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Jiggs McGee · 08-30-2022, 11:45 AM

SEPTEMBER 27, 1943

MAJORS CENTER ON 1944 TALENT AS PLAYERS PONDER ARMY DRAFT

Major league baseball, tuckered from a long, rough run, is wobbling toward the finish line as the regular slate enters it's final week and then only the World Championship Series remains to be played. Extending the season a week longer than in the past because spring training was done further north, is close to an anti-climax. Sure Toronto and St Louis perhaps still have a chance but the odds heavily favor Cincinnati and Boston with a week to go. Now we have the fans thinking about the World Championship Series that lies ahead, but many of the players are worried about their draft status and the managers about perhaps fielding teams made up of 17-year-olds for next year.

The War Manpower Commissions official ruling late last week that baseball is not essential scarcely was a surprise. It had been said before in various versions, but this latest pronouncement on the specific case of Elijah Bourdeau of the New York stars, a pre-Pearl Harbor father who had been classified 1-A by his draft board, pointed up the problem anew. The fact that Bourdeau, who works in a war-industry for half the year, will not have his draft status changed from 1-A likely means a large number of ballplayers with children born prior to the Pearl Harbor attack -and previously exempt from the draft- will now be classified as 1-A when their draft number comes up.

Baseball's present player supply would dissolve soon, even if the season didn't. To meet this situation the managers of almost all clubs except the Boston Minutemen and Cincinnati Cannons, who are likely tuning up for the World Championship Series next week, and the St Louis Pioneers and Toronto Wolves -each of whom with still a glimmer of post-season hope- have begun scrambling to try and make plans for replacements.

Everyone expects baseball to continue next year, but just as last winter, there is likely to be a rash of players getting the call to service, and teams will be once more left scrambling to fill many holes in their rosters.

CANNONS, MINUTEMEN CLOSE TO CLINCHING

With one week remaining in the FABL regular season it will take a major surprise for us to be discussing anything but a Cincinnati-Boston World Championship Series this time next week. The Cannons, after a dreadful stumble in which they lost 7 of 8 games to the Toronto Wolves, are back on track and a full 4 games up on the Torontonians with 8 games remaining for each club. Boston's lead in the Federal Association on second place St Louis, which has been the feel good story of the second half of the season, is even bigger as the Minutemen lead the Pioneers by 4.5 games. Boston has 7 remaining -including 3 with St Louis- while the Pioneers still have 8 games left on their docket.

The Cannons, who three weeks ago led the Continental Association by 9 games, regrouped last week by sweeping 3 from the New York Stars and then ending Chicago's Series hopes with 2 wins in three outings against the Cougars. Toronto took two of three from both the Cougars and Stars last week but gave back a game out of the 6 they had made up with their dominating performance against the Cannons the previous two weeks.

Toronto is still alive, but there is no margin for error and they will need Cincinnati to trip up against Montreal and Brooklyn. The Wolves, like the Cannons, will play 4 each against the Saints and the Kings. A Toronto sweep and a Cincinnati split of those last 8 games would force a playoff in the CA for the first time since 1937.

The Pioneers had hoped to be within 3 games of Boston for the Federal Association lead but dropping 2 out of 3 to Washington -which was the surprise team of the first half of the season- derailed those dreams and now the Pioneers have 5 games to play in Pennsylvania sandwiched around their 3 game set with the Minutemen in Boston. Even a St Louis sweep in New England would not be enough on it's own so the Pioneers need to come up big in their 2 games in Pittsburgh to open the week before closing the season in Philadelphia while also hoping Boston stumbles along the way. Boston is home all week, starting with two against the last place Gothams - who they dropped a twin-bill to yesterday to keep St Louis alive- and finishing with a pair against Chicago after the potentially big mid-week set with the Pioneers.

The odds are overwhelmingly in Cincinnati and Boston's favour -about 96% for each claiming the pennant- but both Toronto and St Louis have outperformed their expected performance this season. In short, anything could happen.

The Manpower Board's ruling against the Stars and Elijah Bourdeau --saying his working half the season at an essential service war job is not enough to keep the pre-Pearl Harbor father from being classed 1-A-- has baseball executives fearing the worst. It certainly seems like the door has been busted wide-open for big numbers of FABL players leaving for the war effort again this winter. Everything points to another mad scramble as FABL managers look to plug holes that open almost weakly with news of the next big leaguer trading his ball uniform for Army or Navy garb.
END OF DAY? - There is a good chance the week ahead might give us the final FABL performance of Rabbit Day. The 3-time Allan Award winner and one of only two players to record their 300th career pitching victory in the modern era (post-1925) has not commented either way but there is speculation Day may retire after the season to join the war effort. He has two starts left for the Chicago Chiefs and unless he wins them both he will end up with a losing record for just the second time in his 17 year career.
No team has dominated an opponent this season like Cincinnati over Brooklyn. The Cannons are 17-1 vs the Kings heading into a crucial (for Cincinnati) series this week. Is that a good sign for the Cannons pennant plans, or a signal that the Kings are due to sweep?
St Louis and the Philadelphia Sailors also have 17 wins against an opponent. The Pioneers are done playing the Gothams but went 17-5 vs the defending champs. The Sailors are 17-3 vs the New York Stars with two game remaining between the two Continental foes this weekend.
While I think the Allan Award in the Fed is locked up and belongs to Boston's Ed Wood (22-7, 2.37), the race for the Whitney Award winner is really up in the air. Same in the CA where there is no clear Whitney winner, although Toronto's Walt Pack (.279,21,88) might have the inside track. As for the CA Allen Award, you have to think the Cannons Deuce Barrell (17-11, 2.02) is set to win his second straight but Joe Brown (17-10, 2.42) of the Cougars and Toronto's Joe Hancock (19-8, 2.75) may also draw interest.
Talk about lowered expectations. After a WCS win last year, this time around the Gothams are hoping to just get one more win in the final week in order to avoid losing 100 games - something the club has done just once before in it's history. That was 1937 when New York finished 54-100...a mark they would duplicate if they go 0-7 this week.
For the second consecutive year an independent club won the Great Western League pennant. A year ago it was the Hollywood Heroes. This time around the Seattle Thunderbirds finished at the top, 5 games up on second place Hollywood. Pitchers Harry Smith (19-7, 3.24) and Curt Bean (17-11, 3.26) led the way for the champs. Both veterans had a cup of joe in the bigs many years ago. The 34 year old Smith spent parts of two seasons with Washington while Bean, who recently turned 41 and has been with Seattle for more than a decade, went 3-1 in 12 FABL appearances with Detroit in the late 1920s.
With all that time in the GWL one might think Bean is the all-time wins leader in that loop but his 148 career GWL victories ranks third behind Ike Gubin, who pitched for Sacramento in the teens and won 176 games, and Jack Tuttle, who pitched for Portland in the same period. Neither Gubin or Tuttle ever made the big leagues.
The other two AAA league champs were the Rochester Rooks -Cleveland's top farm club- in the Union League and the Chicago Cougars affiliate in Milwaukee, which claimed the Century League title for the 6th time in the last dozen years.

RECORD-BREAKING DAY AS WILDCATS MAUL PALADINS

Having an experienced quarterback may make all the difference in this American Football Association this season -one in which most teams lost a large number of key contributors to the war effort. The Chicago Wildcats have one as Gus Brown is back and Brown made his presence felt by setting a modern-era record in throwing 6 touchdown passes to lead the the Wildcats to a 46-0 thumping of the Pittsburgh Paladins.

Brown, who beat by one the previous touchdown tossing mark jointly held by Del Thomas of Boston and Washington's Jeff Proos, completed 12 passes for 239 yards including those 6 touchdown tosses. Showing his value all over the field, the veteran also helped out on defense with a pair of interceptions. Brown split his 6 scoring strikes equally between Johnny Douglas and John Gilmore. Chicago, which dominated in all facets of the game, also received 91 yards rushing from veteran Marsh Shroeder while Ira Hartley, another returnee, ran for 48 yards and a score.

The loss spoiled the professional debut of Christian Award winning back Billy Bockhorst. The star of the Noble Jones College national championship team and first overall AFA draft pick had a circuitous route to pro football as he had been set to join the marines but failed his physical due to injuries suffered during the season last year. He had recovered sufficiently to suit up for Pittsburgh and all that was hurt on this day for Bockhorst was his confidence, after completing just 6 of 30 pass attempts to his Pittsburgh mates -while 5 other throws landed in the waiting arms of Chicago defenders- for a mere 45 yards. Bockhorst did have a little more success running the ball, which was his strength in college, as he gained 52 yards on 10 carries but he came out of his pro debut realizing just how much faster and stronger the pros are.

*** BOSTON STARTS STRONG ***

The defending AFA champion Boston Americans also have their veteran quarterback playing again this season and Del Thomas - the former FABL pitcher and MVP of last year's AFA title contest- threw three first half touchdown passes as Boston held off Detroit 21-14. The Americans built a 21-0 lead in the first half as Detroit had little success moving the ball. The Maroons nearly got on the board just before the break but Mike Biladeau, who came over from the shutdown Washington franchise, missed a 33 yard field goal attempt. It would be one of 4 missed field goals on the day for Biladeau, something that ultimately cost the Maroons a chance to go 2-0 on the young season.

Code:

        AFA STANDINGS
EASTERN		W  L  T  PCT
Boston		1  0  0  1.000
Brooklyn	0  0  0   .000
New York	0  0  0   .000
Phil-St Louis   0  0  0   .000

WESTERN		W  L  T  PCT
Chicago		1  0  0  1.000
Detroit	 	1  1  0   .500
Pittsburgh	0  1  0   .000
Cleveland	0  1  0   .000

AFA SCHEDULE AND RESULTS
Sunday September 26
Boston 21 Detroit 14
Chicago 46 Pittsburgh 0

Sunday December 13
Pittsburgh at Cleveland
Chicago at Detroit
Boston at New York

The big game of the week saw Pittsburgh State knock off St Blane 17-7 as the Fighting Saints, just like last year, got off to a slow start in a season with big expectations. CC Los Angeles also came up on the short end of their season opener, as the Coyotes lost to their cross-city rivals, falling 28-13 to Coastal California. The Dolphins debuted their new T-Formation offense in the contest and it proved to be something for which CCLA did not have an answer to.

WEEKEND RESULTS
Pittsburgh State 17 St. Blane 7
Coastal California 28 CC Los Angeles 13
Noble Jones College 9 Bayou State 6
North Carolina Tech 24 Georgia Baptist 16
Western Iowa 16 Great Lakes Navy 0
Iowa Pre-Flight 24 Central Ohio 7
George Fox 10 Coast Guard 0
Pierpont 33 Sadler 3
Wisconsin Catholic 30 Whitney College 14
Detroit City College 17 Bliss College 0
Minnesota Tech 21 Daniel Boone College 0
St. Magnus 28 Indiana A&M 13
Annapolis Maritime 20 North Carolina Pre-Flight 17
Penn Catholic 41 Rome State 0
Camp Grant 21 Wisconsin State 3
Grafton 24 St. Patrick's 3
Carolina Poly 24 Petersburg 24
Wichita Baptist 13 Lawrence State 13
College of Waco 17 Eastern Oklahoma 16
Arkansas A&T 10 Boone College-St. Louis 10
Ellery 24 Miller College 14
Northern California 20 Golden Gate University 14
Cowpens State 9 Camp Davis 0
Irondequoit 20 Empire State 7
Fort Warren 10 Boulder State 6
Mountainview State 16 South Valley State 3
Brunswick 14 Sampson NTS 6
Maryland State 24 Curtis Bay Coast Guard 0
Mile High State 17 Miners College 17
Fort Riley 21 Lowry Field 20
Charleston Tech 14 Newport News College 7
Oklahoma City State 24 Norman Naval Air Station 6
College of San Diego 10 Golden Gate University Pre-Flight 7
Frankford State 21 Liberty College 7
San Francisco Tech 51 Pleasanton Navy 3
Coastal State 44 Charleston (IL) 0
Randolph Field 17 Red River State 14
Eastern State 48 Richmond Field 0
Columbia Military Academy 43 Edgemoor 0
Alexandria 55 Conwell College 0
Travis College 17 Blackland Field 0
Darnell State 21 Bryan Field 0
Texas Gulf Coast 24 Payne State 3
Alameda Coast Guard 16 Del Monte Pre-Flight 13
March Field 12 Pacific All-Stars 3

The swineskin semester, now in full swing, looks and sounds like a healthy baby. Crowds were good across the country Saturday despite Transportation Board rules requiring the sale of tickets be restricted to fans within close proximity of the home stadium. Pittsburgh State upended St Blane before well over 50,000 and two of the few teams left on the west coast -Coastal California and CC Los Angeles- played in front of nearly the same number.

Good guess is that unpredictability, a bouncing characteristic of the obiate spheroid they play this game with, will be more rampant than ever. Good guess, too, will be that this will in no way deter the heavy betting on the big games. The bookies say they are looking forward to their fattest season with plenty of moolah in the hands of the Johnnys who think they can pick four out of four, six out of six, and so on.

*** ARMY IN A TOUGH SPOT ***

Distinct salty flavor is already noticeable in this grid season. Because the Navy lets its students play football and the Army doesn't, some branch or other of the naval forces is going to be in the public eye throughout this campaign. This is good for prestige, good for making friends with the public. Army, stymied by a set of "muscle-jerk" apostles, is going to lose glamour in the public eye, drop far behind Navy. The Army's gold-braid set is bitter about it, but what can they do? They will have to pin their hopes for good publicity on their on academy squad - Rome State. And that doesn't bode well after the Centurions were walloped 41-0 by Penn Catholic on Saturday. The Navy boys from Annapolis Maritime did not look overwhelming in their narrow win over North Carolina Pre-Flight, but even if the Navigators stumble this season there are plenty of other teams that are walking V-12 advertisements, not to mention Great Lakes Naval Training and the various pre-flight schools. The Iowa Seahawks, a navel pre-flight crew which boasts several former professional grid players, looked extremely strong in handling Central Ohio on the weekend.

Yes, with the V-12 athletes scattered at various schools across the country, Great Lakes Navy and all the pre-flights there will be far more than just Annapolis Maritime making headlines for the Navy, and making Army heads green with envy, as they read the sports pages.

TOP RECRUIT TO STAY IN CALIFORNIA

Despite receiving interest from a number of big schools including defending National Tournament Champion Rainier College, the player considered to be basketball's best high school senior this season has decided to attend college in his home state. Gerald Cheek, a guard out of Bakersfield High in California, has announced that he will attend City College of Los Angeles next season and play for the Coyotes. The teen is the first of the players considered to be the ten best high school seniors this season to declare which school he will be attending.

CC Los Angeles had a disappointing season last year, finishing just 7-9 is West Coast Athletic Association play and 22-10 overall while reaching the second round of the annual championship tournament. They did land a top-ten recruit last winter in Jumbo Hinman, a forward from Azusa, Ca., who was ranked 8th in the nation's crop of high school seniors a year ago. CCLA reached the championship game of the tournament two years ago and has three titles to it's credit - winning in 1916, 1928 and 1933.

The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 9/26/1943

General George C. Marshall warned Congress that postponement of the father draft would force reduction of combat divisions, cause casualties to mount unnecessarily and "prolong the whole struggle."
In a radio address Prime Minister Churchill warned a second front has not yet been engaged, calling the advance through southern Italy just an essential preliminary to the main attack on Germany.
As Allied troops advance towards Naples, retreating Nazi forces are destroying everything as they leave - sinking at least 30 ships in the harbor and setting docks and port areas on fire.
Russia is continuing to push the Nazi troops back, adding Smolensk as it's latest conquest.

08-30-2022, 11:45 AM	#507
Jiggs McGee All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2019 Posts: 677	September 27, 1943 - One week remaining in season SEPTEMBER 27, 1943 MAJORS CENTER ON 1944 TALENT AS PLAYERS PONDER ARMY DRAFT Major league baseball, tuckered from a long, rough run, is wobbling toward the finish line as the regular slate enters it's final week and then only the World Championship Series remains to be played. Extending the season a week longer than in the past because spring training was done further north, is close to an anti-climax. Sure Toronto and St Louis perhaps still have a chance but the odds heavily favor Cincinnati and Boston with a week to go. Now we have the fans thinking about the World Championship Series that lies ahead, but many of the players are worried about their draft status and the managers about perhaps fielding teams made up of 17-year-olds for next year. The War Manpower Commissions official ruling late last week that baseball is not essential scarcely was a surprise. It had been said before in various versions, but this latest pronouncement on the specific case of Elijah Bourdeau of the New York stars, a pre-Pearl Harbor father who had been classified 1-A by his draft board, pointed up the problem anew. The fact that Bourdeau, who works in a war-industry for half the year, will not have his draft status changed from 1-A likely means a large number of ballplayers with children born prior to the Pearl Harbor attack -and previously exempt from the draft- will now be classified as 1-A when their draft number comes up. Baseball's present player supply would dissolve soon, even if the season didn't. To meet this situation the managers of almost all clubs except the Boston Minutemen and Cincinnati Cannons, who are likely tuning up for the World Championship Series next week, and the St Louis Pioneers and Toronto Wolves -each of whom with still a glimmer of post-season hope- have begun scrambling to try and make plans for replacements. Everyone expects baseball to continue next year, but just as last winter, there is likely to be a rash of players getting the call to service, and teams will be once more left scrambling to fill many holes in their rosters. CANNONS, MINUTEMEN CLOSE TO CLINCHING With one week remaining in the FABL regular season it will take a major surprise for us to be discussing anything but a Cincinnati-Boston World Championship Series this time next week. The Cannons, after a dreadful stumble in which they lost 7 of 8 games to the Toronto Wolves, are back on track and a full 4 games up on the Torontonians with 8 games remaining for each club. Boston's lead in the Federal Association on second place St Louis, which has been the feel good story of the second half of the season, is even bigger as the Minutemen lead the Pioneers by 4.5 games. Boston has 7 remaining -including 3 with St Louis- while the Pioneers still have 8 games left on their docket. The Cannons, who three weeks ago led the Continental Association by 9 games, regrouped last week by sweeping 3 from the New York Stars and then ending Chicago's Series hopes with 2 wins in three outings against the Cougars. Toronto took two of three from both the Cougars and Stars last week but gave back a game out of the 6 they had made up with their dominating performance against the Cannons the previous two weeks. Toronto is still alive, but there is no margin for error and they will need Cincinnati to trip up against Montreal and Brooklyn. The Wolves, like the Cannons, will play 4 each against the Saints and the Kings. A Toronto sweep and a Cincinnati split of those last 8 games would force a playoff in the CA for the first time since 1937. The Pioneers had hoped to be within 3 games of Boston for the Federal Association lead but dropping 2 out of 3 to Washington -which was the surprise team of the first half of the season- derailed those dreams and now the Pioneers have 5 games to play in Pennsylvania sandwiched around their 3 game set with the Minutemen in Boston. Even a St Louis sweep in New England would not be enough on it's own so the Pioneers need to come up big in their 2 games in Pittsburgh to open the week before closing the season in Philadelphia while also hoping Boston stumbles along the way. Boston is home all week, starting with two against the last place Gothams - who they dropped a twin-bill to yesterday to keep St Louis alive- and finishing with a pair against Chicago after the potentially big mid-week set with the Pioneers. The odds are overwhelmingly in Cincinnati and Boston's favour -about 96% for each claiming the pennant- but both Toronto and St Louis have outperformed their expected performance this season. In short, anything could happen. The Manpower Board's ruling against the Stars and Elijah Bourdeau --saying his working half the season at an essential service war job is not enough to keep the pre-Pearl Harbor father from being classed 1-A-- has baseball executives fearing the worst. It certainly seems like the door has been busted wide-open for big numbers of FABL players leaving for the war effort again this winter. Everything points to another mad scramble as FABL managers look to plug holes that open almost weakly with news of the next big leaguer trading his ball uniform for Army or Navy garb. END OF DAY? - There is a good chance the week ahead might give us the final FABL performance of Rabbit Day. The 3-time Allan Award winner and one of only two players to record their 300th career pitching victory in the modern era (post-1925) has not commented either way but there is speculation Day may retire after the season to join the war effort. He has two starts left for the Chicago Chiefs and unless he wins them both he will end up with a losing record for just the second time in his 17 year career. No team has dominated an opponent this season like Cincinnati over Brooklyn. The Cannons are 17-1 vs the Kings heading into a crucial (for Cincinnati) series this week. Is that a good sign for the Cannons pennant plans, or a signal that the Kings are due to sweep? St Louis and the Philadelphia Sailors also have 17 wins against an opponent. The Pioneers are done playing the Gothams but went 17-5 vs the defending champs. The Sailors are 17-3 vs the New York Stars with two game remaining between the two Continental foes this weekend. While I think the Allan Award in the Fed is locked up and belongs to Boston's Ed Wood (22-7, 2.37), the race for the Whitney Award winner is really up in the air. Same in the CA where there is no clear Whitney winner, although Toronto's Walt Pack (.279,21,88) might have the inside track. As for the CA Allen Award, you have to think the Cannons Deuce Barrell (17-11, 2.02) is set to win his second straight but Joe Brown (17-10, 2.42) of the Cougars and Toronto's Joe Hancock (19-8, 2.75) may also draw interest. Talk about lowered expectations. After a WCS win last year, this time around the Gothams are hoping to just get one more win in the final week in order to avoid losing 100 games - something the club has done just once before in it's history. That was 1937 when New York finished 54-100...a mark they would duplicate if they go 0-7 this week. For the second consecutive year an independent club won the Great Western League pennant. A year ago it was the Hollywood Heroes. This time around the Seattle Thunderbirds finished at the top, 5 games up on second place Hollywood. Pitchers Harry Smith (19-7, 3.24) and Curt Bean (17-11, 3.26) led the way for the champs. Both veterans had a cup of joe in the bigs many years ago. The 34 year old Smith spent parts of two seasons with Washington while Bean, who recently turned 41 and has been with Seattle for more than a decade, went 3-1 in 12 FABL appearances with Detroit in the late 1920s. With all that time in the GWL one might think Bean is the all-time wins leader in that loop but his 148 career GWL victories ranks third behind Ike Gubin, who pitched for Sacramento in the teens and won 176 games, and Jack Tuttle, who pitched for Portland in the same period. Neither Gubin or Tuttle ever made the big leagues. The other two AAA league champs were the Rochester Rooks -Cleveland's top farm club- in the Union League and the Chicago Cougars affiliate in Milwaukee, which claimed the Century League title for the 6th time in the last dozen years. RECORD-BREAKING DAY AS WILDCATS MAUL PALADINS Having an experienced quarterback may make all the difference in this American Football Association this season -one in which most teams lost a large number of key contributors to the war effort. The Chicago Wildcats have one as Gus Brown is back and Brown made his presence felt by setting a modern-era record in throwing 6 touchdown passes to lead the the Wildcats to a 46-0 thumping of the Pittsburgh Paladins. Brown, who beat by one the previous touchdown tossing mark jointly held by Del Thomas of Boston and Washington's Jeff Proos, completed 12 passes for 239 yards including those 6 touchdown tosses. Showing his value all over the field, the veteran also helped out on defense with a pair of interceptions. Brown split his 6 scoring strikes equally between Johnny Douglas and John Gilmore. Chicago, which dominated in all facets of the game, also received 91 yards rushing from veteran Marsh Shroeder while Ira Hartley, another returnee, ran for 48 yards and a score. The loss spoiled the professional debut of Christian Award winning back Billy Bockhorst. The star of the Noble Jones College national championship team and first overall AFA draft pick had a circuitous route to pro football as he had been set to join the marines but failed his physical due to injuries suffered during the season last year. He had recovered sufficiently to suit up for Pittsburgh and all that was hurt on this day for Bockhorst was his confidence, after completing just 6 of 30 pass attempts to his Pittsburgh mates -while 5 other throws landed in the waiting arms of Chicago defenders- for a mere 45 yards. Bockhorst did have a little more success running the ball, which was his strength in college, as he gained 52 yards on 10 carries but he came out of his pro debut realizing just how much faster and stronger the pros are. * BOSTON STARTS STRONG * The defending AFA champion Boston Americans also have their veteran quarterback playing again this season and Del Thomas - the former FABL pitcher and MVP of last year's AFA title contest- threw three first half touchdown passes as Boston held off Detroit 21-14. The Americans built a 21-0 lead in the first half as Detroit had little success moving the ball. The Maroons nearly got on the board just before the break but Mike Biladeau, who came over from the shutdown Washington franchise, missed a 33 yard field goal attempt. It would be one of 4 missed field goals on the day for Biladeau, something that ultimately cost the Maroons a chance to go 2-0 on the young season. Code: AFA STANDINGS EASTERN W L T PCT Boston 1 0 0 1.000 Brooklyn 0 0 0 .000 New York 0 0 0 .000 Phil-St Louis 0 0 0 .000 WESTERN W L T PCT Chicago 1 0 0 1.000 Detroit 1 1 0 .500 Pittsburgh 0 1 0 .000 Cleveland 0 1 0 .000 AFA SCHEDULE AND RESULTS Sunday September 26 Boston 21 Detroit 14 Chicago 46 Pittsburgh 0 Sunday December 13 Pittsburgh at Cleveland Chicago at Detroit Boston at New York The big game of the week saw Pittsburgh State knock off St Blane 17-7 as the Fighting Saints, just like last year, got off to a slow start in a season with big expectations. CC Los Angeles also came up on the short end of their season opener, as the Coyotes lost to their cross-city rivals, falling 28-13 to Coastal California. The Dolphins debuted their new T-Formation offense in the contest and it proved to be something for which CCLA did not have an answer to. WEEKEND RESULTS Pittsburgh State 17 St. Blane 7 Coastal California 28 CC Los Angeles 13 Noble Jones College 9 Bayou State 6 North Carolina Tech 24 Georgia Baptist 16 Western Iowa 16 Great Lakes Navy 0 Iowa Pre-Flight 24 Central Ohio 7 George Fox 10 Coast Guard 0 Pierpont 33 Sadler 3 Wisconsin Catholic 30 Whitney College 14 Detroit City College 17 Bliss College 0 Minnesota Tech 21 Daniel Boone College 0 St. Magnus 28 Indiana A&M 13 Annapolis Maritime 20 North Carolina Pre-Flight 17 Penn Catholic 41 Rome State 0 Camp Grant 21 Wisconsin State 3 Grafton 24 St. Patrick's 3 Carolina Poly 24 Petersburg 24 Wichita Baptist 13 Lawrence State 13 College of Waco 17 Eastern Oklahoma 16 Arkansas A&T 10 Boone College-St. Louis 10 Ellery 24 Miller College 14 Northern California 20 Golden Gate University 14 Cowpens State 9 Camp Davis 0 Irondequoit 20 Empire State 7 Fort Warren 10 Boulder State 6 Mountainview State 16 South Valley State 3 Brunswick 14 Sampson NTS 6 Maryland State 24 Curtis Bay Coast Guard 0 Mile High State 17 Miners College 17 Fort Riley 21 Lowry Field 20 Charleston Tech 14 Newport News College 7 Oklahoma City State 24 Norman Naval Air Station 6 College of San Diego 10 Golden Gate University Pre-Flight 7 Frankford State 21 Liberty College 7 San Francisco Tech 51 Pleasanton Navy 3 Coastal State 44 Charleston (IL) 0 Randolph Field 17 Red River State 14 Eastern State 48 Richmond Field 0 Columbia Military Academy 43 Edgemoor 0 Alexandria 55 Conwell College 0 Travis College 17 Blackland Field 0 Darnell State 21 Bryan Field 0 Texas Gulf Coast 24 Payne State 3 Alameda Coast Guard 16 Del Monte Pre-Flight 13 March Field 12 Pacific All-Stars 3 The swineskin semester, now in full swing, looks and sounds like a healthy baby. Crowds were good across the country Saturday despite Transportation Board rules requiring the sale of tickets be restricted to fans within close proximity of the home stadium. Pittsburgh State upended St Blane before well over 50,000 and two of the few teams left on the west coast -Coastal California and CC Los Angeles- played in front of nearly the same number. Good guess is that unpredictability, a bouncing characteristic of the obiate spheroid they play this game with, will be more rampant than ever. Good guess, too, will be that this will in no way deter the heavy betting on the big games. The bookies say they are looking forward to their fattest season with plenty of moolah in the hands of the Johnnys who think they can pick four out of four, six out of six, and so on. * ARMY IN A TOUGH SPOT * Distinct salty flavor is already noticeable in this grid season. Because the Navy lets its students play football and the Army doesn't, some branch or other of the naval forces is going to be in the public eye throughout this campaign. This is good for prestige, good for making friends with the public. Army, stymied by a set of "muscle-jerk" apostles, is going to lose glamour in the public eye, drop far behind Navy. The Army's gold-braid set is bitter about it, but what can they do? They will have to pin their hopes for good publicity on their on academy squad - Rome State. And that doesn't bode well after the Centurions were walloped 41-0 by Penn Catholic on Saturday. The Navy boys from Annapolis Maritime did not look overwhelming in their narrow win over North Carolina Pre-Flight, but even if the Navigators stumble this season there are plenty of other teams that are walking V-12 advertisements, not to mention Great Lakes Naval Training and the various pre-flight schools. The Iowa Seahawks, a navel pre-flight crew which boasts several former professional grid players, looked extremely strong in handling Central Ohio on the weekend. Yes, with the V-12 athletes scattered at various schools across the country, Great Lakes Navy and all the pre-flights there will be far more than just Annapolis Maritime making headlines for the Navy, and making Army heads green with envy, as they read the sports pages. TOP RECRUIT TO STAY IN CALIFORNIA Despite receiving interest from a number of big schools including defending National Tournament Champion Rainier College, the player considered to be basketball's best high school senior this season has decided to attend college in his home state. Gerald Cheek, a guard out of Bakersfield High in California, has announced that he will attend City College of Los Angeles next season and play for the Coyotes. The teen is the first of the players considered to be the ten best high school seniors this season to declare which school he will be attending. CC Los Angeles had a disappointing season last year, finishing just 7-9 is West Coast Athletic Association play and 22-10 overall while reaching the second round of the annual championship tournament. They did land a top-ten recruit last winter in Jumbo Hinman, a forward from Azusa, Ca., who was ranked 8th in the nation's crop of high school seniors a year ago. CCLA reached the championship game of the tournament two years ago and has three titles to it's credit - winning in 1916, 1928 and 1933. The Week That Was Current events from the week ending 9/26/1943 General George C. Marshall warned Congress that postponement of the father draft would force reduction of combat divisions, cause casualties to mount unnecessarily and "prolong the whole struggle." In a radio address Prime Minister Churchill warned a second front has not yet been engaged, calling the advance through southern Italy just an essential preliminary to the main attack on Germany. As Allied troops advance towards Naples, retreating Nazi forces are destroying everything as they leave - sinking at least 30 ships in the harbor and setting docks and port areas on fire. Russia is continuing to push the Nazi troops back, adding Smolensk as it's latest conquest. __________________ Lead Columnist of The Figment Sporting Journal The Scripture of Sports Last edited by Jiggs McGee; 08-30-2022 at 12:39 PM.