JANUARY 12, 1942
WAR ENLISTMENTS, DRAFTEES TOPS 400
The latest wave of players pausing their baseball careers to join the war effort has pushed the overall total to 432 including 105 that were on the expanded rosters of FABL teams. The organization hit the hardest in terms of total players lost is the Brooklyn Kings, who have seen 35 of their players either drafted or enlist. Most are low level minor leaguers but the Kings will be without pitcher Jack Goff (12-12, 4.69) and infielder Jim Lightbody (.335,3,49) for quite some time. At the other end of the spectrum you have the Montreal Saints, who have seen just 20 of their players put their baseball career on hold. Here is the list of players lost by each organization with also a note of how many of those players participated in at least 1 FABL game last season.
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PLAYERS LOST TO MILITARY SERVICE
TEAM FABL 1941 In Organization
Brooklyn 4 35
Cincinnati 4 34
Cougars 3 32
Chiefs 5 31
Pittsburgh 3 30
Detroit 6 29
Gothams 4 29
Keystones 3 27
Cleveland 4 25
Toronto 3 24
Washington 3 24
Sailors 5 23
St Louis 5 23
Stars 2 22
Boston 3 22
Montreal 4 20
QUICK HITS
- Hugh Fullarton Jr, a national writer for Wide World Sports, wonders if any thought of the possibility that war conditions might help baseball and some other spectator sports rather than wrecking them? With no new cars and no tires to take folks out of town, Fullarton hypothesizes they are likely to turn for amusement to the places they reach easily - like local ballparks. Certainly they won't be leaving minor league towns and driving 100 miles to see big league games. And perhaps you noticed stories from Britain that the English are going to the movies more than ever these days, apparently because there is no where else to go.
- Are fans going to have to start returning baseball's hit into the crowd? Not sure it will go that far for baseball but with concerns about the rubber supply some professional hockey teams have been conserving pucks, so any disc shot out of play must be immediately returned to the ice surface by whoever retrieves it.
- More than 80 FABL players will participate in the eighth annual professional baseball players golf tournament, slated for Miami Feb 11,12 and 13. Among those who will try for the $2,500 in prizes will be St Louis Pioneers coach Roger Landry, who is the defending champ.
DARNELL STATE NAMED NUMBER ONE IN AIAA FOOTBALL
The Darnell State Legislators are the champions of AIAA football for the first time in school history. The Legislators got the nod in the Brunson Poll - the annual ranking system designed by a Chicago Poly mathematics professor in the 1920's after their 11-0 season allowed them to outpoint 9-0 Annapolis Maritime for the top spot. Travis College, Darnell State's rival in the Southwestern Alliance and last year's champion, finished third.
Darnell State capped it's perfect season with a hard fought 6-3 victory over Daniel Boone College in the Cajun Classic. Had Annapolis Maritime played in a classic game and won, the Navigators almost assuredly would have claimed their first title since 1913 when they shared the championship with Centerville. However, they turned down a New Year's invitation and were forced to settle for second in the Brunson Poll.
Lane State, 9-1 and winners in the East-West Classic by a 21-0 score over Eastern State, claimed the fourth spot while 10-0 Carolina Poly settled for fifth as a weak schedule kept the Cardinals out of consideration for the top ranking.
AIAA TOP FIVE FOR 1941
1- Darnell State (11-0)
2- Annapolis Maritime (9-0)
3- Travis College (10-1)
4- Lane State (9-1)
5- Carolina Poly (10-0)
- College football will be ready to fill any order by Uncle Sam in 1942. It doesn't take long to discover this sentiment among recognized leaders of the gridiron sport who are gathered in Phoenix this week. The occasion is the annual meeting of the AIAA Football Rules Committee, composed of the men who lay down the laws for your football heroes to follow. The group all agreed there will be football next fall, and good football. But you can bet the boys that go into service will gladly go and they will be mentally and physically fit. They expect few rules changes but the unlimited substitution rule had been unanimously approved.
With football heading to the back burner and baseball still a couple of months away, basketball once again is the prime focus for fans of college athletics. So let's take a quick look back at the origin of the game. Like other sports there are many variations of the story about how and by whom a sport was created, and the true version likely is a combination of these many accounts but as far as basketball is concerned the most widely accepted belief is that a Canadian professional baseball player was credit with it's birth.
The origins of the game of basketball, it is said, can be traced back to the winter of 1891 when a former baseball player by the name of Jack Easton created the game as a way to help ballplayers keep in shape during the winter. Easton, who played nearly 900 major league baseball games, is said to have created the sport by hanging two peach baskets in the gymnasium of a YMCA near the campus of Sadler College in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Easton, a Canadian who was playing baseball for the Boston Minutemen during the summer of 1891, spent his offseason as an instructor at the gym. The game quickly caught on in popularity, so much so that Easton abandoned his baseball career early in the 1892 campaign to promote the sport full-time.
Easton, dubbed the father of basketball, would later become very instrumental in helping contribute to the rapid growth of the sport in the college ranks, but that was still a few years away. As for Easton, he rose from humble beginnings in the small Canadian town of Springfield, Manitoba and would go on to enjoy a very successful baseball career before his basketball days. After leaving his hometown for Winnipeg and the lure of semi-pro ball at the age of 14 in 1872, the young outfielder would eventually make his way to a small professional league in upstate New York where he would catch the attention of the New York Gothams. He was considered the top prospect in the Century League at the time and batted .275 as a 25 year old rookie for the Gothams in 1883. His stay in New York would last just one season before he left for St Louis where he would win a pair of league titles before moving on to Boston prior to the 1891 season.
With college and youth organizations like the YMCA eager to find winter activities to keep their athletes in shape and boys off the streets, Easton found his calling teaching the new sport he had invented. It took off immediately, especially at the college ranks where the sport of basketball become a perfect winter companion to fall football and schools began challenging each other to games. While the result has long since been lost to the annals of time it is widely believed the first intercollegiate basketball game was played in January of 1895 between Ellery College and Sadler at the Bruins campus in Cranston, Rhode Island. By 1897 nearly 75 schools had fielded teams including St. Martin's College in Hartford, which had enlisted none other than the father of basketball Jack Easton to run their program. There were no conferences or even an organized schedule for those first dozen or so years but that all changed in the fall of 1909.
In May 1909 College chancellors from several powerful football schools along the East Coast met to discuss the possibility of organized basketball similar to what they were seeing with college football. The chancellors discussed the rising popularity of college athletics and the revenue it was starting to create from ticket sales as well as the positive publicity it generated for each of their institutions. If it could work on the gridiron, why could they not do the same in the winter on the court.
From that meeting invitations went out to every college program that was running a football team and the response was overwhelmingly in favour, including one from Jack Easton, who by that time had built St.Martin's College in to a powerful squad. It was at this point that Easton would make his second major career change as he was asked to give up his coaching career and move to the boardroom where he would assume the role of Commissioner of AIAA Basketball.
Sensing a opportunity to continue to grow the game he created, Easton quickly accepted and set about trying to organize rules and a schedule for the nearly 200 schools who had expressed an interest in joining the new organization. Many traditional football rivals, such as the large number of Pennsylvania schools, were natural choices to form divisions within the league while other schools preferred the option of not being tied to a conference which would leave them free to play a wider variety of opponents. When play would begin in late November 1909 a total of 156 schools organized themselves, with guidance from Easton, into 10 conferences including the Academia Alliance which would consist of 8 of the most powerful schools in the sport. For that first season a total of 99 schools aligned themselves with a conference, while an additional 57 decided to compete as independents.
Once the conference alignments were completed talks over the summer of 1909 centered on two mildly controversial topics: length of schedule and whether or not to have a national playoff. Some schools had favoured a short schedule similar to football with games being exclusively played on the weekend so as not to interfere with student athletes school commitments but others argued since basketball was a much less physical game a much longer schedule would be more appropriate. While the physicality of the sport was the main argument presented to the public, behind the scenes many schools were swayed - even at this early juncture in college athletics, by the almighty dollar. Basketball gymnasiums would hold far fewer fans then the vast majority of football venues so 4-6 home games would not generate anywhere near the revenue that the fall sport created. However, if each team played 25-30 games over a 3 month schedule the 12-15 home dates would certainly add to the bottom lines of the participating schools.
Once they agreed on the longer schedule length, deciding to hold a national championship received almost unanimous support. It was decided that a portion of the revenue earned from these playoff contests would be shared by all conferences so that immediately garnered the support of many smaller schools. Meanwhile a number of bigger schools had pushed for a playoff for a different reason. It seemed every year several schools declared themselves the top football school in the country but had no way to prove it. In 1908 for example, both St Andrews and Empire State went unbeaten while Centerville, the best of a large contingent of Pennsylvania schools, put together a very impressive 12-1 campaign with the only blemish a loss to powerful Liberty College. With a much tougher slate of opponents Centerville felt it was the best team in the nation but without the opportunity to play either of the two unbeaten squads there would be no way to prove it. Extra games in such a rugged sport as football seemed to be too much of a strain on the participants, but in basketball a true National Champion could be determined each year with a playoff.
In the end it was decided that a 32 team field would compete in a single elimination championship tournament in late March after the regular season had ended. The top school in each of the 10 conferences would automatically be invited along with 22 teams decided upon by a committee which would be headed by AIAA Basketball President Easton. With the logistics out of the way the games were set to begin in late November 1909 and while the number of conferences, and participating schools has greatly increased, the schedule length and year end tournament have remained consistent.
CITY COLLEGE OF LOS ANGELES DROPS OUT OF TOP SPOT IN POLLS
A surprise 4-point loss to College of Omaha on Monday dropped the CCLA Coyotes out of top spot in the polls. It was the first loss of the season for Coyotes quintet but they did rebound with a pair of victories to end the week on a positive note including a 49-40 victory on Sunday over Golden Gate. Independent Great Plains State is back in the top spot in the polls after dropping from number with a loss to Minnesota Tech two weeks ago. The Buffaloes beat American Atlantic (7-10) 43-34 on Saturday in their only game this week, running their record to 18-1.
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IAA BASKETBALL TOP TWENTY FPV REC LW
1. Great Plains State (72) 18-1 2 Independent
2. Detroit City College 12-1 3 Great Lakes Alliance
3. CC Los Angeles 10-1 1 West Coast Athletic Association
4. Garden State 12-1 5 Northeast Conference
5. Liberty College 11-2 7 Northeast Conference
6. St. Ignatius 10-2 8 Great Lakes Alliance
7. Chesapeake State 11-2 4 South Atlantic Conference
8. Minnesota Tech 11-0 9 Great Lakes Alliance
9. Brooklyn State 11-2 10 Northeast Conference
10. Rainier College 11-1 11 West Coast Athletic Association
11. Central Ohio 10-2 6 Great Lakes Alliance
12. Annapolis Maritime 16-3 17 Independent
13. Whitney College 11-1 12 Great Lakes Alliance
14. St. Patrick's 10-2 13 Northeast Conference
15. Portland Tech 11-1 15 West Coast Athletic Association
16. Coastal California 9-3 18 West Coast Athletic Association
17. Columbia Military Academy 9-3 14 South Atlantic Conference
18. Miami State 12-3 NR Independent
19. North Carolina Tech 12-4 16 South Atlantic Conference
20. Western Iowa 10-3 NR Great Lakes Alliance
LAST WEEK'S RESULTS INVOLVING TOP TEN SCHOOLS
MONDAY JANUARY 5
College of Omaha 52 #3 CCLA 48
TUESDAY JANUARY 6
#2 Detroit City College 66 Cleveland 43
#6 St Ignatius 45 St Blane 29
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 7
#3 CCLA 52 Hartford Wesleyan 39
#4 Garden State 47 Western Florida 39
#7 Chesapeake State 57 Needham 52
THURSDAY JANUARY 8
#9 Brooklyn State 56 Pierpont 51
FRIDAY JANUARY 9
#2 Detroit City College 64 College of Cairo 38
#3 CCLA 49 Golden Gate 40
#10 Rainer College 47 Valley State 39
SATURDAY JANUARY 10
#1 Great Plains State 41 American Atlantic 34
#4 Garden State 42 Bronx Tech 35
SUNDAY JANUARY 11
St Blane 55 #7 Chesapeake State 47
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 1/11/1942
- President Roosevelt, in a promise of victory to come, told Congress he would order United States armed forces to world wide war fronts to find the enemy and "hit him and hit him again whenever and wherever we can reach him." But FDR also wared of a "heavy price for freedom" in money, work and blood while announcing the the war budget for the next fiscal year was set at $56 billion.
- Japan has launched an all-out drive to oust General MacArthur's troops from the Philippines.
- British coastal defense smashed new Japanese landing attempts on the west coast of Malaya.
- A new Russian drive, remarkable in both power and speed, is threatening disaster to a great Axis army, including the picks of the Italian and Rumanian armies, in Crimea.
- The R.A.F. raided France with leaflets, more than 2 million of which were dropped in occupied territory declaring the United States had entered the war and emphasizing "the historic friendship" between the French and American people.
- There are rumours of a rift between Hitler and Goering plus talk that the Rumanian military may be planning an armed revolt against Nazi rule.
- February 16th is set as the date the 20-44 year old draft goes into effect. Anyone who registered for the 21-35 law will not be required to enroll again but the new age group of 20 year old's, plus the 36-44 group will provide a reservoir of about 10 million more men eligible for active service under the amended act.