The White Falcon - 05.03.1965, Side 5

Friday, March 5, 1965
WHITE FALCON
All over! No slap of sneaker. No bouncing ball. No
cries and shouts. No winner’s elation or loser’s dejection.
Only an empty gym. The Intramural Basketball League is
over. All wrapped up for another year.
AFI proved to have the winning^
combination this season, a team
with hustle, drive, and good solid
teamplay. Always tough, AFI
played basketball like the New
York Yankees play baseball.
They beat the other team with
their own mistakes.
Average Team
Led by Tom Robinson, AFI just
rolled along with nothing out-
standing in the way of a star.
No part of their game stood out
with any clarity. The whole idea
of the AFI team was to work the
ball around and around and
around, set up the good play and
score. The main object?? Win.
Winning was easy with good
ball handlers and good passers.
Ray Lauriano was one of the
backcourt men. Alan Long was
another. Both had good shots from
the outside. Both could pass and
set up plays—just two more rea-
sons why the AFI club was
awarded the coveted first place
trophy.
Good bench. Good team spirit.
Good team play. Good ballclub.
Tough Competition
The team they beat out for first
place was a dandy too. Security-
Admin was tough all year. What
made them tough was a big, wide
fellow who was usually in, under
or around the nets. Mike Cutshaw
was good, make no bones about
it. On the offense, Mike had a
nifty jump-shot that wouldn’t quit.
Free throws?? ? When Cutshaw
missed over three fouls a game,
you’d start checking his pulse to
see if he was all right. Re-
bounds???? Just look for the yel
low shirt with the big arms—
Mike Cutshaw. After the loss of
Jim Berger to another duty sta
tion, Mike took up the scoring
slack in earnest—35 or 40 points
a game weren’t unusual. Mike
wasn’t a gunner either. Over the
season his average must have been
around 50 per cent and that’s
good.
Nifty Ballhandler
J.J. Graves helped the Security-
Admin team run. “Jay,” with his
good moves in the backcourt and
slick ballhandling, would be an as-
set to any team. Not much of a
scorer, Graves was usually passing
off to teammates Don Dorner and
Cutshaw, for them to shoot. How-
ever, if a basket was needed, “Jay”
seemed to always be there.
It’s been our privilege to meet
many players in the course of
the year. Some good, some fair,
all fine fellows. In passing it
wouldn’t be right to just let the
people fade off into the sunset,
so to speak.
Long-Goners
To recall names that were here
and gone:
Bill McCarty of the Marines.
Another marine, Rectoravic—big
and brawny. Jim Berger, the quiet
speaking forward from Security-
Admin. Captain Reid, a player
many think the best of the year.
Gordie Webb, a better team player
never could be found. Leib and
Winters from Rockville, always-
playing with everything. Rich
Bailey and “Mac” Intire of the
57th, joking everywhere but on
the court.
League Stand-Outs
For the new faces and the old
stand-bys it’s always a pleasure
to play and talk together. Space
doesn’t permit a mention of every-
one, but several who come to mind
are LaCrouts and Gunsorek of
AMD. Williams and Hanson of
the Medical Department. From
Public Works Miller, Seranno, and
Houseman. IKF had one threat in
Fiddi. Paul Skandamis brings to
mind the “Flashers”. A double-
dose of trouble from AFRTS
when Jim Keeney and Ed Setaro
take the walk out on the floor.
John Barry of AFI and “Texas
John” Slaughter who didn’t start
much, but was always ready.
Webster, Combs and Bensing for
the 57th. Roy Cole of Rockville.
Brown and Ward and Carothers
helping to turn the IDF team into
a feared unit. Hal Yincion and
Sal Muro of the Marines. Dorner,
Cutshaw, and Graves helping Se-
curity-Admin to a second place
finish. All the others who made
this season a success in every way.
That includes the “Refs” too.
Chet, Mike, Carl, “Brownie”, and
the others who left to go to other
stations. They took a lot of abuse
over the season, but to recall an
old, old adage. WITHOUT THE
REFEREES, YOU DON’T
HAVE ANY GAME. So true. So
be it.
INTRAMURAL
CHAMPIONSHIP
AFI FG FTA-FTM T
Lauriano 8 6-6 22
Martinez 4 2-1 9
Robinson 6 7-5 17
Crockett 2 7-3 7
Barry 2 2-2 6
Crawford 3 0-0 6
25 24-17 67
Sec/Admin FG FTA-FTM T
Dorner 8 4-2 18
Graves 1 2-2 4
Cutshaw 13 6-6 32
Klausing 2 1-1 5
English 1 1-1 3
25 14-12 62
CHAMPIONSHIP
PLAY-OFF
57th FIS FG FTA-FTM T
Webster 11 13-4 26
Bensing 12 7-6 30
Combs 11 5-4 26
Gernand 1 3-2 4
Scott 2 0-0 4
37 28-16 90
AFI FG FTA-FTM T
Barry 9 4-1 19
Martinez 5 0-0 10
Robinson 4 5-3 11
Ackerman 5 1-0 10
Crockett 3 1-1 7
Crawford 1 1-0 2
27 12-5 59
ACTION DOWNCOURT—Security-Admin’s Bill Klausing, (center) with outstretched arms awaits the out-
come of the play during the AFI—Security-Admin game. (Photo by Lang, PHAN)
57th Fighter Interceptor Squadron Bombs
Air Forces Iceland With 90-59 Fire-Power
by Wayne Long
tp-
The name of the game was basketball and the 57th FIS played like they invented the
game. AFI was worn out from a hard game played earlier in the day and never really
stood a chance.
Webster, Bensing, Combs, Gernand and Scott — names that could have been stock
brokers, a law firm, or the names of a group of doctors. This time however, they were
fast-breaking, slick-passing, hard-shooting basketball players.
AFI went through the whole season with precision. They beat others by making less
mistakes. They were a deliberate1
ball club. Pass the ball around
until the shot was open. The
shooters rarely missed.
One of the reasons they lost the
post season playoff, was the lack
of this kind of play in the final
game. The club tried to play the
same game the 57th was playing.
Run, run, run. Anyone familiar
with basketball can tell you it
can’t be done.
Poor shooting in the first half
was another factor. At times it
looked like someone had stretched
a piece of piano wire across the
opening of the basket. Shots just
wouldn’t drop for AFI. In the
meantime, the 57th couldn’t seem
to miss.
Webster, Combs and Bensing
took turns at blasting the basket.
Long shots, short shots and foul
shots. Harry Webster was the
only player to have any difficulty
on the squad. “Web” missed his
first 7 foul shots. What makes
this so unusual is the fact that
before the game started, he was
practicing foul shots and made 14
in-a-row.
AFI got a real good game out
of John Barry and Tom Robinson.
Under the boards, Ackerman and
Crockett were tough. Ray Lauri-
ano and Col. Alan Long were ab-
sent from the line-up too, and
this played a big part in the
loss.
A quick summary of the game
might look like this: The 57th
broke fast from the opening tip
and piled up a 10 point lead early.
AFI couldn’t mount a scoring of-
fensive due to a bad case of
“cold-shooting.” With all due re-
spect to AFI, the game was really SECOND PLACE—Jack Brink, Security-Admin’s coach (in sportcoat),
over at 2:15 p.m. that same accepts the Intramural League’s second place trophy from Commander
afternoon. That’s when AFI beat Boe at ceremonies held after the championship game Feb. 25. The
Security-Admin for the right to team’s players standing (from left to right) are English, Holt, Meyers,
play the 57th FIS at 3:00. It’s Klausing, Graves and Cutshaw; kneeling are Dorner and Forbes,
sad, but oh so true. (Photo by Lang, PHAN)
NUMBER ONE—Winners of the Naval Station Intramural Basketball
League, the AFI team, proudly displaying their team trophy and per-
sonal plaques are (seated front row left to right) Gene Crawford,
Paul Slaughter, Lt.Col. John H. White, representing Air Forces Iceland,
Tom Robinson and Ed Broussard. Seated in the back row are John
Barry, Tony Marinez, John Quinn, Ray Lauriano and Robin Crockett.
(Photo by Lang, PHAN)