MARCH 19, 1962
AIAA CAGE TOURNAMENT TIPS OFFThe 53rd annual collegiate basketball championship tournament commenced over the weekend and while none of the first or second seeds failed to advance in the four regions, it was a rough weekend to be a third or fourth seed in the 32 team field. In all, six of the eight number threes and fours were on the wrong end of scored against the fifth and sixth seeds.
You might be hard pressed to call any of those lower seed victories a major upset but without a doubt the biggest surprise of the opening round took place in the South Region where one of the powerhouses from the West Coast Athletic Association was sent packing early. That would be the Redwood Mammoths, who finished second to Lane State in the WCAA this season and were ranked 9th nationally in the final weekly poll. The Mammoths, who had reached at least the quarter finals of the tournament in six of the last seven years, had their title hopes this time around made extinct by Bulein. The Hornets, unranked but in the tournament as champions of the Middle Atlantic Conference, stung the Mammoths by a 56-48 score behind 20 points from senior center Arlo Smits.
Next up for Bulein will be a date with Great Lakes Alliance champion Indiana A&M. The second seeded Reapers had their hands full with 7th seed Lawrence State, champions of the Plains Athletic Association, but hung on for a 50-48 victory with junior guard John Caffrey setting the pace with 16 points.
The other side of the South bracket saw top seed and national number one Noble Jones College have little trouble disposing of California League champion Kit Carson University. Senior center Jim Glick had 25 points as the Colonels dumped the Mountaineers by a 70-49 count. The final game in the bracket saw the four seed come up short as despite 18 points from junior guard Bob Terwilliger his North Carolina Tech Techsters were nipped 62-59 by the Central Ohio Aviators.
Just as was the case in the South Region, the East also saw its third and fourth seeds go down to defeat. Academia Alliance champion Brunswick downed Central Kentucky 56-51 in the four-five game with junior center Lonnie Tait setting the pace for the Knights with 17 points and 10 boards. Top independent school, the third seeded Liberty Bells had a rough day as they were manhandled 55-41 by the Lubbock State Hawks. The Southwestern Athletic Association champs were paced by 17 points from forward Tommy Johns while Artie Pugh and Chuck Dent also scored in double figures.
The Hawks will have a tough task in Thursday's second round when they face three-time defending South Atlantic Conference champion and top seed in the East Region Charleston Tech. The Admirals sank the Garden State Redbirds 50-45 in their opening game. The other round one game in the East Region had Wisconsin State building a 15-point halftime lead on Flagstaff State and the Brewers rolled to a 64-48 victory.
The lone upset in the Midwest Region had independent Great Plains State, as the #6 seed, taking care of business against Western Iowa, clipping the Canaries by a 57-47 score. Next up for the Buffaloes will be West Coast Athletic Association power Rainier College. The Majestics had little difficulty prevailing as the second seed against Ohio Poly, winning 49-37 with guard Johnny Dukes setting the pace for the Pacific Northwest school with 12 points.
Top seeded Maryland State and fourth seed Detroit City College advanced in the other half of the Midwest bracket. The defending national champion Bengals waltzed past Northern Minnesota, outscoring the Muskies 36-9 in the first half before taking the foot of the gas and settling for a 67-43 victory. Senior Bengals guard Mark Robinson, considered the possible first overall selection in the summer Federal Basketball League draft, set the tone with 20 points.
Detroit City College looked like an easy winner against Northern California after the Knights built a 13 point lead at the half but the Miners battled back and nearly pulled off the comeback but fell just short, dropping a 59-57 decision to DCC.
In the West Region each of the top three seeds advanced while fifth seeded Carolina Poly's 64-40 win over #4 St Magnus was hardly considered an upset. Sophomore guard Bob Bucher carried the Cardinals on his back with a career high 24 points in the win. Carolina Poly, with six, has won more AIAA tournaments than any other school. The Cardinals have the top seed Lane State as their second opponent after the Emeralds won a low scoring game against 8th seed Canton State, downing the Central Athletic Association champs 40-34. Second seed Whitney College had three players score in double figures led by junior guard Dan Munger's 14 points, in a 55-45 win over Cache Valley while third seed Mississippi A&M had a surprisingly easy time with Coastal California, downing the Dolphins 56-38 behind 16 points from guard Dave Simons and 15 from his backcourt partner Calvin Lowery.
The second round games will be played Thursday and Friday with the quarterfinals set for Saturday/Sunday.
OSA CALLING FOR PIONEERS-SAILORS WCS
Predictions for the upcoming FABL season made before even the first spring pitch has been tossed are seldom accurate, but that does not prevent the OSA - official scouting service of FABL- from taking a swing. If the scouting service call is accurate it will result in a pair of old foes resuming acquaintances come October. OSA calls for the St Louis Pioneers, armed with possibly the best pitching in either association, to cruise to their first Federal Association flag since defeating Detroit in a 1-game playoff in 1951. In the Continental Association, the scouting service expects a much tighter race with the San Francisco Sailors holding off the Kansas City Kings and Chicago Cougars. Three-time defending CA champ Cleveland is tabbed to finish in a fourth place tie with the Los Angeles Stars.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, OSA believes none of the four expansion teams will win as many as 60 games and they will finish in the bottom of both associations.
The Pioneers-Sailors call is an intriguing one, primarily because of how these two teams fortunes seemed to have been linked since WWII. Both had some close calls in the 1930s with each finishing in second place in their respective associations. It was not until 1947 that they both ended long pennant droughts and met for the first time in the World Championship Series. St Louis would win that year and then, after each won a second straight pennant the Pioneers would prevail once more in the WCS. They both then crashed to the depths of the second division in 1949 and 1950 before each made a surprising pennant run in 1951 and would meet in the WCS for the third time in five years. The Sailors, based in Philadelphia back then before moving to the coast prior to the 1954 season, finally got revenge against the Pioneers with their first WCS title since 1930. Neither enjoyed much success for the rest of the 1950s but each finished in second place a year ago and both have their sights set on another WCS appearance, and the way they seem intertwined if one makes it, it's likely a good bet the other will be there as well.
HERE ARE THE OSA 1962 PREDICTIONS
Montreal Saints management has been pretty quiet this winter as they were in evaluation mode. The only moves were signing few minor league contracts with two catchers and the most notable being Fred Jones. The 27-year-old has been a AAA player for the last three seasons and has been invited to training camp trying to get the second catcher position behind Garland Phelps.
In January, the Saints entered in the “Howie French derby” but quickly bowed out of the battle when they believe it was becoming insane pricing to hire a good minor leaguer arm or maybe this was because there was bad feelings with French who refused to sign with the Saints while he was drafted by Montreal few years ago. French ended up signing with Detroit at a contract that will pay him more than even outfielder Harry Swain, who is the highest paid Saint.
With the first week of training camp, fans been advised the veteran players will not see much action in week #1. Outfielders Swain and Malcolm Strong, shortstop Art Robbins and number one catcher Phelps will spend much of the early portion of camp on the bench to give playing time to younger players and prospects. Same thing on the pitching rotation where most of the well known arms will not even throw ball in any games the opening week.
Two players who came to the major last season in 23-year-old first baseman Ham Flanders (OSA #26) and 25-year-old second sacker Bob Vernon will get plenty of chances in the early going to prove they can be everyday players.
Notables prospect who were invited at Montreal camp other the Flanders:
- OSA #28 Catcher Bob Griffin- should be sent back to minor either AAA or AA
- OSA #50 CF Bob Gilman- plan to start season in AAA
- OSA #177 Don Whited- he is at start of training camp the leader for 4th outfield spot
- OSA #51 Juan Quinana- he will get probably 2 starts to show skills but will be sent down to AAA or AA for development
In general the Saints squad have a good mix of veterans and young players, many of them got promoted in 1961 to gain experience and the management hope it will start to payoff in 1962. The biggest question is the starting rotation? Even if not bad, there is not a lot of depth. It will be interesting to see how manager Lynn Gray handles the bullpen to rest the good arms to avoid potential injuries. Playball!
PAIR OF RACES COMING DOWN TO THE WIRE[/center]
With a week remaining in the North American Hockey Confederation season the playoff matchups are very much undecided. There are a pair of tight battles that may well go undecided until the season ending games next Sunday. The only spot that appears locked up is third place where the Detroit Motors presently resided but even that is not yet a certainty. Detroit is six points behind second place Toronto but each has three games to play and if the Motors win all three and the Dukes lose all three Detroit would host the Dukes in the opening game of one of the semi-finals.
Now that is unlikely so we can pencil Detroit in for third place but the other three slots are still up for grabs. Chicago is in the drivers seat for first place as the Packers have a two point lead on Toronto and also have three more victories than the Dukes so should win a tiebreaker. They each have 3 games remaining but will not face each other in the final week. Both are assured of making the playoffs of course, but the same cannot be said for Boston and Montreal.
That is the other big battle as the Bees are clinging to the fourth and final postseason berth by just a single point over the Valiants. Boston has just two games remaining: against last place New York on Thursday and their finale against Toronto on Sunday. The Bees do have the luxury of playing both of those games at Denny Arena. The Vals have a game in hand and will play two of their final three at the Montreal Arena. The Vals host Toronto Thursday and entertain Chicago Saturday before finishing the season in Detroit on Sunday.
NAHC RESULTS FROM LAST WEEK
WEDNESDAY MARCH 14 Detroit took a stride closer to locking up a playoff spot with a 2-2 at Bigsby Garden. Colin MacMillan led the way for the Motors with a goal and an assist while Corb Mayberry had a pair of helpers for the hosts from New York.
Montreal 4 at Toronto 3 :Montreal moved within 5 points of idle Boston and still has two games in hand in the fight for fourth place following a 4-3 road win in Toronto. Defenseman Colton Keil got the game winner, midway through the third period, scoring for just the second time this season. Dukes star and NAHC scoring leader Quinton Pollack saw his 11-game point scoring streak come to an end.
THURSDAY MARCH 15
Boston 1 at Detroit 5 : Alex Monette had a hat trick and with Zach Roy and Alex Guindon each scoring once and adding a pair of assists as the Motors clinched a playoff spot with a 5-1 victory over the Boston Bees.
Chicago 1 at Montreal 2 : Jim Drury score the game winner with less than five minutes remaining as Montreal continues to close in on Boston for fourth place. Charlie Oliphant Jr. had a goal and an assist for the winners as the Vals knocked off first place Chicago a day after defeating second place Toronto.
SATURDAY MARCH 17
New York 3 at Montreal 1 : A tough loss for the Valiants, who remain 3 points behind Boston after falling 3-1 to the last place Shamrocks.
Chicago 4 at Toronto 1 : The Packers lead on Toronto is now 3 points for first place with each club having four games remaining to play. Toronto struck first when Bill Archer scored less than two minutes into the game but after that it was all Chicago as Ken York scored his 24th and 25th goals of the season before Keith McFadden and Pierre-Alex Bernier added third period insurance. For the first time since December 30 & 31, Toronto's Quinton Pollack was held pointless in consecutive games.
SUNDAY MARCH 18
Montreal 4 at Boston 0 : The Valiants are just a point behind the Bees with a game in hand after blanking Boston 4-0. The Bees outshot the visitors 37-21 but could not solve Nathan Bannister, who earned his fourth shutout of the season. Gil Thibault, Mark Moggy, Roy Forgeron and Charlie Oliphant Jr. handled the scoring duties.
Chicago 6 at Detroit 6 : A wild one at Thompson Palladium as the two clubs combined for 12 goals including 8 in the middle frame. Matt McGrath scored the only goal of the third period to allow the Packers to escape the Motor City with a point. Hobie Barrell had two goals for Detroit, raising his season total to 33 while Alex Monette had 3 assists. Phil Stukas and Archer Cook paced the Packers with 3 points each.
Toronto 4 at New York 1 : A big win for the Dukes, who gain a point on Chicago but still trail the first place Packers by two points with 3 games to play. Quinton Pollack was held pointless for the third consecutive game but Lou Galbraith, who has struggled to put up points the past couple of seasons, did have a goal and an assist to lead the Dukes.
UPCOMING GAMES
TUESDAY MARCH 20
Detroit at Chicago
THURSDAY MARCH 22
New York at Boston
Toronto at Montreal
SATURDAY MARCH 24
Chicago at Montreal
Detroit at Toronto
SUNDAY MARCH 25
Toronto at Boston
Montreal at Detroit
Chicago at New York
END OF REGULAR SEASON
The Toronto Dukes cool off going 1-2-0 over the week, including losing back to back games at home. Wednesday it was a Montreal team fighting for its playoff lives that downed the Dukes 4-3 in a game in which the Vals were up a man on six different occasions which had Dukes bench boss Ari Bear upset with his team.
That was followed by a critical loss to Chicago 4-1 on Saturday night a game in which the Dukes took the lead less than 2 minutes in then could not solve Andrew Bomberry for the remainder of the game. Dukes were outshot 37-21 in a game where the Packers scored late in both the first and second periods a cardinal sin for a hockey team. That loss was costly as the Dukes missed a chance to pull even with Chicago for top spot in the NAHC.
Toronto will have a say in which team secures the final playoff spot with games both in Boston and Montreal the week. The Bees are clinging to a 1-point lead on the Vals but Boston has just two games remaining while Montreal has three on its docket. The last home game of the regular season for the Dukes will be against their probable first round opponent, Detroit, who still has an outside chance to finish second.
First place is not out of the question for the Dukes as they are two points behind Chicago with 3 to play. Ari Bear put it simply "It is easy, we just win our three games, then see what happens with Chicago."
STRONG WEEK ENSURES MOTORS TO FINISH NO WORSE THAN THIRD
After limping through the end of February and the early part of March with 8 losses in ten games the Detroit Motors seem to be back on track and hopefully poised for a run at a second consecutive Challenge Cup victory. Securing points in each of their last five games -two wins and three ties- put some distance on Boston and Montreal and clinched a playoff berth for the local ice crew. All that remains now is the slim chance that Detroit sneaks ahead of Toronto for second place. That seems unlikely as it would require the Motors to win each of their final three games and have the Dukes lose their three so expectations are the Motors will open the playoffs in either Toronto or Chicago a week and a half from now.
Third is exactly where the Motors finished the regular season a year ago before reeling off the 8 playoff victories needed to secure the Challenge Cup. Detroit beat second place Montreal in five games before knocking off the fourth place Chicago Packers, who had surprised Toronto in 7 hard fought games in the other semi-final. The Motors needed just 5 games to dispose of the Packers last April as the Dynamic Detroit duo of Hobie Barrell and Alex Monette proved too much for the Packers. Barrell, just a 19-year-old rookie at the time, led all playoff scorers with 19 points while Monette was tops in goals after lighting the lamp 10 times in 10 games.
The goal for the next week is to ensure Monette and Hobie Barrell both stay healthy. Monette has missed 25 games this season and Barrell was sidelined for 9, which ended any hopes of the second year star catching Toronto's Quinton Pollack for the scoring lead. Hobie is still second in both points (73) and goals (33) behind the ageless Toronto wonder and when healthy the duo of Monette and Barrell has been almost unstoppable. The challenge has been finding a right winger for the big line and the latest to get an audition is 22-year-old Colin MacMillan. The 1958 first rounder saw some limited action last season including six playoff games and will likely be on the top line when the playoffs begin this time around. MacMillan has had his ups and downs adjusting to the NAHC with 7 goals and 19 points in 58 games but may have found his footing with 5 points in the last three outings.
*** Mustangs Still Chasing Rockets ***
Third place appears to be where Detroit's other winter team is also set to land as the Federal Basketball League Mustangs sit three games back of second place St Louis after splitting a pair of games with the Rockets last week. Scoring has not been an issue for the Detroit quintet as only the high-flying Toronto Falcons are averaging more points per game than Head Coach Scott Paul's club. Guards Erv Corwin (20.9 ppg) and Lew Bayne (16.4) have taken care of much of the offense but the Mustangs have struggled on defense with only lowly Chicago surrendering more points than the Motor City crew. St. Louis has long been a thorn in the Mustangs side and while there is well over a month remaining in the campaign, it seems clear the path towards the league finals for Detroit will once more have to begin with a matchup against the Rockets.
Good news on the college cage front as the Detroit City College Knights survived their AIAA tournament opener. The Knights were just 9-7 in Great Lakes Alliance play and 20-9 overall during the regular season so perhaps not a lot was expected of them despite being the four seed against number five Northern California in Cleveland for their Midwest Regional opener against the Miners yesterday. A strong first half in which they built a 13 point lead was just enough to get DCC the win, holding off the Miners 59-57. Joe Godfrey and Bryan Hunt, the Knights two senior guards, led the way with Godfrey scoring 13 and Hunt 12 in the win. Next up will be a tough challenge as they face the region's top seed in Maryland State on Friday. DCC reached the quarterfinals a year ago and with the win over the Miners the Knights have now won at least one tournament game each of the past five seasons.
On hand to watch the win in Cleveland yesterday was Bill DuMont. Considered one of the best high school seniors to come out of Detroit in recent years, the Eastern High senior guard has committed to the Knights for next season. He is ranked 10th in the nation and will be joined at DCC next year by another highly touted Detroiter. That would be Randy Rose, a forward from Mackenzie High that is ranked 34th in the nation. It should be quite a freshman crop as the Knights also landed the 17th ranked recruit in the nation in New Jersey high school center Les Hoeft. Maryland State coaches may just have a little more motivation against DCC on Friday as they were very much in the running for both Hoeft and Rose but lost out to Knights coach Ken Benford.
*** Dynamos Hit the Diamond ***
Spring training is underway and the Dynamos went 3-3 in the opening week of Citrus loop action. Among the highlights was the Detroit debut of the $320,000 man Howie French. The pitcher, signed to a record breaking free agent contract, will have plenty of eyes on him as he hopes to earn the paycheck he has been given despite having never pitched in the big leagues before. French appears destined for the back of the Detroit rotation as it is unlikely he will surpass the veteran trio of John Jackson, Jim Norris and Paul Anderson. There is a chance that Larry Beebe, who struggled through a dreadful 3-13 season a year ago, may even nose out French for the fourth starter role.
So, why pay all of that money for a back of the rotation arm? Detroit management freely admits it overpaid but club owner Powell Thompson Jr., the beneficiary of many large regular season crowds and World Championship Series gates in recent years, committed to open the purse strings when he convinced his former GM to return. There was very little in the way of quality talent available on the free market so the Dynamos, knowing their pitching depth was a major question mark, opted to back up the Brinks truck at French's front-door.
Will it pay off? Only time will tell but odds are not good that the Dynamos return to their championship form. The club certainly has some talent, led by the big three arms and some pretty talented offensive players such as Joe Reed, Dick Tucker, Ray Waggoner and highly touted rookie Ed MacNaughton but there are also some pretty big concerns. Third base could be an issue and the bullpen has a lot of question marks. A successful season for this edition of the Dynamos, would be a .500 season. Last year's 67-87 disappointment was the first time Detroit finished below the breakeven point since 1950 and Thompson has made it clear he will not tolerate another losing campaign.
- We have talked a lot about the six teams who will make the playoffs in some order, but what about the other two teams? Washington is far out of contention in the East and Chicago is cemented to fourth place in the West. They have combined for 36 wins this season, but they have also accounted for six of the last 15 championships. Most of the big names are gone from those days, but one huge name remains for Chicago: Luther Gordon.
- With Gordon Chicago is 26 games out of first place and 9-1/2 games into the cellar. Chicago is only 4-30 away from Lakeside Auditorium and the turnstile count for home games has been abominable, as the Panthers have averaged 3,267 paying fans in the cavernous 18,000-seat arena. Gordon, the five-time MVP, seven-time scoring champion, and eight-time First Team All-FBL scored 13 points in a win over St. Louis last night in an unlikely 100-82 win against the Rockets. The 13 points were dwarfed by the 38 points put up by the leading scorer, Bob Christensen, but Gordon hit an important milestone. Gordon’s eighth point gave him 1,000 for the year, which was the 12th straight season he has reached the plateau for the future Hall of Famer who has averaged 65 games a season, including all contests this year for the 20-45 Panthers.
- Back to the divisional races, where the individual seeds look relatively planted with less than a quarter of the season to go, New York is the hottest team, riding a seven-game winning streak to reach the break-even point of the season at 32-32. Unfortunately for the Knights, the streak followed a five-game losing spell, so it did not translate to a better situation in the standings. The Knights are in third place, 10-1/2 games behind Boston, but seven games in arrears of Philadelphia. Call it a shot of confidence to enter the playoffs against their likely opponent, the Phantoms. New York will need that confidence and perhaps much more. The Knights have lost 14 of 21 this season against the Phantoms but defeated them during this win streak. Three more tune-ups remain between the two teams, but unless Philadelphia catches fire and Boston relinquishes the division, this will be a Divisional Semifinal preview.
RECENT KEY RESULTS
- Veteran heavyweight Pat Hammond ran his record to 26-5-2 with a 6th round knock out of Jerry Pitcher at Bigsby Garden last Thursday.
- In Philadelphia on Saturday heavyweight contender Will Flowers (25-4-1) scored an 8th round knockout of Jack Borghi.
UPCOMING MAJOR FIGHTS
- Apr 12 in Las Vegas: Longtime welterweight champion Lonnie Griffin defends his crown against Dan McMullan. The 30-year-old Griffn (40-5-1) has held the title on four different occasions and his bout against McMullan will be his third defense this time around. McMullan (22-1) is a 23-year-old rising star from South Carolina and is getting his first shot at the welterweight title.
- May 10- San Francisco: Middleweight champion Lyman King (39-0) makes his first title defense against Steve Bradshaw (30-8-2). King, a 24-year-old Oakland, CA. native claimed a 5th round TKO victory over now-former champ George Quisenberry at New York's Bigsby Garden in January. King has never lost a fight and only went to the judges cards twice in his last 9 outings. Bradshaw, 25, originally hails from Pittsburgh, PA. and is coming off an impressive victory over Bill Sanderson but has lost in recent years to some top names such as George Hatchell, Davis Owens and Hugo Canio.
The Week That Was
Current events from the week ending 3/18/1962
- Russia's disarmament proposals dominated much of the talk in Geneva but no progress was made as Western powers found the terms unacceptable, noting there is "nothing very new or startling" in Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko's statements.
- As the week came to an end the Soviets accused the United State of seeking resumption of nuclear arms testing and said the American delegation is avoiding a "serious approach" to solving their differences.
- Premier Khrushchev announced that Russia has put a new space vehicle in orbit and at the same time threatened the United States with what he called a "global rocket" invulnerable to anti-missile defenses.
- President Kennedy gave Khrushchev a chance for immediate United States and Russian co-operation in five space programs: weather studies, communications satellites, tracking stations, space medicine and mapping of the earth's magnetic field. The letter was in reply to one received from the Russian Premier congratulating John Glenn's orbital flight.
- It was revealed that for three hours during John Glenn's space flight there were serious concerns due to a problem with the craft's heat shield. Crisis was averted and Glenn landed safely after successfully orbiting the Earth three times.
- President Kennedy has asked Congress for $4.8 billion for his foreign aid program. Kennedy noted that the US cannot yet claim any dramatic results in the four-month-old "Decade of Development" plan, but he says the stage has been set for a switch to long term development, tailored to individual countries' specific needs and emphasizing self-help.
- Admitting his 3-year-old revolution faces serious problems, Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro has announced drastic rationing of food and other staples and declared "We are ashamed of not fulfilling the promises made."
- A Secret Army terrorist attack bombed the barracks of French riot police as trouble continues in Algiers. The Secret Army Organization of European terrorists is attempting to bar Algeria's independence.
- Over the weekend Israeli and Syrian forces clashed in a night battle declared the worst in two years and included aircraft as well as land and water forces on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.