DECEMBER 13, 1943
JAMESON REJOINS GOTHAMS AS COACH
Bud Jameson has decided to remain in uniform with the New York Gothams, but not as a player. The 39 year old veteran of nearly 2,200 career FABL games, who announced his retirement after 18 seasons with the Gothams in October, will take over as the club's hitting coach after Henry Jezewski announced his retirement.
Gothams Assistant General Manager Frank Escoe made the announcement this week, noting that in adding Jameson to long-time manager Ed Ziehl's staff further enhances the Gothams connection to the organization's history. Ziehl and Jameson rank 1-2 in career games played with the franchise and were teammates from 1922-28 before Ziehl -then a player/manager- retired to focus full-time on his managerial duties.
ALL EYES ON BOSTON FOR TITLE GAME REMATCH
The American Football Association regular season came to an end Sunday leaving us less than a week away from the much anticipated rematch between the Boston Americans and Chicago Wildcats for the league championship. The Americans have knocked off the Wildcats twice in title game action including last season when Boston quarterback Del Thomas led his team to a thrilling come-from-behind 24-21 victory at Chicago's Whitney Park. The Americans also prevailed in the 1939 title tilt, taking a 21-14 decision also at Whitney Park on that day. The Boston dominance of their Chicago rivals continued during the regular season when the Americans, behind 4 touchdown passes from Del Thomas including 3 to Johnny Littlejohn, prevailed 42-21.
Boston certainly has had Chicago's number over the years. The Americans have won 7 of 8 meetings between the two teams since 1937 including the last 3 in a row. Each of those three games were contested in the Windy City but this time it will be the brand new Minutemen Stadium that will host the event. Minutemen Stadium, just opened this year, also hosted four games of October's World Championship Series in which the hometown Boston nine came up just short against the Cincinnati Cannons. The construction of the new Boston stadium was originally designed for it to be the main track and field venue for the 1944 Olympic Games but that fell by the wayside with the start of the World War.
*** FRIGLERS WIN FINALE ***
The combined Philadelphia-St Louis ballclub avenged a loss to Brooklyn on the road the previous weekend by blasting the Kings 28-6 at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Stadium in Philadelphia yesterday. Dave Davis ran for 87 yards and a pair of first half touchdowns to lead the way for the Friglers. Those 87 yards were just enough to give Davis the league rushing title for the season as his 793 yards on the ground were 10 more than New York rookie Jerry McElheny accumulated. It marked the second straight year a St Louis player (well sort of since this was a combined entry) was the top rusher as rookie sensation Bob Holt led the way last year. Holt is in the military this season and did not play.
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AFA FINAL STANDINGS
EASTERN W L T PCT
Boston 9 1 0 .900
Phil-StL 4 3 2 .500
New York 4 4 2 .500
Brooklyn 2 8 0 .200
WESTERN W L T PCT
Chicago 7 3 0 .700
Detroit 5 4 1 .556
Pittsburgh 4 6 0 .400
Cleveland 2 7 1 .222
AFA SCHEDULE AND RESULTS
Sunday December 12
Phil-StL 28 Brooklyn 6
Sunday December 19
AFA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Chicago Wildcats at Boston Americans
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AFA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME RESULTS
YEAR SCORE VENUE MVP
1942 Boston 24 Chicago 21 Whitney Park Del Thomas, Bos
1941 Chicago 10 New York 7 Whitney Park Dutch Hoffman, Chi
1940 Brooklyn 20 Detroit 7 Thompson Field Don Ludwigs, Bkn
1939 Boston 21 Chicago 14 Whitney Park Leon Fitzgerald, Bos
1938 Brooklyn 9 Pittsburgh 7 Kings County Bill Morrisett, Bkn
1937 New York 34 Chicago 0 Bigsby Oval Tom Jamason, NY
1936 Detroit 24 Pittsburgh 7 Thompson Field Vernon Flowers, Det
1935 Pittsburgh 7 Cleveland 0 Forester Field Harvey Bowman, Pit
1934 Pittsburgh 7 Detroit 0 Thompson Field Hank Greshman, Pit
1933 Rhode Island 21 Chicago 0 North Side Park Harvey Bowman, RI
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AFA FINAL LEADERS
SCORING PTS
Vaught, Det 87
Littlejohn, Bos 78
Martins, Bos 54
McElheny, NY 54
Milatz, NY 45
PASSING COMP-ATT YDS TD INT[/b]
D Thomas, Bos 171-305 2045 25 16
G Brown, Chi 104-198 1403 20 16
Orlosky, Det 68-163 926 7 15
Sevier, Cle 77-168 911 3 34
Bockhorst, Pit 70-193 845 4 27
RUSHING YDS TD
D Davis, PhS 793 5
McElheny, NY 783 9
Orlosky, Det 776 5
Milatz, NY 678 1
Schroeder, Chi 598 1
RECEIVING CAT TD
Vaught, Det 50 8
Martins, Bos 47 7
Littlejohn, Bos 44 11
Sutcliffe, Cle 32 0
Schroeder, Chi 27 2
INERCEPTIONS #
D Thomas, Bos 13
Coleman, Det 10
Vaught, Det 8
G Brown, Chi 8
Scharfenb'rgr Det 8
EAST-WEST CLASSIC HAS A RICH HISTORY
The New Year's Day college football Classic games are among the most anticipated events on the sports calendar every year and even this year -despite a very depleted college football pool of talent- there is plenty of anticipation. The match-ups this year are as follows:
NEW YEARS CLASSIC GAME MATCH-UPS
EAST-WEST CLASSIC: Wisconsin Catholic (8-0) vs Northern California (9-1)
SUNSHINE CLASSIC: Darnell State (8-1) vs North Carolina Tech (8-1)
DESERT CLASSIC: Travis College (5-2-1) vs Minnesota Tech (9-0)
CAJUN CLASSIC: Georgia Baptist (5-4) vs Amarillo Methodist (6-2)
LONE STAR CLASSIC: Provo Tech (5-1-1) vs Eastern State (6-2)
While all of those Classic games are special and each have a rich history none can top the showdown in Santa Ana for it's tradition. The East-West Classic annually pits the champion of the West Coast Athletic Association against the best from the east and has often resulted in the winner claiming the National Championship as Noble Jones College did a year ago after beating CC Los Angeles 20-3 in the big game.
The very first East-West Classic was contested in 1916 and saw Travis College prevail over Ellery. There have been some slight changes along the way but despite two world wars the East-West Classic has not missed a beat. Those changes include the January 1, 1942 game being shifted to New York City after the attack on Pearl Harbor led to fears California might also be a target of the Japanese and in 1918 and 1919 when they game was still held but it involved military teams instead of college squads due to the First World War.
At stake once again this year will be a National Championship as it appears a near certainty that the winner of the game between Wisconsin Catholic and Northern California will be named number one in the nation.
90,000 EXPECTED TO SEE EAST-WEST TILT
More than 300,000 fans will dip into the New Year's Day grid classic for their 1943 football season dessert and -rationing to the contrary- their menu on this particular day will be the usual full fare of 5 games. The oldest of them all -The East-West Classic in Santa Ana, Calif- will again outdraw it's rivals, despite a greatly truncated West Coast Athletic Association grid schedule this season. A capacity crowd of 90,000 is expected to witness Northern California (9-1) face the surprising Wisconsin Catholic eleven. The Cajun Classic is expected to approach 70,000 customers with each of the other 3 games anticipated to draw between 30,000 and 60,000 each.
LIBERTY COLLEGE LEADS WAY IN RECRUITING BUT BAYOU STATE POISED FOR BIG CLASS
Just over half of the top twenty-five high school seniors have decided where they will play their college basketball next season and it is a banner crop for Liberty College. The Philadelphia school has landed three of what are considered to be the 25 best high school basketball playing seniors in the nation including Ward Messer -younger brother of New York Gothams baseball star Walt Messer.
Six of the top ten prospects have yet to decide on a school but word is Bayou State is looking like it might end up with an outstanding class as the Louisiana college is close to landing local star Billy Bob McRight, a center ranked #3 in the country, as well as the #8 Scott Winner, a guard out of Pensacola, Florida. The Cougars are also said to be very much in the running for another big man in Kenny Roberts. The McComb, Mississippi native has reportedly narrowed his choices down to Bayou State or Mississippi A&M.
If they do land all three, or even a pair of them, it is expected to signal a turnaround for a Bayou State program that has struggled for well over a decade. In the early days of college hoops, the Cougars were a fixture in the AIAA tournament and regularly won 20+ games a season. However, they have not been to the year-end tournament since 1927-28, and have not finished better than 16-14 in any year since then. They are struggling once more again this year at 6-4 and coming off a disappointing 45-33 loss to Capital(MS) University on the weekend. However, landing McRight, Winner and Roberts could certainly change their fortunes.
WISCONSIN CATHOLIC NEARLY PULLS OFF HUGE UPSET
It is quite a time to be a student at Wisconsin Catholic as the Cavaliers are not only undefeated in college football action and preparing to play for the grid National Championship but they also nearly pulled off one of the biggest upsets in recent memory on the college hardwood. The Cavaliers took 6-0 North Carolina Tech - a four-time National Champion, a fixture in the annual AIAA tournament and currently ranked #2 in the nation- to double overtime Friday evening before eventually succumbing by a 72-70 score.
Clearly the football success is rubbing off on the Catholic cagers -several of whom do double-duty and play football as well- as they nearly pulled off a miracle win. Wisconsin Catholic has never played in a National Tournament game while NC Tech has appeared in 86 of them. They won just 5 games a year ago and their last winning season was in 1928-29. They entered Friday's game with the Techsters at 1-4 with their lone win over Dakota College and it looked like another blowout was on loss was in store for the Cavs when they fell behind 29-11 at the break. That changed with a dominant second half that saw Wisconsin Catholic have a chance to win the game with just seconds remaining in regulation. Trailing 52-51, senior forward McKinley Schoenfield went to the charity stripe for two shots. He made his first to tie the game but missed his second sending the contest into overtime. Nothing was decided after the first five minutes setting the stage for a second overtime in which the Techsters managed to escape with a 72-70 win, averting what would have been a terrible upset loss.
Four Wisconsin Catholic players scored in double-figures with two of them including senior guard Joey McCulloiugh- who had 18- setting career bests. The basketball squad will fade back into the shadows now but for one game they had the Milwaukee campus celebrating a game as improbable as the entire season has been for the Cavaliers football team.
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AIAA COLLEGE BASKETBALL RANKINGS
# Team FPV Record Points Prv Conference
1. Coastal California (58) 4-0 1785 1 West Coast Athletic Association
2. North Carolina Tech (13) 6-0 1732 2 South Atlantic Conference
3. Rainier College 6-0 1661 3 West Coast Athletic Association
4. Western Iowa 6-1 1553 4 Great Lakes Alliance
5. Ohio Poly (1) 8-0 1499 8 Independent
6. Minnesota Tech 8-0 1468 6 Great Lakes Alliance
7. Frankford State 6-0 1370 7 Northeast Conference
8. St. Ignatius 2-1 1243 5 Great Lakes Alliance
9. Detroit City College 6-1 1209 9 Great Lakes Alliance
10. St. Pancras 6-0 1108 10 Northeast Conference
11. Perry State College 6-0 1065 11 Midwestern Association
12. Brooklyn State 4-1 1041 13 Northeast Conference
13. Whitney College 4-1 992 18 Great Lakes Alliance
14. Central Illinois 3-0 740 20 Central Athletic Alliance
15. Central Ohio 3-1 732 19 Great Lakes Alliance
16. Hamman 10-1 607 22 Independent
17. Chesapeake State 5-2 589 23 South Atlantic Conference
18. Indiana A&M 5-1 503 21 Great Lakes Alliance
19. Noble Jones College 6-1 462 25 Deep South Conference
20. Liberty College 5-2 367 NR Northeast Conference
21. CC Los Angeles 3-2 352 24 West Coast Athletic Association
22. Dickson 5-1 307 NR Academia Alliance
23. Bronx Tech 6-1 274 NR Independent
24. Texas Gulf Coast 5-1 194 NR Southwestern Alliance
25. College of Omaha 5-1 175 NR Plains Athletic Association
RESULTS INVOLVING RANKED TEAMS
MONDAY Dec 6
#13 Whitney College 53 El Paso Methodist 38
#24 Texas Gulf Coast 54 Brooklyn Catholic 44
TUESDAY DEC 7
#5 Ohio Poly 61 #8 St Ignatius 54
#7 Frankford State 49 Penn Catholic 34
#20 Liberty College 41 Brunswick 28
#22 Dickson 45 Armstrong 44
WEDNESDAY DEC 8
#19 St Pancras 51 West Corners (NY) 48
#14 Central Illinois 50 Payne State 35
#16 Hamman 55 Erie 32
#17 Chesapeake State 57 Huntington State 36
#23 Bronx Tech 54 Coastal State 48
THURSDAY DEC 9
#18 Indiana A&M 53 Eastern Virginia 47
#19 Noble Jones College 51 Smithfield College 30
FRIDAY DEC 10
#2 North Carolina Tech 72 Wisconsin Catholic 70 (2 OT)
#5 Ohio Poly 44 #4 Western Iowa 33
#11 Perry State College 50 Lincoln 40
SATURDAY DEC 11
#6 Minnesota Tech 63 Topeka State 38
#13 Whitney College 51 Bluegrass State 42
#20 Liberty College 51 Pierpont 42
#24 Texas Gulf Coast 47 Baton Rogue State 28
#25 College of Omaha 55 Centerville 50
SUNDAY DEC 12
#4 Western Iowa 52 North Central(NE) 34
#5 Ohio Poly 55 Cleveland 36
#12 Brooklyn State 48 St Blane 28
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 12/12/1943
- Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin have agreed on a master plan to crush Germany by powerful offensives on three fronts -including an invasion of western Europe and possibly the Balkans- and have mapped a peace that should endure for "many generations."
- Many observers interpreted the Teheran "victory conference" pledge to smash Germany as an omen of early land invasion of western Europe. The expectation is at least 5 million American, British and Russian soldiers will be on the land in Europe within the next 4 months.
- FDR and Churchill conferred with the President of Turkey, with the result being an anticipated Allied offensive in the Balkans, possibly in part through the Turkish 'back door' was imminent.
- Secretary of State Hull warns Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria to get out of the war immediately or face the consequences of "terrible defeat.'
- The US Navy reports as the third year of the war with Japan begins, that 516 enemy ships have been sunk or heavily damaged in the first wo years of battle.
- American, British and Chinese war leaders in the Pacific hailed the past year as one of unequalled triumphs on the Allied military, economic and diplomatic fronts and predicted victory in the 'death struggles' that lie ahead.
- Due to a perforated ear drum, crooner Frank Sinatra has been declared 4-F after reporting for his army induction physical in Newark.
