.
+A
THERE rs LIGHTER side to Blaiks story, Of course
and suspicion that he enjoyed the heraising antics Of
Of the fraternity although unable to bring himself TO
unbed and join in He recalls Greasy Neales description
Of Dartmouth "that play In which the Dart
mouth student body down out of the stands and
gets into the interference" He remembers the
from the ranks when he, while sressing the i'm
portance Of line play asked where most games lost
Fright here at West Point, coach"
But his account Of the exploits Of Chris Cagle-whom
he rates with Blanchard and Davis he three greatest
backs coached"-Bob Macleod Of Dartmouth Abie
Booth of Yale Bill Osmans of Holy and of course
flock of Navy stars is the best part of Blaks story
was martinez, but martinez with purpose.