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Tiger Fan · 01-23-2024, 01:40 PM

OCTOBER 24, 1949

DESMARAIAS AMONG 47 KILLED IN PLANE CRASH IN AZORES

French Constellation On Way to New York Falls in Flames

A Paris to New York Constellation carrying 48 persons crashed in flames against a mountain peak in Azores yesterday. The Air France Line said all aboard perished, including Edouard Desmarais, the French boxer and World Middleweight Champion, along with 11 Americans.

The plane apparently strayed from its course in bad weather and poor visibility and rammed into 3,500-foot Algarvia peak in the northeast section of Sao Miguel Island. It was five minutes away from landing at Santa Maria when its last message was heard. Eight hours later the wreckage was sighted.

Desmarais, who twice held the world middleweight title and was set to defend it in a December bout against Davis Owens, was returning to New York to train after spending the last two months in his native France. With him were his manager and trainer.

Desmarais rose to fame in Europe prior to the war and was considered one of the best European middleweights of all-time. He was a perfect 34-0 and set to face then European champion Archie Rees until World War II intervened. He did not fight for nearly five years and was feared dead during the war but later discovered by liberating Allied forces to have been alive and a member of the French Underground for several years. Once the war ended, he defeated Rees to win the European title in 1945 and would get his first shot at the World Title the following year.

He faced Frank Melanson in the first of three epic bouts between the duo in October of 1946 with the world title on the line but was knocked out in the third round for the first loss of his career and the only time he was ever knocked out in the ring. A year later Desmarais won the famous rematch with Melanson, claiming the title with a 5th round TKO but his reign was short-lived as he lost a very controversial split-decision to Canadian Adrian Petrie in Montreal in his first defense. The American Boxing Federation investigated and while no wrongdoing was found on Petrie's part, the boxing organization did move to suspend two of the judges from working an ABF sanctioned bout in the future.

Granted a rematch by the ABF, Desmarais instead honoured an earlier commitment to stage a rubber match with Frank Melanson. There may not have been a title a stake, but it felt like in an electric Bigsby Garden last January when Desmarais earned a split-decision in a hard-fought 10-rounder. That would prove to be Melanson's last fight as a pro as the former champion, who lost just 3 times in his career but was 1-2 against Desmarais, announced his retirement.

Desmarais, as it would turn out, made just one more professional ring appearance, avenging the controversial loss to Petrie by scoring an 8th round knockout in Philadelphia in June to regain the World Middleweight Title. He enjoyed himself in Philadelphia and New York over the following month and a half before surprisingly boarding a luxury liner and returned to Paris. Many had thought he may well be retiring until the recent announcement of his defense against Davis Owens came two weeks ago. Desmarais was 33 at the time of his death.

CZERWINSKI, POTTER RUNAWAY ALLEN AWARD WINNERS

FABL recognized the top pitchers in the Federal and Continental Associations yesterday with the announcement of the Allen Award winners but there was little suspense in either race. It comes as no shock that Adrian Czerwinski of the Cleveland Foresters and Carl Potter of the Detroit Dynamos were the winners.

Czerwinski was a unanimous choice after a dominant 26-7 season with a 2.88 era that saw the 24-year-old as the biggest catalyst in the dramatic turnaround that saw the Cleveland Foresters transform from basement dwellers to the peak of the Continental Association. The Chicago native had given no indication his breakout season was coming after struggling through a rookie season in 1948 that saw him post a 4-11 record. He becomes the first pitcher to win the Allen Award while a member of the Cleveland Foresters. Veteran New York Stars righthander Vern Hubbard finished a distant second while Czerwinski's Cleveland teammate Ducky Davis was third in the voting.

The 23-year-old Potter becomes the youngest winner since Ed Bowman won the Allen at the same age as rookie in 1942. Potter led FABL with a 1.97 era, posting the third lowest single season era in the modern era, while going 22-8 for the third place Detroit Dynamos. Despite his young age this was his 5th full season of big league baseball and he has already amassed 79 career victories. Potter joins Frank Crawford (1939), Jack Beach (1932) and Roy Calfee (1928, 1929) as Dynamos to be named the top pitcher in the Fed.

The lefthander was named at the top of 15 of the 16 ballots cast. Ed Bowman of the Gothams, the aforementioned 1942 winner, finished second in the balloting but did not garner a first place vote. That final top vote went to Chicago's John Stallings, who placed third overall.

THEFT KING NAMED CONTINENTAL'S TOP ROOKIE

Miller Takes Fed Kellogg Award

There were three terrific candidates vying to lay claim to the Continental Association Kellogg Award, presented to the top newcomer in the loop. Montreal teammates Joe Austin and Otis O'Keefe, along with Brooklyn righthander Joe Potts, each had a pretty good case but, in the end, Austin was the runaway winner. The rookie second baseman had an outstanding debut season for the Saints, hitting .310 while leading FABL in stolen bases with 53 and finishing second in the Continental Association in runs scored with 109.

Austin collected 13 first place votes while his teammate O'Keefe, who finished second, topped two of the ballots. The final first place vote went to Potts, who was bidding to become the fourth consecutive Brooklyn Kings player to win the award. The Kellogg Award, named after legendary Philadelphia Keystones slugger Rankin Kellogg, was established in 1946 and the first three winners -all Kings- were Leo Hayden, Ralph Johnson and Pat Petty.

The Detroit Dynamos have had similar dominance in the Federal Association with current winner Jack Miller (14-11, 3.56) becoming the third Detroit player to win the award after Wally Hunter and Edwin Hackberry were the first two winners. Pittsburgh infielder Irv Clifford broke that trend last season.

The 23-year-old Miller, a 2nd round selection out of Red River State in the 1948 draft, rose quickly to the big leagues and established himself as an integral piece of a strong Detroit starting rotation. He had 14 first place votes with Washington outfielder Mickey Holloway laying claim to the other two.

Bob Martin's number 44 will be the first number retired by the Chiefs. The club will hold a ceremony honoring Martin on Opening Day 1950. As part of the ceremony, Martin will be the one to unveil the 1949 Championship Banner.
The Chiefs made a deal with their cross-town rivals, acquiring outfielder Carlos Montes from the Cougars in exchange for 20-year-old minor leaguer Mack Lyons, who just so happens to be the son of former Cougars star hurler Dick Lyons. Dick won 237 games over two decades in the Windy City and was a 5-time all-star along with the 1938 CA Allen Award winner. Mack was a 7th round pick out of high school by the Chiefs in 1947 and went 10-7 4.62 at Class B this past season.
Leland Kuenster of the Chicago Herald-Examiner on the Fed Allen voting. "Potter had one of the better seasons in recent memory: first in Wins, ERA, Innings, quality starts, FIP, WAR, WPA. If anyone should be an unanimous winner, it's Potter '49. That Stallings received a first place vote, and yet finished in third is also puzzling. That likely means that there were a few ballots where Stallings didn't appear in the top 5. Note that none of this is a complain, just an observation. It's interesting that we do have a variety of voting "styles."
Kuenster also added some quick analysis "I took 7 pitching categories (Wins, ERA, Innings, QS, Strikeouts, FIP, WAR) and looked at the top 5. You received 5 points for finishing 1st in the category, 1 point for finishing 5th and 0 points for not being in the top 5. Here is how the top 5 Allen vote getters fared. Potter, Bowman, Stallings is in fact a decent order of finish."
John Brinker of the New York Daily News says about Potter "Ultimately of course the right guy won. The 1st place vote for Stallings could possibly have been a reflection of the old "Most Valuable" versus "Best" - and because we vote after the WCS, I can't help but wonder if Stallings' performance in the postseason didn't color the vote (even though as a regular season award it shouldn't, and ideally we'd vote before the WCS)
Brett Bing in Toronto tells us that Wolves management are awaiting to see if highly touted prospects John Wells and Les Ledbetter are assigned to the Cuban Winter League. The Toronto Mail & Empire columist adds that work is still being done on roster with the new philosophy of players being advanced to see if they can handle a higher level(s) probably insures that there will a lot of movement around the Toronto system in 1950.
Marc T. McNeil from the Montreal Star informs us that Gil London quietly announced his retirement last week after 1090 FABL games with Detroit, Brooklyn and the Saints. The 35-year-old now former shortstop hit .256 in a big league career that included a pair of invitations to the All-Star Game.
Three of the top ten prospects in the latest OSA rankings are Boston Minutemen. Outfielder Rick Masters, an 18-year-old selected second overall last January, headlines the list at number one. Shortstop Joe Kleman, a 19-year-old who was Boston's first rounder in 1948, is 4th on the list while 21-year-old outfielder Yank Taylor -son of two time Whitney Award winner Tom Taylor- is 8th on the OSA top ten list. Yank was taken 9th overall by the Minutemen in the 1946 draft. if you are wondering where Boston's 1947 first round selection is - no worries as 21-year-old second baseman Marshall Thomas, who was the 6th overall pick that year, sits just outside the top ten at 14 on the scouting service list. The future may be very bright for the Minutemen with 4 of the top 14 and seven of the top 100 prospects.

RASH OF INJURIES STRIKES NAHC EARLY

The injury bug has taken a big bite out of the lineups of several clubs in this young NAHC season. None have felt the pain worse than the Boston Bees who presently have six players battling various ailments with three of them being fairly serious. Detroit has also been hit hard while the Chicago Packers and New York Shamrocks have some worries in net at the moment.

In Boston there may be a left winger shortage with a pair of 23-year-olds both going now. John Bentley suffered a scary cut to his leg with a skate and is likely out until the new year while Alex Gagnon may not return until February due to a torn tendon. Gagnon will be missed as he had 14 goals and 39 points for the Bees a year ago. Defenseman Ralph Citron also suffered what is being described as a "major" injury to his elbow. The good news is Tommy Hart and Wilbur Chandler, Boston's veteran leaders up front, are both close to regaining their health. Each are nursing minor injuries and but neither has not missed a game because of it.

Detroit has had rough go of things with Graham Comeau, who had 43 points last season, suffering a knee injury that will sideline him at least a month. That injury comes just days after last season's NAHC rookie of the year Louis Rocheleau suffered a season ending back injury in the Motors opening game of the campaign.

Chicago is without defenseman Jesse Santoro for at least another month after the young rearguard, who had 9 goals and 30 points last season, injured his knee in the preseason. Now comes word goaltender Norm Hanson is hurt, but the good news is it is just a minor infection, and he is list as day-to-day. Hanson won the Juneau Award as the NAHC's top netminder two years ago. The New York Shamrocks also are contending with a minor injury to their goaltender as Etienne Tremblay has been dealing with some problems with his catching hand.

NAHC DAILY RECAP

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 19

Boston 0 at Chicago 3 : There is always plenty of excitement when the Bees and Packers meet and this one was an entertaining contest that saw the Bees carry the play, but they could not solve Chicago netminder Norm Hanson, who turned aside all 29 Boston shots. Chicago scored once in each period with Ed Delarue, Marty Mahoney and Norm Fraser doing the honours for the Packers.

Detroit 5 at New York 3 : Defenseman Alex Leveille, who had just 5 goals all of last season, scored twice and added an assist to help pace the Motors past New York for their first win of the season. Joe Martin had a 3 point night for the Shamrocks.

Toronto 4 at Montreal 7 : The first night of the season that had all six teams in action concluded with a high scoring affair in Montreal as the hometown Valiants dumped the defending Challenge Cup champions 7-4 behind a 2 goal, 1 assist effort from both Ian Doyle and Adam Sandford.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 22

Montreal 5 at Boston 2 : The Valiants had plenty of offense left over after their win earlier in the week. Once more it was Adam Sandford and Ian Doyle leading the way with a goal and an assist each in a 5-2 Montreal victory as the Valiants evened their record a 2-2.

Toronto 0 at New York 1 : After allowing 7 goals on Wednesday evening, the Dukes defensive play was much better but Toronto could not manage to find the back of the net. Etienne Tremblay, who stopped 39 shots in the Greenshirts cage, was outstanding and Gordie Broadway nearly as good for Toronto. The only goal of the contest came off the stick of Joe Martin -his third of the young season- with just over 6 minutes remaining in the third period.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 23

Boston 2 at Montreal 1 : Conn Cundiff was the hero as the Boston defenseman scored the game winner was allowed to walk into the slot and fire a wrist shot past his former teammate Tom Brockers with less than 7 minutes left in the game to give the Bees the victory. The goal was a dagger to the Vals who just 10 seconds earlier were celebrating Like Deuling's first career NAHC marker, which had tied the game after Robert Walker staked the Bees to a lead in the first period.

Detroit 2 at Chicago 2 : Third period goals from Jeremy MacLean and Jarrett McGlynn allowed the Chicago Packers to salvage a point against Detroit. The Motors had scored twice in a 3 minute span in the second period to take the lead. Hank Walsh and Nick Tardif, each with their first of the season, were the Detroit marksmen.

NEXT WEEK'S GAMES

TUESDAY OCTOBER 25
Chicago at New York

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 26

New York at Boston

THURSDAY OCTOBER 27
Chicago at Detroit
Montreal at Toronto

SATURDAY OCTOBER 29
Montreal at Detroit
New York at Chicago
Toronto at Boston

SUNDAY OCTOBER 30
Chicago at Boston
Detroit at Montreal
New York at Toronto

DUKES STUMBLE ON THE ROAD

Toronto's icemen get a wakeup call during the second week of the NAHC season. The week began with a trip into Montreal to play the Valiants Wednesday night in front of 14,475. For all intents and purposes, the game was over before the 15-minute mark of the opening period. Montreal dominated the play from the opening puck drop putting 3 past Broadway in a span of 4 minutes 24 seconds midway through the opening period starting with a goal by Adam Sanford followed in rapid succession by Wayne Augustin and then Alex Peters just 38 seconds later and before the fans had stopped celebrating Augustin's marker.

Quinton Pollock's power play marker with just over 2 minutes left in the opening frame gave the Dukes a glimmer of hope. Les Carlson narrowed the gap to one, his first of two goals in the game, at 1:05 of the second. Sanford scored his second of the game at 6:46 to make it 4-2 then Carlson again narrowed the gap to one less than 4 minutes later only to have Ian Doyle make 5-3 at 13:30. It was a sloppy period that seemed to push Jack Barrell over the edge.

The coach was very animated behind the bench, often seen in player's ears after they came to the bench after a shift. As bad as Barrell thought his team was playing the Dukes had a chance when Chad Roy made it 5-4 at 13:09 of the third. That dream was crushed a scant 51 seconds later when Doyle again beat Broadway after which Barrell sent Terry Russell into the net. Russell did not have time to get comfortable as Brett Lanceleve put the disc behind him 28 seconds after he came in making it a 7-4 victory for the home squad.

The original plan was head from Montreal into New York to give the players a day off on Thursday in the Big Apple. Barrell changed those plans, instead of hooking on to a train into New York, the Dukes' car hooked on to a CP train going into Union Station in Toronto. The team arrived at the station at about 2 AM then were back on the ice for practice at 10 on Thursday that went until 1 PM. The team was back on the ice at 8 AM Friday before boarding their car on a train headed into New York for a Saturday encounter with the Shamrocks.

The game at Bigsby Gardens was low scoring but highly entertaining game for the 13,013 in attendance. The first two periods were scoreless due in large part to Shamrocks keeper Etienne Tremblay's heroics - turning aside all 32 shots he faced through 40 minutes. That included a 5 minute power play in the first after Mark Theriault was given a 5 minute major, game misconduct after cutting Trevor Parker with a high stick. The red light behind the net was finally lit at with just over 6 minutes remaining when Joe Martin slammed a rebound past Broadway giving the Shamrocks all they needed for a 1-0 victory.

Dukes Coach Jack Barrell: "I hope that the game in Montreal turns out to be our worst effort of the year. We were outplayed in every facet of game, outhit, out hustled to every lose puck. We did not learn the lesson from the Detroit game when we got away with a sloppy game due to good goaltending. Wednesday Gordie had a tough night, not that he got a lot of help. It was so bad we changed plans, came back to Toronto. The players probably were not happy, but I really don't care...this is our living. The practices seemed to pay off. Tremblay stoned us at Bigsby Garden, but that happens. Sometimes you run into a goaltender you cannot throw a grain rice by, it's just part of the game. The game changed after we could not score on Theriault's 5 minute major after he clipped Trevor, who needed 10 stitches to close the cut. We have to show Montreal a much better effort Thursday in front of the home crowd."

RAMBLERS ROLLING ALONG

Blast Los Angeles 49-7 For Fifth Straight Win

One of the more unlikely stories in the American Football Association this season has been the play of the St Louis Ramblers. After going just 6-6 a year ago, the Ramblers are off to a quick 5-0 start and are now the only team with perfect record still standing in the AFA. Their latest win was St. Louis' most one-sided victory of the season as, after a pedestrian first half, the Ramblers exploded for 42 points after the break to down the Los Angeles Tigers 49-7. St Louis has outscored its opponents by an average of 36-7 over the course of their five wins and their 7.0 points allowed per game is a full converted touchdown lower than anyone else in the loop.

The St Louis offensive revolves around the legs of the backfield trio of Nick Klausen, Walt Heinrich and John Sweat. Klauson gained 101 yards against the Tigers and is third in the AFA in rushing while Sweat picked up 79 and Heinrich bulled his way for 59 yards. Each also found the endzone. Sweat actually found it twice - once on a 34-yard run to tie the game at 7 in the second quarter and once more early in the third period when he returned an interception 20 yards for a major. It was one of three Los Angeles passes picked off and returned for scores with all 3 coming in a 38 second span in the third quarter that completely tamed the Tigers.

Washington is no longer unbeaten as the Wasps lost a wild game in Philadelphia, falling 58-28 to the Frigates that leaves both of those clubs tied for the East Division lead at 4-1. The teams combined for 9 touchdowns before the break and the Frigates added 3 more in the second half. Greg LePage had a dominant game for the Frigates, rushing for 3 scores and 153 yards while also returning kickoff 96 yards for a first period score.

Elsewhere the Chicago Wildcats improved to 4-1 with a 35-0 win in New York over the Gothams. Second year quarterback Ricky McCallister led the way for the winners with 3 touchdown passes while throwing for 270 yards. Boston withstood a late challenge from Pittsburgh to beat the Miners 31-26 at Fitzpatrick Park while Cleveland beat winless Detroit 28-6 despite the Maroons Marc Orlosky carrying the ball for 211 yards in the loss.

WINGS REMAIN UNBEATEN WITH WIN IN NEW YORK

The San Francisco Wings continue to be the class of the Continental Football Conference after the defending league champions ran their record to 7-0-1 following a 35-7 triumph of over the Grid Gothams at New York's Dyckman Stadium. Quarterback Sam Metcalf put on another aerial display leading the west coast crew to victory by throwing for 203 yards and 4 touchdowns.

The day started well for the Gothams, who took advantage of a Wings fumbled on the opening kick-off and drove 36 yards in less than a minute to take an early 7-0 lead on a Dave Bradley 27-yard touchdown run. That would prove to be the high point for the hosts as the Wings powerful offense took over.

Next week will be a key test for the San Francisco club as they travel to Kansas City to play the struggling Cowboys who, despite dropping 3 straight games including a 35-14 loss to the Wings in San Francisco, are always a threat. The Cowboys had this week off to regroup for that game.

In other games over the weekend the 2-5-1 Buffalo Bulls rallied with a pair of second half Mark Monday touchdown passes to nip Los Angeles 14-10. That loss for the Lobos, coupled with New Orleans blasting the Chicago Comets 49-21, leaves Los Angeles and the Crescents in a second place tie at 5-3.

GREAT LAKES ALLIANCE RACE WIDE OPEN

It has been a year of parity through collegiate football with only 7 major AIAA schools still sporting perfect records and plenty of uncertainty in many of the big section races. There was little change among the top schools again this week as St Blane, which had the weekend off as the Fighting Saints prepare for Annapolis Maritime next Saturday, remains number one followed by fellow unbeatens Rome State, Oklahoma City State, Redwood, Texas Gulf Coast and Penn Catholic - each of whom ran into little difficulty keeping their unblemished records this weekend.

There are plenty of questions in the south as Baton Rogue and Bayou State are the only two Deep South Conference schools yet to suffer a defeat in section play. Noble Jones College, Georgia Baptist and Cumberland were considered the team to beat in the mighty southern section but each, with the 2-4 Colonels the most obvious example, have had their difficulties. The South Atlantic was supposed to belong to North Carolina Tech, led by their explosive back Jackie Charles who was an All-American a year ago. However, the Techsters are 3-2 overall and trailing Carolina Poly and Columbia Military Academy -which upended Tech 7-3 earlier this season- in the conference race.

Out West it looks like Redwood and Northern California are headed for a showdown to determine who represents the West Coast Athletic Association in Santa Ana on New Years Day but the door is still slightly ajar for either of the two Los Angeles schools in CCLA and Coastal California to sneak in.

The biggest mess might just be the Great Lakes Alliance where Central Ohio was surprised 7-0 by Wisconsin State on Saturday leaving Whitney College (2-0-1) as the unexpected section leaders at the moment. Most anticipated an easy run to Santa Ana for defending national champion Detroit City College but the Knights have had a nightmare of a season. DCC is 2-3 and was surprised 13-3 on its home turf by Minnesota Tech Saturday.

It has been a strange year in the GLA and that goes beyond the Engineers, at 2-0-1 in conference play and coming off a 21-7 victory over winless Lincoln. There are 5 ties in 13 section games thus far and amazingly Western Iowa has seen all four of their section games to date end in a deadlock. There is plenty of time remaining in the campaign, but New Years classic picture is looking very cloudy at this stage of things.

WEEKEND RESULTS
EAST
Rome State 50 Henry Hudson 0
Penn Catholic 41 Strub College 7
Brunswick 28 Sadler 0
Grafton 26 Dickson 7
Pierpont 17 Annapolis Maritime 3
George Fox 30 St. Patrick's 7
Pittsburgh State 33 Indiana A&M 23
Eastern State 22 Alexandria 7
Boston State 27 Bigsby College 10
Garden State 17 Empire State 7
Ellery 38 Bethlehem College 6
Commonwealth Catholic 28 St. Matthew's College 3
Brooklyn State 59 St. Pancras 20
Huntington State 48 Quantico Marines 17

SOUTH
Miami State 14 Noble Jones College 0
Alabama Baptist 38 Northern Mississippi 7
Baton Rouge State 33 Opelika State 3
Western Florida 17 Georgia Baptist 17
Bayou State 26 North Carolina Tech 6
Cumberland 24 Cookeville State 0
Carolina Poly 30 Chesapeake State 0
Maryland State 33 Charleston Tech 3
Cowpens State 38 Richmond State 20
Columbia Military Academy 23 Coastal State 14
Petersburg 20 Central Carolina 17
Conwell College 41 Narragansett 13
Mobile Maritime 17 Bulein 14
Lexington State 21 Potomac College 14

MIDDLEWEST
Wisconsin State 7 Central Ohio 0
Whitney College 21 Lincoln 7
Minnesota Tech 13 Detroit City College 3
Western Iowa 24 St. Magnus 24
St. Ignatius 30 Liberty College 0
Iowa A&M 24 Daniel Boone College 20
Eastern Kansas 47 Knoxville 27
Lambert College 16 Laclede 14
Payne State 47 Central Illinois 7
Northern Minnesota 44 Dearborn State 3
Topeka State 37 Aberdeen State (SD) 7

SOUTHWEST
Oklahoma City State 34 College of Omaha 6
Travis College 21 Red River State 3
Arkansas A&T 34 Bluegrass State 27
Texas Gulf Coast 24 Central Kentucky 13
Amarillo Methodist 63 Mississippi A&M 13
College of Waco 35 Valley State 3
Texas Panhandle 27 South Valley State 0
Darnell State 13 Lubbock State 13
Abilene Baptist 33 Ferguson 7
Eastern Oklahoma 37 Lawrence State 24

FARWEST
Northern California 31 Rainier College 10
Coastal California 34 Portland Tech 17
Redwood 41 Lane State 7
CC Los Angeles 28 Spokane State 3
Idaho A&M 41 Custer College 35
Boulder State 21 Cache Valley 0
Mile High State 34 Utah A&M 17
Kit Carson University 27 San Clemente 17
Colorado Valley State 34 Flagstaff State 10
San Francisco Tech 38 Golden Gate University 10
Sunnyvale 44 California Catholic 13
Canyon A&M 44 St. Xavier (TX) 24
Wyoming A&I 33 Provo Tech 6

FEDERAL BASKETBALL LEAGUE PREDICTIONS FOR 1949-50 CAMPAIGAN

It's time again for a new season of Fast Break Basketball. Everyone has hopes this will be the year that their team finally makes it to the top. With that in mind, the staff at FBB News got together for the annual FBN Season Preview. The season preview gives our picks for how the divisions will end up as well as our predicted All-League first team.

PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
Eastern Division:
1. Boston Centurions
2. Brooklyn Red Caps
3. New York Knights
4. Baltimore Barons
5. Washington Statesmen
6. Philadelphia Phantoms
7. Hartford Patriots
8. Rochester Rockets
9. Syracuse Titans

Western Division:
1. Pittsburgh Pilots
2. Cleveland Crushers
3. Detroit Mustangs
4. Chicago Panthers
5. Buffalo Brawlers
6. Toronto Falcons
7. Cincinnati Cyclones
8. St Louis Steamers

ALL-LEAGUE TEAM
C - Larry Yim (Brawlers)
PF - Benton Legault (Red Caps)
SF - Nestor Patterson (Barons)
SG - Michael Fricke (Red Caps)
PG - Ted Gavin (Centurions)

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
PG - Major Belk (Falcons)

BAD NEWS FOR PHANTOMS

Mudd to Miss Opening Month

The Philadelphia Phantoms will have to survive the first month of the Federal Basketball League season without the service of forward Irvin Mudd. The 31-year-old suffered a broken wrist in preseason action last week. The former Maryland State Bengal started 59 games for the Phantoms last season, averaging 18.4 points per game and 8.3 boards.

OSA, the official scouting service of the Federal Basketball League, has unveiled its preseason rankings of the top draft eligible collegiate players for the summer 1950 FBL draft. The list, to no surprise, is headed by Liberty College senior center Luther Gordon, who was named winner of the Art Barrette Trophy last season as a junior. The Barette Trophy is presented annually to the collegiate player of the year.

RUTLEDGE VICTORIOUS IN RING RETURN

Danny Rutledge, coming off his first career loss when he was soundly beaten by World Welterweight Champion Mac Erickson in July, made his return to the ring a successful one after the 25-year-old stopped Rudy Perry in the 8th round of their 10 rounder in Baltimore. The fight was at Chesapeake Arena - the same venue Rutledge suffered his defeat to Erickson- because he felt it was important that he prove to himself he could win at that venue. Perry, who beat the count of referee Laurence Cole after being floored with a cross from Rutledge midway through the 8th round, was deemed unable to continue after, in the opinion of Cole, being "out on his feet."

Perry also recently had his title shot against Rutledge, but was knocked out in the 8th round of their bout in Detroit last March.

The other big fight last week took place at Bigsby Garden in New York on Tuesday and featured a pair of rising middleweights in Davis Owens and Tommy Campbell. Owens ran his record to a perfect 20-0 with a unanimous decision over Campbell in their 10-rounder. Much of the shine is off of Campbell's star as the 26-year-old Atlanta native is now 22-3-1 after losing each of his last two bouts. Darwin Thomas was a surprise winner over Campbell in July. Much of the talk from Owens following the win over Campbell was focused on his upcoming title shot against Edouard Desmarais. Of course, that was 4 days prior to the French fighter tragically losing his life in a plane crash over the weekend.

OTHER RECENT KEY RESULTS

In St Louis on Monday, veteran New York City welterweight Artie Neal (27-8-1) scored a unanimous decision victory over Justin Johnston (25-13-4).
Tuesday evening in Buffalo, rising heavyweight John Jones remained unbeaten as the 20-year-old Philadelphia native improved to 15-0-1 with a unanimous decision over Michael drake (35-15-3).
Thursday in Seattle, veteran middleweight Danny Morse -who lost a title shot against Adrian Petrie early this year- knocked out Johnny Williams in the 4th round of their scheduled 10 round bout.
Also on Thursday the "Topeka Tornado' Heinie Verplanck knocked out Cal Kotterman in the 10th round of their welterweight fight in Phoenix.
Friday in Holyoke, MA., heavyweight Harvey Winter improved to 20-4 with a unanimous decision win over Jack Jennings.
Sunday in San Diego, Rip Rogers knocked out Jersey Jerry Miller to improved to 19-3 in a middleweight fight.

UPCOMING MAJOR FIGHTS

Oct 25- National Auditorium, Washington DC - middleweights Bobby Price (22-4) vs Millard Shelton (25-5)
Oct 31- London, England - WW contender Danny Julian (25-1-1) vs Charles Hickson (17-1-1) and rising welterweights Archie O'Carry (17-1-1) vs Lewis Kernuish (17-0)
Nov 12 - Bigsby Garden, New York City - World Welterweight champion Mac Erickson (20-0) defends his title against Mark Westlake (27-4-1)
Dec 10- Thompson Palladium, Detroit - World Middleweight champion Edouard Desmarais (44-2) defends his title against Davis Owens (20-0). cancelled

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 10/23/1949

The Marine Corps commandant told the House Armed Services Committee that the Army is making good headway in an effort to push his corps out of the amphibious warfare business and reduce it to an inconsequential force, despite legislative safeguards provided by Congress.
Chances of an early settlement in the 3-week-old steel strike dwindled as a plan which the Government hoped would end the deadlock over pensions fell through. The outlook for ending the 5-week-old coal strike appears even more bleak.
House and Senate conferees agreed on a farm bill mid-week, removing the last obstacle to the adjournment of Congress.
However, plans for an adjournment ran into an angry dispute between the Senate and Houst, over the approval of a bill containing funds for the $1.314 billion dollar foreign arms program.
Communist-led rebel forces in Greece, staggered by the government's recent drive on its last strongholds near the Albanian border, announced they have stopped their civil war but won't lay down their arms.
Reports have reached the State Department that Soviet satellite nations, with Russian backing, are planning a guerrilla campaign against Yugoslavia like the Communist war on Greece.
Despite heavy protest from Russia, Yugoslavia won a seat in the United Nations Security Council over Soviet-sponsored Czechoslovakia. The action by the 59-nation General Assembly was a rebuff to the Soviet bloc.

01-23-2024, 01:40 PM	#864
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,715	October 24, 1949 Allen and Kellogg Awards OCTOBER 24, 1949 DESMARAIAS AMONG 47 KILLED IN PLANE CRASH IN AZORES French Constellation On Way to New York Falls in Flames A Paris to New York Constellation carrying 48 persons crashed in flames against a mountain peak in Azores yesterday. The Air France Line said all aboard perished, including Edouard Desmarais, the French boxer and World Middleweight Champion, along with 11 Americans. The plane apparently strayed from its course in bad weather and poor visibility and rammed into 3,500-foot Algarvia peak in the northeast section of Sao Miguel Island. It was five minutes away from landing at Santa Maria when its last message was heard. Eight hours later the wreckage was sighted. Desmarais, who twice held the world middleweight title and was set to defend it in a December bout against Davis Owens, was returning to New York to train after spending the last two months in his native France. With him were his manager and trainer. Desmarais rose to fame in Europe prior to the war and was considered one of the best European middleweights of all-time. He was a perfect 34-0 and set to face then European champion Archie Rees until World War II intervened. He did not fight for nearly five years and was feared dead during the war but later discovered by liberating Allied forces to have been alive and a member of the French Underground for several years. Once the war ended, he defeated Rees to win the European title in 1945 and would get his first shot at the World Title the following year. He faced Frank Melanson in the first of three epic bouts between the duo in October of 1946 with the world title on the line but was knocked out in the third round for the first loss of his career and the only time he was ever knocked out in the ring. A year later Desmarais won the famous rematch with Melanson, claiming the title with a 5th round TKO but his reign was short-lived as he lost a very controversial split-decision to Canadian Adrian Petrie in Montreal in his first defense. The American Boxing Federation investigated and while no wrongdoing was found on Petrie's part, the boxing organization did move to suspend two of the judges from working an ABF sanctioned bout in the future. Granted a rematch by the ABF, Desmarais instead honoured an earlier commitment to stage a rubber match with Frank Melanson. There may not have been a title a stake, but it felt like in an electric Bigsby Garden last January when Desmarais earned a split-decision in a hard-fought 10-rounder. That would prove to be Melanson's last fight as a pro as the former champion, who lost just 3 times in his career but was 1-2 against Desmarais, announced his retirement. Desmarais, as it would turn out, made just one more professional ring appearance, avenging the controversial loss to Petrie by scoring an 8th round knockout in Philadelphia in June to regain the World Middleweight Title. He enjoyed himself in Philadelphia and New York over the following month and a half before surprisingly boarding a luxury liner and returned to Paris. Many had thought he may well be retiring until the recent announcement of his defense against Davis Owens came two weeks ago. Desmarais was 33 at the time of his death. CZERWINSKI, POTTER RUNAWAY ALLEN AWARD WINNERS FABL recognized the top pitchers in the Federal and Continental Associations yesterday with the announcement of the Allen Award winners but there was little suspense in either race. It comes as no shock that Adrian Czerwinski of the Cleveland Foresters and Carl Potter of the Detroit Dynamos were the winners. Czerwinski was a unanimous choice after a dominant 26-7 season with a 2.88 era that saw the 24-year-old as the biggest catalyst in the dramatic turnaround that saw the Cleveland Foresters transform from basement dwellers to the peak of the Continental Association. The Chicago native had given no indication his breakout season was coming after struggling through a rookie season in 1948 that saw him post a 4-11 record. He becomes the first pitcher to win the Allen Award while a member of the Cleveland Foresters. Veteran New York Stars righthander Vern Hubbard finished a distant second while Czerwinski's Cleveland teammate Ducky Davis was third in the voting. The 23-year-old Potter becomes the youngest winner since Ed Bowman won the Allen at the same age as rookie in 1942. Potter led FABL with a 1.97 era, posting the third lowest single season era in the modern era, while going 22-8 for the third place Detroit Dynamos. Despite his young age this was his 5th full season of big league baseball and he has already amassed 79 career victories. Potter joins Frank Crawford (1939), Jack Beach (1932) and Roy Calfee (1928, 1929) as Dynamos to be named the top pitcher in the Fed. The lefthander was named at the top of 15 of the 16 ballots cast. Ed Bowman of the Gothams, the aforementioned 1942 winner, finished second in the balloting but did not garner a first place vote. That final top vote went to Chicago's John Stallings, who placed third overall. THEFT KING NAMED CONTINENTAL'S TOP ROOKIE Miller Takes Fed Kellogg Award There were three terrific candidates vying to lay claim to the Continental Association Kellogg Award, presented to the top newcomer in the loop. Montreal teammates Joe Austin and Otis O'Keefe, along with Brooklyn righthander Joe Potts, each had a pretty good case but, in the end, Austin was the runaway winner. The rookie second baseman had an outstanding debut season for the Saints, hitting .310 while leading FABL in stolen bases with 53 and finishing second in the Continental Association in runs scored with 109. Austin collected 13 first place votes while his teammate O'Keefe, who finished second, topped two of the ballots. The final first place vote went to Potts, who was bidding to become the fourth consecutive Brooklyn Kings player to win the award. The Kellogg Award, named after legendary Philadelphia Keystones slugger Rankin Kellogg, was established in 1946 and the first three winners -all Kings- were Leo Hayden, Ralph Johnson and Pat Petty. The Detroit Dynamos have had similar dominance in the Federal Association with current winner Jack Miller (14-11, 3.56) becoming the third Detroit player to win the award after Wally Hunter and Edwin Hackberry were the first two winners. Pittsburgh infielder Irv Clifford broke that trend last season. The 23-year-old Miller, a 2nd round selection out of Red River State in the 1948 draft, rose quickly to the big leagues and established himself as an integral piece of a strong Detroit starting rotation. He had 14 first place votes with Washington outfielder Mickey Holloway laying claim to the other two. Bob Martin's number 44 will be the first number retired by the Chiefs. The club will hold a ceremony honoring Martin on Opening Day 1950. As part of the ceremony, Martin will be the one to unveil the 1949 Championship Banner. The Chiefs made a deal with their cross-town rivals, acquiring outfielder Carlos Montes from the Cougars in exchange for 20-year-old minor leaguer Mack Lyons, who just so happens to be the son of former Cougars star hurler Dick Lyons. Dick won 237 games over two decades in the Windy City and was a 5-time all-star along with the 1938 CA Allen Award winner. Mack was a 7th round pick out of high school by the Chiefs in 1947 and went 10-7 4.62 at Class B this past season. Leland Kuenster of the Chicago Herald-Examiner on the Fed Allen voting. "Potter had one of the better seasons in recent memory: first in Wins, ERA, Innings, quality starts, FIP, WAR, WPA. If anyone should be an unanimous winner, it's Potter '49. That Stallings received a first place vote, and yet finished in third is also puzzling. That likely means that there were a few ballots where Stallings didn't appear in the top 5. Note that none of this is a complain, just an observation. It's interesting that we do have a variety of voting "styles." Kuenster also added some quick analysis "I took 7 pitching categories (Wins, ERA, Innings, QS, Strikeouts, FIP, WAR) and looked at the top 5. You received 5 points for finishing 1st in the category, 1 point for finishing 5th and 0 points for not being in the top 5. Here is how the top 5 Allen vote getters fared. Potter, Bowman, Stallings is in fact a decent order of finish." John Brinker of the New York Daily News says about Potter "Ultimately of course the right guy won. The 1st place vote for Stallings could possibly have been a reflection of the old "Most Valuable" versus "Best" - and because we vote after the WCS, I can't help but wonder if Stallings' performance in the postseason didn't color the vote (even though as a regular season award it shouldn't, and ideally we'd vote before the WCS) Brett Bing in Toronto tells us that Wolves management are awaiting to see if highly touted prospects John Wells and Les Ledbetter are assigned to the Cuban Winter League. The Toronto Mail & Empire columist adds that work is still being done on roster with the new philosophy of players being advanced to see if they can handle a higher level(s) probably insures that there will a lot of movement around the Toronto system in 1950. Marc T. McNeil from the Montreal Star informs us that Gil London quietly announced his retirement last week after 1090 FABL games with Detroit, Brooklyn and the Saints. The 35-year-old now former shortstop hit .256 in a big league career that included a pair of invitations to the All-Star Game. Three of the top ten prospects in the latest OSA rankings are Boston Minutemen. Outfielder Rick Masters, an 18-year-old selected second overall last January, headlines the list at number one. Shortstop Joe Kleman, a 19-year-old who was Boston's first rounder in 1948, is 4th on the list while 21-year-old outfielder Yank Taylor -son of two time Whitney Award winner Tom Taylor- is 8th on the OSA top ten list. Yank was taken 9th overall by the Minutemen in the 1946 draft. if you are wondering where Boston's 1947 first round selection is - no worries as 21-year-old second baseman Marshall Thomas, who was the 6th overall pick that year, sits just outside the top ten at 14 on the scouting service list. The future may be very bright for the Minutemen with 4 of the top 14 and seven of the top 100 prospects. RASH OF INJURIES STRIKES NAHC EARLY The injury bug has taken a big bite out of the lineups of several clubs in this young NAHC season. None have felt the pain worse than the Boston Bees who presently have six players battling various ailments with three of them being fairly serious. Detroit has also been hit hard while the Chicago Packers and New York Shamrocks have some worries in net at the moment. In Boston there may be a left winger shortage with a pair of 23-year-olds both going now. John Bentley suffered a scary cut to his leg with a skate and is likely out until the new year while Alex Gagnon may not return until February due to a torn tendon. Gagnon will be missed as he had 14 goals and 39 points for the Bees a year ago. Defenseman Ralph Citron also suffered what is being described as a "major" injury to his elbow. The good news is Tommy Hart and Wilbur Chandler, Boston's veteran leaders up front, are both close to regaining their health. Each are nursing minor injuries and but neither has not missed a game because of it. Detroit has had rough go of things with Graham Comeau, who had 43 points last season, suffering a knee injury that will sideline him at least a month. That injury comes just days after last season's NAHC rookie of the year Louis Rocheleau suffered a season ending back injury in the Motors opening game of the campaign. Chicago is without defenseman Jesse Santoro for at least another month after the young rearguard, who had 9 goals and 30 points last season, injured his knee in the preseason. Now comes word goaltender Norm Hanson is hurt, but the good news is it is just a minor infection, and he is list as day-to-day. Hanson won the Juneau Award as the NAHC's top netminder two years ago. The New York Shamrocks also are contending with a minor injury to their goaltender as Etienne Tremblay has been dealing with some problems with his catching hand. NAHC DAILY RECAP WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 19 Boston 0 at Chicago 3 : There is always plenty of excitement when the Bees and Packers meet and this one was an entertaining contest that saw the Bees carry the play, but they could not solve Chicago netminder Norm Hanson, who turned aside all 29 Boston shots. Chicago scored once in each period with Ed Delarue, Marty Mahoney and Norm Fraser doing the honours for the Packers. Detroit 5 at New York 3 : Defenseman Alex Leveille, who had just 5 goals all of last season, scored twice and added an assist to help pace the Motors past New York for their first win of the season. Joe Martin had a 3 point night for the Shamrocks. Toronto 4 at Montreal 7 : The first night of the season that had all six teams in action concluded with a high scoring affair in Montreal as the hometown Valiants dumped the defending Challenge Cup champions 7-4 behind a 2 goal, 1 assist effort from both Ian Doyle and Adam Sandford. SATURDAY OCTOBER 22 Montreal 5 at Boston 2 : The Valiants had plenty of offense left over after their win earlier in the week. Once more it was Adam Sandford and Ian Doyle leading the way with a goal and an assist each in a 5-2 Montreal victory as the Valiants evened their record a 2-2. Toronto 0 at New York 1 : After allowing 7 goals on Wednesday evening, the Dukes defensive play was much better but Toronto could not manage to find the back of the net. Etienne Tremblay, who stopped 39 shots in the Greenshirts cage, was outstanding and Gordie Broadway nearly as good for Toronto. The only goal of the contest came off the stick of Joe Martin -his third of the young season- with just over 6 minutes remaining in the third period. SUNDAY OCTOBER 23 Boston 2 at Montreal 1 : Conn Cundiff was the hero as the Boston defenseman scored the game winner was allowed to walk into the slot and fire a wrist shot past his former teammate Tom Brockers with less than 7 minutes left in the game to give the Bees the victory. The goal was a dagger to the Vals who just 10 seconds earlier were celebrating Like Deuling's first career NAHC marker, which had tied the game after Robert Walker staked the Bees to a lead in the first period. Detroit 2 at Chicago 2 : Third period goals from Jeremy MacLean and Jarrett McGlynn allowed the Chicago Packers to salvage a point against Detroit. The Motors had scored twice in a 3 minute span in the second period to take the lead. Hank Walsh and Nick Tardif, each with their first of the season, were the Detroit marksmen. NEXT WEEK'S GAMES TUESDAY OCTOBER 25 Chicago at New York WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 26 New York at Boston THURSDAY OCTOBER 27 Chicago at Detroit Montreal at Toronto SATURDAY OCTOBER 29 Montreal at Detroit New York at Chicago Toronto at Boston SUNDAY OCTOBER 30 Chicago at Boston Detroit at Montreal New York at Toronto DUKES STUMBLE ON THE ROAD Toronto's icemen get a wakeup call during the second week of the NAHC season. The week began with a trip into Montreal to play the Valiants Wednesday night in front of 14,475. For all intents and purposes, the game was over before the 15-minute mark of the opening period. Montreal dominated the play from the opening puck drop putting 3 past Broadway in a span of 4 minutes 24 seconds midway through the opening period starting with a goal by Adam Sanford followed in rapid succession by Wayne Augustin and then Alex Peters just 38 seconds later and before the fans had stopped celebrating Augustin's marker. Quinton Pollock's power play marker with just over 2 minutes left in the opening frame gave the Dukes a glimmer of hope. Les Carlson narrowed the gap to one, his first of two goals in the game, at 1:05 of the second. Sanford scored his second of the game at 6:46 to make it 4-2 then Carlson again narrowed the gap to one less than 4 minutes later only to have Ian Doyle make 5-3 at 13:30. It was a sloppy period that seemed to push Jack Barrell over the edge. The coach was very animated behind the bench, often seen in player's ears after they came to the bench after a shift. As bad as Barrell thought his team was playing the Dukes had a chance when Chad Roy made it 5-4 at 13:09 of the third. That dream was crushed a scant 51 seconds later when Doyle again beat Broadway after which Barrell sent Terry Russell into the net. Russell did not have time to get comfortable as Brett Lanceleve put the disc behind him 28 seconds after he came in making it a 7-4 victory for the home squad. The original plan was head from Montreal into New York to give the players a day off on Thursday in the Big Apple. Barrell changed those plans, instead of hooking on to a train into New York, the Dukes' car hooked on to a CP train going into Union Station in Toronto. The team arrived at the station at about 2 AM then were back on the ice for practice at 10 on Thursday that went until 1 PM. The team was back on the ice at 8 AM Friday before boarding their car on a train headed into New York for a Saturday encounter with the Shamrocks. The game at Bigsby Gardens was low scoring but highly entertaining game for the 13,013 in attendance. The first two periods were scoreless due in large part to Shamrocks keeper Etienne Tremblay's heroics - turning aside all 32 shots he faced through 40 minutes. That included a 5 minute power play in the first after Mark Theriault was given a 5 minute major, game misconduct after cutting Trevor Parker with a high stick. The red light behind the net was finally lit at with just over 6 minutes remaining when Joe Martin slammed a rebound past Broadway giving the Shamrocks all they needed for a 1-0 victory. Dukes Coach Jack Barrell: "I hope that the game in Montreal turns out to be our worst effort of the year. We were outplayed in every facet of game, outhit, out hustled to every lose puck. We did not learn the lesson from the Detroit game when we got away with a sloppy game due to good goaltending. Wednesday Gordie had a tough night, not that he got a lot of help. It was so bad we changed plans, came back to Toronto. The players probably were not happy, but I really don't care...this is our living. The practices seemed to pay off. Tremblay stoned us at Bigsby Garden, but that happens. Sometimes you run into a goaltender you cannot throw a grain rice by, it's just part of the game. The game changed after we could not score on Theriault's 5 minute major after he clipped Trevor, who needed 10 stitches to close the cut. We have to show Montreal a much better effort Thursday in front of the home crowd." RAMBLERS ROLLING ALONG Blast Los Angeles 49-7 For Fifth Straight Win One of the more unlikely stories in the American Football Association this season has been the play of the St Louis Ramblers. After going just 6-6 a year ago, the Ramblers are off to a quick 5-0 start and are now the only team with perfect record still standing in the AFA. Their latest win was St. Louis' most one-sided victory of the season as, after a pedestrian first half, the Ramblers exploded for 42 points after the break to down the Los Angeles Tigers 49-7. St Louis has outscored its opponents by an average of 36-7 over the course of their five wins and their 7.0 points allowed per game is a full converted touchdown lower than anyone else in the loop. The St Louis offensive revolves around the legs of the backfield trio of Nick Klausen, Walt Heinrich and John Sweat. Klauson gained 101 yards against the Tigers and is third in the AFA in rushing while Sweat picked up 79 and Heinrich bulled his way for 59 yards. Each also found the endzone. Sweat actually found it twice - once on a 34-yard run to tie the game at 7 in the second quarter and once more early in the third period when he returned an interception 20 yards for a major. It was one of three Los Angeles passes picked off and returned for scores with all 3 coming in a 38 second span in the third quarter that completely tamed the Tigers. Washington is no longer unbeaten as the Wasps lost a wild game in Philadelphia, falling 58-28 to the Frigates that leaves both of those clubs tied for the East Division lead at 4-1. The teams combined for 9 touchdowns before the break and the Frigates added 3 more in the second half. Greg LePage had a dominant game for the Frigates, rushing for 3 scores and 153 yards while also returning kickoff 96 yards for a first period score. Elsewhere the Chicago Wildcats improved to 4-1 with a 35-0 win in New York over the Gothams. Second year quarterback Ricky McCallister led the way for the winners with 3 touchdown passes while throwing for 270 yards. Boston withstood a late challenge from Pittsburgh to beat the Miners 31-26 at Fitzpatrick Park while Cleveland beat winless Detroit 28-6 despite the Maroons Marc Orlosky carrying the ball for 211 yards in the loss. WINGS REMAIN UNBEATEN WITH WIN IN NEW YORK The San Francisco Wings continue to be the class of the Continental Football Conference after the defending league champions ran their record to 7-0-1 following a 35-7 triumph of over the Grid Gothams at New York's Dyckman Stadium. Quarterback Sam Metcalf put on another aerial display leading the west coast crew to victory by throwing for 203 yards and 4 touchdowns. The day started well for the Gothams, who took advantage of a Wings fumbled on the opening kick-off and drove 36 yards in less than a minute to take an early 7-0 lead on a Dave Bradley 27-yard touchdown run. That would prove to be the high point for the hosts as the Wings powerful offense took over. Next week will be a key test for the San Francisco club as they travel to Kansas City to play the struggling Cowboys who, despite dropping 3 straight games including a 35-14 loss to the Wings in San Francisco, are always a threat. The Cowboys had this week off to regroup for that game. In other games over the weekend the 2-5-1 Buffalo Bulls rallied with a pair of second half Mark Monday touchdown passes to nip Los Angeles 14-10. That loss for the Lobos, coupled with New Orleans blasting the Chicago Comets 49-21, leaves Los Angeles and the Crescents in a second place tie at 5-3. GREAT LAKES ALLIANCE RACE WIDE OPEN It has been a year of parity through collegiate football with only 7 major AIAA schools still sporting perfect records and plenty of uncertainty in many of the big section races. There was little change among the top schools again this week as St Blane, which had the weekend off as the Fighting Saints prepare for Annapolis Maritime next Saturday, remains number one followed by fellow unbeatens Rome State, Oklahoma City State, Redwood, Texas Gulf Coast and Penn Catholic - each of whom ran into little difficulty keeping their unblemished records this weekend. There are plenty of questions in the south as Baton Rogue and Bayou State are the only two Deep South Conference schools yet to suffer a defeat in section play. Noble Jones College, Georgia Baptist and Cumberland were considered the team to beat in the mighty southern section but each, with the 2-4 Colonels the most obvious example, have had their difficulties. The South Atlantic was supposed to belong to North Carolina Tech, led by their explosive back Jackie Charles who was an All-American a year ago. However, the Techsters are 3-2 overall and trailing Carolina Poly and Columbia Military Academy -which upended Tech 7-3 earlier this season- in the conference race. Out West it looks like Redwood and Northern California are headed for a showdown to determine who represents the West Coast Athletic Association in Santa Ana on New Years Day but the door is still slightly ajar for either of the two Los Angeles schools in CCLA and Coastal California to sneak in. The biggest mess might just be the Great Lakes Alliance where Central Ohio was surprised 7-0 by Wisconsin State on Saturday leaving Whitney College (2-0-1) as the unexpected section leaders at the moment. Most anticipated an easy run to Santa Ana for defending national champion Detroit City College but the Knights have had a nightmare of a season. DCC is 2-3 and was surprised 13-3 on its home turf by Minnesota Tech Saturday. It has been a strange year in the GLA and that goes beyond the Engineers, at 2-0-1 in conference play and coming off a 21-7 victory over winless Lincoln. There are 5 ties in 13 section games thus far and amazingly Western Iowa has seen all four of their section games to date end in a deadlock. There is plenty of time remaining in the campaign, but New Years classic picture is looking very cloudy at this stage of things. WEEKEND RESULTS EAST Rome State 50 Henry Hudson 0 Penn Catholic 41 Strub College 7 Brunswick 28 Sadler 0 Grafton 26 Dickson 7 Pierpont 17 Annapolis Maritime 3 George Fox 30 St. Patrick's 7 Pittsburgh State 33 Indiana A&M 23 Eastern State 22 Alexandria 7 Boston State 27 Bigsby College 10 Garden State 17 Empire State 7 Ellery 38 Bethlehem College 6 Commonwealth Catholic 28 St. Matthew's College 3 Brooklyn State 59 St. Pancras 20 Huntington State 48 Quantico Marines 17 SOUTH Miami State 14 Noble Jones College 0 Alabama Baptist 38 Northern Mississippi 7 Baton Rouge State 33 Opelika State 3 Western Florida 17 Georgia Baptist 17 Bayou State 26 North Carolina Tech 6 Cumberland 24 Cookeville State 0 Carolina Poly 30 Chesapeake State 0 Maryland State 33 Charleston Tech 3 Cowpens State 38 Richmond State 20 Columbia Military Academy 23 Coastal State 14 Petersburg 20 Central Carolina 17 Conwell College 41 Narragansett 13 Mobile Maritime 17 Bulein 14 Lexington State 21 Potomac College 14 MIDDLEWEST Wisconsin State 7 Central Ohio 0 Whitney College 21 Lincoln 7 Minnesota Tech 13 Detroit City College 3 Western Iowa 24 St. Magnus 24 St. Ignatius 30 Liberty College 0 Iowa A&M 24 Daniel Boone College 20 Eastern Kansas 47 Knoxville 27 Lambert College 16 Laclede 14 Payne State 47 Central Illinois 7 Northern Minnesota 44 Dearborn State 3 Topeka State 37 Aberdeen State (SD) 7 SOUTHWEST Oklahoma City State 34 College of Omaha 6 Travis College 21 Red River State 3 Arkansas A&T 34 Bluegrass State 27 Texas Gulf Coast 24 Central Kentucky 13 Amarillo Methodist 63 Mississippi A&M 13 College of Waco 35 Valley State 3 Texas Panhandle 27 South Valley State 0 Darnell State 13 Lubbock State 13 Abilene Baptist 33 Ferguson 7 Eastern Oklahoma 37 Lawrence State 24 FARWEST Northern California 31 Rainier College 10 Coastal California 34 Portland Tech 17 Redwood 41 Lane State 7 CC Los Angeles 28 Spokane State 3 Idaho A&M 41 Custer College 35 Boulder State 21 Cache Valley 0 Mile High State 34 Utah A&M 17 Kit Carson University 27 San Clemente 17 Colorado Valley State 34 Flagstaff State 10 San Francisco Tech 38 Golden Gate University 10 Sunnyvale 44 California Catholic 13 Canyon A&M 44 St. Xavier (TX) 24 Wyoming A&I 33 Provo Tech 6 FEDERAL BASKETBALL LEAGUE PREDICTIONS FOR 1949-50 CAMPAIGAN It's time again for a new season of Fast Break Basketball. Everyone has hopes this will be the year that their team finally makes it to the top. With that in mind, the staff at FBB News got together for the annual FBN Season Preview. The season preview gives our picks for how the divisions will end up as well as our predicted All-League first team. PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH Eastern Division: 1. Boston Centurions 2. Brooklyn Red Caps 3. New York Knights 4. Baltimore Barons 5. Washington Statesmen 6. Philadelphia Phantoms 7. Hartford Patriots 8. Rochester Rockets 9. Syracuse Titans Western Division: 1. Pittsburgh Pilots 2. Cleveland Crushers 3. Detroit Mustangs 4. Chicago Panthers 5. Buffalo Brawlers 6. Toronto Falcons 7. Cincinnati Cyclones 8. St Louis Steamers ALL-LEAGUE TEAM C - Larry Yim (Brawlers) PF - Benton Legault (Red Caps) SF - Nestor Patterson (Barons) SG - Michael Fricke (Red Caps) PG - Ted Gavin (Centurions) ROOKIE OF THE YEAR PG - Major Belk (Falcons) BAD NEWS FOR PHANTOMS Mudd to Miss Opening Month The Philadelphia Phantoms will have to survive the first month of the Federal Basketball League season without the service of forward Irvin Mudd. The 31-year-old suffered a broken wrist in preseason action last week. The former Maryland State Bengal started 59 games for the Phantoms last season, averaging 18.4 points per game and 8.3 boards. OSA, the official scouting service of the Federal Basketball League, has unveiled its preseason rankings of the top draft eligible collegiate players for the summer 1950 FBL draft. The list, to no surprise, is headed by Liberty College senior center Luther Gordon, who was named winner of the Art Barrette Trophy last season as a junior. The Barette Trophy is presented annually to the collegiate player of the year. RUTLEDGE VICTORIOUS IN RING RETURN Danny Rutledge, coming off his first career loss when he was soundly beaten by World Welterweight Champion Mac Erickson in July, made his return to the ring a successful one after the 25-year-old stopped Rudy Perry in the 8th round of their 10 rounder in Baltimore. The fight was at Chesapeake Arena - the same venue Rutledge suffered his defeat to Erickson- because he felt it was important that he prove to himself he could win at that venue. Perry, who beat the count of referee Laurence Cole after being floored with a cross from Rutledge midway through the 8th round, was deemed unable to continue after, in the opinion of Cole, being "out on his feet." Perry also recently had his title shot against Rutledge, but was knocked out in the 8th round of their bout in Detroit last March. The other big fight last week took place at Bigsby Garden in New York on Tuesday and featured a pair of rising middleweights in Davis Owens and Tommy Campbell. Owens ran his record to a perfect 20-0 with a unanimous decision over Campbell in their 10-rounder. Much of the shine is off of Campbell's star as the 26-year-old Atlanta native is now 22-3-1 after losing each of his last two bouts. Darwin Thomas was a surprise winner over Campbell in July. Much of the talk from Owens following the win over Campbell was focused on his upcoming title shot against Edouard Desmarais. Of course, that was 4 days prior to the French fighter tragically losing his life in a plane crash over the weekend. OTHER RECENT KEY RESULTS In St Louis on Monday, veteran New York City welterweight Artie Neal (27-8-1) scored a unanimous decision victory over Justin Johnston (25-13-4). Tuesday evening in Buffalo, rising heavyweight John Jones remained unbeaten as the 20-year-old Philadelphia native improved to 15-0-1 with a unanimous decision over Michael drake (35-15-3). Thursday in Seattle, veteran middleweight Danny Morse -who lost a title shot against Adrian Petrie early this year- knocked out Johnny Williams in the 4th round of their scheduled 10 round bout. Also on Thursday the "Topeka Tornado' Heinie Verplanck knocked out Cal Kotterman in the 10th round of their welterweight fight in Phoenix. Friday in Holyoke, MA., heavyweight Harvey Winter improved to 20-4 with a unanimous decision win over Jack Jennings. Sunday in San Diego, Rip Rogers knocked out Jersey Jerry Miller to improved to 19-3 in a middleweight fight. UPCOMING MAJOR FIGHTS Oct 25- National Auditorium, Washington DC - middleweights Bobby Price (22-4) vs Millard Shelton (25-5) Oct 31- London, England - WW contender Danny Julian (25-1-1) vs Charles Hickson (17-1-1) and rising welterweights Archie O'Carry (17-1-1) vs Lewis Kernuish (17-0) Nov 12 - Bigsby Garden, New York City - World Welterweight champion Mac Erickson (20-0) defends his title against Mark Westlake (27-4-1) Dec 10- Thompson Palladium, Detroit - World Middleweight champion Edouard Desmarais (44-2) defends his title against Davis Owens (20-0). cancelled The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 10/23/1949 The Marine Corps commandant told the House Armed Services Committee that the Army is making good headway in an effort to push his corps out of the amphibious warfare business and reduce it to an inconsequential force, despite legislative safeguards provided by Congress. Chances of an early settlement in the 3-week-old steel strike dwindled as a plan which the Government hoped would end the deadlock over pensions fell through. The outlook for ending the 5-week-old coal strike appears even more bleak. House and Senate conferees agreed on a farm bill mid-week, removing the last obstacle to the adjournment of Congress. However, plans for an adjournment ran into an angry dispute between the Senate and Houst, over the approval of a bill containing funds for the $1.314 billion dollar foreign arms program. Communist-led rebel forces in Greece, staggered by the government's recent drive on its last strongholds near the Albanian border, announced they have stopped their civil war but won't lay down their arms. Reports have reached the State Department that Soviet satellite nations, with Russian backing, are planning a guerrilla campaign against Yugoslavia like the Communist war on Greece. Despite heavy protest from Russia, Yugoslavia won a seat in the United Nations Security Council over Soviet-sponsored Czechoslovakia. The action by the 59-nation General Assembly was a rebuff to the Soviet bloc. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles Last edited by Tiger Fan; 01-23-2024 at 05:45 PM.