The White Falcon - 03.03.1956, Side 4

Page 4
THE WHITE FALCON
Saturday, March 3, 1956
By Sp3 J. T. Lawrie
Here it is the first week of March and time to start thinking
about the big tournaments of inter-collegiate basketball which will
be upon us in several weeks. Other sports highlights of the month
include the NBA professional hoop play-offs and title matches, the
Stanley Cup challenge rounds in hockey, and—you guessed it—a
chance to take a preview look at major league baseball. The “horse-
hides” are flying in Florida once more . . .
Who is going to prevail in the mythical national collegiate
basketball ratings is still a big mystery. Only San Francisco is
unbeaten among the major schools and some of the “foggy city”
quintet’s opposition has been on the seedy side. The Dons still
look great every time they take on a tough opponent so they
should retain their current number one ranking.
Last weekend some shattering upsets toppled several high-flying
squads. Robin Freeman tossed in 43 points for Ohio State to lead
the Buckeyes to an 87-84 triumph over Big Ten leader, Illinois. This
knots the fighting Illini and Iowa’s Hawkeyes in a first place clinch
in the Western Conference, but Iowa still has to face Illinois this
week. We like the Illini, unbeaten in 16 straight before bowing to
Ohio State.
Another midwest weirdy occured when Dayton, ranked number
two nationally, copped their 22nd victory in 24 starts by spanking
Eastern Kentucky, 90-76. Dayton’s only losses have been a pair of
verdicts to fifth-ranked Louisville, a club which was easily topped
by of all teams, Eastern Kentucky. Figure this one out.
Ten teams have already been named to participate in the
annual NCAA tournament which will hold first-round games at
Madison Square Garden on March 12 and 13. Top-notch hoop squads
already picked include: Seattle, Oklahoma City, Holy Cross, Con-
necticut, Memphis State, Marshall College of West Virginia and
Idaho State.
The Montreal Canadiens clinched the National Hockey League
title on Feb 25 by beating the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1. Montreal
has now a 38-12-10 record, good for 86 points. Detroit edged into
second place ahead of the New York Rangers last week with 25-20-
14 and 64 points. The Rangers are close behind with 27-23-9 and 63
points. The second division includes Toronto (21-31-10, 52 points),
Boston (19-29-12, 50 points) and Chicago in the cellar (17-32-11, 45
points).
Prize candidate for the “Just goes to show you” department
will make all Californians howl in anguish (Joe Coatsworth, in-
cluded). The San Francisco, CALIFORNIA Seals of the Pacific
Coast Baseball League are now undergoing spring training in
FLORIDA. Yes, you read correctly—FLORIDA. All San Francisco
is mortified . . .
Wily old Casey Stengel will again try to induce the oft-airing
Mickey Mantle to take all his cuts at the horse-hide from the right-
handed stance this season. Stengel has tried everything from coercion
to out and out violence in an effort to stop Mantle’s switch hitting
technique, but Mantle stubbornly refuses to listen. Stengel has all
the averages on his side of the argument for last season Mantle hit
.366 and fanned only 17 times while batting righty, but stroked only
.279 and took 80 long walks back to the bench while swinging from
the southpaw’s side. Perhaps Mantle’s ability “not to listen” is the
reason that he has never quite lived up to his tremendous potential.
The best conditioned squad in the majors right now is the
Brooklyn Dodgers. The World’s Champions have had just about
a full camp for at least two weeks prior to the usual March 1
reporting date. Every other member of the senior circuit will have
to hustle to keep the Brooks from jumping off to a terrific lead
like they did last year.
Jumping back to basketball . . . Current standings in the National
Basketball Association race find Philadelphia’s Warriors out in front
in the eastern division with a 39-21 win-loss record. Boston is next
with 33-27 followed by Syracuse (30-30) and New York (29-32).
Apparently, the western division is either suffering from sharper
competition or a lower grade game for leader Fort Wayne is the
only team above the .500 mark. Minneapolis is on the comeback
trail sparked by George Mikan, but still possess a mediocre 26-33
record. St. Louis is also 26-33, but has been “hot” in current weeks
while Rochester has slumped miserably to a 27-36 record. The west-
erners will have a chance to redeem themselves in the forthcoming
play-offs.
Answer to Puzzle
Join the American Red Cross
Now.
Siesta in D.C.
Washington (AFPS) — An idea
for a siesta session for tired ex-
ecutives has been introduced by
a hotel in this capital city. At a
cost of only $1.50 for three hours,
it advertises: “Executives! Be re-
freshed. Be more efficient. Take
an afternoon nap.”
During 1954 the Army was re-
sponsible for 60 percent of the cost
for shipment of defense freight
within the continental United
States.
Out of Words
Newspaper editors get awfully tired
of thinking of cute, trite phrases
to go under the pictures of pretty
girls. Such was the case this week,
so we will just state name—Vera
Ellen. Occupation—schoolteacher?
The rest you can see for yourself.
Cjlcbal
The biggest political issue
in Britain today, and the
Labor party’s main hope for
eventual return to power, is
a question of economics: In
the midst of a business boom
at home, Britain is under-
going a crisis in her foreign
trade. Ten days ago Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, Har-
old Macmillan, introduced a
new series of deflationary
measures—an increase in the
Bank of England’s interest
rate from 4V2 to 51/) per cent
as a restraint on credit.
The rise in the interest rate is
unpopular with small business
men who find themselves caught
in a credit squeeze.
The curbs on retail buying are
unpopular with workers who find
many luxuries they might other-
wise afford now placed beyond
their reach.
Fathers and single men past
26 were almost entirely exempt
from the draft by an executive
order signed last week by Presi-
dent Eisenhower. The draft age
remains 18 to 35, but fathers and
others older than 26 will be
called up only if there is a sharp
increase in manpower needs.
After ten years of occupation,
the Soviet secret police have just
uncovered an underground system
of corridors between East and
West Berlin, used constantly for
slipping important defectors and
agents out of East Germany.
The Italian Chamber of De-
puties voted its confidence in
Premier Antonio Segni and in
his Government. The vote was
284 to 52 in the Government’s
favor, with 105 abstentions.
The Government’s majority was
unusually large because the Com-
Local Lagers Triumph
In NEAC Tournament
Avenging their only loss of a double elimination tourna-
ment, Keflavik Falcons won a hard-fought 59-56 decision
from Goose AB, Labrador in the finals of the North East
Air Command basketball tourney at Harmon AFB New-
foundland last weekend.
Paced by IDF’s John Margraff
and the 2nd BCT’s Don Menchel
with 16 points apiece, Keflavik
took a 25-21 half-time lead only
to find themselves on the short
end of a 31-29 score early in the
third quarter. Margraff’s quick
basket and free throw tied it up,
however, and another basket put
Iceland in front for keeps. It was
a “nip and tuck” battle the rest
of the way as Harold Mills paced
the losers with 16 points.
The NEAC title moves the
Keflavik entry into the All-Air
Force tournament to be held at
Bunker Hill AFB, Indiana, March
12-16.
Iceland received its champion-
ship trophy at the tournament
Record Break
Iaeger, W. Va. (AFPS) — When
10 men broke out of prison here
they took all jail records with
them. Now police can’t identify
them.
Don’t Rush It
Muncie, Ind. (AFPS) — Not yet,
folks, but wait awhile. A young
couple entered the county clerk’s
office here to obtain papers for a
marriage license. After standing
in line for several hours, they
reached the clerk’s window—the
window for support payments.
munists and their Left-wing Soc-
ialist allies tried to embarass the
Cabinet by abstaining from vot-
ing.
The State Department announ-
ced it had taken steps to force
Juan D. Peron to leave the Govern-
ment-owned Hotel Washington in
the Panama Ganal Zone.
The Communists handed a long
list of names to the United Na-
tions Military command as their
explanation for what happened to
2,720 Allied troops still listed as
missing.
However, the Communist ac-
counting held out little hope that
any of the missing men are alive.
Sunshine last Saturday brought
Europe’s first promise of a break
in the 26 day disastrous cold
wave. With hopes of a thaw,
however, came fears of floods.
North Atlantic Treaty Organiz-
ation headquarters in Paris pre-
pared plans, troops and relief sup-
plies for any new disaster area.
Deaths in the continent’s worst
freeze-up in 50 years reached 851.
The Netherlands, Belgium and
parts of Germany still shivered
in bitter cold. New blizzards hit
Spain and Portugal. But elsewhere
things looked brighter.
banquet last Sunday night. Player-
coach Lt Morris Lanigan of the
53d ARS stated, “It was a de-
finite team victory against a
strong and spirited Goose quintet.”
After accepting the runner-up
trophy, Coach Don Bradley of
Goose AB said, “We lost to the
best team in the tournament.”
Goose handed Keflavik its only
tourney defeat, 70-66, in the
fourth round. Bradley, playing
with an injured hand, was the
inspiring factor that enabled his
cagers to come from behind
several times and eventually
triumph. Alex Addams was high
for the victors with 26 points
while Bradley arched in 22. Mar-
graff led Keflavik with 22 tallys.
In moving to the finals, Kefla-
vik trounced Narsarssauk in the
first round; outplayed another
Greenland base, Sondestrom, in
the second stanza, 64-46; handed
Goose its first defeat in the third
round of play, 73-62, as Lt Tom
Each led the way with 23 points;
and lost to Goose in the fourth
round.
Indicative of the tri-service
cooperation found at this NATO
base, Keflavik’s team consisted
of: Air Force members Lanigan,
Horowitz, Driscoll, Woods and
Margraff; Army personnel Each,
Menchel, Thomas and Unright;
and YNSN Bob Siembida of the
U. S. Navy.
The current NEAC title matches
another North East crown that
was annexed by the Keflavik
Volleyball team last year.
Volleyball Standings
(As Of Feb 28)
American League
932nd AC&W ... 11-1
IADF ... 13-3
1400th Ops (Off) ... ... 12-3
VP-23 (EM) . .. 11-4
57th FIS ... 7-5
IKF ... 7-5
Air Base ... 6-6
525th Engr Det ... 5-7
1971st AACS ... 6-9
1400th Hosp ... 3-9
Company “D” ... 0 15
1400th Supply Sq . . . ... 0-15
National League
FARSON ... 12-0
IDF ... 12-0
IADF Officers ... 12-0
Company “A” ... 9-3
53d ARS ... 7-5
Area Engr ... 5-7
1400th Ops ... 4-8
8Gth Fid Arty ... 3-6
Air Police ... 3-9
Company “C” ... 1-8
VP-23 (Off) ... 1-11
Hq, 2nd BCT ... 0-12
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