OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - All things Figment - from the pages of The Figment Sporting Journal

Tiger Fan · 03-11-2024, 01:10 PM

MAY 15, 1950

FALCONS EARN SPLIT IN NATION'S CAPITAL

Federal Cage Title Series Tied at One Win Apiece

The Toronto Falcons are nothing if not resilient. After finishing dead last in the West Division a year ago the Falcons started this season with just 4 wins in their first 12 games. They eventually put things together with a strong second half of the season and finished in second place. They barely held off the Cleveland Crushers, led by FBL scoring champ Ziggy Rickard to win their opening round playoff series and then rallied from a 3-games-to-2 deficit with wins in game six and seven of the West Division final to knock off the defending western champion Detroit Mustangs thanks to a dominant defensive performance in the deciding game. They won that seventh game despite the fact that they were without three starters from their lineup.

Next up for Toronto is the Washington Statesmen, owners of the best regular season record in the FBL for two years running and a club that had little trouble disposing of the New York Knights in the previous round.

Game One of the finals was a learning experience for the Falcons. That is really all it could be after they absorbed a 90-58 beatdown in a game that was over nearly before it started after the hosts jumped out to a 35-14 lead in the first eleven minutes. Toronto center Lon Porter looked lost out there, scoring just 7 points and collecting only 4 rebounds while watching Statesmen pivot Ivan Sisco light him up for 22 points and 12 boards. Toronto guards David Bobo and Paul Marchetti, both injury replacements, each struggled with Marchetti only successful one 1 of 13 shots he heaved at the Washington cage. Depth forward Darrell Cox, only in the game because the score was so lobsided, was the only Falcons player to reach double-figures in points as he more than doubled his previous career best with 11 points.

The lessons were learned quickly as Toronto rebounded with a 92-88 victory in game two to accomplish what they needed to do - steal a game from Washington in the National Auditorium, a building the Washington squad had gone 33-5 in this season entering the game. Lon Porter learned his lessons as the center bounced back from his awful showing two nights before with team leading 26 points and 14 rebounds. Sisco still got his points for the Statesmen - 31 to go along with 17 rebounds- but it was not enough to stop a Toronto attack that saw injury replacements come up big. Marchetti, filling in for injured rookie of the year Major Belk at guard, had 19 points. Anthony Frank, pressed into the starting lineup after Max Lucia went down late in the Detroit series, also had 19 while Bobo scored 11 splitting time with starter James Chew, who is working his way back in shape after suffering a broken foot.

Saturday's second game was very much in doubt as time wound down. With just over 8 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter the Statesmen held a slim 74-73 lead but that is when the Falcons went on a tear. Successive baskets by Porter, Marchetti and Frank had Toronto ahead by 5 points just over a minute later. Toronto forward Jumbo Hinman had a quiet game, but he came up big with 6 minutes left when he made a shot from the baseline and then quickly stole the ball to set up an easy basket for Marchetti to increase the Falcons lead to 7 with less than five minutes to play. Toronto stretched it to 11 when Bobo made an easy layup with 4:11 to play and the Statesmen saw the game slipping away. Washington did mount a late charge, but it was a case of too-little, too-late and the Falcons would fly home with the series deadlocked.

The series now shifts to Toronto for games three and four, where the Falcons hammered Washington 104-77 in early April during what was Washington's only visit to Dominion Gardens this season. It will be hard to beat against the Falcons, who have overcome every challenge thrown at them so far this season.

Washington and Toronto both deserve credit for reaching the Federal Basketball League finals despite a roster that resembles a MASH unit for each club. The Statesmen are missing their shooting guard Reid Wilkinson, although there is a chance he may return if the series stretches long enough, as well as forward Willie Wright, who averaged 13.5 points per game before injury his knee in a late March win over Toronto. The Falcons losses are even more impactful as Max Lucia, their impressive fourth year forward who scored at an 18.9 clip during the season, broke his foot in the game six win over Detroit and is done for the year. They are also missing Major Belk, who saw his season end in early April when he suffered a devastating knee injury. All Belk, the second overall selection out of Carolina Poly, did was win the rookie of the year award and be among the league leaders in assists. To make matters worse, depth forward Jerrod Cummings is also sidelined. The only good news is that starting shooting guard James Chew, who has been hampered by both a broken finger and broken bone in his foot, made his first appearance of the playoffs in game one of the Washington series but he is clearly not at full strength and played sparingly in both contests.
Hard to imagine a more surprising result than what Game Seven of the West Division final gave us. A week ago, in this column we praised the Detroit Mustangs shooting, especially the big duo of Jack Kurtz and Ward Messer...each of whom were making about 50% of their field goal attempts. Cue game seven and the Mustangs shooters must have spent the day with their hands in ice buckets. Kurtz and Messer struggled as did the rest of the team, hitting on just 24.4% of their attempts and they were run out of their own building in a 30-point loss to an understaffed Falcons team.
We reported recently that Daniel Prescott will not be retaining ownership of the Brooklyn Red Caps. There were some rumours that Prescott was looking to sell the franchise, which would keep the most successful franchise in pro basketball history alive, but it appears he has been unable to find a buyer and all indications are Prescott will shut the team down and walk away from a sport he has been involved in at the pro level since the mid-1920s.

MUSTANGS STUMBLE IN CAGE PLAYOFFS

Should we expect any different the way things have been going of late for Motor City sports teams? The Detroit Mustangs, our only hope this year after the Motors collapse, the Dynamos struggles to score runs and the Maroons failure to change with the times and embrace the forward pass, came up short and snatched defeat from what should have been a second straight trip to the Federal Basketball League finals.

Coming off the high of a road win in game five to go up three games to two on an injury-depleted and seemingly beaten Toronto Falcons club, the Mustangs somehow lost both game six and seven and now must watch as the Falcons go on to represent the West Division against the mighty Washington Statesmen.

I suppose you can excuse the game six loss as the Falcons, a proud bird, refused to be eliminated in their own nest, pulling out a 92-79 victory to send the series back to Detroit. The key to the loss at Dominion Gardens was the Mustangs inability to get going early. Perhaps they felt the series was already over as the Detroit crew let Toronto build a 12-point lead in the opening period - a lead they could not recover from.

But the Mustangs game seven performance was inexcusable. One of the best shooting teams in the league suddenly went ice cold as Detroit was successful on just 24% of its attempts from the field. Detroit threw up 82 shots and Detroit fans were ready to throw up after the Mustangs were successful on just 20 of them. Detroit was much better from the charity stripe but scoring only 20 baskets, especially from a team that led the entire league in points and field goals during the regular season - a campaign that saw the Mustangs sink on average more than 36 buckets from the field per game.

The shooting bug infected everyone. Jack Kurtz is a local legend - a former star with Detroit City College who joined the Mustangs when Rollie Barrell created the FBL four years ago. He will be the first to tell you is 5-for-22 showing, including more misses from right under the basket than anyone would care to count, was simply unacceptable. Guard Israel Slusher was just as bad, hitting on just 4 of his 19 shot attempts and even league MVP Ward Messer was not immune to the shooting slump, as he made just 2 of 10 shot attempts.

The Falcons were beat up with two starters out and ripe for the picking, but the Mustangs picked the worst possible day to come up with their poorest effort of the season. It is a heartbreaking loss for Coach James Williams and his charges but hopefully a learning experience as this Mustangs club seems built to contend for several years yet. But this game seven showing is going to hurt for a very long time.

MOTOR CITY MUSINGS -- There has been no official confirmation from majority owner Rollie Barrell, not anyone else associated with the Detroit Maroons football club but it is a near certainty that the head coach of the club next season will be Tom Bowens. The former star end from the Boston Americans, who finished out his career with the Maroons before taking a job as an assistant to head coach Frank Yurik, is expected to put an increased emphasis on the passing game in Detroit. Under the recently dismissed Yurik's command, the Maroons were woefully behind the times in that regard. It will be interesting to see if the Maroons land a high-profile passer, either in the college draft or perhaps from one of the defunct Continental Football Conference clubs.

The diamond Dynamos continue to be a disappointment as the club sank to 8-19 -worst mark in either association- and they are already 11 games back of first place Washington. And it is only mid-May. The offense is still unable to accomplish much of anything -no team in the Fed has scored fewer runs this season- and now the starting pitching, best in the loop a year ago, has fallen off a cliff. Only St Louis has a higher earned run average as a pitching staff than the Dynamos 4.47 total. Yes, it is only mid-May but at 11 games out and dead last, one has to surmise the Dynamos flag drought will stretch to 23 years come October.

The ice Motors had a terrible second half and missed the playoffs, but the club will not be interested in signing Oscar James, who appears unlikely to resign with the Boston Bees. James was a finalist for the Juneau Trophy this year and won it the previous season but when asked about interest in the netminder, Detroit head coach Badger Rigney quickly replied, "We have two very good goaltenders here in Detroit and do not have the need nor the desire to acquire a third one." Rigney is said to be quite happy with the performances of Henri Chasse and Millard Touhey, who split the Detroit netminding duties last season.

Young Detroit native Bill Sloan, who is rising up the ranks in the heavyweight division, has landed his toughest opponent yet as the 21-year-old is going to face Brit Ben Budgeford in Newark two weeks from tonight. Sloan is 18-1 since turning pro at the age of 18 and is coming off a unanimous decision victory over ring veteran Nathan Conley. Budgeford will be quite the test as the 23-year-old is picking up the pieces after being knocked out in the third round of a February title fight against the legendary Hector Sawyer. Sawyer may well have softened the Englishman, who is 21-2 for his career, up for Sloan but it might just be a bigger test that the Detroiter is ready for.

Our city's other big hope in the heavyweight division is, of course, Joey Tierney. The 22-year-old, who is managed by Chester Conley, is still on his western tour that began with a March knockout of Maurice Woods in Los Angeles. Conley has not scheduled Tierney's next outing, but it will be on the west coast as Tierney, who is 18-0, has continued to train in California and may be looking at a shot against Conley's most famous fighter for the heavyweight title, perhaps as early as this winter.

TORONTO TALES

The Mail & Empire is going to trial a new type of article about the Toronto teams in the major professional leagues by Brett Bing. The thought is that these articles will give a brief overview along with thoughts on the Wolves, Dukes and Falcons road ahead with possible moves for the teams. The frequency and format of this article will depend on the readers acceptance of the articles. The suggestions, thoughts brought may be general or more specific dependent on the team.

The Wolves portion will be known as Tales From The Lair with the main focus being on the FABL club. The Wolves have started 1950 with a 9-10 record over 3 weeks following a pattern of a bad week followed by a good week. It is no secret, even to a casual observer, that this is a team in transition.

Manager Fred Barrell has his hands full trying to piece together lineups to insure his aging veterans get enough rest. There are many questions starting with when and how fast does the team begin phasing out the old to bring in the new? Is this going to be this season that John Wells, Les Ledbetter come to Toronto or will the team give prospects another season of development time at AAA?

How much influence will Bernie Millard, who owns both the Wolves and the cage Falcons, have on the speed of the Wolves transfer? Can he convince the fans to keep showing up to watch a team that will undoubtably struggle at times? Most insiders believe that the Wolves must begin the transition this season. The experts also seem to agree in their belief that Fred Barrell, along with the staff he has assembled, are the right people to finish the development of the players at the FABL level. On the downside, allowing the youth to grow into their roles would probably lead to many trying nights for the fans.

This writer thinks the team will take a measured approach. They started the process in earnest over the winter, revamping the way they are handling their minor system with a focus to push players up the chain faster. This may take a year to prove its value. At the big league level the team has proven that if they pitch and defend well they can remain relevant in the Continental Association. Doing those two tasks well are essential for the club's short-term success as producing runs will be a challenge for the year.

Some of the transition has begun with news that rookie outfielder Kirby Copeland was recently called up to Toronto. This is cover for Hank Giordano's injury, which will sideline him past the All-Star Game. Brett is told that the scouting staff will be constantly on the move this summer, sending detailed weekly telegraphed reports to Scouting Director Art Willis who will then meet with the GM and, if the team is at home, manager Barrell in order to get their input on making moves throughout the system. What remains to be seen is if any of the veterans will be traded away. Are the Wolves going to rebuild or retool?
*** No Parade This Year Down Yonge Street for Dukes ***

The Dukes update will Tales From The Manor. The team had a successful regular season only to be unceremoniously ran out of the playoffs in just 5 games gy the eventual Challenge Cup winning Montreal Valiants. Coach Jack Barrell is preparing for the upcoming amateur draft, The biggest news thus far is that it seems Alex Lavalliere, 24, does not want to return to Toronto. It also appears that Herb Burdette will not be back, so there will be at least a couple of jobs up for grabs in the fall.

In their system, Brett highlights goaltender Charlie Dell, who currently with Toledo, and forward Ken Jamieson as the prize prospects. Jamieson, the club's top draft pick last year is just 20 but many believe he may be ready to step into the NAHC next season after 36G, 69A season in St. John's Jr. A. Rearguard Darrell Yardley will probably be in Cleveland next season after toiling for a dysfunctional team in Windsor Jr. A this past winter. Brett wants to see if Jack Barrell discontinues or at least tones down attacks on the officials next season. Brett thinks that it cost Les Carlson a nomination for MVP. Brett is betting that Jack does not change, with the Dukes coach likely intent on continuing the "Us against the League" way to motivate the team.

The last team featured will be the FBL Falcons in the Tales From The Nest. Newcomers on the Toronto sports scene, they are currently involved in the Federal Basketball League finals with the Washington Statesmen after upsetting the Detroit Mustangs. The team is led by Lou Porter, Max Lucia and rookie guard Major Belk who was their first pick in the last draft. Belk may miss a sizeable portion of the next season a torn Achilles tendon and Lucia went down in game six of the Detroit series and is not expected to play at all in the finals. The story of the Falcons has been injuries this season, and how they overcame them to turn around a dismal first season in Toronto. The team is becoming more popular, as their popularity increases so will the Mail & Empire coverage.

The Brooklyn Kings big league team is off to a good start, surprisingly leading the CA after 4 weeks with a 18-9 record. Things are not going so well in the low minors with both Springfield and Tampa sporting 6-18 records. Neither team had a good season last year and as often is the case, the manager is the scapegoat. Brooklyn GM Martin fired Springfield's Dave Jenkins (40) who was in his 3rd season with the Hustlers (123-181 404) and rumor has it that Tampa manager Ken Springer, 48, is also on a very hot seat (138-166) as well. Speculation is that one of the potential job openings could go to an internal candidate (Mickey Williams PC at Tampa).

Martin stated that he values promoting a winning attitude in the minor leagues while coaching up young players who can some day join the team league club. The organization has made numerous player changes especially at Tampa in the last few weeks and Scouting Director John Spears has his eyes on the draft.

Looking around the league it is obvious that New York Stars outfielder Jack Welch just needed a fire lit under him as he was named CA Player of the Week. This after Welch was blasted by New York Mirror writer Artie Mortimer for his struggles last season and a slow start this year just a couple of weeks ago.

TALES FROM THE LAIR

Wolves Go 3-4 Before Heading Out On The Road - The Wolves had a losing week at home before leaving Toronto for the remainder of May with a record of 12-14. The week started with George Garrison's second straight rocky start. After holding the Brooklyn Kings in check for the first 4 innings, Garrison ran into trouble in the fifth when his control left him allowing Brooklyn to score 4 times on 3 hits and 2 walks to take a 5-1 lead. Barrell sent Garrison back out for the sixth where he allowed 2 more runs before Chuck Wirtz came in only to give two more on Pat Petty's long home run as Brooklyn cruised to an 11-3 win.

A day later was a much different story as Joe Hancock continued his impressive start to 1950 going into the seventh in a 5-0 victory on Tuesday to allow the Wolves to take the series 2 games to 1. Wirtz redeemed himself in relief securing the shutout.

The Montreal Saints then came to town for a short two game series. The Saints are off to a slow start, although they did get healthier taking both midweek games. In the first game neither starter was particularly effective although Pat Weakley did stick around long enough for his first victory of the year. Toronto's Jim Morrison did not make it out of the fifth before giving up six in a 8-5 Montreal win. The second game was low scoring which is the type of game the Wolves anemic offense needs to have a chance. Unfortunately Toronto could not push any runs across for Jimmy Gibbs as the Saints Wally Doyle scattered 8 hits in a complete game 2-0 shutout,

Wolves bats showed some signs of life in the first game of 3 game series with the Cleveland Foresters to conclude the homestand. Every starting position player registered at least one base knock in 12 hit 9-7 victory. The key hit was a two-run single by John Fast in seven after Cleveland had taken a 7-6 lead. Garrison returned to form Saturday tossing a 2-1 complete game victory, notching the first complete game of the year by a Wolves hurler. John Fast was again the hero driving both runs with a double in the fourth. Joe Hancock did all he could to pitch Toronto to a sweep on Sunday afternoon. He went 8 giving up only 2 runs , both unearned in the second on miscues by Harry Pomeroy and Chink Stickles. Toronto put themselves into a position to win the game after scoring 2 in the eighth, to take a 3-2 lead, on two bases loaded walks by Cleveland's John Jackson. Lou Jayson came into in an attempt to lock down the game, an error by Frady at short then 3 straight walks allow Cleveland to tie the game before winning it in the tenth on an Eddie Morris single off Jim Laurita after the Wolves had erased a lead off triple by Paul Porter when he tried to score on McClure's grounder to short. The crowd off almost 23,000 went home disappointed. Toronto fans will not see the Wolves live again until the first of June with the Cougars in town.

The only bright spots at the plate are Hal Wood's .352/.422/.451 line with Frank Frady making a case for more playing time with his bat. Frady's problem, as it has always been, is work in the field. Barrell may be forced to make some moves in the rotation if Morrison (1-3, 4.88) and Jerry York (1-3, 5.34) do not show signs of improvement on the road trip.

Hard Boiled Hank Koblenz became just the 8th player to reach the 300 career homerun plateau in FABL history. The 33-year-old Philadelphia Keystones infielder hit a 2-run shot off Pittsburgh's Dave Low in a 4-1 win over the Miners yesterday. Only 8 players have hit 300 homers but three of them are lifelong Keystones with Koblenz following in the trail blazed by Bobby Barrell and Rankin Kellogg.
28 year old Clyde Zimmerman made his FABL debut last week for the Chicago Cougars. Zimmerman signed with the Cougars over the winter after news broke that the Great Western League had folded as a major league and would revert to AAA status. Zimmerman was a key piece on the Oakland Grays squad that won 3 straight Bigsby Cup titles.
The Montreal Saints, considered to be one of the contenders for the CA flag this season, finally had a winning week after a very slow start to the campaign. The Saints have won 7 of their last 9 games after stumbling out of the gate with a 3-14 start.
The Cincinnati Cannons are over .500 at 12-11 but it is entirely because of their starting pitching, which has the lowest ERA in the CA. The Cannons pen has struggled and the offense has been non-existant with Fred Galloway (.194), Mike T. Taylor (.198) and Denny Andrews (.173) off to especially slow starts.
Some good news in Pittsburgh as the Miners are finally getting some pitching. Bill Traylor (4-1, 2.54) has been especially impressive as the 30-year-old attempts to follow up on his career best 12-win season of a year ago. Dave Low (3-2, 3.11) did surrender homer #300 to Hank Koblenz in a loss to the Keystones yesterday but the 27-year-old, who was a third round pick of Brooklyn back in 1940, seems to be adapting nicely to the role of full-time starter.
After scoring the most runs in the Fed last season, the Chicago Chiefs are 7th in runs scored this season (thank you, Detroit). No one in the outfield is really hitting. Carlos Montes returns from injury this week. The hope is that he can provide a spark.
Speaking of Detroit, the biggest disappointment of the opening month has to be the Dynamos, who are already 11 games out and at 8-19 own the worst record in baseball.

CABBELL NAMED TOP PLAYER AS NAHC HANDS OUT HARDWARE

New York Shamrocks veteran center Orval Cabbell was recognized as the NAHC's most valuable player after an outstanding season that saw the 32-year-old captain notch 27 goals and 80 points while suiting up for all 70 games this season. Cabbell, who finished 1 point behind Toronto's Les Carlson for the NAHC scoring lead, was presented the McDaniels Trophy as the loop's top player last week. Cabbell, who has played his entire NAHC career in New York, wins the McDaniels Trophy for the first time in his career. Cabbell becomes the first Shamrocks player to be named league MVP since Chris Schneider won it in 1925-26. Quinton Pollack of Toronto, last year's winner, and Tommy Burns of the Chicago Packers, who has won the award three times in his career, were the other finalists.

The Shamrocks also claimed their first Juneau Trophy in quite some time as Alex Sorrell was named the league's top netminder. The last New York goaltender to win the Juneau Trophy was Sam Jordan in 1934-35. As for Sorrell, he claimed the starting job in New York this season after two years as Etienne Tremblay's understudy and the 24-year-old posted a 2.29 goals against average with a league best .925 save percentage. Sorrell played in 45 of the Shamrocks 70 games, posting a 20-11-14 record with 3 shutouts. Surprisingly, he played just two games in the playoffs and none in the finals where New York fell in five games to Montreal as Shamrocks coach David McClune elected to start Tremblay. Despite the playoff slight, Sorrell has reupped with the Shamrocks, signing a 3 year contract last week.

Oscar James of the Boston Bees, who won the Juneau Trophy last year, and Norm Hanson of Chicago, the winner two years ago, were the other nominees for the Juneau.

The Shamrocks had two of the three nominees for rookie of the year in forward Rusty Mullins and defenseman George Collingsworth but New York was denied a sweep of the awards when Detroit's Lou Barber was named the rookie of the year. Barber, who wins the McCleod Trophy in recognition of his fine season, one which saw the 21-year-old right winger score 11 goals and earn 37 points in 56 games. The win by Barber marks the third consecutive season a Detroit forward has won the McCleod Trophy as he follows in the footsteps of Louis Rocheleau and Nick Tardif.

NAHC OFF-SEASON NEWS

The New York Shamrocks came to terms on new contracts for three key contributors to their first place showing this past season. Goaltender Alex Sorrell along with rearguards Ryan Kennedy and Mark Theriault each inked three year extensions with the Greenshirts. Sorrell, 24, had the best save percentage in the NAHC last season and was recently announced as the winner of the Juneau Trophy. His deal is for three years and will pay the goaltender $4,300 per season. The 27-year-old Kennedy spent 3 seasons with the Brooklyn Eagles before joining the Shamrocks in 1947 when the Eagles folded. He had a career high 9 goals along with 19 assists this season and signed a three year deal worth $5,200 per season. Theriault is 24 years of age and coming off a season where he had 8 points in 46 games. He was part of the trade that sent Shamrocks captain Bert McColley to the Chicago Packers a year ago and Theriault's new deal will pay him $4,500 for each of the next three seasons.

The Chicago Packers also made a move last week, signing Vincent Marios to a three year deal for $1,900 per season. The 22-year-old center/left winger had a tryout with the Shamrocks last fall, appearing in a pair of preseason games, but was did not make the New York roster and spent the season playing senior hockey in his native Quebec. Originally a 1946 fifth round selection, Marios spent three seasons with the Shamrocks HAA farm club in Philadelphia before being released by the organization last October.

CONFERENCE SPOTLIGHT: GREAT LAKES ALLIANCE

The Great Lakes Alliance is the oldest athletic conference in the country and was formed in the late 1890s, so it predates even the formation of the AIAA, which was created in 1906. A ten team conference for its entire history in basketball, the GLA only made one change throughout that time. That happened in the summer of 1922 when Chicago Poly dropped out of the conference and was replaced by St. Ignatius in basketball only. To this day the Lancers are only a partial member as they compete in basketball and baseball but not football, although that will change in the fall of 1953 as St. Ignatius will become the 10th GLA football school in that year.

Surprisingly GLA teams have only won 7 national championships in the three major team sports with the most recent one being the perfect football season for the Detroit City College Knights in 1948. Chicago Poly, when it was a member in 1916-17, and Whitney College twice, including four years ago, are the only conference members to win basketball titles despite the fact the GLA has been well represented in tournament play over the years. Many feel the lack of post-season basketball success can be blamed on the fact that the section schedule is so grueling and the GLA schools wear each other out before the tournament rolls around.

In baseball, GLA schools won three national titles in the early days but since the feeder system was abandoned for the expanded structure in 1933 only two GLA schools - the 1939 St. Magnus Vikings and 1943 Detroit City College Knights- have finished a season ranked in the top ten and the GLA has only won one game in the college World Championship Series since it expanded to a 16-team format in 1946. FABL's first overall draft pick in 1943, Jim Adams Jr., played his college ball in the GLA with St. Ignatius. Former GLA stars Freddie Jones and his brother Al Jones (both from Central Ohio) along with St. Magnus alum Bob Coon have won Frank Christian Awards as the collegiate baseball player of the year.

Another notable former GLA star is Pat Chappell, widely regarded as the best player in the now-defunct Continental Football Conference and quarterback of the Kansas City Cowboys. Chappell was a three-sport star at St. Magnus and was an All-American in basketball. Three GLA athletes have won the Art Barrette Trophy, presented to the top player in collegiate basketball. They are Orlin Nardone (Detroit City College 1912), Jimmy McGrady (Chicago Poly 1914) and Richard Harvey (St. Ignatius 1935). Dozens in addition to Chappell have been named basketball All-Americans over the years include current Federal Basketball League stars Ziggy Rickard (Central Ohio), Norm Yates (St. Ignatius) and Roman Sollars (Detroit City College).

Football award winners include Ed Watson (Detroit City College 1940), Harry Claiborne (Minnesota Tech 1941) and Jimmy Rhodes (Central Ohio 1944). Each won the football Christian Trophy as the AIAA most outstanding player.

Here are the member schools of the GLA.

UPCOMING MAJOR FIGHTS

May 16- Los Angeles, CA.: Welterweight Nate MacGilvray (25-11-3) vs Mike Jennings (38-12-1)
May 17- New Britain, CT: Welterweight Heinie Verplanck (19-5-1) vs Michael Livingston (21-11-5)
May 19- Seattle, WA: Heavyweight Mark Founain (25-8-1) vs Jimmy Lewis (25-13-1)
May 24- Flatbush Gardens, Brooklyn: British welterweight Danny Julian (27-1-1) makes his North American debut against Alonso Salazar (12-7-3)
May 24- Denny Arena, Boston: Welterweight Ira Mitchell (25-4) vs Robert Schultz (28-9-1)
May 27- Bigsby Garden, New York: World Middleweight champion John Edmonds (31-3) defends his title against Hugo Canio (17-0-2)
May 29- Newark, NJ: Heavyweight Ben Budgeford (21-2) vs Bill Sloan (18-1)
May 30- St Louis, MO: Middleweight Davis Owens (21-1) vs Jersey Joe Miller (18-11)
May 30- Dominion Stadium, Toronto: Canadian Middleweight champ Kevin Rawlings (24-5) defends his national title against Frank Carlson (22-7-2)
Jul 4- Gothams Stadium, New York: World heavyweight champion Hector Sawyer defends his title against Cannon Cooper.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 5/14/1950

On a cross-country stumping tour, President Truman told a Wyoming audience his administration will push the development of the West over the opposition of forces of "privilege and greed." A day later in Montana, Truman promised anew to seek repeal of the Taft-Hartley law which he said "insidiously undermines the strength of labor unions."
In a stop in Wisconsin, home state of Senator McCarthy, Truman spoke of world peace but made no direct mention of the Senator, who the President has denounced as "the greatest asset the Kremlin has."
Senate investigators began a study of State Department loyalty files on 81 persons accused by Senator McCarthy of being Communists or security risks.
For the first time since 1930, Texas is sending a Republican to Congress after Ben Guill won a special election in Pampa, TX.
Secretary of State Acheson spent much of the past week in Paris, meeting with his British and French counterparts to discuss ways of winning the cold war.
The United States has immediate plans to send military and economic aid to French Indo-China, where the French have been carrying on a shooting war against the forces of Communist-trained Ho Chi Minh for four years.
Truman acted to bolster the Nation's atomic strength after warning that the cold war with Russia will continue "for a long, long time."
A strike of railroad firemen crippled the Nation's train network and within a few hours mediators abandoned hope of a quick settlement.

03-11-2024, 01:10 PM	#899
Tiger Fan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 9,715	May 15, 1950 MAY 15, 1950 FALCONS EARN SPLIT IN NATION'S CAPITAL Federal Cage Title Series Tied at One Win Apiece The Toronto Falcons are nothing if not resilient. After finishing dead last in the West Division a year ago the Falcons started this season with just 4 wins in their first 12 games. They eventually put things together with a strong second half of the season and finished in second place. They barely held off the Cleveland Crushers, led by FBL scoring champ Ziggy Rickard to win their opening round playoff series and then rallied from a 3-games-to-2 deficit with wins in game six and seven of the West Division final to knock off the defending western champion Detroit Mustangs thanks to a dominant defensive performance in the deciding game. They won that seventh game despite the fact that they were without three starters from their lineup. Next up for Toronto is the Washington Statesmen, owners of the best regular season record in the FBL for two years running and a club that had little trouble disposing of the New York Knights in the previous round. Game One of the finals was a learning experience for the Falcons. That is really all it could be after they absorbed a 90-58 beatdown in a game that was over nearly before it started after the hosts jumped out to a 35-14 lead in the first eleven minutes. Toronto center Lon Porter looked lost out there, scoring just 7 points and collecting only 4 rebounds while watching Statesmen pivot Ivan Sisco light him up for 22 points and 12 boards. Toronto guards David Bobo and Paul Marchetti, both injury replacements, each struggled with Marchetti only successful one 1 of 13 shots he heaved at the Washington cage. Depth forward Darrell Cox, only in the game because the score was so lobsided, was the only Falcons player to reach double-figures in points as he more than doubled his previous career best with 11 points. The lessons were learned quickly as Toronto rebounded with a 92-88 victory in game two to accomplish what they needed to do - steal a game from Washington in the National Auditorium, a building the Washington squad had gone 33-5 in this season entering the game. Lon Porter learned his lessons as the center bounced back from his awful showing two nights before with team leading 26 points and 14 rebounds. Sisco still got his points for the Statesmen - 31 to go along with 17 rebounds- but it was not enough to stop a Toronto attack that saw injury replacements come up big. Marchetti, filling in for injured rookie of the year Major Belk at guard, had 19 points. Anthony Frank, pressed into the starting lineup after Max Lucia went down late in the Detroit series, also had 19 while Bobo scored 11 splitting time with starter James Chew, who is working his way back in shape after suffering a broken foot. Saturday's second game was very much in doubt as time wound down. With just over 8 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter the Statesmen held a slim 74-73 lead but that is when the Falcons went on a tear. Successive baskets by Porter, Marchetti and Frank had Toronto ahead by 5 points just over a minute later. Toronto forward Jumbo Hinman had a quiet game, but he came up big with 6 minutes left when he made a shot from the baseline and then quickly stole the ball to set up an easy basket for Marchetti to increase the Falcons lead to 7 with less than five minutes to play. Toronto stretched it to 11 when Bobo made an easy layup with 4:11 to play and the Statesmen saw the game slipping away. Washington did mount a late charge, but it was a case of too-little, too-late and the Falcons would fly home with the series deadlocked. The series now shifts to Toronto for games three and four, where the Falcons hammered Washington 104-77 in early April during what was Washington's only visit to Dominion Gardens this season. It will be hard to beat against the Falcons, who have overcome every challenge thrown at them so far this season. Washington and Toronto both deserve credit for reaching the Federal Basketball League finals despite a roster that resembles a MASH unit for each club. The Statesmen are missing their shooting guard Reid Wilkinson, although there is a chance he may return if the series stretches long enough, as well as forward Willie Wright, who averaged 13.5 points per game before injury his knee in a late March win over Toronto. The Falcons losses are even more impactful as Max Lucia, their impressive fourth year forward who scored at an 18.9 clip during the season, broke his foot in the game six win over Detroit and is done for the year. They are also missing Major Belk, who saw his season end in early April when he suffered a devastating knee injury. All Belk, the second overall selection out of Carolina Poly, did was win the rookie of the year award and be among the league leaders in assists. To make matters worse, depth forward Jerrod Cummings is also sidelined. The only good news is that starting shooting guard James Chew, who has been hampered by both a broken finger and broken bone in his foot, made his first appearance of the playoffs in game one of the Washington series but he is clearly not at full strength and played sparingly in both contests. Hard to imagine a more surprising result than what Game Seven of the West Division final gave us. A week ago, in this column we praised the Detroit Mustangs shooting, especially the big duo of Jack Kurtz and Ward Messer...each of whom were making about 50% of their field goal attempts. Cue game seven and the Mustangs shooters must have spent the day with their hands in ice buckets. Kurtz and Messer struggled as did the rest of the team, hitting on just 24.4% of their attempts and they were run out of their own building in a 30-point loss to an understaffed Falcons team. We reported recently that Daniel Prescott will not be retaining ownership of the Brooklyn Red Caps. There were some rumours that Prescott was looking to sell the franchise, which would keep the most successful franchise in pro basketball history alive, but it appears he has been unable to find a buyer and all indications are Prescott will shut the team down and walk away from a sport he has been involved in at the pro level since the mid-1920s. MUSTANGS STUMBLE IN CAGE PLAYOFFS Should we expect any different the way things have been going of late for Motor City sports teams? The Detroit Mustangs, our only hope this year after the Motors collapse, the Dynamos struggles to score runs and the Maroons failure to change with the times and embrace the forward pass, came up short and snatched defeat from what should have been a second straight trip to the Federal Basketball League finals. Coming off the high of a road win in game five to go up three games to two on an injury-depleted and seemingly beaten Toronto Falcons club, the Mustangs somehow lost both game six and seven and now must watch as the Falcons go on to represent the West Division against the mighty Washington Statesmen. I suppose you can excuse the game six loss as the Falcons, a proud bird, refused to be eliminated in their own nest, pulling out a 92-79 victory to send the series back to Detroit. The key to the loss at Dominion Gardens was the Mustangs inability to get going early. Perhaps they felt the series was already over as the Detroit crew let Toronto build a 12-point lead in the opening period - a lead they could not recover from. But the Mustangs game seven performance was inexcusable. One of the best shooting teams in the league suddenly went ice cold as Detroit was successful on just 24% of its attempts from the field. Detroit threw up 82 shots and Detroit fans were ready to throw up after the Mustangs were successful on just 20 of them. Detroit was much better from the charity stripe but scoring only 20 baskets, especially from a team that led the entire league in points and field goals during the regular season - a campaign that saw the Mustangs sink on average more than 36 buckets from the field per game. The shooting bug infected everyone. Jack Kurtz is a local legend - a former star with Detroit City College who joined the Mustangs when Rollie Barrell created the FBL four years ago. He will be the first to tell you is 5-for-22 showing, including more misses from right under the basket than anyone would care to count, was simply unacceptable. Guard Israel Slusher was just as bad, hitting on just 4 of his 19 shot attempts and even league MVP Ward Messer was not immune to the shooting slump, as he made just 2 of 10 shot attempts. The Falcons were beat up with two starters out and ripe for the picking, but the Mustangs picked the worst possible day to come up with their poorest effort of the season. It is a heartbreaking loss for Coach James Williams and his charges but hopefully a learning experience as this Mustangs club seems built to contend for several years yet. But this game seven showing is going to hurt for a very long time. MOTOR CITY MUSINGS -- There has been no official confirmation from majority owner Rollie Barrell, not anyone else associated with the Detroit Maroons football club but it is a near certainty that the head coach of the club next season will be Tom Bowens. The former star end from the Boston Americans, who finished out his career with the Maroons before taking a job as an assistant to head coach Frank Yurik, is expected to put an increased emphasis on the passing game in Detroit. Under the recently dismissed Yurik's command, the Maroons were woefully behind the times in that regard. It will be interesting to see if the Maroons land a high-profile passer, either in the college draft or perhaps from one of the defunct Continental Football Conference clubs. The diamond Dynamos continue to be a disappointment as the club sank to 8-19 -worst mark in either association- and they are already 11 games back of first place Washington. And it is only mid-May. The offense is still unable to accomplish much of anything -no team in the Fed has scored fewer runs this season- and now the starting pitching, best in the loop a year ago, has fallen off a cliff. Only St Louis has a higher earned run average as a pitching staff than the Dynamos 4.47 total. Yes, it is only mid-May but at 11 games out and dead last, one has to surmise the Dynamos flag drought will stretch to 23 years come October. The ice Motors had a terrible second half and missed the playoffs, but the club will not be interested in signing Oscar James, who appears unlikely to resign with the Boston Bees. James was a finalist for the Juneau Trophy this year and won it the previous season but when asked about interest in the netminder, Detroit head coach Badger Rigney quickly replied, "We have two very good goaltenders here in Detroit and do not have the need nor the desire to acquire a third one." Rigney is said to be quite happy with the performances of Henri Chasse and Millard Touhey, who split the Detroit netminding duties last season. Young Detroit native Bill Sloan, who is rising up the ranks in the heavyweight division, has landed his toughest opponent yet as the 21-year-old is going to face Brit Ben Budgeford in Newark two weeks from tonight. Sloan is 18-1 since turning pro at the age of 18 and is coming off a unanimous decision victory over ring veteran Nathan Conley. Budgeford will be quite the test as the 23-year-old is picking up the pieces after being knocked out in the third round of a February title fight against the legendary Hector Sawyer. Sawyer may well have softened the Englishman, who is 21-2 for his career, up for Sloan but it might just be a bigger test that the Detroiter is ready for. Our city's other big hope in the heavyweight division is, of course, Joey Tierney. The 22-year-old, who is managed by Chester Conley, is still on his western tour that began with a March knockout of Maurice Woods in Los Angeles. Conley has not scheduled Tierney's next outing, but it will be on the west coast as Tierney, who is 18-0, has continued to train in California and may be looking at a shot against Conley's most famous fighter for the heavyweight title, perhaps as early as this winter. TORONTO TALES The Mail & Empire is going to trial a new type of article about the Toronto teams in the major professional leagues by Brett Bing. The thought is that these articles will give a brief overview along with thoughts on the Wolves, Dukes and Falcons road ahead with possible moves for the teams. The frequency and format of this article will depend on the readers acceptance of the articles. The suggestions, thoughts brought may be general or more specific dependent on the team. The Wolves portion will be known as Tales From The Lair with the main focus being on the FABL club. The Wolves have started 1950 with a 9-10 record over 3 weeks following a pattern of a bad week followed by a good week. It is no secret, even to a casual observer, that this is a team in transition. Manager Fred Barrell has his hands full trying to piece together lineups to insure his aging veterans get enough rest. There are many questions starting with when and how fast does the team begin phasing out the old to bring in the new? Is this going to be this season that John Wells, Les Ledbetter come to Toronto or will the team give prospects another season of development time at AAA? How much influence will Bernie Millard, who owns both the Wolves and the cage Falcons, have on the speed of the Wolves transfer? Can he convince the fans to keep showing up to watch a team that will undoubtably struggle at times? Most insiders believe that the Wolves must begin the transition this season. The experts also seem to agree in their belief that Fred Barrell, along with the staff he has assembled, are the right people to finish the development of the players at the FABL level. On the downside, allowing the youth to grow into their roles would probably lead to many trying nights for the fans. This writer thinks the team will take a measured approach. They started the process in earnest over the winter, revamping the way they are handling their minor system with a focus to push players up the chain faster. This may take a year to prove its value. At the big league level the team has proven that if they pitch and defend well they can remain relevant in the Continental Association. Doing those two tasks well are essential for the club's short-term success as producing runs will be a challenge for the year. Some of the transition has begun with news that rookie outfielder Kirby Copeland was recently called up to Toronto. This is cover for Hank Giordano's injury, which will sideline him past the All-Star Game. Brett is told that the scouting staff will be constantly on the move this summer, sending detailed weekly telegraphed reports to Scouting Director Art Willis who will then meet with the GM and, if the team is at home, manager Barrell in order to get their input on making moves throughout the system. What remains to be seen is if any of the veterans will be traded away. Are the Wolves going to rebuild or retool? * No Parade This Year Down Yonge Street for Dukes * The Dukes update will Tales From The Manor. The team had a successful regular season only to be unceremoniously ran out of the playoffs in just 5 games gy the eventual Challenge Cup winning Montreal Valiants. Coach Jack Barrell is preparing for the upcoming amateur draft, The biggest news thus far is that it seems Alex Lavalliere, 24, does not want to return to Toronto. It also appears that Herb Burdette will not be back, so there will be at least a couple of jobs up for grabs in the fall. In their system, Brett highlights goaltender Charlie Dell, who currently with Toledo, and forward Ken Jamieson as the prize prospects. Jamieson, the club's top draft pick last year is just 20 but many believe he may be ready to step into the NAHC next season after 36G, 69A season in St. John's Jr. A. Rearguard Darrell Yardley will probably be in Cleveland next season after toiling for a dysfunctional team in Windsor Jr. A this past winter. Brett wants to see if Jack Barrell discontinues or at least tones down attacks on the officials next season. Brett thinks that it cost Les Carlson a nomination for MVP. Brett is betting that Jack does not change, with the Dukes coach likely intent on continuing the "Us against the League" way to motivate the team. The last team featured will be the FBL Falcons in the Tales From The Nest. Newcomers on the Toronto sports scene, they are currently involved in the Federal Basketball League finals with the Washington Statesmen after upsetting the Detroit Mustangs. The team is led by Lou Porter, Max Lucia and rookie guard Major Belk who was their first pick in the last draft. Belk may miss a sizeable portion of the next season a torn Achilles tendon and Lucia went down in game six of the Detroit series and is not expected to play at all in the finals. The story of the Falcons has been injuries this season, and how they overcame them to turn around a dismal first season in Toronto. The team is becoming more popular, as their popularity increases so will the Mail & Empire coverage. The Brooklyn Kings big league team is off to a good start, surprisingly leading the CA after 4 weeks with a 18-9 record. Things are not going so well in the low minors with both Springfield and Tampa sporting 6-18 records. Neither team had a good season last year and as often is the case, the manager is the scapegoat. Brooklyn GM Martin fired Springfield's Dave Jenkins (40) who was in his 3rd season with the Hustlers (123-181 404) and rumor has it that Tampa manager Ken Springer, 48, is also on a very hot seat (138-166) as well. Speculation is that one of the potential job openings could go to an internal candidate (Mickey Williams PC at Tampa). Martin stated that he values promoting a winning attitude in the minor leagues while coaching up young players who can some day join the team league club. The organization has made numerous player changes especially at Tampa in the last few weeks and Scouting Director John Spears has his eyes on the draft. Looking around the league it is obvious that New York Stars outfielder Jack Welch just needed a fire lit under him as he was named CA Player of the Week. This after Welch was blasted by New York Mirror writer Artie Mortimer for his struggles last season and a slow start this year just a couple of weeks ago. TALES FROM THE LAIR Wolves Go 3-4 Before Heading Out On The Road - The Wolves had a losing week at home before leaving Toronto for the remainder of May with a record of 12-14. The week started with George Garrison's second straight rocky start. After holding the Brooklyn Kings in check for the first 4 innings, Garrison ran into trouble in the fifth when his control left him allowing Brooklyn to score 4 times on 3 hits and 2 walks to take a 5-1 lead. Barrell sent Garrison back out for the sixth where he allowed 2 more runs before Chuck Wirtz came in only to give two more on Pat Petty's long home run as Brooklyn cruised to an 11-3 win. A day later was a much different story as Joe Hancock continued his impressive start to 1950 going into the seventh in a 5-0 victory on Tuesday to allow the Wolves to take the series 2 games to 1. Wirtz redeemed himself in relief securing the shutout. The Montreal Saints then came to town for a short two game series. The Saints are off to a slow start, although they did get healthier taking both midweek games. In the first game neither starter was particularly effective although Pat Weakley did stick around long enough for his first victory of the year. Toronto's Jim Morrison did not make it out of the fifth before giving up six in a 8-5 Montreal win. The second game was low scoring which is the type of game the Wolves anemic offense needs to have a chance. Unfortunately Toronto could not push any runs across for Jimmy Gibbs as the Saints Wally Doyle scattered 8 hits in a complete game 2-0 shutout, Wolves bats showed some signs of life in the first game of 3 game series with the Cleveland Foresters to conclude the homestand. Every starting position player registered at least one base knock in 12 hit 9-7 victory. The key hit was a two-run single by John Fast in seven after Cleveland had taken a 7-6 lead. Garrison returned to form Saturday tossing a 2-1 complete game victory, notching the first complete game of the year by a Wolves hurler. John Fast was again the hero driving both runs with a double in the fourth. Joe Hancock did all he could to pitch Toronto to a sweep on Sunday afternoon. He went 8 giving up only 2 runs , both unearned in the second on miscues by Harry Pomeroy and Chink Stickles. Toronto put themselves into a position to win the game after scoring 2 in the eighth, to take a 3-2 lead, on two bases loaded walks by Cleveland's John Jackson. Lou Jayson came into in an attempt to lock down the game, an error by Frady at short then 3 straight walks allow Cleveland to tie the game before winning it in the tenth on an Eddie Morris single off Jim Laurita after the Wolves had erased a lead off triple by Paul Porter when he tried to score on McClure's grounder to short. The crowd off almost 23,000 went home disappointed. Toronto fans will not see the Wolves live again until the first of June with the Cougars in town. The only bright spots at the plate are Hal Wood's .352/.422/.451 line with Frank Frady making a case for more playing time with his bat. Frady's problem, as it has always been, is work in the field. Barrell may be forced to make some moves in the rotation if Morrison (1-3, 4.88) and Jerry York (1-3, 5.34) do not show signs of improvement on the road trip. Hard Boiled Hank Koblenz became just the 8th player to reach the 300 career homerun plateau in FABL history. The 33-year-old Philadelphia Keystones infielder hit a 2-run shot off Pittsburgh's Dave Low in a 4-1 win over the Miners yesterday. Only 8 players have hit 300 homers but three of them are lifelong Keystones with Koblenz following in the trail blazed by Bobby Barrell and Rankin Kellogg. 28 year old Clyde Zimmerman made his FABL debut last week for the Chicago Cougars. Zimmerman signed with the Cougars over the winter after news broke that the Great Western League had folded as a major league and would revert to AAA status. Zimmerman was a key piece on the Oakland Grays squad that won 3 straight Bigsby Cup titles. The Montreal Saints, considered to be one of the contenders for the CA flag this season, finally had a winning week after a very slow start to the campaign. The Saints have won 7 of their last 9 games after stumbling out of the gate with a 3-14 start. The Cincinnati Cannons are over .500 at 12-11 but it is entirely because of their starting pitching, which has the lowest ERA in the CA. The Cannons pen has struggled and the offense has been non-existant with Fred Galloway (.194), Mike T. Taylor (.198) and Denny Andrews (.173) off to especially slow starts. Some good news in Pittsburgh as the Miners are finally getting some pitching. Bill Traylor (4-1, 2.54) has been especially impressive as the 30-year-old attempts to follow up on his career best 12-win season of a year ago. Dave Low (3-2, 3.11) did surrender homer #300 to Hank Koblenz in a loss to the Keystones yesterday but the 27-year-old, who was a third round pick of Brooklyn back in 1940, seems to be adapting nicely to the role of full-time starter. After scoring the most runs in the Fed last season, the Chicago Chiefs are 7th in runs scored this season (thank you, Detroit). No one in the outfield is really hitting. Carlos Montes returns from injury this week. The hope is that he can provide a spark. Speaking of Detroit, the biggest disappointment of the opening month has to be the Dynamos, who are already 11 games out and at 8-19 own the worst record in baseball. CABBELL NAMED TOP PLAYER AS NAHC HANDS OUT HARDWARE New York Shamrocks veteran center Orval Cabbell was recognized as the NAHC's most valuable player after an outstanding season that saw the 32-year-old captain notch 27 goals and 80 points while suiting up for all 70 games this season. Cabbell, who finished 1 point behind Toronto's Les Carlson for the NAHC scoring lead, was presented the McDaniels Trophy as the loop's top player last week. Cabbell, who has played his entire NAHC career in New York, wins the McDaniels Trophy for the first time in his career. Cabbell becomes the first Shamrocks player to be named league MVP since Chris Schneider won it in 1925-26. Quinton Pollack of Toronto, last year's winner, and Tommy Burns of the Chicago Packers, who has won the award three times in his career, were the other finalists. The Shamrocks also claimed their first Juneau Trophy in quite some time as Alex Sorrell was named the league's top netminder. The last New York goaltender to win the Juneau Trophy was Sam Jordan in 1934-35. As for Sorrell, he claimed the starting job in New York this season after two years as Etienne Tremblay's understudy and the 24-year-old posted a 2.29 goals against average with a league best .925 save percentage. Sorrell played in 45 of the Shamrocks 70 games, posting a 20-11-14 record with 3 shutouts. Surprisingly, he played just two games in the playoffs and none in the finals where New York fell in five games to Montreal as Shamrocks coach David McClune elected to start Tremblay. Despite the playoff slight, Sorrell has reupped with the Shamrocks, signing a 3 year contract last week. Oscar James of the Boston Bees, who won the Juneau Trophy last year, and Norm Hanson of Chicago, the winner two years ago, were the other nominees for the Juneau. The Shamrocks had two of the three nominees for rookie of the year in forward Rusty Mullins and defenseman George Collingsworth but New York was denied a sweep of the awards when Detroit's Lou Barber was named the rookie of the year. Barber, who wins the McCleod Trophy in recognition of his fine season, one which saw the 21-year-old right winger score 11 goals and earn 37 points in 56 games. The win by Barber marks the third consecutive season a Detroit forward has won the McCleod Trophy as he follows in the footsteps of Louis Rocheleau and Nick Tardif. NAHC OFF-SEASON NEWS The New York Shamrocks came to terms on new contracts for three key contributors to their first place showing this past season. Goaltender Alex Sorrell along with rearguards Ryan Kennedy and Mark Theriault each inked three year extensions with the Greenshirts. Sorrell, 24, had the best save percentage in the NAHC last season and was recently announced as the winner of the Juneau Trophy. His deal is for three years and will pay the goaltender $4,300 per season. The 27-year-old Kennedy spent 3 seasons with the Brooklyn Eagles before joining the Shamrocks in 1947 when the Eagles folded. He had a career high 9 goals along with 19 assists this season and signed a three year deal worth $5,200 per season. Theriault is 24 years of age and coming off a season where he had 8 points in 46 games. He was part of the trade that sent Shamrocks captain Bert McColley to the Chicago Packers a year ago and Theriault's new deal will pay him $4,500 for each of the next three seasons. The Chicago Packers also made a move last week, signing Vincent Marios to a three year deal for $1,900 per season. The 22-year-old center/left winger had a tryout with the Shamrocks last fall, appearing in a pair of preseason games, but was did not make the New York roster and spent the season playing senior hockey in his native Quebec. Originally a 1946 fifth round selection, Marios spent three seasons with the Shamrocks HAA farm club in Philadelphia before being released by the organization last October. CONFERENCE SPOTLIGHT: GREAT LAKES ALLIANCE The Great Lakes Alliance is the oldest athletic conference in the country and was formed in the late 1890s, so it predates even the formation of the AIAA, which was created in 1906. A ten team conference for its entire history in basketball, the GLA only made one change throughout that time. That happened in the summer of 1922 when Chicago Poly dropped out of the conference and was replaced by St. Ignatius in basketball only. To this day the Lancers are only a partial member as they compete in basketball and baseball but not football, although that will change in the fall of 1953 as St. Ignatius will become the 10th GLA football school in that year. Surprisingly GLA teams have only won 7 national championships in the three major team sports with the most recent one being the perfect football season for the Detroit City College Knights in 1948. Chicago Poly, when it was a member in 1916-17, and Whitney College twice, including four years ago, are the only conference members to win basketball titles despite the fact the GLA has been well represented in tournament play over the years. Many feel the lack of post-season basketball success can be blamed on the fact that the section schedule is so grueling and the GLA schools wear each other out before the tournament rolls around. In baseball, GLA schools won three national titles in the early days but since the feeder system was abandoned for the expanded structure in 1933 only two GLA schools - the 1939 St. Magnus Vikings and 1943 Detroit City College Knights- have finished a season ranked in the top ten and the GLA has only won one game in the college World Championship Series since it expanded to a 16-team format in 1946. FABL's first overall draft pick in 1943, Jim Adams Jr., played his college ball in the GLA with St. Ignatius. Former GLA stars Freddie Jones and his brother Al Jones (both from Central Ohio) along with St. Magnus alum Bob Coon have won Frank Christian Awards as the collegiate baseball player of the year. Another notable former GLA star is Pat Chappell, widely regarded as the best player in the now-defunct Continental Football Conference and quarterback of the Kansas City Cowboys. Chappell was a three-sport star at St. Magnus and was an All-American in basketball. Three GLA athletes have won the Art Barrette Trophy, presented to the top player in collegiate basketball. They are Orlin Nardone (Detroit City College 1912), Jimmy McGrady (Chicago Poly 1914) and Richard Harvey (St. Ignatius 1935). Dozens in addition to Chappell have been named basketball All-Americans over the years include current Federal Basketball League stars Ziggy Rickard (Central Ohio), Norm Yates (St. Ignatius) and Roman Sollars (Detroit City College). Football award winners include Ed Watson (Detroit City College 1940), Harry Claiborne (Minnesota Tech 1941) and Jimmy Rhodes (Central Ohio 1944). Each won the football Christian Trophy as the AIAA most outstanding player. Here are the member schools of the GLA. UPCOMING MAJOR FIGHTS May 16- Los Angeles, CA.: Welterweight Nate MacGilvray (25-11-3) vs Mike Jennings (38-12-1) May 17- New Britain, CT: Welterweight Heinie Verplanck (19-5-1) vs Michael Livingston (21-11-5) May 19- Seattle, WA: Heavyweight Mark Founain (25-8-1) vs Jimmy Lewis (25-13-1) May 24- Flatbush Gardens, Brooklyn: British welterweight Danny Julian (27-1-1) makes his North American debut against Alonso Salazar (12-7-3) May 24- Denny Arena, Boston: Welterweight Ira Mitchell (25-4) vs Robert Schultz (28-9-1) May 27- Bigsby Garden, New York: World Middleweight champion John Edmonds (31-3) defends his title against Hugo Canio (17-0-2) May 29- Newark, NJ: Heavyweight Ben Budgeford (21-2) vs Bill Sloan (18-1) May 30- St Louis, MO: Middleweight Davis Owens (21-1) vs Jersey Joe Miller (18-11) May 30- Dominion Stadium, Toronto: Canadian Middleweight champ Kevin Rawlings (24-5) defends his national title against Frank Carlson (22-7-2) Jul 4- Gothams Stadium, New York: World heavyweight champion Hector Sawyer defends his title against Cannon Cooper. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 5/14/1950 On a cross-country stumping tour, President Truman told a Wyoming audience his administration will push the development of the West over the opposition of forces of "privilege and greed." A day later in Montana, Truman promised anew to seek repeal of the Taft-Hartley law which he said "insidiously undermines the strength of labor unions." In a stop in Wisconsin, home state of Senator McCarthy, Truman spoke of world peace but made no direct mention of the Senator, who the President has denounced as "the greatest asset the Kremlin has." Senate investigators began a study of State Department loyalty files on 81 persons accused by Senator McCarthy of being Communists or security risks. For the first time since 1930, Texas is sending a Republican to Congress after Ben Guill won a special election in Pampa, TX. Secretary of State Acheson spent much of the past week in Paris, meeting with his British and French counterparts to discuss ways of winning the cold war. The United States has immediate plans to send military and economic aid to French Indo-China, where the French have been carrying on a shooting war against the forces of Communist-trained Ho Chi Minh for four years. Truman acted to bolster the Nation's atomic strength after warning that the cold war with Russia will continue "for a long, long time." A strike of railroad firemen crippled the Nation's train network and within a few hours mediators abandoned hope of a quick settlement. __________________ Cliff Markle HOB1 greatest pitcher 360-160, 9 Welch Awards, 11 WS titles