fault of coaches |

~

UBC rowing crew has had five replacements since they won the British Empire Games eight-oared title on the Vedder Canal in 1954, but Frank Read’s revamped crew is better

than ever and could win a gold medal for Canada at the Olympic Games in Melbourne next Novem- ber. Recently they gave a convincing evidence of their strength by whipping University of » Washington by eight lengths. After considerable delay, Canadian Association of Amateur Oars- men finally decided to hold trials for the Olympics, and the UBC crew is favored to win and

secure an Olympic berth.

Yanks, Dodgers called to meet in 1956 Series

Maybe it’s getting a bit monotonous, but when World Series time rolls around in October, it will be New York Yankees vs, Brooklyn Dodgers again. .That’s the way it

looks now, at any rate: Perhaps Milwaukee..ot The Giants will edge past the Dodgers, and possibly Boston or Chicago will displace the Yankees, but on paper they haven’t much

of ‘a chance.

In the National League the ‘teams should finish in this order: Brooklyn, Milwaukee, ‘New York, St. Louis, Philadel- phia, Chicago, Cincinnati, Pitts- burgh.

In the American League it may be as follows: New York, Boston, Chicago, Clevéland, Washington, Detroit, Kansas City, Baltimore.

*The Brooks look like a shoo-in this year, even though the draft- board grabbed Johnny Podres. The line-up shows tremendous offensive strength, with Duke Snider (42 home runs last year),

* Roy Campanella (32), Gil Hodges

(27), and Carl Furillo (26).

Then there’s that fellow, Jackie’ }

Robinson, who adds a spark to the club that’s hard to define. Ailing legs and all, Jackie is still an asset to the Bums. He’d like @ managerial job but will prob- | ably stick around the team for | one more season.- :

All the Dodgers are getting older and when the team’ cracks | up, it will.go to pieces rapidly. They have, of course,.a good batch of young pitchers. |

JACKIE ROBINSON

but lacked fire when it was most needed. Milwaukee, fans .-are howling for a winner and man-| ager Charley Grimm will be try-} ing to keep his gang hustling.

It could be that the Giants will.

Milwaukee Braves were expect- surprise, especially on the mound. |

ed ‘to do great things last year’ Al Worthington and Steve Ridzik |

Basketball fiasco

B.C. Totems won the right to; archaic amateur rule which has

represent Canada

basketball last week — but the fessional ranks.

way in which Totems and their |

in Olympic} long since been abolished in pro- after a few great seasons.

. | But coaches have a moral re-

look like fine prospects; and then there are the old reliables like Johnny Antonelli and’ Ruben Gomez.

Last year St. Louis Cardinals were called “the best club ever to finish seventh in the history of the National League.” Man- ager Frankie Lane tabs his boys to finish in third slot this year. He might be right, at that.

In the American gLeague it fig- ures to be a tight’ race for the flag, just as it was last year. The Red Sox look strongest on paper but the Yanks have a habit of winning in -the stretch.

Chicago has better moundsmen this year, which could enable them to take it all, and the Red Sox are,also dangerous.

The Yankees will bank on their veterans to pull them through once again. Whitey Ford (18-7) and old Tommy Byrne (16-5) will be worked plenty, along with

,hurlers Bob Turley (17-13) and

Don Larsen (9-2),

The Red Sox have Ted Wil- |

liams, who: hit .356 last year ’ and could change the pennant picture if he plays a full season.

. Williams is 37 but still the most dangerous hitter in baseball. Chicago White Sox can’t be

ruled out, either. They have good

pitching (Dick Donovan, Bill

Pierce, Joe Dahlke) and hitters

like Larry Doby and Minnie Min-

oso. Weakness is still a lack of scoring punch.

Cleveland seems to be slipping, The Tribe will have an uphill battle this year, even with Vic Wertz

rivals, Alberta, played the final sponsibility to the public to pro- 2nd Al Rosen in good shape again. game left a bad taste in the! duce a basketball game. Both the Bob Feller, once a boy wonder, mouths of all fans who witnessed B.C. and Alberta coaches violated iS now a senior citizen, and oth-

the fiasco.

Blame should be placed squarely they gave amateur basketball a/ : i etri on the two coaches, Lance Hud-" black eye which will take some both be trying to slip into the

son and Maury Van Vliet. What happened was this: Totems scored first, after 1:28! minutes of play. The Alberta. squad set up.a zone defense, on. orders from Van Vliet. Totems'!

| time to heal,

Hudson .will now coach our, team at the Olympics. He doesn’t,

| deserve the honor.

If he tries to pull a caper in!

refused to attack, on orders from | Melbourne like the one he pulled Hudson. So for 12 minutes play | here, our Canadian team will be sters play over their heads. came to a dead halt, while 4,000 | internationally disgraced.

irate fans booed the ridiculous situation.

Legally, both coaches

were convin

{

| Let us hope that public reac- | | tion to his childish stunt will, have ce Hudson he should never |

within their rights, due to an try it again.

é

‘that responsibility. In so doing, | ¢?S are well over the hill, too.

Washington and Detroit will

first division, but the competition is tough. They know that Cleve-

land is the weakest competitor |

and can be knocked down a rung.

Detroit appears stronger than Washington, but Charley Dressen is praying that some of his young-

Kansas City and Baltimore have cash to'spend but to date rounded up nothing but vets and green youngsters. They’ll

| be fighting it out for the cellar.

po

Bert Whyte's

| —

SPORTLIGHT

HEN I moved front Toronto

to Vancouver in 1948, the first flat I lived in was only-a Texas Leaguer away from old Centre Park on Broadway, and soon it became a habit to watch

a couple of softball games a_

month.

As I recall it, Mutuals and Pacifies were the hottest teams in the Major Women’s League at that time, and the Nuthouse aggregation provided the laughs. Later a tall Negro hurler, Ethel Ramsay, joined the Nuthouse gang and pitched them to a title. :

_ There was also a baby outfit that tried Senior A League ball

Betty Evans Grayson of

Portland Florists, seven times an All-American softball pitcher, has shown her wares to Vancouver softball fans in exhibition games. If Crow- hursts join a U.S. softball loop this year Betty will be seen in regular league games during the coming season. |

- warm;

‘ABI! FPF Hr RAVEN Tar eT THT

in 1950, finishing fourth. Next years the kids, a year older and smarter, ended the season in second spot. In 1952 they wound - up on top, and have. stayed there ever since. Crowhursts, of course. ne

I can’t remember the names of all the Crowhursts, but there was slim Jean Peters, an all- round star and wife of coach Bob Peters; Pat Elsworthy, 2 husky catcher who kept the players on their toes with her rapid-fire chatter; long-legged Bubs Emberley, capable of cov- ering a lot of ground in the outfield; Babe Kuruliak, poker- faced pitcher; and Shirley Top- ley, one of those loose-limbed “naturals” who shine at any sport.

A few years back some busi-

* ness interests decided to destroy ‘Centre Park and erect some dull buildings. . The softballers were

forced to emigrate to Callister

Park for a year, then they found

a new home at Kerrisdale Park.

Now, on paper, it looked like a fine move.. Kerrisdale had a better park, bigger outfield, roomier grandstand. The hot dogs were just as hot (luke- that is); and the soft drinks just as cold. Only thing wrong was -that the crowds wouldn’t make the long trip to Kerrisdale. Attendance fell off and the league went in the red.

Even exhibition games against top U.S. teams, which used to jam little Centre Park to the cursing point, failed to draw more than average crowds to Kerrisdale.

Yet softball fans did like to see international games, and that gave manager Jo -Crow- hurst an idea for the North Vancouver team. . Why not join the Northwest Women’s Major Softball League, with head- quarters in Tacoma?

Jo Crowhurst will be in Ta- coma this coming Sunday to try and, get her. girls entered in some fast company — including the sizzling teams from Poert- land, Bremerton, Seattle, Oswe- go, Forest Gfove and Tacoma.

Crewhursts. play, heads-up ball, and should do well in any company. Softball is a crowd- pleaser, and a tight pennant race (something not seen re- cently) ‘will bring the folks

flocking. to the park — even Kerrisdale Park. Here’s hoping Crowhursts

have found the answer to de- clining attendance. A bit of - international competition on a

softball diamond strikes us aS _ ia

just what the doctor ordered.