The White Falcon - 21.05.1965, Blaðsíða 6

WHITE FALCON
Friday, May 21, 1965
Shangri La Golf Course Opens;
Oasis For Naval Station Golfers
A controlled backswing, a slight hesitation, an increase on power on the down-strike,
the whack of the club meeting a ball and its whistling flight marked the official opening
of the Shangri La Golf Club.
The above sequense of events took place last Saturday on a newly converted farm
out near the tip of the Reykjanes penninsula with CWO Hank Smallwood supplying the
power to the opening drive on the Naval Station’s new golf course.
The opening was made a success by a beautiful golfing day and a good turnout of both
golfers and duffers of the Naval'y
Station and their Icelandic guests.
hitter was George Sisler of the
St. Louis Browns with merely 19.
With the Ruthian Revolution
of hitting, the club owners real-
ized for the first time that there
was more than glamour in home
runs. There were solid profits in
them, too. Although the Polo
Grounds, where Yankees of that
era played had a capacity of only
33,000, the Yankees drew the un-
heard-of-attendance of 1,289,422—
and Babe Ruth packed all the
parks on the road to boot.
In the following season the
Bambino did what everyone said
was impossible—he broke his own
record of 54 with 59. He still out-
distanced all pursuit but the force
of example was having an effect.
For the first time five hitters went
over the 20 mark.
The home run tempo was step-
ping up in both leagues The rise
was modest enough until 1927
when the Yankees came up with
[par 4 anvnd
THE BRINK — Just a few of the many who made the whole thing
possible cluster around hole 1 of the Shangri La golf course. This
hole was named in honor of Mr. Jack Brink who had done so much
to build it. It was he who had come up with the name “Shangri La”
which the course was ultimately christened.
Towering Home Run
Hits Popularity Peak.
With the baseball season set to open here in Keflavik
on June 1, a lot of local talent will be swinging for the
fences. Today the home run is the big event of any game,
but this was not always so.
In 1920 when the Collossus of Clout, the Sultan of Swat,
the Marajah of Maul—Babe Ruth, in his first year with
the New York Yankees, hit 54'^
home runs, the next best home run
KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE
CURVE—Only a real foul-ball
would make Andrea Duda anything
but a hit in any league—and a
home run on my scoreboard.
one of the greatest teams ever
assembled: it was the year Ruth
hit GO homers, the year Lou Gehrig
came into his own.
The slugging of the Yankees
was so overwhelming a trait, that
the press box pundits gave them
the nickname—-“Murderers’ Row”.
This could be the most impor-
tant nickname ever coined in base-
ball, because it captured every-
one’s imagination and blinded the
fans so that they saw nothing
except the big wallop. The Yankee
trademark was the long hit that
Murderers’ Row kept manufactur-
ing, and baseball was never the
same again.
Before World War II, only four
men crashed more than 50 homers
in a season. They were the Babe
with 60, 59, and 54; Fox with 58
and 50; Hank Greenburg with 58
and-Hack Wilson with 56.
After the war the step-up in
production was notable, climaxed
in 1961 with Roger Maris hitting
61 home runs in the longer
schedule. The listing shows
Johnny Mize with 51, Ralph
Kiner with 54 and 51, Willie
Mays with 51, and Mickey Mantle
with 54 and 52.
What sharpens the contrast be-
tween the pre-Ruth and post-Ruth
eras are the team totals. Before
the Babe triggered his revolution,
no ball club had ever combined for
more than 73 home runs in. a
season. By 1937 the New York
Giants had raised the record to
221. Nine years later Cincinnati
tied it. In 1961 the Yankees fin-
ished the longer schedule with a
total of 240 homers.
Ruth showed the way with his
714 homers and the others followed
—but not too closely. Jimmy Fox
with 534, Ted Williams with 521,
and Mel Ott with 511 are the only
others over the 500 mark.
Lou Gehrig at 493 and Stan
Musial are the lone members of
the 400 grouping.
In the 300-plus category come
Duke Snider, Mickey Mantle,
Eddie Mathews, Ralph Kiner, Joe
DiMaggio, Gil Hodges, Johnny
Mize, Yogi Berra, Hank Green-
burg, Willie Mays, A1 Simmons,
Rogers Hornsby and Chuck Klein.
M.C. for the ceremonies was
LCdr Kenneth S. Bjork who wel-
comed the several Icelandis guests.
Among them were Sveinn Jons-
son, Mayor of Keflavik; Sveinn
Snorrason, president of the Ice-
landic Golf Union; Thorvaldur
Arnason, vice president of the
Icelandic Athletic Federation; As-
grimur Ragnars, president of the
Keflavik Golf Club; Thor Asgeirs-
son, president of the Reykjavik
Golf Club; and Johann Sofusson
of the NES Golf Club in Reykja-
vik.
Five-Some Started
With Cdr Richard C. James,
commanding officer of the Naval
Station, cutting the tape and
Hank Smallwood driving the first
ball, the opening five-some took to
the fairway for one round of the
nine hole, par 33, 2295-yard
course.
The course is located nine miles
out the Rockville road near the
town of Sandgerdi. Memberships
will be sold on an annual basis
with an economy family plan to
be proposed also. A limited num-
ber of clubs are now available
through Special Services with
more on order. Transportation is
a current problem which is being
looked into and efforts are being
made to provide round trip bus
service.
Challenging Course
Funds were made available
through Special Services and most
of the work was supplied through
the muscle and brain power of
numerous volunteers. These vol-
unteers have provided a course
which has proved very challenging
and which wind can make exceed-
ingly tough. The holes are long
enough for wood play and the
greens provide a real challenge.
A few of current obstacles in
the course include fishracks, the
ocean, a small lake, numerous
fences, plenty of rough and an
occasional horse, sheep or low-fly-
ing bird. Sand traps, which are
on the agenda of continual im-
provement, will make the course
tougher and more interesting yet.
Competition Planned
Though still in the planning
stage, a home-and-home annual
tournament is hoped for with one
of the Icelandic clubs. A Jack M.
Brink Memorial trophy will re-
main in the custody of the win-
ning team until the following year
when they must defend it. This
and the development of an in-
tramural league will provide much
interesting competition.
TEEING OFF—On the first ball
to be officially hit at the Shangri
La golf course is CWO Hank
Smallwood. Interested onlookers
are Mr. Sveinn Jonsson, Mayor of
Keflavik at left, and commanding
officer of the Naval Station, Cdr
Richard James and his wife.
Intramural Bowling Standings
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Standings Results For May 11
No. Team Won Lost Pet Hi/G Hi/S T/Pins Avg
1. Public Works 1 34 6 850 979 2729 26549 884
2. BarLant 25 15 625 988 2783 26584 886
3. AFI 1 25 15 625 976 2725 26359 878
4. Supply 1 25 15 625 982 2717 26041 868
5. Operations 24 16 600 956 2805 25991 866
6. Air Maint 2 20% 19% 512 944 2740 25648 854
7. 57th FIS 1 19 21 475 1031 2767 25961 865
8. Rockville 2 17% 22% 437 949 2657 25569 852
9. Marines 2 16 24 400 943 2614 25257 841
10. NavCommSta 2 : 14 26 350 917 2625 25394 846
11. NSGA 3 12 28 300 923 2521 24918 830
12. Ordnance 1 8 32 200 879 2588 22015 733
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Standings Results For May 11
No. Team Won Lost Pet Hi/G Hi/S T/Pins Avg
1. NavCommSta 1 30 10 750 1026 2856 27167 905
2. Admin 1 26 14 650 948 2702 26183 872
3. Air Maint 1 24 16 600 940 2740 26201 873
4. Comptroller 1 21 19 525 978 2778 26552 885
5. Navy Exchange 21 19 525 980 2772 25886 862
6. IDF 21 19 525 946 2715 25646 854
7. Rockville 1 20 20 500 927 2649 22460 748
8. AFI 3 19 21 475 958 2822 25829 860
9. NSGA 1 18 22 450 927 2702 23981 835
10. Supply 2 17 23 425 967 2721 26163 872
11. 57th FIS 2 17 23 425 990 2732 25976 865
12. Public Works 2 6 34 150 961 2701 24981 832
INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE
Standings Results For May 13
No. Team Won Lost Pet Hi/G Hi/S T/Pins Avg
1. Security 30 10 750 963 2696 25383 846
2. Admin 2 29 11 725 955 2690 25970 865
3. VP-56 25 15 625 987 2869 26333 877
4. NavCommSta 3 24 16 600 952 2746 25555 851
5. 57th FIS 3 22 18 550 988 2708 25692 856
6. NSGA 2 22 18 550 918 2584 25060 835
7. Ordnance 2 19 21 475 963 2696 25383 846
8. Public Wotks 3 17 23 425 938 2783 25534 851
9. Marines 1 16 24 400 944 2719 22884 763
10. Rockville 3 15 25 375 928 2614 25393 843
11. AFI 2 13 27 325 953 2645 24778 825
12. Comptroller 2 8 32 200 881 2539 24028 800
Clay Vs Liston;
Both Set For
Full 15 Rounds
Once more the scheduled title
fight for boxing’s heavyweight
championship of the world ap-
proaches. Barring any of the
many “emergencies” which so of-
ten postpone these events, the
fight will be held May 25. Both
champion and challenger are in
training and promising “secret”
weapons with which to destroy
the other.
Clay’s Camp
Current champion Cassius Clay
plans a big surprise for his chal-
lenger, ex-champ Sonny Liston.
Clay would not predict that he
would knock out the former
champion. All he would say was. .
“I’m going to show the world a
surprise. I’m going to win. . but
there’ll be a surprise.”
Liston’s Camp
Willie Reddish, trainer for
Sonny Liston admitted recently
that he and Liston had underesti-
mated Cassius Clay in their first
fight, but added that they would
not make that same mistake a-
gain. He said that Clay is ex-
ceptionally fast and moves like a
lightweight. For that reason
Liston will not make the mistake
of chasing Clay so early in the
fight.
Instead Reddish said, the chal-
langer is preparing a trap for
Clay. Although this trap won’t be
revealed until fight-time, he ad-
ded that Sonny would be prepared
to go 15 rounds if necessary.