EX-PACKER IS ASKING MONEY
JAN 29 (Green Bay) - Larry Bettencourt, professional football center who played several games with the Green Bay Packers during the 1933 season, attached $1,000 of the gate of one game played by the Packers in California this month, alleging $800 is due him, according to word received here. The gate involved is believed that of the Green Bay-Pacific All Star contest at San Francisco Jan. 19. Bettencourt was obtained by the Green Bay Football corporation, now in receivership, midway during the 1933 season, with the understanding that if he made good, he would see service in a given number of games. He found it difficult to get into condition, however, and several brief appearances was released. Bettencourt's present claim, officials of the Green Bay Packers, Inc., point out, is without foundation. The Packers now appearing on the Pacific coast are playing with the permission of the corporation, but without its sponsorship, and with the understanding that the entire profits be taken by the players themselves. Even if Bettencourt's claim was valid, it was pointed out, it would rest against the receiver of the defunct Green Bay Football corporation, and not against either the new corporation or its players. Legal data has been dispatched to California with the idea of clearing up the attachment immediately.
CALIFORNIA LIKES ITS PRO FOOTBALL
FEB 3 (Los Angeles) - Southern California wants more professional football games next winter. Harry Myers of the Los Angeles county council of the American Legion will leave tomorrow for Philadelphia to attend the annual meeting of the NFL. He wants to arrange for several pro games here next January. The Detroit Lions, national pro champions, and the Green Bay Packers drew large crowds here last month.
STYDAHAR TO SIGN WITH BEARS' TEAM
FEB 5 (Clarksburg, WV) - Joe Stydahar, star guard and
captain of the 1935 West Virginia university football squad,
announced today he will sign a contract with the Chicago
Bears. Stydahar, now acting freshmen basketball coach at
the university, was a member of last year's all-East squad.
He said he had received offers from the Bears, Green Bay
Packers and New York Giants.
LOOKING UP IN THE REALM OF SPORT
FEB 6 (Green Bay) - Almost every time they play and without
question every time they win, the Green Bay Packers
acquired new fans, who are prepared to go to bat for them
in any argument, big or small. The latest convert is Dutch
Reuther, who skippers the Seattle entry in the Pacific Coast
Baseball league, and who happened to be among those
present when the Packers played the Coast All Stars at
San Francisco. In a Seattle newspaper, Reuther says:
"Those professionals certainly know their football. Why, it
was nothing to see them heave a forward pas that
developed a pair of laterals, and once there were four
laterals following a forward pass. Believe me, those boys
chuck the ball around. They really put on a football show.
And are they big? When the Packers came out on the field
it looked like eleven box cars had been shunted onto a
siding. I can't see how professional football can miss,
because to my mind they play a most sensational brand of
football that is bound to catch the public fancy." Reuther
hadn't intended seeing the game. He just happened to be
in San Francisco, with nothing to do, dropped in for a few
minutes and stayed until the bitter end.
RUMOR MICHALSKE LAFAYETTE COACH
FEB 7 (Green Bay) - Reliable information received here
today indicated that August (Mike) Michalske, veteran guard
of the Green Bay Packers and member of the 1935 all-
America professional football team, has been signed as
line coach at Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. Michalske, who
is in California following the Packers' barnstorming trip,
could not be reached for comment. Ernie Nevers, former
Chicago Cardinals and Stanford university star, is the new
Lafayette head coach.
JOANNES, LAMBEAU TO ATTEND MEET
FEB 7 (Green Bay) - Leland H. Joannes, president of Green Bay Packers, Inc., will leave late today for Pittsburgh, where he will attend the annual meeting of the NFL. Joannes will be joined in Chicago by E.L. Lambeau, Packer coach, who will accompany him to Pittsburgh. The league sessions, at which the 1936 schedule is to be drawn, will be held Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE WINTER SESSION LAUNCHED
FEB 8 (Philadelphia) - The annual midwinter meeting of the NFL club owners and coaches will be held tonight and Sunday at the Ritz Carlton hotel here. For the first time in several years the professional football body contemplates no changes in the playing rules, according to Joe F. Carr, president of the circuit, who will preside over the meeting. The current pro grid code proved eminently satisfactory during the 1935 season and few, if any, recommendations for changes have been made to the rules committee, of which George Halas of the Chicago Bears is chairman...GAME IS DIFFERENT: The National league code now differs from the college game in allowing a forward pass from any point up to the line of scrimmage, the goal posts are on the goal line, and the defensive team can run with a recovered fumble. There are several other slight differences but these are the main things where the National league playing code does not conform to that of the college game. The increased stability of the professional game is well illustrated by the fact that for the first time in the history of the circuit the same clubs which played through the 1935 season will be represented intact for the 1936 season. The league is divided into two division, Eastern and Western. In the West the Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cardinals and Green Bay Packers make up the circuit, while in the East there are the New York Gians, Brooklyn Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles. The 1935 championship and possession of the Ed Thorp Memorial trophy, symbolical of the pro grid title, will be awarded formally to the Detroit Lions, who defeated the New York Giants, Eastern champions, in the playoff for the crown. William Alfs, in all probability, will represent the Detroit club in the absence of G.A. Richards, club president, who is in Honolulu with the Lions...TWO REPRESENT PACKERS: Others from the west expected to attend are George Halas, coach and president of the Chicago Bears, Charles Bidwell, Milan Creighton and Arch Wolfe of the Chicago Cardinals, E.L. Lambeau, coach of the Green Bay Packers, and L.H. Joannes, president of the Packers. The Eastern teams will be represented by Bert Bell and Lud Wray, president and coach of the Philadelphia club, which is acting as host; J.V. Mara, president of the New York Giants; George Marshall, owner of the Boston Redskins, and his new coach, Ray Flaherty; Arthur Rooney and Joe Bach, owner and coach of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Paul Schissler and John Sims Kelly, coach and treasurer of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Carl Storck of Dayton, treasurer of the league, also will attend.
PACKERS' 1936 SCHEDULE IS SET
FEB 10 (Philadelphia) - One of the best schedules in recent years, containing 12 games against league opponents, was arranged for the Green Bay Packers in 1936 at the meeting of the NFL. The schedule opens on Sept. 13 at Green Bay with the Chicago Cardinals, and ends at Chicago with the same team on Dec. 6. One game will be played in Milwaukee this year, according to the schedule, against the Cardinals on Oct. 4...BEARS HERE EPT. 20: Following the Cardinal game here the Bears come to Green Bay one week later, Sept. 20, and then the Packers have an open date for Sept. 27. On Oct. 4, they
travel to Milwaukee to meet the Cardinals again, returning
to Green Bay for games with Boston on Oct. 11, Detroit on
Oct. 18 and Pittsburgh on Oct. 25. The team takes the road
on Nov. 1 for a game with the Bears in Chicago and then
swings east for a contest at Boston, Nov. 8, at Brooklyn,
Nov. 15, and at New York on Nov. 22. They will play at
Detroit on Nov. 29, and then close the season against the
Cardinals in Chicago on Dec. 6. No game is scheduled for
Thanksgiving day...BOSTON NEW OPPONENT: The
appearance in Green Bay of Boston and Pittsburgh among
the eastern clubs, as well as the Bears, Cardinals and
Detroit Lions from the western clubs, will give local fans
five good league contests. Boston has not played here
since 1933. Green Bay's representatives at the sessions were Coach E.L. Lambeau and President L.H. Joannes. The league also adopted a plan to equalize strength among the nine clubs by giving the weaker elevens first call on the services of prospective newcomers from colleges. At the same time the league received from Los Angeles an application for a franchise there, and decided to permit a club to operate on the Pacific coast on a probationary basis during the coming season...SUBMIT PROSPECT NAMES: In its new plan for selection of college prospects, the league ruled that hereafter, at the end of the regulation season, each club owner will submit the names of eight college prospects. The 72 names will be listed, and the tailend club of the league will have first call on any one of the candidates. Under this system, the last place club will have first chance to establish negotiations with upcoming players without interference from other teams. This selection will be followed by each club having a choice in the reverse order of the standing of the clubs at the close of the season. Joe Carr, president of the league, said as a result of this rotation of negotiation rights, every city in the league will thus be sure of seeing some of the college stars of the preceding season, and will prevent "promiscuous scrambling" for one or two players. "In the event that the club, for reasons outside of the prospective player's control, is unable to come to an agreement, the club would be permitted to trade its negotiation rights to another team," Carr explained...BLOW AT BIG SALARIES: This action, it was said, was prompted by the wholesale bargaining over the services of Stanley Kostka, 1934 Minnesota star, last year. The change guards against "blowing up" the salaries of rookies to tremendous proportions. Jay Berwanger, Chicago's 1935 "one man team", is reported to be demanding $1,000 a game. Applications for league franchises were made by Buffalo, N.Y., interests, headed by Charley Murray, as well as the American Legion of Los Angeles county. The Buffalo application was taken under advisement by President Carr, but the Pacific coast bid was taken more seriously. The league's meeting was addressed by Harry Myers, promotional director of the Los Angeles County Legion, which last year operated a four-club league at a substantial profit. The Coast league will cut its 1936 schedule in half, playing only six games, after which an all-star team will be assembled to meet six league clubs in trial games in late October and November on the coast...MAY GET FRANCHISE: "If the Legion's team makes a good showing against our clubs and is popularly patronized, then we'll more than likely grant it a franchise for 1937," Carr said. In the event the Legion team is admitted to the league, the club will come east for six games and other league teams will go west each year for the same number of games. Schedule making for the 1936 campaign occupied the club owners and coaches for several hours. Most teams booked 12 or 13 games. No player trades were negotiated, although the Boston Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles, which finished eighth and ninth respectively last year, sounded out the owners of the stronger clubs for some of their players.
LAMBEAU SEES GREAT SEASON
FEB 14 (Green Bay) - Coach E.L. (Curly) Lambeau returned last night from the Packers' western trip and from the NFL meeting in Philadelphia, voiced optimistic sentiments about the Green Bay Packers' prospects for next season. "The trip did the players a lot of good," Coach Lambeau said. "It was like a spring practice for all of them."...CHANGES PLAYERS AROUND: Coach Lambeau said he had had an opportunity to try out new formations, new plays and to shift players around into different positions. The main change fans will see in the team next year, he said, will be Don Hutson playing the safety position on defense. Hutson's speed will give him a great opportunity to get away at returning punts and at intercepting passes from the safety position, Lambeau said. In addition to this shift, Herman Schneidman will probably be used at a defensive end position. He was tried out at the post in the California games, and proved himself more than capable of handling the assignment, Lambeau said. There will also probably be a change in Swede Johnson's position, he stated, saying that Johnson may be moved up to the line at either a guard or an end post. Champ Seibold was one of the players who showed the most improvement while on the coast, according to the coach, and he proved himself ready for regular duty next season. George Sauer was injured on the first play of the Detroit Lions contest, which considerably hampered the team, Lambeau said, but he will be back in fine condition by this fall...PACKERS GROSS $11,200: As far as the financial end of the trip was concerned, Coach Lambeau reported that the Packers grossed $11,200 in the three games played. They had been guaranteed $3,500 to come to California. The players were satisfied with the gates at the San Diego and the Los Angeles game, he said, but they were quite disappointed in the receipts from the game at San Francisco, where the crowd seemed to be much larger than their share of the gate receipts indicated. They also felt that they were treated "roughly" by the California promoters, when they were promised a game in Los Angeles on Jan. 12, and when they arrived in California they had no game for that date. The San Diego game was booked to replace it.
LOOKING UP IN THE REALM OF SPORTS
FEB 14 (Green Bay) - John Boles, the singing romeo of the films, was taking a brief vacation in New York the other day when he told newsmen about his favorite hobby - football. It seems the screen star is daffy about collecting books and books of clipping about football teams, plays and players. He keep a voluminous scrapbook of clippings, analyzes plays and attends big games on the coast whenever his movie schedule permits. And surprisingly enough, one of the game which has attracted a lot of attention from Boles was the recent encounter between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions in Los Angeles. The postman rang twice at his New York suit, and left packages containing clippings and programs of the game. "I thought those Lions would take them," he said gleefully when the stories arrived, "but everybody out there thought the Packers would win. It was the old percentage - just like Stanford in the Rose Bowl." Other comments on the Packer-Lion game have reached this desk via Los Angeles newspapers which came to Green Bay by a devious route. These clippings seem to be somewhat Lion-sided too. One for instance, from a sportswriter's column in the Los Angeles Evening Herald, has some nasty things to say about some of the Green Bay players. "The Packers were relying on Herber who had the worst off-day of his life. He threw one execrable pass, then another which was intercepted, and the last Packer threat was over. Herber and Don Hutson, the end from Alabama who played such havoc with Stanford two years ago, were both floperoos. Hutson couldn't catch anything and furthermore seemed the most inexperienced man on the field." That ought be sent to George Halas to be put in his scrapbook.
GROVE TRADED TO BROOKLYN
FEB 15 (Green Bay) - Roger Grove, quarterback with the
Packers for the past four seasons, has been traded to the
Brooklyn Dodgers for Wayland Becker, Green Bay end, and
Bill Croft, stocky guard, Coach E.L. Lambeau announced
today. The trade has been confirmed by Joe F. Carr, league
president. Coach Lambeau has been trying to get Becker
with Green Bay for the past year, he stated, and is happy to
have him in the Packer fold. Becker was a star at East high
school here, graduating in 1930, and then went to
Marquette, where he was again a standout performer...
SIGNED BY BEARS: Upon graduation from the Hilltoppper
school, Becker was signed by the Chicago Bears, and then
loaned to Brooklyn for a cash consideration. George Halas
recalled him last year, and then sold him to the Dodgers for
$400. Now he comes to the Packers in the Grove trade.
Wayland stands six feet tall and weighs 189 pounds. He is
known as a great kicker besides and an outstanding end,
and went back into the backfield and punted for the
Dodgers in numerous occasions. Bill Croft is a graduate
of Utah and played one season with the Dodgers last year.
He is a stocky fellow, weighing 235 pounds and standing
five feet 11 inches in height. When Coach Lambeau talked
to Becker yesterday, the latter praised Croft's work last year,
saying he was as good a guard as the Dodgers had...
OTHER TRADES PLANNED: Other trades are now in the
making, Coach Lambeau announced, but stated that the
information on them would not be released until they were
completed. Grove came to the Packer team in 1932 from
Michigan State. He played good ball with the club in 1932-
33 and 34, but last year he sustained a knee injury in
preseason practice and was unable to play at all the rest
of the season.
LOS ANGELES WILL ENTER PRO LEAGUE
FEB 18 (Los Angeles) - Los Angeles will have a team in the NFL in 1937, Harry Myers, sport promoter of the American Legion council said yesterday. He said plans were being made also to build a strong team for this fall, with the possibility Harold (Red) Grange might get the coaching job. "The Los Angeles team will be on probation in the professional league in 1936," Myers said. "All the National league teams will play us here this fall, and of course we want to show them we have a strong team, and one that will hold its own against the best." Myers said the coaching job is "wide open", and that the Legion would welcome applications.
LETLOW SIGNS WITH PACKERS
MAR 12 (Green Bay) - Russ Letlow, University of San Francisco's great guard, who was rated one of the best men on the field in the 1936 East-West game, will play with the Green Bay Packers next fall. Receipt of Letlow's signed contract was announced by Coach E.L. Lambeau today. Letlow, a veteran of the San Francisco line, follows the architectural design popularized by Mike Michalske, but is several pounds heavier. He is exceptionally broad shouldered and powerful, weighs 212 pounds and is six
feet tall...SIGNED BY CARDINALS: Letlow was signed by
the Chicago Cardinals, after a campaign which had nearly
every club in the NFL seeking his services, but when the
Green Bay preferred list was drawn up the Packers
received the first call on his services. This, it may be said,
is highly satisfactory to Letlow. With his acceptance of the
terms he sent the following message: "I am very glad to
play with the Packers and I shall do all I can to help bring
the 1936 championship to Green Bay."...LIKELY LOOKING
GUARD: Men experienced in professional football have
agreed that Letlow is one of the likeliest looking prospects
from the 1935 collegiate ranks. He is 22 years old, and
lives at Taft, Calif. Russ was one of the Pacific Coast All-
Star linemen who played recently against the Packers in
San Francisco, and his work drew the praise of all those
who faced him. He has played some tackle in college.
Letlow is the first new man to be signed by the Packers,
but several more trades are in the wind, Lambeau said.
PACKERS ARE LEAVING TOWN
MAR 13 (Green Bay) - A general exodus involving several
veterans of the Green Bay Packers took place this week,
leaving the city somewhat bare of professional football
talent. Cal Hubbard, for many years a member of the Green
Bay team, left for Miami, Florida, where he will work in
exhibition games preparatory to beginning his career as an
American league umpire. Mrs. Hubbard will remain in
Green Bay until June, when their son, Bobby, completes his
school year. Mike Michalske, who rumor says he has been
offered a position as line coach at Lafayette college, is in
Chicago, conferring with Head Coach Ernie Nevers about
the post. He is expected to go to Easton, Pa., with Nevers,
after which the announcement of the position, if any, will be
made. Milt Gantenbein, Al Rose and Weert Englemann left for Santa Monica, Calif., yesterday to begin work with the Douglas Aircraft company, where Champ Seibold and Bob Monnett already are employed. En route they are expected to pick up Clarke Hinkle, who is heading for California from his home at Toronto, Ohio.
SAUER RETURNS TO WORK IN GREEN BAY
MAR 14 (Green Bay) - George Henry Sauer, former University of Nebraska football and more recently a backfield star of the Green Bay Packers, arrived in town yesterday and promptly settled down for the spring, summer and fall seasons. Sauer is employed in Green Bay and will make his home here. After returning from the Packers' Pacific coast trip, Sauer worked out spring practice at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb., and helped Coach Dana X. Bible with his gridiron candidates.