The 1940 Green Bay Packers - 6-4-1 (2ND)
Head Coach: Curly Lambeau
1940 PRE-SEASON RESULTS (3-0)
AUGUST (1-0)
29 College All-Stars at Chicago W 45-28 1- 0-0 84,567
SEPTEMBER (2-0)
2 M-WASHINGTON REDSKINS W 28-20 2- 0-0 14,798
7 KENOSHA CARDINALS W 17- 0 3- 0-0
1940 REGULAR SEASON RESULTS
SEPTEMBER (2-1)
15 G-PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (0-0-0) W 27-20 1- 0-0 11,657
22 G-CHICAGO BEARS (0-0-0) L 10-41 1- 1-0 22,557
29 M-CHICAGO CARDINALS (1-0-2) W 31- 6 2- 1-0 20,234
OCTOBER (2-1)
13 G-CLEVELAND RAMS (1-2-0) W 31-14 3- 1-0 16,299
20 G-DETROIT LIONS (2-2-1) L 14-23 3- 2-0 21,001
27 M-PITTSBURGH STEELERS (1-4-2) W 24- 3 4- 2-0 13,703
NOVEMBER (2-2)
3 at Chicago Bears (5-1-0) L 7-14 4- 3-0 45,434
10 at Chicago Cardinals (2-4-2) W 28- 7 5- 3-0 11,364
17 at New York Giants (4-3-1) L 3- 7 5- 4-0 28,262
24 at Detroit Lions (5-4-1) W 50- 7 6- 4-0 26,019
DECEMBER (0-0-1)
1 at Cleveland Rams (4-6-0) T 13-13 6- 4-1 16,249
G - Green Bay M - Milwaukee
1940 IN REVIEW
When the Chicago Bears crushed the Packers, 41-10, to open their season, Green Bay fans knew that when 1941 rolled around, their team would no longer be World Champions. The Packers were still a rugged team, but, unfortunately, not as rugged as George Halas' powerhouse. After losses to the Lions, the Bears again, and the Giants, head coach Curly Lambeau became convinced that his team needed a body-building course before they could overtake the Bears. But nothing was wrong with Don Hutson, as he bounced back from his knee injury to lead the NFL in scoring. The quick end found most of his passes coming from Cecil Isbell, with Arnie Herber getting less playing time at tailback. The same solid supporting cast filled the Green Bay line and backfield, with Clarke Hinkle and Russ Letlow shining especially bright to give the Packers a respectable but frustrating role as runner-up.
THE MILWAUKEE CHIEFS
(SOURCE: Wikipedia) In 1940 and 1941, Green Bay found itself in a competition for football attention in Wisconsin. The Milwaukee Chiefs of the AFL played its home games in the Dairy Bowl. Originally formed as an expansion team for the minor league formerly known as the American Professional Football Association for the 1940 season, the new team joined fellow AFL members Cincinnati Bengals and Columbus Bullies in becoming charter members of a new major-league AFL. In the two seasons of the league’s existence, the Chiefs fielded a competitive team. In 1940, the team scored the most points and gave up the fewest over the course of the season, but lost to Columbus in the final game to give the league title to the Bullies. The following year, the Chiefs and the Bullies were joined by the New York Americans in a three-way race for the championship, with the Chiefs' continuing inability to defeat the Bullies (losing in Columbus and tying in Milwaukee) led to Columbus repeating as AFL champions and Milwaukee finishing third. For the two years of the league’s existence, the Chiefs were a popular draw as they played in Wisconsin’s largest stadium. The AFL had accepted the 1941 entrance of a new Detroit team and deferred it until 1942, but the Pearl Harbor attack and the subsequent U.S. entry into World War II put all plans for football to a halt. In September 1942, league president William B. Cox announced the suspension of league activities until after the war, but the league – and the Chiefs – never returned.
1940 AFL W L T Pct PF PA 1941 AFL W L T Pct PF PA
Columbus Bullies 8 1 1 .889 134 69 Columbus Bullies 5 1 2 .833 142 55
MILWAUKEE CHIEFS 7 2 0 .778 180 59 New York Americans 5 2 1 .714 116 73
Boston Bears 5 4 1 .556 120 79 MILWAUKEE CHIEFS 4 3 1 .571 105 84
New York Yankees 4 5 0 .444 138 138 Buffalo Tigers 2 6 0 .250 72 172
Buffalo Indians 2 8 0 .200 45 138 Cincinnati Bengals 1 5 2 .167 69 120
Cincinnati Bengals 1 7 0 .125 53 187
NAME NO POS HGT WGT COLLEGE YR PR A G HOW ACQUIRED
Bob Adkins 55 E 6- 0 211 Marshall 1 1 23 11
Frank Balazs 35 B 6- 2 215 Iowa 2 2 22 7 1939 Draft-18th
Connie Berry 37 E 6- 3 210 N. Carolina St 1 2 25 1 FA-Detroit (1939)
Charley Brock 29 C 6- 1 205 Nebraska 2 2 24 11 1939 Draft-3rd
Lou Brock 15 B 6- 0 195 Purdue 1 1 22 11 1940 Draft-3rd
Larry Buhler 52 B 6- 2 210 Minnesota 2 2 23 8 1939 Draft-1st
Larry Craig 54 E 6- 0 205 S. Carolina 2 2 24 11 1939 Draft - 6th
Leo Disend 18 T 6- 2 225 Albright 1 3 24 5 FA-Brooklyn (1939)
Tiny Engebretsen 34 G 6- 1 245 Northwestern 7 9 30 FA-Brooklyn (1934)
Dick Evans 53 E 6- 3 195 Iowa 1 1 22
Beattie Feathers 3 B 5-11 180 Tennessee 1 7 32 1 FA-Brooklyn (1939)
Milt Gantenbein 22 E 6- 0 200 Wisconsin 10 10 30 5
Buckets Goldenberg43 G 5-10 225 Wisconsin 8 8 28 11
Tom Greenfield 56 C 6- 4 218 Arizona 2 2 22 9 1939 Draft - 15th
Arnie Herber 38 B 5-11 208 Regis 11 11 30 10
Clarke Hinkle 30 FB 5-11 200 Bucknell 9 9 31 11
Don Hutson 14 E 6- 1 185 Alabama 6 6 27 11
Cecil Isbell 17 B 6- 1 190 Purdue 3 3 25 10 1938 Draft-1st
Harry Jacunski 48 E 6- 2 198 Fordham 2 2 24 10
Ed Jankowski 7 B 5-10 205 Wisconsin 4 4 27 7 1937 Draft-1st
Smiley Johnson 64 G 5-10 200 Georgia 1 1 23 11
Paul Kell 41 T 6- 2 217 Notre Dame 2 2 25 11
Joe Laws 24 B 5- 9 186 Iowa 7 7 29 3
Bill Lee 40 T 6- 3 235 Alabama 4 6 28 11 FA-Brooklyn (1937)
Russ Letlow 46 G 6- 0 215 San Francisco 5 5 26 11 1936 Draft-1st
Lou Midler 27 T-G 6- 1 220 Minnesota 1 2 25 7 FA - Pitt (1939)
Carl Mulleneaux 19 E 6- 4 205 Utah St 3 3 23 10
Baby Ray 44 T 6- 6 248 Vanderbilt 3 3 24 11
Ray Riddick 5 E 6- 0 225 Fordham 1 1 22 10
Charles Schultz 60 T 6- 3 230 Minnesota 2 2 23 2 1939 Draft-20th
George Seeman 68 E 6- 0 194 Nebraska 1 1 24 1 1940 Draft-6th
Champ Seibold 57 T 6- 4 246 Wisconsin 6 6 27 1
Fred Shirey 18 T 6- 2 220 Nebraska 1 1 24 10
NAME NO POS HGT WGT COLLEGE YR PR A G HOW ACQUIRED
George Svendsen 66 C 6- 4 240 Minnesota 4 4 27 3
Pete Tinsley 21 G 5- 8 205 Georgia 3 3 27 7 1938 Draft-9th
Andy Uram 42 B 5-10 188 Minnesota 3 3 25 11 1938 Draft-4th
Hal Van Every 36 B 6- 0 195 Minnesota 1 1 22 10 1940 Draft-1st
Dick Weisberger 33 B 5-10 194 Williamette 3 3 25 10
Bobby Wood 29 T 6- 1 235 Alabama 1 1 24 2 FA-Cards (1940)
Gus Zarnas 63 G 5-10 225 Ohio State 2 3 26 9 FA-Brooklyn (1939)
NO - Jersey Number POS - Position HGT - Height WGT - Weight YR - Years with Packers PR - Years of Professional Football AGE - Age at Start of Season G - Games Played
1940 PACKERS DRAFT (December 9, 1939)
RND SEL NAME POS COLLEGE
1 9 Hal Van Every B Minnesota
3 24 Lou Brock B Purdue
5 39 Esco Sarkkinen E Ohio State
6 49 Dick Cassiano B Pittsburgh
7 59 Millard White T Tulane
8 69 George Seeman E Nebraska
9 79 J.R. Manley G Oklahoma
10 89 Jack Brown B Purdue
11 99 Don Guritz G Northwestern
12 109 Phil Gaspar B Southern California
13 119 Ambrose Schindler B Southern California
14 129 Bill Kerr E Notre Dame
15 139 Mel Brewer G Illinois
16 149 Ray Andrus B Vanderbilt
17 159 Archie Kodros C Michigan
18 169 Jimm Gillette B Virginia
19 179 Al Matuza C Georgetown
20 189 Jim Reeder T Illinois
21 194 Vince Eichler B Cornell
22 199 Henry Luebcke T Iowa
BOLD - Played for the Packers
PACKERS STRESSING AIR DEFENSE PLANS
JAN 4 (Santa Monica, CA) - In the midst of preparing for Sunday's game with Steve Owen's all-Americans, Curly Lambeau today took time out to make two announcements of interest to Green Bay fans. They are: 1 - Larry Buhler will definitely be shifted to blocking back next season. 2 - Frank Balazs will see a lot of action at fullback. Lambeau became enthusiastic when discussing Balazs saying: "He weighs 215 and is the third fastest man on the squad. In our sprint races out here, he was third to such speed artists as Larry Craig and Don Hutson. He will make a mighty good man for us."...SWITCH DRILL SCHEDULE: A change in drills yesterday saw the Packers working on pass defense to prepare for the avalanche that O'Brien, Hall and Filchock will unloosen. Prior to that Lambeau has been perfecting the timing on running plays and experimenting with new stuff to use against Owen's star-studded aggregation. The offense has been polished and from here out Lambeau will bear down on defense. George Marshall, owner of the Washington Redskins, called Curly on the telephone to predict the Packers will take a beating Sunday. He said Owen has the finest All-Star team ever assembled and that the passers will drive the Bay boys daffy...HE MAY BE RIGHT: Lambeau, while not alarmed, admitted Marshall might be right except for the fact that "pick up" teams seldom defeat units that have been together for some time. Curly agreed that the All-Stars are all the name implies, but not including any local talent as in past years. After talking it over with the boys, many of whom are anxious to get back to their jobs, Lambeau announced there would be no trip to Honolulu and no making of a movie short. This did not keep Messrs. and Mesdames Isbell, Hinkle, Hutson, Lee, Gantenbein, Uram, Weisgerber and Engebretsen from going through the MGM studios, where they saw things that made their eyes pop. Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable and others did the honors.
LOOKING UP IN THE REALM OF SPORTS
JAN 4 (Green Bay) - It may be a project which will be fulfilled only in the dim and distant future, but the time is coming when Green Bay will need a municipal stadium. This is not necessarily a development of the football playoff situation at Milwaukee, nor does it so far as we know, reflect the opinion of a single member of the Green Bay executive board, not it is an attempt to copy the current efforts of Milwaukee to construct a similar project. It just seems to be a good idea for eventual completion. The members of the park board are interested, although they conceded that it may be a long day before the gates swing open. The site which has been suggested is that vast area on the west side of Irwin avenue, between Green Bay and Bay Beach. At first glance, Green Bay fans might think the section a bit isolated, despite the fact that it afford ample parking place, and won't constitute a public nuisance when erected. But Green Bay might as well realize that it isn't a small town anymore. The day has gone when any structure for public convenience must be built with a stone's throw of the Fox River. If such a stadium ever reaches the point of serious consideration, two points must enter into the discussion. First, the place must be designed for all kind of sport, such as football, baseball, track and others. Second, it must return a decent revenue - enough to keep up the interest payments on the bonded indebtedness and to nibble away at the principal. If covered stands were provided, the stadium's utility would be increased greatly, and the risk of loss to promotional events by poor weather would be smaller by consequence. City stadium is doing all right for the community, up to a certain point. But it never can be stretched to accommodate more than an approximate 26,000. Furthermore, parking facilities are highly inadequate, and the eastern end of Walnut street is badly cramped at all Packer home games. The wheels of progress grind slowly, and it sometimes seems that it takes particularly long for them to get started in Green Bay. And so, if a municipal stadium we are to have, it might be well to start a spot of serious thinking on the matter. A centralized home for football, for daily baseball, track meets, for community affairs would be an asset to which Green Bay could point with everlasting pride. And it would save disputes over playoff games.
SELLOUT CROWD CERTAIN SUNDAY
JAN 5 (Santa Monica. CA) - A sellout crowd with many turned away is almost a certainty for Sunday's Pro Bowl game between the Packers and the All-Americans. The only thing that will keep Gilmore Stadium from being filled with 18,000 is rain. It has been raining the last couple of days, this being Southern California's damp season. Coach Curly Lambeau was all smiles after talking to Bernie Bierman of Minnesota and Andy Kerr of Colgate, who stopped here on their way back from the East-West game at San Francisco. Here's what made the Packer chief happy: Bierman said Harold Van Every will make the Packers a great back. He revealed Van Every is a fine passer, this ability being somewhat veiled because the Gophers lacked skillful receivers...TWO POLISHED STARS: Kerr stamped Dick Cassiano of Pitt and Bill Kerr, Notre Dame end, as two polished performers who will fit into the Packer picture. Thus, Lambeau is pretty certain that these three, along with Ambrose Schindler, Phil Gasper and Lou Brock are sure possibilities. He will interview Schindler and Gasper before leaving California, then take off for Nebraska to see George Seeman. From there he will go to Oklahoma to talk with J.R. Manley, then back to Green Bay. Due to the rain neither team worked out yesterday. The All-Americans held a meeting and elected Mel Hein and Ki Aldrich as co-captains for Sunday's game. The Packers indulged in a blackboard drill and quiz.
GOPHER HAD UNUSUAL START, BUT HAS GREAT COLLEGIATE CAREER
JAN 5 (Minneapolis) - Maybe there is something in this business of learning to play football by unusual methods. At any rate, versatile Harold Van Every, who has completed three seasons as an outstanding halfback at the University of Minnesota, is convinced that his odd introduction to football was no handicap. As a youngster in the resort center of Minnetonka Beach, near Minneapolis, young Harold has plenty of playmates in the summer. But in the fall, the summer visitors moved back to town and Harold, needing a teammate and opposition to play football, drafted his sister and a neighbor's daughter...STAR WOMAN GOLFER: The scene of these early football endeavors that were to form the ground work for Van Every's later career at the University of Minnesota was a gold course, and the neighbor's daughter was Bea Barrett, now a nationally ranked woman golfer. From this beginning, Harold progressed to a starting role on the Wyzeta, Minn., high school team., and from there to the university, where he
spent the customary year on the freshman squad. As a sophomore, he was rated as one of the season's outstanding first-year men, turning in consistently fine performances in the necessary halfback arts of kicking, passing and running...VICTIM OF INJURY: At the outset of his second season, Van Every was the victim of a stubborn injury that took several weeks to respond the treatment and he was on the sidelines most of that year. However, he did come into the Michigan game with the Gophers trailing by six points and with only a few minutes left to play. In three key plays, he recovered a fumble and threw two sharp passes, the second good for a touchdown. Minnesota won, 7-6. The 1939 season saw Van Every improve on the form that had stamped him as an outstanding sophomore. In addition to his triple-threat duties as the key spot at left halfback, he was given the assignment of calling the signals. Burdened by these "quadruple threat" duties, he performed each of them efficiently, but it was in that ball-carrying department that he shone, leading the squad in ground gaining. In all, Van Every carried the ball a total of 667 yards in eight games. In December, he was selected on the draft list of the Green Bay Packers. Also a valuable basketball player, the Gopher senior now is spending his third season on the Minnesota quintet as a forward.
PACKERS BATTLE PROFESSIONAL ALL-STARS ON SUNDAY
JAN 6 (Los Angeles) - Four of the best football teams in the nation will take the field at Gilmore stadium Sunday for the professional bowl battle between Green Bay, National league champions, and the All-Americans coached by Steve Owen. The Packers can produce at least two teams from its squad of 32 that rank near the top of the football ladder. Likewise, Owen can select two teams with outstanding men in every position from his all-star aggregation. It will be a battle of the giants, with every one an expert...EXPECT GOOD WEATHER: The weather forecast is good, and this means that a capacity crowd of almost 20,000 will be on hand to see the real McCoy so far as football goes. In the game Coach E.L. Lambeau sees an opportunity to give his new men their greatest test, and from the results determine how many draftees he will need next season. In the regular National league season, the new men with the exception of Larry Craig and Charley Brock were used for little more than replacements when the regulars needed a rest. In the pro league, a third stringer may spend a lot of time on the bench while the veterans are gunning for a title. There is no time for experimenting. But Sunday will provide a real test for the freshmen as they will work mostly with new plays which have been perfected since arriving here...LOOKING FOR REVENGE: To Coach Owen the game means a chance to avenge the defeat his New York Giants suffered at the hands of the Packers in Milwaukee. Although Steve has no alibis for that blasting - that 27 to 0 beating can be called nothing else - he is happy over the prospect of showing what he can do against the mighty men of Green Bay. Owen, a conservative, is none too confident despite the fact that he has a sparkling array of passers, kickers and runners. To the fans of Los Angeles it means a chance to see professional football at its best. And this will be a welcome relief after some of the woozy exhibitions that have been staged around here by pickup teams and castoffs...PACKERS ARE FAVORED: The Packers are 9 to 5 favorites in the betting, of which there will be considerable before the last pistol shot rings out. The first year men who will start in the Green Bay line are Harry Jacunski at left end, Charles Schultz at left tackle, Gus Zarnas at left guard, Tom Greenfield at center, Paul Kell at right tackle and Allan Moore at right end. The line's only veteran will be Pete Tinsley, who gets the call at right guard. This is Pete's second year with the Packers. Dick Weisgerber will start at blocking back for Green Bay. While this is Weisgerber's second year with the Packers, a wealth of veteran backfield talent has kept him in the background. One real "name player" is on the list. He is Arnold Herber, who will direct the team from his usual right halfback position.
FAVOR PRO ALL-STARS TO OUTPOINT PACKERS
JAN 7 (Los Angeles) - The citizens of this vicinity are in for a rude shock. Right now they feel that Southern California, which trampled Tennessee, 14 to 0, in the Rose Bowl, is the best football team in the country. On Sunday afternoon, in rain-soaked Gilmore stadium, they will see two football teams, either of which could take the Rose bowl Trojans and chase 'em to the hills. The two clubs are the National professional league champions, the Green Bay Packers, and the National league all-stars, chosen from the other teams in the fastest, biggest, smartest and toughest football circuit in existence. This game, which probably will be played before a capacity crowd of 19,000, amounts to the pro bowl. It is the only postseason game sanctioned by the professional fathers and will field, at one time, more gridiron greats than ever stepped on a field before. The lineups of the two teams read like a roll call of the all-Americans and should produce the most brilliantly played game of the year. Southern Californians like to think of the Trojans as a power team, a team of giants. Wait until the all-stars, coached by Steve Owen, lumber on the field. This outfit, chosen by a poll, is without question the heaviest in history. The starting line will average 219 pounds a man, and the backfield will come in at 212. In reserve will be such dinosaurs as George Musso, 270 pound guard from the Chicago Bears; Tony Blazine, 230 pound Chicago Card tackle and 256 pound Turk Edwards of the Washington Redskins. Even so, the all-stars won't dwarf the regular team of the Green Bay Packers. The men from Wisconsin will field a team averaging 216 pounds in the front line and 200 in the backfield. Curly Lambeau, coach of the champions, will start Don Hutson and Milt Gantenbein at ends, Baby Ray and Bill Lee at the tackles, Paul Engebretsen and Chuck Goldenberg at guards, Tom Greenfield at center, and Joe Laws, Cecil Isbell, Arnold Herber and Clark Hinkle in the backfield. Coach Owen of the all-stars, with more talent than any one coach could imagine at his disposal, has not decided on the 11 men he'll start. It is believed that he will use Jim Poole and Perry Schwartz, ends; Joe Stydahar and Ray George, tackles; Byron Gentry and Bruiser Kinard, guards; Mel Hein, center, and Fred Vanzo, Parker Hall, Erny Pinckert and Johnny Drake in the backfield. The all-stars, despite the fact that they have never played together as a unit, are favored. There is a general belief that the all-stars, with the game's two greatest passers in Hall and Davey O'Brien, the best field goal kicker in Ward Cuff, and two of the greatest along with the ground gainers in Andy Farkas and Drake, won't be stopped. The two teams have not trained for the game as if they were just on an outing that provided a vacation in California. They have been working hard and will go out for the kickoff as hard as nails and ready to give Los Angeles the outstanding football game of the year.
PACKER TILT HELD UP BY THREATENING SKIES
JAN 8 (Los Angeles) - Sunny California failed to live up to its reputation for fine weather over the weekend, and threatening skies plus a sloppy gridiron caused postponement of the annual Pro Bowl football game between the champion Green Bay Packers and the National league All-Stars. Showers fell Saturday night and Sunday with the skies threatening to let loose a steady downpour at any time. The game will be played next Sunday...CARD GAMES PLAYED: As the players of both teams stuck pretty close to quarters while the California "dew" settled, bridge, rummy, hearts and pinochle were favorite pastimes. The prospect of another week on the coast met with practically no opposition in the group. It prolonged the honeymoon for the Packer newlyweds. Shortly before the postponement was announced, Coach Curly Lambeau of the Packers listed a veteran lineup which probably will be used as a single substitution when the starting freshmen get weary next week. This team has Bud Svensen at center, Buckets Goldenberg and Tiny Engebretsen at guards, Bill Lee and Baby Ray at tackles, and Don Hutson and Milt Gantenbein at ends. The backs are Larry Craig, Andy Uram, Cecil Isbell and Clarke Hinkle...PROBLEM FOR OWEN: Coach Steve Owen of the All-Stars was faced with tough assignment of keeping his team keyed up for another week. An assortment of players with several different allegiances during the league season, the Stars have little in common but the fact that for one game the Packers are their common foe. More than any other single thing at this moment, Owen fears a letdown in spirit. Arrangements for the game next Sunday are the same as they had been before the postponement. Sponsors look for a capacity crowd of near 20,000.
LOOKING UP IN THE REALM OF SPORTS
JAN 9 (Green Bay) - The Green Bay Packers next March 1, will dip into an extended savings plan idea in an effort to step up the annual sale of season tickets to a new high point. As you know, the funds from the season ticket sale provide a neat and sizable kitty with which the corporation starts its schedule. Were this money not available, the Packers would have to draw upon their reserves and otherwise retrench, to provide the cash necessary to start rolling the ponderous machinery of a professional football team. Before the playoff game turmoil came onto the Green Bay sports scene, the Packers were playing with the idea of issuing a special Christmas ticket, properly decorated, which could be purchase locally and given away during the holidays, but the deluge of work which swamped the officer after the team won the Western championship forced that project temporarily into the background. But the extended, or monthly, purchase payment idea has persisted, and starting March 1 it will be tried out. Briefly, it means that Packer fans may purchase their 1940 home game tickets by paying any amount they wish each month. E.A. (Spike) Spachmann, director of ticket sales, believes that quite a few people are forced to forego the pleasure of seeing the Packers in action every game every fall just because they find the total amount for a season ticket or tickets hard to locate. They can scrape together the money for a single game, perhaps, but they'd indefinitely prefer to see all the games. Spachmann thinks that if the same loyal fans, a bit short on cash in large chunks but possessing a steady income, is given an opportunity once a month to pay a certain amount to the corporation, he will be able to clean up his obligation by September, when the guns start firing. Or at least he will reduce the amount so that when the balance must be paid, it won't react as such a kick in the pants. The Washington Redskins go farther than any club in the National league in the matter of greasing the slides for season ticket sales. The Redskins sell not only for one season, but for two or three seasons. You can put down your currency on the line and receive tickets which will guarantee you your game seat for a three-year span, covering all home games, and that idea is building up fans. The Packers haven't come to that idea yet, although they do make it possible for fans to have the same seats at City stadium year after year. The Green Bay corporation sold 2,345 season tickets last year, which netted some $19,000 before the season opened. Under the extended saving plan operating after March 1, the corporation hopes that the 1940 sale will exceed 3,000, and the 1941 sale, perhaps, 4,000.
MILWAUKEE HAS LOOP FRANCHISE
JAN 10 (Milwaukee) - George M. Harris, Milwaukee hotel man, announced yesterday that he has been awarded a franchise in the American Football League, which is composed of eight members. The Kenosha club waived territorial rights to permit Harris to join with a Milwaukee club, since a league rule prohibits a club from operating within 50 miles of another member of the loop. Other members of the league are St. Louis, Mo.; Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio; Los Angeles, and Louisville, Ky....WATCHES STADIUM PLANS: Harris explained that his franchise was awarded at the league's meeting Jan. 7 at Cincinnati, but that information on it was withheld pending conference with Milwaukee city officials regarding stadium facilities. Proposed construction of a new stadium site in Milwaukee is under consideration. Present plans call for six games in Milwaukee and four in other cities of the league, Harris said. He added that if the proposed municipal stadium is erected the games will be played there, but if plans for it fall through, application will be made to play at the State Fair play, where Green Bay and New York played for the World's championship in the National league this fall...WILL NOT BUCK PACKERS: He announced that a corporation has been formed to handle the club and that application has been made at Madison for a charter. "We will not buck the Green Bay Packers," Harris asserted. "No game will be scheduled in Milwaukee on dates already allotted to the Packers, whether or not both the State Fair park and the proposed new municipal stadium are available." Harris said that a strong Milwaukee team will be organized. "After the preliminaries are out of the way we will select a good coach and be guided by his advice in obtaining players," Harris said. "As a nucleus for the team six outstanding players have been made available to us, but will not be signed until later."...EXPANDS TO 10 CLUBS: Decision to expand 10 clubs, the same number as the National league, created two new franchises. One was assigned to Milwaukee. Assignment of the other will be announced at the March meeting of the league when dates of the games will be announced, according to Harris. He said that this meeting will be held in Milwaukee. Harris was elected to the league's advisory board at the Cincinnati meeting. The league was formed in 1934. Harris is a native of Hernando, Miss., and he came to Milwaukee 35 years ago. He was in retail business, later associated with a large chain department store here, and five years ago became publicity manager of a chair of hotels. He was on the NRA conference board and later was general chairman of the NRA public relations in Wisconsin. Some years ago he was connected with the Wisconsin USA foreign trade bureau. A lifelong interest in sports was one of the motives which prompted him to enter
professional football, he said. He played first base in college baseball and fullback in football while attending the University of Maryland from 1902 until 1906.
ACTION IS DELAYED
JAN 10 (Milwaukee) - The common council's joint finance and buildings and ground committee yesterday delayed for one month action on a proposal to erect a municipal stadium. The committeemen expressed strong sentiment against any plan which would involve the city financially.
GEORGE TRAFTON WANTS TO COACH MILWAUKEE PROS
JAN 11 (Milwaukee) - "I hear Milwaukee got a franchise in the American pro league," said George Trafton, reaching for the writer's lapel with one of those big paws which used to smack 'em down in the NFL, when George played a lot of center for the Chicago Bears. "Who's this fellow, George Harris, that got the franchise? Tell him I'd like to coach a team for him. Yeah, I got the football fever again...can you imagine it, at my age? After I left the Bears, I could sit in the stands and watch 'em play and it left me cold. But last season it began to get me again. I was yelling like a college boy. I'm not kidding about coaching. I'd like that job in Milwaukee. There's going to be two big leagues - can't help but be - and that American league is going to be the second. Those National league owners have had everything their own way and they're quaking in their boots for fear somebody will give 'em some competition. They divide up the college stars as if they own 'em. No reason why a second league can't go after those name players. How did the American league get started in baseball? It went after the players and forced the old National to give it recognition. That's what will happen in pro football. The National league can't play enough game to satisfy demand. Other cities want pro ball. It's the biggest thing in sports, and I want to get in on it. Tell those fellows who the Milwaukee franchise they can get a coach who knows all the answers."
PACKER TRAINER BACK IN TOWN
JAN 11 (Green Bay) - Dave Woodward, trainer of the Green Bay Packers, arrived in Green Bay from Los Angeles late Wednesday, reporting that the team is in great shape and that the spirit, especially among the older players, is fine. Woodward had arranged with Coach E.L. Lambeau to leave immediately after the game against the National league All-Stars which was to have been played last Sunday. Business commitments which previously had been made, affecting his winter work, necessitated Dave's departure when the game was postponed because of rain. He received special permission from Lambeau, with the approval of Assistant Coach Red Smith and the players, to leave...SPIRIT IS GOOD: "Yes," Dave said this morning, "the spirit is fine, especially among such fellows as Hinkle and Gantenbein, but they are going to need all they have. The All-Star lineup is powerful, and Steve Owen is out for revenge for the defeat the New York Giants suffered at the hands of the Packers." In speaking of last Sunday's postponement, Woodward stated that the boys were being taped and bandaged (this work is always done on the morning of the game) when they were called into a meeting and Coach Lambeau announced that the rain and the threat of another downpour would make it impossible to play as scheduled. "Outside of the rain," the trainer said, "the trip was wonderful for me, and I know that the rest of the boys feel the same way about it. We received the best of treatment at all times."...BRUDERS ON WAY: Dave further reported that Hank Bruder and Mrs. Bruder, and Mr. and Mrs. Paul Kell had left the coast. The Bruders, he said, are being called back by a combination of circumstances which include Hank's tire and battery business and the care of Hank. Jr., from whom they didn't wish to stay any longer than necessary. Kell had a job to which he was scheduled to report today.
JACUNSKI HURT, HUTSON STARTS
JAN 12 (Santa Monica, CA) - The rains came - and brought nothing but bum breaks to the Packers. First of all, the postponement should give Steve Owen's All-Americans a decided advantage in Sunday's game. It means Owen has another week to perfect his plans, mold his machine, and work out plays. And yesterday Harry Jacunski turned an ankle in dummy scrimmage, and will not able to start. He collided with Joe Laws and slipped on the west turf. This caused Coach Curly Lambeau to shift Milt Gantenbein from right to left end, and it is probable Don Hutson will be a starter. Otherwise the lineup will be the same as released to Wisconsin papers exclusively last week. Lambeau's job has been to keep the boys running, and fire up the morale during the letdown period. Most of the fellows have been playing golf (when it wasn't raining pitchforks), while a few attempted to make a few bucks at the races. Mr. Owen is feeling rather frisky and the twinkle in his eye may be recorded as an indication he feels confident of victory. More than one expert has commented favorably on the All-American lineup and this sort of back-slapping may be the very thing his lads need to spur them Sunday. Yes, the rains came and the rains have not let up a single day. But under the agreement Sunday's game will be played even if it is necessary to outfit the gridders with water wings.
PRO GRIDDERS PREVENTED FROM WORKING; THEY CAN STILL EAT
JAN 12 (Los Angeles) - Fancy taking a few guests such as Turk Edwards, Ki Aldrich, Ernie Smith and some 50 other behemoths of the gridiron to dinner for three solid weeks and you have the reason for a promoter's nightmare. In the present instance, the grid giants are members of the rival Green Bay Packers and National league All-Star teams, the harassed promoter is Tom Gallery, and the game is the once-postponed Pro Bowl clash...GOES ON SUNDAY: "It won't be postponed again, though," declared Gallery. "Rain or shine, it will go on Sunday at Gilmore stadium. My, my," he added, "how those young men can eat!" The two aggregations reported in Los Angeles Dec. 23. They've been hard at it since, but most of their work has been at the dinner table. Time and again rain has forced them to abandon outdoor practice, but the indoor drills haven't interfered with their respective appetites. The two squads look very healthy...SMALLEST OF LOT: "I kinds like your unusual weather," drawled Davey O'Brien, the former Texas Christian university passing star. Davey, incidentally, is the smallest man of the lot, but he seems to hold his own in such eating company as Bruiser Kinard and Pug Manders. He adheres closely to the old rule of never passing on fourth down; in fact, he won't pass until after the first down. "Four minutes after we found we couldn't play last Sunday I walked into the dining room and there was Davey, parked behind the biggest T-bone I ever saw," Gallery observed. "He's a speedy boy, that Davey." "So are the rest," he went on, "if they tear into each other as they do to those potatoes, it will be a ball game."
DELAYED PRO BOWL CONTEST SCHEDULED FOR SUNDAY
JAN 13 (Los Angeles) - Old Man Sunshine returned to work this morning and the Green Bay Packers were all smiles as they limbered up for tomorrow's delayed struggle with the all-Americans in the Pro Bowl game. As suddenly as it came, the rain stopped Friday and gave the Packers the opportunity for their hardest workout of the week. There was just enough nip in the air to make the boys hustle through the drill in a manner to please Coach Curly Lambeau...PACKERS ARE SET: "We're ready and I know we'll give them a tough battle," Lambeau boomed after the dummy scrimmage. "Outside of Russ Letlow and Harry Jacunski, every man is in good condition, perhaps better shape than the opposition." Somehow the notion has spread around Packer headquarters that the all-Americans may not be in the pink. With this in mind, Lambeau probably will turn his power loose on the enemy, the idea being to soften them up a bit and then shoot the aerial fireworks...BREAK UP PASSES: Steve Owen says he will break up the Packer passing game by concentrating on the hurlers. It is his theory that the receivers are so efficient that it is almost impossible to curb them without being guilty of interference, therefore the drive on the passers. The merciful change in the weather presages a sellout crowd of 18,500. The fans are really starving for this one, having had no football for two weeks.
HUTSON TOPS FOOTBALL SCRIBES' PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL VOTING
JAN 13 (New York) - Ken Smith of the New York Mirror, president of the Professional Football Writers' association, today announced the sportswriters' selection for the 1939 All-American professional teams. The teams, named by 101 of the association's members from every NFL city, are perhaps the most comprehensively polled of all the All-American combinations. Team value and sheer artistry were the main factors considered in the selections. As reporters assigned to pro football, association members had an opportunity to study every player in action under fire...PARKER IS NAMED: The writers' teams are slightly at variance with those selected by league coaches. Clarence "Ace" Parker of Brooklyn and Parker Hall of Cleveland, whom the coaches relegated to the second team, were named on the writers' first team. Parker's brilliance as a field general was recognized by the scribes, despite the fact that he played with the hapless Dodgers, and he was named first-team quarterback for the second consecutive season. Hall, the Rams' sensational triple-threat freshman, was awarded the left halfback position. Bill Osmanski, the Chicago Bears' first-year battering ram, was named fullback. Thus, the scribes picked two freshmen on their first team for the second consecutive year. Byron "Whizzer" White, Pittsburgh back, and Frank Kinard, Brooklyn tackle, were the first-year men who won first-team places last year. White retired to become a Rhodes scholar at Oxford and Kinard landed on the second team this year...HUTSON TOPS POLL: Don Hutson, Green Bay's wizard end, topped the poll, with a total of 443 votes. Three other members of the first team polled in excess of 400. Danny Fortmann, Bear guard, polled 432; Joe Stydahar, Bear tackle, amassed 420 and Osmanski collected 406. Andy
Farkas, Washington halfback, missed the "400 Club" by two votes, his total being 398. Aside from Parker and Hall, the writers agreed with the coaches in naming the nine other first-team members, but there were sharp differences in naming the second team. Jim Poole of New York was picked as Hutson's first-team end running mate. Jim Barber of Washington was assigned a tackle position, along with Stydahar, and Johnny Dell Isola of the Giants was paired with Fortmann. Mel Hein of the Giants, who was named center on the second team last year, regained a place on the first team. A terrific battle, involving Ki Aldrich, Chicago Cardinal rookie, and Alex Wojciechowicz of Detroit, for second place, with Charles Brock, Green Bay recruit, also getting stout support, split the votes in such a manner that Hein won, with plenty to spare...DISAGREE WITH COACHES: The writers agreed with the coaches on five second team positions, with Perry Schwartz, Brooklyn end; George Musso, Bear guard; John Drake, Cleveland fullback; Kinard, tackle, and Aldrich, center, the players involved. The scribes picked Dick Plasman of the Bears at end, instead of Jim Benton, Cleveland; John Wiethe of Detroit was selected as a guard, in place of Orville Tuttle of the Giants, and John Mellus of the Giants displaced his tackle teammate, Ed Widseth, in the line. The scribes placed Davey O'Brien, Philadelphia's mighty atom at quarterback; Tuffy Leemans and Ward Cuff of the Giants at the halfbacks, and Drake at fullback in their second team backfield. The coaches named O'Brien and Leemans on their first team. They also picked Lloyd Cardwell of Detroit at right halfback, instead of Cuff...NINE CLUBS REPRESENTED: Nine of the league's 10 clubs are represented on the writers' first two teams. Pittsburgh is the only team not represented. The Bears and Giants placed three men each on the first team. Stydahar, Fortmann and Osmanski were the Bears named and Hein, Poole and Del Isola were the honored Giants. Washington was awarded two places, Farkas and Barber being the Redskins picked. Green Bay, Brooklyn and Cleveland placed one man each on the first team, Hutson, Parker and Hall, respectively.
ALL-STARS WILL BEAT GREEN BAY'S PACKERS IN LOS ANGELES GAME
JAN 13 (Los Angeles) - The football battle between the Green Bay Packers, champions of the NFL, and the picked stars from every club at the Gilmore stadium, Los Angeles, Sunday is something more than just a football game. It is the old, old contest of team play against individual brilliancy, one of the oldest stories in all sport. Curly Lambeau's powerful Packers, a squad that has played together since the middle of last August, a squad that has fought its way to the top against such teams as the New York Giants, the Chicago Bears, the Washington Redskins and the Detroit Lions, a compact mass welded under a magnificent system, must move against one of the greatest football galaxies that ever adorned a gridiron. Lambeau of the Packers is banking on the team play of an able squad...THROW UP BARRIER: Steve Owen of the All-Stars, the picked group from every other pro club, is out to prove that individual excellence can break its way through any team-play quality that might be thrown up as a barrier. "We have the team - a team that has played together as a unit." Lambeau told me. "Every man on my squad knows his assignment. Every man knows exactly what to do when the occasion arises. I can't believe any gathering of All-Stars, no matter who they are, can beat the top essential of football - which is team play, rhythm." "No one has to tell me anything about Curly Lambeau's Green Bay Packers," Owen said. "You may remember what they did to my unbeaten New York Giants, but I hope you don't. All I can say is that it was more than enough. They had too much power and speed for my Giants when we met at Milwaukee. But this game on Sunday here is entirely different. I have the pick of the league - outside of the Packers. I'll admit that through weather conditions, supposed to be quite unusual in Los Angeles, that we haven't had quite the chance. I needed to weld my bunch together as a team. But to me football is largely material - by that I mean players who can handle their jobs."...BELIEVES IN TEAM PLAY: "I am also a great believer in team play. But I am also a great believer in brilliant individual effort. I am a great believer in the man who can handle his assignment. And I have my full share of these men. If the weather is good, and it has been terrible here for twelve days, I'll not only have a line that can meet anything the Packers have to throw against me, but I'll also have the best passing combination any one football team has ever known. I have Dave O'Brien, football's marvel midget, Parker Hall, one of the star sophomores, and Filchock. But we'll have something more than a passing attack. We'll have our share of running and blocking. These boys in the pro ranks know their football. It doesn't take any long to whip them into a pretty fair team, on the side of team play. It should be a terrific game, for I can tell you honestly that both sides are just as keen to win as they ever were during the regular season." After talking with both Curly Lambeau and Steve Owen, I am sure this should be one of the best and most interesting games that football ever has known. Certainly no game ever has seen as much speed, power, savvy and reserve strength in the confines of one football field. I'm playing the All Stars on a hunch.
LOOKING UP IN THE REALM OF SPORTS
JAN 13 (Green Bay) - Hank Bruder, one of the most popular players ever to appear in the livery of the Green Bay Packers, is back from California, with a few side remarks concerning the well-publicized California climate which seems to indicate that once in awhile that area experiences something less than sunny weather. Hank added, with emphasis, that he is glad to be home. "If that game had been scheduled for Green Bay last Sunday," he said, "they would have played it. Out there, if things look like they might be the least bit damp, everyone stays home. The game could have been played, all right." The men are enjoying their West coast trip a lot, Hank said, although some of the married men are a bit anxious to get home. "The unmarried boys are different," he added. "They have nothing to lose by staying, what with all expenses paid and everything." Hank gloomily continued with the observation that the extra week of expenses probably would raise cain with the players' cut. "We attended the Burns and Allen broadcast at Hollywood," he went on, "and visited the R.K.O. movie studio, where we were shown the ropes by Nate Barragar." Nate is a former Packer who now works as assistant director on the coast. "We met Cary Grant, and had our pictures taken with him and some "coming star' actress - I forget her name. Our wives got a big kick out of visiting the studios, and so did we. They played polo every Sunday at Riviera Country club, and we watched the game. Spencer Tracy, the movie actor, played on one of the teams, and Big Boy Williams on another. One Sunday they scheduled a Packer touch football game between periods of the polo game. I had sprained my ankle the previous day and Russ Letlow also was hurt. So we sat in the stands and watched both the polo game and the football. The Packers did some hot passing. They tried a lot of those real long once and they didn't miss a one. It had the crowd gasping, particularly when Hutson caught 'em." Hank looks at football philosophically. "I haven't any illusions about my own rating with the club," he continued. "I know I can't do better than ten minutes a game any more, and I'm perfectly willing to admit it. But I want to get in one more All-Star game before I'm through, and now I'm going to have the chance." The Bruders drove back from California via Nevada, Salt Lake City, Nebraska, and Iowa with the Paul Kells, a newly married couple. The Kells left them at Dixon, Ill., going into Chicago, where Paul starts work next week. They have a bit of apartment hunting to do first.
PACKERS MUST IMPROVE TO KEEP CHAMPIONSHIP, LAMBEAU SAYS
JAN 20 (Green Bay) - "We look forward to 1940 with optimism," It's Curly Lambeau speaking - coach of the world champion professional football team - back in Green Bay for a brief work period before he starts his winter swing to contact, and he hopes, contract players for next fall. "If we are all big enough to forget that we have won another title, and can go back to work again, we'll be able to give the fans everything we've got in 1940," Lambeau added. The Packers face a rocky road. They must a return appearance in the Chicago Al-Star game, and from that contest they must emerge to face the toughest jinx in pro football - for no National league team yet has fought the All-Stars and thereafter repeated as champions. If the Packers are to be the first, the assignment will call for much work, the coach says. "We know that we must be 15 percent better than our opposition to repeat for the title," he continued. "When you are the champion, they are all set for you, and the margin of victory or defeat depends upon the attitude of your players."...TOUGH TASK AHEAD: "We know the task which is ahead. Why, Brooklyn last season was the only team we had decisively licked at the finish of the game during our regular season. We had to come from behind to beat many of the others, and then had to fight with everything we had to hang onto our lead. On the other hand, we had a nice lead over the Cleveland Rams up here, and then lost the game. You never can tell in this league." Lambeau expressed his satisfaction with the advance appearance of the Green Bay draft. "We need replacements in several positions," he said, "and if we have success in signing our new men, we should have another good ball club."...MAY FILL THE BILL: "We need another fullback - the left halfback position, and another right halfback. Possible Hal Van Every of Minnesota or Ambrose Schindler of Southern California, or Dick Cassiano of Pittsburgh will fill the bill. If any one of them makes the grade, it may help us greatly. With Clarke Hinkle, Eddie Jankowski and Frank Balazs returning, we feel we are set at fullback for another season. The blocking back position, too, should be secure. Dick Weisgerber played good ball at Los Angeles, and Larry Buhler will be shifted to the blocking position. We also have Larry Craig, a standout of the 1939 season. I feel we will need help at right end, and it is possible that George Seeman, big end from Nebraska, will solve our problem there. Furthermore, Andy Kerr of Colgate and Bernie Bierman of Minnesota, who coached a team for the East-West game, said that Bud Kerr of Notre Dame is one of the best ends they ever saw."...
TYPICAL RIGHT HALF: "Lou Brock of Purdue is a typical right halfback, and should make the grade nicely. I find that we have drafted a few men that we probably won't need, but this is an annual occurrence and to be expected. We feel that we shall make a much better showing against the All-Americans next August. When we played them before we had a squad limit of only 25, requiring several of our men to do 60 minutes of football on an unbearably hot night. This year we'll face them three deep."
PARKER HALL IS MOST VALUABLE
JAN 20 (New York) - Parker (Bullet) Hall, triple-threat spark plug rookie of the Cleveland Rams, today was named the NFL's most valuable player for 1939 by the Professional Football Writers' association of America. Hall, a former University of Mississippi All-American, will receive the second annual Joe F. Carr Memorial award, placed in competition last year by the league to perpetuate the memory of its founder and late president. Mel Hein, veteran New York Giant center, received the first award. Announcement of Hall's selection was made by Ken Smith of the New York Mirror, president of the writers' association, following tabulation of votes from a committee of 40 active professional football reporters in the nine league cities...WINNER DEFEATS HUTSON: Fourteen players received votes in the poll in which the sensational Cleveland rookie defeated Don Hutson, Green Bay end, by a margin of 21 points. Hall received 16 first place and 11 second place votes, a total of 11 points. Hutson was named first on 13 ballots and second on nine, giving him a total of 92 points. Davey O'Brien, Philadelphia's mighty midget, was third, with 37 points. Only four other players, three of them backs, polled first place votes. Ace Parker of Brooklyn received three and Fred Vanzo of Detroit and Tuffy Leemans and Hein of the Giants polled one apiece.
LEAGUE HEADS MET
JAN 20 (Dayton) - The executive committee of the NFL will meet in special session here Sunday to ratify or reject the transfer of the Detroit Lions' franchise to a group of businessmen from Chicago and New York, Carl L. Storck, league president, announced. The executive committee is composed of Storck, Lee Joannes of the Green Bay Packers, Charles Bidwill of the Chicago Cardinals, Bert Bell of the Philadelphia Eagles and Dan Topping of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
TAKE NO ACTION ON LIONS' SALE
JAN 22 (Dayton) - A meeting of the executive committee of the NFL to pass on the changes in ownership of the Detroit Lions was adjourned Sunday without final action. Carl Storck, league president, said he wanted to discuss a "few minor details" with George A. Richards, who last week sold the Lions to Frederic L. Mandel, Jr., Chicago, for a reported $200,000. He promised a decision within ten days. Dan Topping of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Bert Bell of the Philadelphia Eagles attended the meeting. Stock said Charles Bidwill of the Chicago Cardinals and Lee Joannes of the Green Bay Packers, the remaining members of the executive committee, were in accord with the action although unable to be present.
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE'S RULE CHANGES TO BE SET
JAN 27 (Chicago) - The NFL contemplates no radical change in rules this year, George Halas, owner-coach of the Chicago Bears and chairman of the league's rules committee, said today. In the main, the present code meets every requirement and all that Halas expects the committee to do at its next meeting in April is to simplify the phraseology of several rules and sanction a few minor changes. The chief suggestion thus far has urged adoption of a rule to eliminate intentional punts out of bounds as an effort to keep the game moving. A survey conducted last season on 12 college and 12 professional games revealed that 50 percent of all punts either are kicked out of bounds, into the end zone or illegally downed. Of the remaining 50 percent, the receiver is dropped in his tracks with one-third of the kicks. The ratio was found to be the same in college as in professional football, although the pros averaged only 14 punts per game against 17 in college football...ONE-THIRD ADVANCED: This survey reveals that only one-third of the punts by both sides in a game are advanced by receivers. Return of punts is regarded as one of the more spectacular aspects of the game. To preserve it, several rule changes have been suggested. One would make a punt fumbled dead at the spot of the fumble, where the ball would be given to the receiving team. Another suggestion urges adoption of the Canadian football rule. Canadian football is a combination of the American game and rugby, and Canadian receivers are protected by a five-yard zone into which members of the kicking team are not allowed to penetrate until after the ball has been touched. The professional rule makers, however, are interested mostly in the proposal of Bert Bell, owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, who would assess a 15-yard penalty for every punt kicked out of bounds on the fly. A punt going out of bounds on the five yard line, for instance, would be brought in 15 yards and put in play on the 20-yard line. Punts rolling out of bounds would not be penalized. Bell's proposal is popular with the committee...ON EQUAL BASIS: Halas said the committee considered officiating in professional games had improved immeasurably during the last season. This was due, he said, to the league's action in placing all officials on an equal basis with equal remuneration; to the compulsory rules' interpretation meeting to which the league paid officials' expenses; to the written and physical examinations the officials underwent last fall and to the league's action in making officials responsible only to the president. Commenting on the rules changes adopted by the National Collegiate Football association earlier in the month, Halas said the professional probably would adopt the new college legislation on cleats. The pros did not adopt the college rile last year when the diameter of the cleats was set at half an inch, deciding that these cleats were unsatisfactory. The college rule chieftains decided against the half inch cleats this year, adopting the 3/8 inch cleat, and the pros are ready to follow suit. The new college rule on roughing the passer, in which the 15-yard penalty will be invoked from the spot of the preceding down instead of the spot of the foul, is the same as the professional rule, Halas pointed out, and the pros will not alter it this year.
NATIONAL LEAGUE'S PLAYS NOT ILLEGAL, LAMBEAU EXPLAINS
JAN 31 (South Milwaukee) - Coach Earl L. (Curly) Lambeau of the Green Bay Packers denied last night that coaches in the NFL resorted to the teaching of illegal plays. Certain formations which appear to be illegal to the fans, he said, were made so by mistakes in carrying out assignments. "Many so-called screen passes were screened merely because the passer was rushed, or because of a bad pass from center, getting the passer off timing and delaying the pass enough so that the linemen screened or blocked with the ball in the air," he explained. Lambeau talked before more than 200 persons at a dinner sponsored by the Lions club. He showed movies of the championship game last December between the Packers and New York Giants in Milwaukee.
DUFORD CHOSEN ST. LOUIS COACH
FEB 1 (St. Louis) - Wilfred J. (Dukes) Duford of St. Ambrose college, Davenport, Ia., whose football teams have a nine-year record of 60 victories, 7 ties and 10 defeats, was appointed head coach at St. Louis university today. His assistants at st. Ambrose, Robert G. Klenck and Don W. Geyer, were also named to the university's coaching staff. Terms of Duford's contract were not disclosed, but it was understood to cover a long period. Duford succeeds Cecil E. Muellerleile, whose resignation was announced Jan. 14....LONG VICTORY STRING: St. Ambrose teams under Duford went through 31 consecutive games without defeat and have suffered by one loss in their last 39 starts. They won the Iowa intercollegiate conference championship in 1934, 1935, 1937 and 1938. Duford, a 1924 graduate of Marquette university, played professional football with the Green Bay Packers and then became the coach at St. Mary's college, St. Mary's, Kan., in 1929 before going to St. Ambrose two years later. He is 40 years old.
CLAIM GREEN BAY CAN'T BLOCK MILWAUKEE CLUB
FEB 1 (Milwaukee) - George M. Harris, backer of Milwaukee's new professional football team in the American league, stoutly denied today that there was any agreement between the National and American Football Leagues which reserves the area for the Green Bay Packers. "Somebody has been grossly misinformed," declared Harris. "There is no such agreement, and our president, Mr. George J. Heitzler of Cincinnati, Ohio, assured me that there wasn't." Heitzler declared in a telegram that "the American League has the sole right to determine what cities are to be awarded franchises in its league regardless of proximity to cities in the National league." Harris said the only "territory agreement" is the American league rule which prohibits establishing another team within 50 miles of a league member. "In our particular case," he said, "Kenosha had the right to fight our admission, but it waived that right and moved that the league accept our application for membership." There were reports that the National League's executive board, which meets at New York, would act on the alleged agreement between the leagues and force the American League to withdraw its charter from the Milwaukee club. Coach Earl L. Lambeau of the Green Bay Packers said the question would come before National League directors but that the Green Bay club did not wish to press the matter. He said he felt there was room for both teams and that the Packers' prestige as world champions would not be impaired in Milwaukee by an American League club.
LAMBEAU SEES PACKERS WIN OVER COLLEGIANS
FEB 9 (Green Bay) - Coach E.L. Lambeau of the Green Bay Packers, champions of the National Pro Football league, is looking forward to the date with the college all-stars at Chicago August 29 with no little confidence. Mindful of the 6-0 defeat handed the Packers in the same classic in 1937, Lambeau declared: "I am sure we will make a better showing in this year's all-star game. When we played at Soldiers' field before, we had a squad limit of 25 players, requiring several of the men to do 60 minutes of football on an unbearably hot night. This year we will face them three deep at every position."
PACKER TRAINER DIES SUDDENLY
FEB 10 (Green Bay) - Death came suddenly about midnight Friday to David Woodward, trainer of the Green Bay Packers. Woodward succumbed to a heart attack shortly after going to bed at the rooming house of Mrs. Edward Turek, 615 Cherry street, where he resided. His condition was discovered by his roommate, Everett Lindstrom, and a physician was summoned immediately, but Woodward died before he arrived. The Packer trainer was 57 years old last Dec. 15. He was born in Rochester, N.Y., and his survivors include two sisters, Mrs. Charles Stevens and Mrs. Charles Walker, and a brother, Colin, there. Another brother, Harry Woodward, lives in Chicago. Dave - the name by which he was known to all his associates - was highly regarded in athletic circles everywhere as one of the outstanding trainers in the nation. He was with the Packers for the last six years, and for 16 years before that served at the University of Minnesota. At the time of his death he was engaged in practice as an associate in the offices of the Francar Foot clinic. Dr. W.W. Kelly, member of the Packer executive board and club private physician, said this morning, "The death of Dave Woodward leaves me with a sense of personal loss. He was one of the outstanding men in his field, probably the greatest athletic trainer in the country."...LOSS KEENLY FELT: "Woodward' loss to the football team will be keenly felt, not only for his cooperation, but as a faithful worker. Loyalty and a tremendous capacity for work abounded in Dave. The players will miss him greatly. He had a deep personal, almost paternal, interest in each individual on the team. They reciprocated with faith and affection. He was more than a mere trainer," Dr. Kelly concluded. "He had a fine understanding of injuries and strains and the treatment they required. He was a student of his profession." Much the same sentiment was expressed by Coach E.L. Lambeau who has looked to Dave to keep his players in shape for the past half-dozen seasons...IMPORTANT PACKER COG: "Dave was a very important cog in the Packer machine," Lambeau said. "We shall miss him. In no small way he was responsible for a share of the Packer successes of recent years. He will be hard to replace." Woodward apparently was in good health up to the time of the fatal heart attack. He was at work all day Friday. Aside from passing comment on a pain in his chest, in the vicinity of his heart, about 6:30 last night, he had said nothing to friends about feeling ill. Death came as a shock to Lindstrom, and to all others with whom he had been associated.
500 FANS HEAR LAMBEAU TALK TO PACKER THRONG IN MADISON
FEB 15 (Madison) - Team spirit and willingness to make personal sacrifices to achieve an end were what made the Green Bay Packers the professional football champions of America, Coach E.L. "Curly" Lambeau old a capacity crowd of about 450 Tuesday night at the Park hotel. "We knew at the start of the season that we had good enough material to win the NFL championship," Coach Lambeau declared. "But," he added, "we also knew that there were four other teams that also had good enough material to win the title; they were the Chicago Bears, the Detroit Lions, the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins. That being the case it became a question of which team showed the greatest desire to win, and you can imagine that it was very gratifying for us that our Packers came through," he said. Prior to showing movies of the NFL championship playoff between the Giants and Packers in Milwaukee, Coach Lambeau offered to answer any questions. Roundy Coughlin, State Journal columnist, was master of ceremonies and led off with a few and then closed with a few more. "I can't put you on the spot," said Roundy, "because you had a pretty good season, Curly." Lambeau laughed: "You wouldn't catch me down here if I'd had a bad season," he declared. "You're telling me?" retorted Roundy, "if you'd had a poor season I wouldn't have asked you." At another point where Lambeau was telling about the eating schedule made out for the players, no potatoes for those overweight, no fried foods, no rich deserts, etc., Roundy grabbed the microphone and interjected: "Looks to me like you better change that schedule. I see plenty of 250-pounders on that squad and if they don't have potatoes then what the hell do they eat?" Of particular interest was Lambeau's statement that he heartily agreed with Coach Harry Stuhldreher of Wisconsin about the advantage of calling signals direct over using the huddle. "We always like to call signals," said Lambeau, "and the only time we use a huddle is when we are forced to it." Why do punters in professional football kick 20 or 25 yards better than they did in college? "I don't know that they do," Lambeau said. "In fact, I don't think they punt any better. However, I, for instance, have a wide selection than, say, Harry Stuhldreher would have at Wisconsin. We had nine boys last fall that punted in college, yet seven of them didn't punt for us. It was just a case of Clark Hinkle and Arnold Herber being better than the others." Had Don Hutson improved greatly as a pass receiver in professional football? Lambeau disclaimed any credit for Hutson's amazing ability to snare a football. "He was a great receiver in college," said Lambeau. "I don't think we can take any credit for his ability there." The Green Bay Packers' coach said the three finest games his team ever had played were the championship playoff of 1929, where they defeated the Giants in the New York Polo Grounds, the 1938 game at Green Bay where the Packers crushed the Detroit Lions, and the 1939 title playoff where Green Bay crushed the Giants in Milwaukee. "Those," said Lambeau, "were the best three games the Packers ever had played. I hope we can play another such game in Chicago this summer." Lambeau was referring to the game the Packers as NFL champions will play against the college all-stars. They played such a game in 1937 and lose; they want revenge. And how they want revenge!
MANLEY TO JOIN PACKERS IN 1940
FEB 15 (Green Bay) - The first signed Green Bay Packer contract for 1940 was announced by Coach Curly Lambeau today, as J.R. Manley, University of Oklahoma guard, turned in his agreement with the team. Manley, who weighs 210 pounds and stands one inch over six feet, starred for three seasons at Oklahoma. He was a tackle in his sophomore season, and switched to guard thereafter. Although he was known particularly as a tower of strength on defense, he also gained note as a shifty offensive player. Manley was the seventh choice on the 1940 Green Bay draft list, and immediately came to terms when contacted by Lambeau. He is mostly Choctaw Indian.
FOUR BADGER GRIDMEN CONFER WITH LAMBEAU
FEB 15 (Madison) - The bids of four former University of Wisconsin football players for tryouts next fall with the Green Bay Packers were discussed by sports fans here. The group, representing some of the best talent on Badger squads of the past two years, talked with Coach E.L. (Curly) Lambeau at a dinner honoring the Packer mentor and his aides. They were John Doyle, center of Plymouth, Pa., Ralph Moeller, end of Watertown, Bill Schmitz, halfback of Madison, all of the 1939 team, and Vince Gavre, quarterback of Port Washington, who finished his collegiate grid career in 1938. Neither Lambeau nor the players, it was understood, made any definite commitments, but the Packer coach indicated he would notify them soon if he could use them.
PACKERS COACH SEES TROUBLES FOR '40 TEAM
FEB 17 (Green Bay) - There is no rest for a champion, according to Earl L. (Curly) Lambeau, coach of the Green Bay Packers. And Curly should know. He has piloted the Packers to five world titles during his 20 years as coach and player. However, he's not wasting any time preparing for the 1940 campaign. "We know we must be 15 percent better than our opposition to repeat for the title," said Lambeau. "When you're the champion, they are set for you and the margin of victory and defeat depends upon the attitude of your players." He said the Packers needed replacements at several positions. "If we have success in signing our new men, we should have another good team," he said.
PACKER PRODUCTS
MAR 1 (Windom, MN) - Larry Buehler, former Minnesota star now playing with the Green Bay Packers, has purchased a produce business.
STEELERS NEW NAME
MAR 4 (Pittsburgh) - Taking their cue from this city's industrial fame, the Pittsburgh pro football Pirates have adopted a new name - the Steelers.
RUMOR HINKLE HEADING WEST
MAR 8 (Green Bay) - Clarke Hinkle, fullback of the Green Bay Packers for the past eight seasons, is considering acceptance of the post of backfield coach at Leland Stanford university, he revealed today. During his recent stay in California, Hinkle was interviewed by Clark Shaughnessy, Stanford's new head coach, and the Packer veteran expects to get definite word from the west today or tomorrow. Hinkle did not divulge the salary terms, but admitted that he is "very interested" in the offer. "I talked with Shaughnessy at length," he said, "and I feel that the Stanford job would be a real break for me." Hinkle has been one of the greatest football players ever to don a Green Bay Packer uniform. He ranks second on the all-time scoring list with 274, topped only by Verne Lewellen. He had made all-league teams consistently. During his eight-year stay with the Packers he has scored 37 touchdowns, kicked 27 extra points and booted 13 field goal, against league opponents only. Hinkle performed at Bucknell university before entering the professional ranks, and during his college days was the nation's high scorer.
LAMBEAU TO SEEK NEW PRO RULING
MAR 9 (Green Bay) - Curly Lambeau, coach of the world champion Green Bay Packers, will sponsor a professional football league rule which will make goose-neck goal posts compulsory. This would do away with the present goal post rule which credits a ball carrier with a touchdown provided he comes in contact with the posts even though he does not carry the ball over the line.
GAVRE TO SIGN WITH PACKERS
MAR 10 (Green Bay) - Vince Gavre, former University of Wisconsin quarterback, may join the Green Bay Packers in the fall, it was reported here Saturday. Picked by Coach E.L. "Curly" Lambeau in the 1938 draft, Gavre declined to sign with the Packers because he still had some work to complete at the university. Gavre played with the Kenosha Cardinals in the American League last fall.
HINKLE WON'T COACH
MAR 12 (Green Bay) - Clarke Hinkle will not serve as backfield coach at Stanford university next fall, he said today in response to queries caused by recent rumors of that shift in gridiron talent. As far as it is known now, the veteran Packer fullback will be back in uniform for Green Bay next season.
ZUD SCHAMMEL SHOW IMPROVEMENT
MAR 20 (Milwaukee) - The condition of Francis (Zud) Schammel, former University of Iowa and Green Bay Packer football star, ill with pneumonia, was reported yesterday by his physician as "very satisfactory". Dr. Webber Hermann said Schammel was admitted to the Deaconess hospital here a week ago and was critically ill for several days but now appeared to be recovering.
GRID CHIEFS ENGINEER DEALS
MAR 23 (New York) - NFL owners and coaches are quite likely to consummate some of the most important trades in the pro circuit's history when they convene here for their 21st annual meeting here at the Biltmore hotel April 12, 13 and 14. The major deals, involving the Philadelphia Eagles, the Cleveland Rams and the Chicago Bears, have been closed since the 1939 championship race ended, which is a tipoff that the trading mart will be exceedingly brisk at the meeting. Bert Bell, owner-coach of the Eagles, has made no attempt to conceal the fact that he is coming to the meeting prepared to deal for experienced and talented linemen. Since the season closed, Bell traded his draft rights on George McAfee, Duke back, and Joe Mihal, Purdue tackle, to the Bears for Russ Thompson and Milt Trost, a pair of seasoned tackle campaigners. Also, he traded his negotiation rights on Dick Favor, Oklahoma backing back, to Cleveland for Chuck Cherundolo, a standout center. Bell's object, of course, is to provide his brilliant passing star - Davey O'Brien - with protection which will enable him to operate with maximum efficiency...CLARK WANTS TALENT: Earl (Dutch) Clark, able young Cleveland coach and the David Harum of the circuit, is also expected to transact several important trades during the confab. Last year, Clark consummated six separate deals during the meeting. Reserve strength in the line is Dutch's chief problem and he may sacrifice one of his star backs to obtain high class forward wall replacements. Steve Owen, wily mentor of the New York Giants, probably will be willing and anxious to listen to any sort of proposition. It is rumored that Owen may trade on a wholesale basis because of the 1938 champions showing signs of disintegrating a bit in the title playoff with Green Bay. Owner Charles W. Bidwill of the Chicago Cardinals is badly in need of a standout passer and a top flight quarterback. Thus, he will be vulnerable to any rival owner's proposition, who is prepared to part with a back of proven ability...BACK AT DETROIT: Potsy Clark, who has returned to Detroit as head coach, after two seasons in Brooklyn, is in the same boat with his former star pupil, Dutch Clark. The Lions need able line reserves and Potsy can afford to yield one, or more, of his star backs in a deal which will bolster his front line decision. Walter Kiesling, starting his first season as the Pittsburgh Steelers' head man, plans to shake up his personnel somewhat and, of course, is ready to make any deal which he thinks will add strength to his team. Dr. John (Jock) Sutherland will make his official debut as the new coach of the Brooklyn Dodgers at the meeting, and although he has not indicated his training plans, it is a good bet that the former University of Pittsburgh tactician will swing a deal, or two, if he can. He is desperately in need of standout linemen and he could also use a first-class, hard-hitting fullback...PRETTY WELL SET: The world's champion Green Bay Packers, the Bears and the Washington Redskins appear to be pretty well set. Still, Coach Curly Lambeau of the Packers could use a talented fullback replacement, as the great Clarke Hinkle cannot go on indefinitely. Coach George Halas of the Bears is ready for a deal for another top flight end. He has plenty of bait and he probably will get his man. Coach Ray Flaherty of the Redskins picked up some great players, developed some more last year, and was able to practically rebuild his team. But, he will have to add reserve strength in order to make the Redskins a championship factor again this year.
LAMBEAU DIVORCE GRANTED MONDAY
MAR 26 (Green Bay) - Mrs. Sue Lambeau, wife of E.L. "Curly" Lambeau, was granted after a hearing before Judge Henry Graass in circuit court here late Monday afternoon. Her husband had brought the action, but she was granted the divorce on her counterclaim. Under a stipulation whose terms were announced in court, Mrs. Lambeau will receive $6,750, plus $125 already paid to her attorney. Out of this sum she must pay all bills contracted since her arrival in Green Bay last October, totaling $975, and the balance of her attorney's fees. She also is to receive $25 a month for the care of a child, two years old last January. In a brief complaint filed Monday, Lambeau alleged that incompatibility of temperament made it impossible for the two to live together. Mrs. Lambeau charged that her husband refused to live with her, and refused to recognize her as his wife. They were married in Waukegan, Ill., June 26, 1935, and have been separated since Sept. 11, 1937. Mrs. Lambeau returned to Green Bay last October, and has lived her since. At a hearing a week ago to fix temporary alimony, it was intimated that the case would be heard by a jury at the April term, but an agreement and stipulation were reached Saturday between the principals and their counsel.
KODROS MAY HELP COACH WOLVES' FROSH
MAR 30 (Ann Arbor, MI) - Archie Kodros, who captained the University of Michigan's 1939 football team, is considering a position as assistant freshmen grid coach at Michigan, it was learned today. Kodros, a 200-pound center from Alton, Ill., has been discussing the job offer with Coach Fritz Crisler but is awaiting an offer from the Green Bay Packers, who drafted him last winter.
PACKER NOTES
MAR 31 (Wisconsin State Journal) - Curly Lambeau of the Green Bay Packers was in Minneapolis Wednesday. He is trying to get Van Every to sign with the Packers. The Bays got him in the draft. If Van Every signs up that will be four Minnesota men with the Packers. They are: Warren Kilbourne, tackle; Charles Schultz, tackle; Bud Svendsen, center, and Andy Uram, tackle.
PACKERS SIGN KILBOURNE, SCHULTZ, SVENDSEN, URAM
MAR 28 (Green Bay) - Coach Curly Lambeau, Green Bay Packer mentor, signed up a quartet of former University of Minnesota grid stars and was discussing terms with a fifth as the result of a trip he made to the Twin Cities yesterday. The four men under contract, all of whom have had previous experience with the Packers, include: Warren Kilbourne, tackle. Charles Schultz, tackle. Bud Svendsen, center. Andy Uram, back. Lambeau had an appointment with Harold Van Every, outstanding Gopher halfback, and expressed hopes that he could be added to the Green Bay roster. Van Every was among those drafted by the Packers last fall...SHOULD BE GOOD: Kilbourne, 250-pound tackle, reported to Lambeau at the start of the last season, and was farmed out to the Kenosha team for further experience. "He should make the Packers a good man this year," Lambeau commented in his telegram to the Press-Gazette today. Although he was a freshman, Schultz finished last season with the Packers like a veteran. He is a big, tough athlete, weighs 250 pounds. A St. Paul boy, he was one of the Gopher mainstays for three years, and can be expected to become one of the Packer regulars. He is a terrific charger on both offense and defense. Svendsen, who was christened Earl, is a former star pivot man for the University of Minnesota. He will be back with the Packers for the third year. The former famous Packer, center George Svendsen, is his brother...ONE OF BEST: In other seasons Svendsen was a question mark about signing up with the Packers, but he hesitated little this time. He weighs 183 pounds, and has the physique of a great athlete. With Charles
Brock, Nebraska great, he makes up what has been called the best center combination in the NFL. After a rather poor start, Uram soon developed into a sensational backfield man. He was one of the best in the circuit last year and was particularly outstanding in his work late in the season against Detroit and Cleveland and in the playoff game with the New York Giants. Uram plays a flash type of ball and was with his alma mater for three seasons. His weight is around 187 pounds, making him a compact football player since his height is only five feet, ten. Should Lambeau be able to get Van Every to sign a contract, he will fill another important spot in the drive toward another - the sixth - NFL pennant. He put in three years as a gridder at Minnesota and improved consistently. He is also a valuable basketball player.
MARSHALL HUSKY SIGNS CONTRACT
MAR 30 (Green Bay) - The signing of Bob Adkins, fullback and end of Marshall college, Huntington, West Virginia, by the Green Bay Packers was announced today by Coach Curly Lambeau. In Adkins, Lambeau hopes he has found another Larry Craig, the South Carolina product who broke in sensationally with Green Bay last season. Advance information on the Marshall veteran appear to place him very close to Craig's type. Adkins weighs 205 pounds and is six feet tall. He won three letters in as many seasons at Marshall, playing at both of his positions, and never was injured in his entire football career. He was known as a hard worker, and in addition to his gridiron activities was a member of the Marshall basketball squad. Adkins is a native of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Lambeau expects to use him at end, probably as relief for Craig, whom he resembled in physique. The new Packer was not drafted but was sought by several National league teams...PLANS RECRUITING TRIP: Next week the Packer coach plans a Midwestern recruiting swing which will take him to the campuses of Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois universities. By Tuesday he expects to know whether or not Hal Van Every, the Minnesota halfback who is a Green Bay draftee, has decided to cast his lot with professional football. Lambeau conferred with Van Every yesterday, and the ex-Gopher star, a fine ball carrier and forward passer, promises his answer by early in the week. Adkins is the sixth man to sign his 1940 Packer contract.
KODROS MAY COACH
MAR 30 (Ann Arbor, MI) - Archie Kodros, who captained University of Michigan's 1939 football team, is considered a position as assistant freshman grid coach at Michigan, it was learned today. Kodros, a 200-pound center from Alton, Ill., has been discussing the job offer with Coach Fritz Crisler but is awaiting an offer from the Green Bay Packers of the National league, who drafted him last winter.
NATIONAL LEAGUE IS APT TO RETAIN ITS PERSONNEL
MAR 30 (New York) - NFL owners are not expected to depart from procedures, which have become traditional in recent years, when they convene for their 21st annual meeting at the Biltmore hotel here April 12, 13 and 14. Several cities are expected to make application for membership, with Los Angeles being the most persistent applicant. However, present indications are that the league will continue as a 10-club circuit, with the same teams operating which have for the past three years. The personnel of the league have not changed since Cleveland rejoined the circuit in 1937 to become the 10th team in the loop...WANT LONGER SCHEDULES: Some of the owners have indicated they favor longer schedules than the 11-game chart. The successful introduction of night games during the past two seasons is responsible, to some extent, makes it possible for teams to play more than 11 games, without extending the actual playing period for the season. The owners advocating longer seasons, however, are decidedly in the minority, and the league probably will adopt a 55-game championship schedule again for the 1940 season. The majority of the owners seem to be sold on the idea that 11 games are enough for one season, particularly for those teams which have won championships. The championship team, of course, is a principal in the playoff for the title and also engages in one postseason game in Los Angeles and the preseason classic in Chicago 14 games in all. Owner-Coach George Halas of the Chicago Bears, chairman of the rules committee, asserts that there have been no suggestions for radical changes in the code. Thus, the big news of the meeting figures to be generated by important player trades and the annual election.
runback of punts. "The return of punts should be one of the game's most valuable and spectacular plays," says Potsy, former Illinois star quarterback and one of the country's outstanding veteran coaches, in town for the meeting. "But check on our league's 1939 statistics shows that punts were brought back for average gains of only five yards. On many such plays the receiving team didn't have even the chance to touch the ball."...PROVIDE MORE THRILLS: "Much better balance between the two sides could be quickly made on punts if the kicking team was prevented from touching the ball before the receiving eleven had an opportunity to first handle the pigskin. This situation would encourage more runbacks of punts and more thrills." Under Clark's proposed rule the kicking side would be penalized five yards for touching the ball before it was first handled by the receiving team. The penalty would be imposed at the spot where the kicking team illegally touched the ball...STOP GROUNDED PUNTS: The Clark rule would quickly stop ends of kicking teams from grounding rolling punts deep in their opponents' territory, to the chagrin of the receiving team and its supporters. It is unlikely that radical rule changes will be attempted at the league's annual meeting. Club owners are confident the pro game now is the most spectacular and satisfactory type of football played anywhere in the country. Rule changes made the meeting here will be chiefly for the purpose of eliminating possible "dead" spots.
JOE LAWS SIGNS CONTRACT FOR HIS SEVENTH GREEN BAY SEASON
APR 3 (Iowa City) - Joe Laws, once voted the most valuable player in the Wisconsin conference, is ready for his seventh season in the NFL. Coach Curly Lambeau of the Green Bay Packers, here during a swing of Big Ten campus athletic centers, announced today that he had signed the veteran right halfback at Colfax, Laws' hometown, en route to the University of Iowa. Lambeau spent most of his time before leaving for Illinois in a huddle with Henry Luebcke, giant Hawkeye tackle, whose coaches regard him as a hot prospect for pro football. Luebcke expressed interest and Lambeau believes he may come to terms. He was on the Green Bay 1939 draft list. Laws has proved his worth so often that the stocky 185-pounder needs no buildup to Packer fans. An occasional passer, a determination ball carrier, veteran field general and hard blocker, he has been one of the most valuable men on the roster of the current world champions. Laws tried to line up a job in Green Bay at the close of last football season, but the matter fell through and he returned to Iowa. With the All-Star game at Soldier field ahead, Laws is expected back at the Wisconsin gridiron capital by mid-summer. He is married and the father of two children, a boy and a girl...GREAT HAWKEYE CENTER: Joe entered the National league after a great career at Iowa, as a member of the Packers, and he never has played for another team. He is a fine pass receiver, and Bay fans never will forget the last-minute snatch he took from Cecil Isbell at Cleveland last fall, when the Packers triumphed 7 to 6. Laws is a high scoring back. He ranks eighth on the Packer all-time scoring list with 90 points, and is a good bet to pass 100 next fall. He has accounted for all his points on touchdowns, getting 15 of them, and he stands nine points behind seventh place Bobby Monnett.
FORMER BACKFIELD ACE PICKS CHICAGO BEARS TO WIN TITLE
APR 6 (Green Bay) - Friendly and relaxed as he sat across the table chatting about football, there was little of the menacing Chicago Bear of a few years ago about the man. True, he looked the athlete, every inch of him, and it would be difficult to forget his record, but the Gene Ronzani who talked of the past and predicted the future seemed different from the hard, competitive, money player who cavorted in George Halas' backfield for seven seasons. Ronzani visited Green Bay this week in the role of wine salesman, but football and Tuesday's election were the only subjects treated in lengthy conversaion of a late afternoon. The election was mentioned incidentally because Milwaukee's new mayor, Carl Ziedler, is a fellow Marquette university alumnus who was in some classes with the gridder, although he (Ziedler) graduated earlier...YEAR FOR HALAS: But football - about the present, past and future of the sport Ronzani had stories, views and theories without limit. At least one is of particular interest to Green Bay. Speaking of next season he declared: "I believe the (National) league next season will see the greatest number of stars it ever had. I think it is the Bears' year to win, but Halas will find the Packers the team to beat, as usual." Coming from a man who still was classed as a regular in 1938, his last year with the Bears, and who last season as player-coach led the Newark Bears to an American league championship, the words carried a little more weight than if they had been dropped by some sideline quarterback over his fifth Scotch and soda. That isn't all the one-time Iron Mountain boy had to say about coming gridiron events. Ronzani looks for the Packers to beat the College All-Stars at Soldiers field in the season's opener...THINKS OF OTHERS: "The experience and knowledge of the older players plus some fine talent among the younger men should give the Packers the edge," Gene said as his mind went back over other All-Star games. "That All-Star team never is a pushover," he mused. "This kids may look like a disorganized ball club two days before the game, but they're all good players and when they get out there in front of the crowd and hear the old college song, something comes over them. Still, I think the Packers will take them this year." Ronzani has a tremendous respect for the Packers and Green Bay as a football town. He speaks in glowing terms of Arnie Herber, Clarke Hinkle, Don Hutson, Buckets Goldenberg, Hank Bruder and others who have been some of his bitterest opponents on the playing field. He cites the football enthusiasm of Packer fans as almost a sports world phenomenon, and he thinks very highly of the men who have guided the destinies of the team. "It seems to me that the Packers never forgot the ordinary customer at the gate," Ronzani observed as the talk shifted to the rise in popularity of professional football. "Maybe that's why a town this size can support the pro league champs." "You know," he continued, "that is one of the things Halas told me when I went out to take charge of his Newark team. He said you have to give the fellow who pays for the bleacher seat just as much show and respect as the fan in the boxseat."...FINISHED IN BLACK: Gene was Halas' personal representative as secretary of the Newark club as well as player-coach. It appears to have been a wise choice by the Bears' owner, for besides beating Paterson, N.J., 27 to 7, in the championship playoff, Newark finished on the black side of the ledger. Gene was disheartened when the opening game was played before only 2,300, and the season started in the red. Hard work, a good show and a championship ball team changed all that. Crowds steadily increased, and for the playoff game, at Newark, the turnstiles showed 15,000 customers. Nevertheless, Gene still refers to the American league as "out there" and the National loop as the "pro league". Ronzani may not play at all next season. "The way I feel now, I won't," he smiled, "but when fall rolls around I may feel differently. Look what happened to Hank Bruder every year. I've heard a lot of guys sat that they'll quit after the All-Star game, but they never do." In Gene's opinion, the type of player who really makes the grade in professional football likes the game too well to pull out without a struggle. He admits a few exceptions, but points to the general practice to support his theory. Furthermore, he discounts stories of dirty play in the league with the contention that a real dirty player cannot last over a period of time.
GEORGE SEEMAN, STAR END OF NEBRASKA, SIGNS WITH PACKERS
APR 9 (Green Bay) - George Seeman, powerfully built University of Nebraska end with a flair for defensive tactics, has been signed by the Green Bay Packers, Coach Curly Lambeau announced today as he prepared to leave for the annual meeting of the NFL in New York. Seeman, a prominent member of the Packer draft list, is the first wingman to be signed for the 1940 campaign. He carries 195 pounds, and was a letterman at end for two seasons at Nebraska, after winning his sophomore letter as a guard. In addition, Seeman is university heavyweight wrestling champion, and formerly was a high school mat champion in Nebraska, as a competitor for Omaha Central high school. A standout in Nebraska's victory over Minnesota and Pittsburgh, Seeman is the rugged, smashing type of end who stars particularly upon defense. He played left end with the Cornhuskers, but will be used at the right flank here. Lambeau plans to leave here in time to attend the opening sessions of the league meeting Friday. He will be accompanied by Leland H. Joannes, Packer corporation president.
BOSTON IS ANXIOUS TO GET SQUAD BACK IN FOOTBALL LEAGUE
APR 9 (Boston) - Although warned that the NFL is opposed to enlarging its circuit, a group of Boston sportsmen, including Francis Ouimet, former national golf champion, plans to apply for a franchise for Boston tomorrow at the annual meeting in New York. The official announcement of the group, made public today, also included the names of Joseph Conway, Boston sporting good magnate; Daniel Lyne; former Judge John J. Burns and William Shea of New York. It also was announced that Bill McCarthy, football director at Fenway park, would be named business manager. In the event the franchise is granted, immediate steps would be taken to obtain the services of a national prominent football coach and enough players to put a strong team in league competition next fall.
HOVLAND WILL BE COACH AT ASHLAND HIGH
APR 11 (Ashland) - Lynn Hovland, All-Conference guard at the University of Wisconsin eleven of 1938, was named head football coach at the Ashland, Wis., high school Wednesday by the Ashland school board. Hovland, who starred for three seasons for the Badgers, was the outstanding lineman on the 1939 College All-Star team and was sought by numerous pro elevens, particularly the Green Bay Packers. Lynn refused to turn pro last season and returned to the U.W. to finish work in physical education and to assist in coaching the Badger line. Recently he was again approached by E.L. "Curly" Lambeau regarding a job with the Packers for the 1940 season but failed to reach a decision. He will probably confine his activities to coaching, although he has received a handsome offer from Lambeau. Hovland will take up his new duties early next September.
VINCE GAVRE, WISCONSIN GRID STAR, SIGNED WITH GREEN BAY
APR 2 (Madison) - Coach Curly Lambeau of the Green Bay Packers, taking a recruiting turn through the Western conference area, announced today that he has signed Vincent Gavre, star field general of the University of Wisconsin's 1938 eleven. Lambeau also said he conferred with Lynn Hovland, 235-pound Badger guard who was a classmate of Gavre's, but found Hovland undecided. Lambeau left this morning for Iowa City, where he will interview several Hawkeye prospects...USED AT RIGHT HALF: Gavre played quarterback at Wisconsin, but will be used at right halfback for Green Bay next fall, Lambeau said. "He has an excellent blocking build," the Packer coach commented, "in addition to which he was regarded as a fine field general. We always can use a good quarterback who can block, and I was impressed with Gavre's seriousness and apparent desire to succeed in professional football." Gavre is taking postgraduate work here, and has kept in fine condition. He weighs 190 pounds and is five feet 11 inches tall. In addition to his blocking and field generalship, he was regarded as a capable forward passer.
MIKE MICHALSKE APPOINTED TO ATHLETIC STAFF AT ST. NORBERT
APR 2 (Green Bay) - Appointment of Mike Michalske, former Green Bay Packer star, as head track coach and line coach in football at St. Norbert college was announced Monday afternoon by the Rev. T.G. Fox, athletic director. Michalske, who is well known to sports fans in this and the eastern section of the country, will assist Coach Mickey McCormick in football and will have complete charge in the St. Norbert track squad, Fox said. The track team this year will be the first St. Norbert has had. Michalske, commenting on his appointment to the St. Norbert athletic staff, said, "I am delighted to spend my time at St. Norbert. I hope that I may continue in the same capacity in the future." After graduating from Penn State in 1927, the new St. Norbert mentor played professional football for two years with the New York Yankees before coming to Green Bay to play with the Packers in 1929. With Green Bay until the end of the 1935 season, Michalske went to Lafayette college, Easton, Pa., in 1936 as line coach for one year and as head basketball and assistant track coach for three years. He played the 1937 season with the Packers. During the 1939 football season Michalske was line coach for the Chicago Cardinals. One other coaching stint Michalske had at Central State Teachers college, Stevens Point, during 1934 and 1935. During the summer months Michalske is director of a boys' cherry camp at Eggs Harbor.
CLARK OPPOSED TO PUNT RULING
APR 3 (New York) - Coach Potsy Clark of the Detroit Lions of the NFL will submit at the pro circuit's annual meeting here this month a new rule to improve the
ANNOUNCE 1940 SCHEDULE FOR GREEN BAY PACKERS
APR 13 (Green Bay) - Announcement of an 11-game 1940 schedule for the Green Bay Packers was made here today in a telegram for Coach Curly Lambeau, who is attending the NFL meeting in New York City. The Packers will open against the Philadelphia Eagles here Sunday, Sept. 15, and will close their regular league schedule against the Rams at Cleveland Dec. 1. After that, they hope to engage in the inter-divisional playoff, which next season will be held at the park selected by the East champions...FOUR HOME OPPONENTS: Green Bay will meet four opponents at City stadium. After the Philadelphia invasion Green Bay will entertain the Chicago Bears here the following Sunday, and Sept. 29 will be in Milwaukee, facing the Cardinals. The team draws an open date Oct. 6, and then entertains the Cleveland Rams at City stadium. Oct. 20 the Detroit Lions will make their annual visitation here, and a week later the Packers invade Milwaukee again, meeting the Pittsburgh Pirates...TRAVEL OUTSIDE STATE: All the rest of the Packer game will be played outside
Wisconsin. Nov. 3 they face the Bears at Chicago, Nov. 10 the Cardinals at Chicago, Nov. 17 they are at New York opposing the Giants, Nov. 24 they travel to Detroit, and Dec. 1 they will be at Cleveland. The No. 1 early season engagement, of course, will be that at Soldier field, Chicago, Aug. 28, when the Packers meet the College All-Stars for the second time in their gridiron history.
BACK STORCK FOR HEAD OF LEAGUE
APR 13 (New York) - With practically all opposition to his election elimination, Acting President Carl Storck of the NFL was expected to return to office by a unanimous vote today as the 21st annual meeting of the football magnates entered its second session. George Preston Marshall, owner of the Washington Redskins, expected to assume the role of chief belligerent in a reported attempt to oust Storck and present another candidate, was as quiet as a timid man's footsteps as the meeting opened yesterday. He neither offered a new candidate for the presidency not suggested Storck's removal...ACCEPTS VICTORY QUIETLY: Tim Mara, owner of the New York Giants, was all for reelecting Stock and figured to furnish most of the opposition to Marshall. While Mara accepted his apparent victory quietly, Marshall left the closed meeting for a few moments to announce blithely that "all was harmony amongst the boys. We've done more on the first day of this meeting than any I ever attended before. We are even lining up a tentative schedule for 1941." While he had nothing by praise for the rapid manner in which the meeting so far had been conducted, the ebullient Marshall cast no orchids in the direction of presiding chairman Storck, When asked about the several reports that he had given Storck the "bird", Marshall said: "I think Storck is a fine executive, but I can name a better one. However, I know of no available candidate now and I think Storck will be elected."...SUCCESSOR TO CARR: The portly Storck has reigned since the death of Joe Carr nine months ago. There may be one hitch in Stock's seemingly smooth road to the president's chair. The owners may offer him a short term, which Storck would probably decline. The mounting of the dove of peace in the meeting room by "Taxidermist" Marshall was the most important piece of work accomplished during the initial session. Only one trade was carried through, the Giants sending Ox Parry, 230-pound tackle to the Pittsburgh Steelers (nee Pirates) for the draft rights to Kay Eakin, triple-threat halfback from Arkansas.
MILWAUKEE PRO GRIDDERS TO PLAY AT FAIR PARK
APR 14 (Milwaukee) - The Milwaukee entry in the American Professional Football league will have State Fair park as its home field and will play six league games there, plus two or three exhibitions. Announcement to that effect was made Saturday by George M. Harris, president and general manager, who will represent the Milwaukee group at the American League meeting in Cincinnati next Saturday and Sunday. The schedule, tentatively adopted at a preliminary session at Columbus, will be formally adopted and league officers elected during the two day conclave. Milwaukee's home games will be arranged to avoid conflict with the Green Bay Packers, who have booked two tilts at State Fair park for next fall. President Harris plans to reveal the identity of the coach at the time of the meeting. Negotiations have been completed with a well known former college player and National Pro league star who, in turn, will release the roster of the players already under contract.
FORDHAM ENDS IS SIGNED BY BAYS
APR 16 (Green Bay) - Raymond Riddick, who played three seasons of tackle and end at Fordham university, has been signed to a Green Bay Packer contract for 1940, a wire received today from Coach Curly Lambeau at New York revealed. Riddick, a former teammate of Harry Jacunski, Fordham end who made a fine debut of with the champions last year, is a giant, standing an inch over six feet and weighing 225 ounds. Like Jacunski, he was overlooked in the National league draft. "Riddick should make a great professional end," Lambeau wired. "He is highly recommended by Crowley." (Jim Crowley, former Green Bay resident, who is head coach at Fordham.) Riddick's home is at Lowell, Mass. He is the second end to sign for the 1940 campaign.
JIM GILLETTE, VIRGINIA U. BACK, AGREES TO TERMS WITH COACH
APR 17 (Green Bay) - Jim Gillette, triple-threat backfield man at the University of Virginia for three years, is ready to sign a Packer contract for 1940, Coach Curly Lambeau announced in a telegram today. Since he is playing baseball for the university this spring, Gillette is not permitted to sign a contract at this time. He has agreed on terms, however, and will sign as soon as regulations permit, which will be about the middle of May...HE'S BIG HALFBACK: Gillette weighs 190 pounds, stands some six feet high. He passes left-handed, and kicks with his right foot. He is the fifth back to sign for the 1940 season.
RUSS LETLOW SIGNS CONTRACT FOR HIS FIFTH SEASON WITH PACKERS
APR 18 (Green Bay) - Russell Letlow, one of the greatest guards in NFL history, has signed for his fifth season with the Green Bay Packers, Coach Curly Lambeau announced today. Letlow, who is employed at the Hoberg paper mill, is the 12th Packer to sign for the 1940 season, scheduled to get an early start because of Green Bay's participation in the All-Star game at Chicago in August. Letlow was an all-league selection in 1938 and played highly effective football during the Packers' championship drive last fall. He is one of he best-known linemen in the National league, and also one of the most-feared by opponents. The big guard weighs 212 pounds and is six feet tall. He is extremely strong and thoroughly schooled in professional football. Russ had his undergraduate experience at the University of San Francisco, is 26 years old and married. He is a native of Taft, Calif.
HAL VAN EVERY SIGNS HIS CONTRACT WITH GREEN BAY
APR 20 (Green Bay) - Hal Van Every, one of the greatest ball-toting halfbacks in the University of Minnesota's history, will tote the leather for the Green Bay Packers next fall. Announcement that Van Every has signed to play with Green Bay was made today by Coach Curly Lambeau. Van Every, loaded with gridiron assignments his senior year with the Gophers, showed enough class to cause his coach, Bernie Bierman, to predict for him a brilliant professional career. He is heavier than Cecil Isbell, weighing 192 pounds, and is about the same height. He is a harder runner than that Packer veteran, and drew rave notices from all coaches who saw him in action. As a sophomore in 1937, Van Every was rated as one of the Big Ten's outstanding first year men, turning in consistently fine kicking, passing and running performances. In his junior year he was plagued by an injury which kept him on the sidelines most of the season. He had his moments of brilliance, however. With a few minutes left to play in the Michigan game, the Gophers trailing by six points, he was tossed into the contest. On the next play he recovered a fumble, and on the next two he hurled two successive completed forward passes, the second for a touchdown. Minnesota won, 7 to 6...RETURNED TO FORM: In 1939, he improved upon the form which had stamped him a promising sophomore. In addition to carrying the triple-threat duties at left halfback, he was given the assignment of calling signals, and performed each of his duties effectively. He was the team's leading ground gainer, hauling the apple for 667 yards in eight games. In December, he was chosen on the Packer draft list. Van Every has great talent as a passer. He received little use at that spot, however, because of Minnesota's dearth of receivers. Time after time Hal would drop the pigskin into the hands of ends and backs, only to have them lose the ball, so Coach Bierman soon switched his strategy to extensive use of the ground game. Van Every just has completed his third season for a regular forward on the Minnesota cage team.
LOOKING UP IN THE REALM OF SPORTS
APR 20 (Green Bay) - There is quite a gap between the time that the NFL draft is drawn in December, and the time the many players come to terms, some of them many months later. During that period there is a constant parade of interviews, offers and counter-offers, discussions of terms and eventually either an acceptance or a refusal for the coming season. Here are a few angles on the current engagement involving the Green Bay Packer management and its several draftees, most of them still unsigned. In an appreciative letter, halfback Dick Cassiano of Pittsburgh informed Coach Curly Lambeau that he has accepted a job in New York City and will be unable to play with the Packers. He would like to hook up with either Brooklyn or the Giants, and it is possible that a trade can be arranged to the Packers' advantage. Cassiano's decision doesn't bother Lambeau nearly as much as it might have had Hal Van Every not come to terms. Van Every is considerably more versatile than the hard-running Panther back. Don Guritz, Northwestern guard who weighs 225 pounds, has been interviewed and is interested. Married and the father of one child, he probably will play pro football and his decision is expected next month. Jim Reeder, Illinois tackle, also was the subject of a personal visit by Lambeau. He is also married and a a papa. He's a 235-pounder who stands three inches above six feet. He indicated that if he and the Packers can get together on terms, he'll sign. Lambeau explained the swap with the Philadelphia Eagles which involved Tulane's Millard White and Nebraska's Fred Shirey as follows: White has failed to answer several letters written to him by the Packers, and is believed to be uninterested. Through a roundabout source, the Packers learned that Shirey, a great All-America tackle of 1938, would like to get into the professional game. At present he is coaching at Beatrice, Neb., which is the home of Pid Purdy, former Packer back. So the rights to Shirey were obtained for Philadelphia for the rights to White. While at New York, Curly talked over possible deals with New York and Pittsburgh, but nothing was decided. However, Coach Walt Kiesling of the Steelers is due here in two weeks, and one or two exchanges may be arranged. Steve Owen of New York has a man he'd like to trade to the Packers, and vice versa. Ambrose Schindler, halfback, and Phil Gaspar, tackle, U.S.C. stars of the Rose Bowl game. seemed agreeable to terms when they were interviewed in California, but since have appeared shy. Both were made good offers and Lambeau hopes to land them. Bud Kerr, Notre Dame end, definitely has decided to coach and will not play pro football. Lambeau heard good words about J.R. Manley, his 215-pound guard from Oklahoma. Both the Giants and Steelers were hot after him, but it was no dice, as the Packers decided they want him most. Ray Riddick, Fordham end, was said to be the defensive powerhouse of the same Ram line which had Harry Jacunski at the other end. Riddick was the fastest lineman in the east and is an honor student.
SEVEN GAMES BOOKED HERE
APR 22 (Milwaukee) - Seven home games were given the new Milwaukee professional football team at the American league meeting held over the weekend at Cincinnati. George Harris, president of the club, said Monday that he had a contract for the State Fair park field for all home dates. The team will play five league games on the road and an eighth home game as an exhibition. The Columbus Bullies, 1939 champions, traded Regis Monahan, formerly of the Detroit Lions, to the Milwaukee club for three players who were not names. Joe F. Carr, son of the late Joe Carr, president of the NFL, applied for a franchise at Hollywood, Calif., and action was postponed until June 2 to ascertain the attitude of the Los Angeles club. Carr is said to be backed by Bing Crosby. Applications for franchises at Ashland, Ky., and Kansas City were deferred until June 2. An application from Miami was rejected because the city was too far from other members. The uniform player contract in use by the National league was adopted. George J. Heitzler was re-elected president and James C. Hogan was retained as secretary-treasurer.
BUHLER IS SET FOR 1940 PLAY
APR 25 (Green Bay) - Larry Buhler, the big back from Minnesota who saw his first professional football service with the Green Bay Packers last fall, was in town yesterday and signed his contract for 1940. Buhler, who saw service only occasionally as a halfback last fall, will be used as a blocking back and fullback during the next National league campaign, Coach Curly Lambeau indicated. "Upon orders of Minneapolis physicians, following an automobile accident which nearly took Buhler's life, we used him sparingly during 1939," Lambeau said, "but he is back to his normal weight of 215 now and looks ready for a great season. He formerly played with Hal Van Every, our new halfback from Minnesota, and it is probable that we shall work out a combination which will include both of those men." Buhler did some effective blocking during the Packers' winter trip to the Pacific coast...LEAVE FOR PURDUE: Lambeau left today for Lafayette, Ind., where tomorrow he will visit spring practice at the Purdue university campus. After the drill he will interview three former Boilermakers who are on the Packer draft list - backs Jack Brown and Lou Brock, and guard Frank Bykowski. En route back to Green Bay, he will meet Fred Shirey, former Nebraska tackle, in Chicago.
EX-LION TO TRY FOR PLACE HERE
APR 26 (Green Bay) - Connie Mack Berry, a big end with two seasons of professional football experience, will try for a berth on the Green Bay Packer squad next fall. Coach Curly Lambeau announced the signing of Barry yesterday, just before he left for a visit to the Purdue university campus, where he will talk terms with Lou Brock, Jack Brown and Frank Bykowski. Berry weighs 210 pounds and stands four inches above six feet. His home is Spartanburg, S.C., some 30 miles from the residence of his good friend, Larry Craig, who made a sensational debut with the Packers last season...PLAYED UNDER ANDERSON: The new Packer starred for three years at a wing position with North Carolina State under Coach Hunk Anderson, and in 1938 he joined the Cincinnati Bengals. He was the mainstay of that team, and was instrumental in the defeats the Bengals handed the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Pirates of the National league. Last year he was with the Detroit Lions, and saw action against the Packers. He played with Detroit in eight league games. After that period, the Lions were out of the championship picture and the club, desiring to try out new men for next season, lopped off several players, including Barry. The former North Carolina State is 24 years old, in fine condition, and believes he can make the grade in professional football.
MILWAUKEE PRO ELEVEN PICKS CAHOON AS COACH
APR 28 (Milwaukee) - Ivan (Tiny) Cahoon, athletic director and football coach at Monmouth (Ill.) college, Saturday was named head coach of Milwaukee's entry in the American football league. Announcement of the selection was made by George Harris, president of the club, at a cocktail party in Cahoon's honor at the Schroeder hotel. Cahoon, who is married and the father of five children, was selected from a score of applicants. The salary was not disclosed. The coach comes to his job with wide experience in all phases of athletics. A native of Baraboo, Wis., he had three years of football and basketball at Baraboo high school, three years of the same sports and track at Gonzaga university and the, starting in 1926, four years of professional football as a tackle with the Green Bay Packers. A knee injury halted his playing career in midseason of 1929, Green Bay's first championship season. Cahoon started his coaching career at West De Pere high school in 1928 while still with the Packers. He went to Green Bay West in 1933 and to Monmouth as athletic director and coach in 1938. In 12 years of coaching he has maintained the unusually high winning average of .810. His teams in this period have averaged 18 points a game while holding opponents to an average of 6 and have held opponents scoreless in 43 games while suffering the same fate in only 5. At West De Pere he won one conference title in football and two in track, at Green Bay West he turned out consistently good football teams and lost only one dual track meet; and at Monmouth he developed six all-conference players and one little All-American guard. In all his coaching, Cahoon has always stressed wide open football. He learned the Notre Dame system at Gonzaga under Gus Dorais and played it at Green Bay under Curly Lambeau, but has used the system himself only when he felt the material permitted. He has often switched to ordinary single wing, to a flanker or to a creation of his own which he calls the "triple wing". He said Saturday that he hopes he might be able to use a flanker of some sort here. Cahoon will start at scratch in his new job. He has no holdover squad. To provide a working basis, questionnaires have been sent to several hundred graduating college seniors and from the replies, already pouring into the office in the Plankinton Arcade, he will select most of his squad. The American league recognizes contracts which college players have signed, but does not recognize the National league draft. As a small nucleus around which to build, Cahoon will have four players either bought or obtained in trades last week. They are Regis Monahan, former Ohio State all-American, a guard; Joe Zimmerman, former Centenary guard who was named on the Jewish All-American team last fall; Obbie Novakofsky, star Lawrence halfback, who had a tryout with the Packers last season and wound up with Kenosha, and Carl Buck, former Carroll college star, also a halfback, also with Kenosha last fall. Novakofsky and Buck were bought outright from Kenosha, and Monahan and Zimmerman obtained in a trade with Columbus for three unnamed players to be turned over by August 15. The Milwaukee club will operate along the same lines followed by the Packers in obtaining off season work for its players. The team will pitch camp in the north woods August 15. Cahoon will establish his home here at once.
LOU BROCK, PURDUE HALFBACK, SIGNS CONTRACT WITH PACKERS
APR 29 (Green Bay) - One of the greatest names in American college football for the last three seasons was entered on the roster of the Green Bay Packers today, as Coach Curly Lambeau returned from Lafayette, Ind., with the signed contract of right halfback Lou Brock. Lambeau openly expressed his pleasure at the signing of the great Purdue veteran, and expressed the opinion that Brock will become one of the greatest backs in professional football. He is a giant, weighing 205 pounds and standing two inches over six feet. He is no relation to Charley Brock, the Packers' sophomore center from Nebraska. Brock had a sensational collegiate career, although he was handicapped by injuries during his senior season. He ran wild as a sophomore and continued his great work as a junior. He always has been particularly effective against Wisconsin. "The people around the Purdue campus think Brock can't miss in the National league," Lambeau continued. "He is a fine passer, a powerful runner, and he blocks like everything."...SIMILAR TO SAUER: In type, Brock is similar to George Henry Sauer, once of the Packers and now coach at the University of New Hampshire. He is a better passer than Sauer. He resembles Ernie Caddel, late of the Detroit Lions, to an extent although he is built more powerfully. As a sophomore Brock paired with Cecil Isbell, now of the Packers, and the two made a magnificent team, carving a wide path through the Western conference football. He was the No. 2 choice on the Packer drat list last December. "We had a hard time deciding between Brock and Harold Van Every of Minnesota as as our first choice," Lambeau said. "Finally we decided to take a chance and pick Van Every, hoping that Brock's injuries of last season would cause the other clubs to overlook him until our turn came around again. This was the way it worked out, and we grabbed Brock as our No. 2 choice." Van Every signed last week...TALKS WITH BYKOWSKI: While at Purdue Coach Lambeau interviewed Frank Bykowski, Boilermaker guard, and at Chicago he talked with Fred Shirey, Nebraska tackle, both on the Packer draft list. The interviews were favorable, and he expects to come to terms with both within a few weeks. The Packer squad list, with the season still months away, is growing rapidly.
SMILEY JOHNSON, LINEMAN FROM GEORGIA, SIGNS WITH PACKERS
APR 30 (Green Bay) - The addition of a stocky, experienced guard to the Green Bay Packer roster was announced today by Coach Curly Lambeau, recently returned from a successful recruiting expedition. The new Packer is Howard (Smiley) Johnson, who has completed three seasons of line play at the University of Georgia, where he served under ex-Packer Rex Enright. "Enright rarely leans over backwards in describing a player," Lambeau reported, "but when he visited us in California last January he couldn't say enough about this man." Johnson, a 210-pounder who measures an inch under six feet, is a self-made athlete. He is an orphan, and worked his way through the university. He was not drawn in the NFL's 1940 draft. Seventeen men already have signed their Packer contracts for the coming season.
TINSLEY BACK WITH PACKERS
MAY 1 (Green Bay) - The stocky form of Pete Tinsley, guard, will be seen in the Green Bay Packer line again next fall, Coach Curly Lambeau said today in announcing that Tinsley has signed his contract for 1940. Although the Packers still are nearly four months way from their revenge game at Soldier field, the squad is growing rapidly, as Lambeau completed his contracts with both old and new men. Already some of the best first year players in Packer history appear on the roster, and many more names will be added before the team swings into action again. Tinsley will be appearing with the Packers for the third time. He is a powerfully built lineman, standing five feet eight inches in height and clearing 200 pounds. He formerly played with University of Georgia teams. The Packer squad list now totals 18.
PARTIAL PAYMENT SETUP BOOMING PACKERS SEASON TICKET PURCHASES
MAY 4 (Green Bay) - With about 35 percent of the total season ticket sale of 1939 already achieved, the Green Bay Packer football corporation is pushing a campaign which it hopes will result in the sale of 5,000 such seats for 1940. This is All-Star year, with the Packers booked for an appearance at Soldier field Aug. 28, and that event will be followed by Green Bay's regular National league schedule, including four fine home games - the Philadelphia Eagles Sept. 15, the Chicago Bears Sept. 22, the Cleveland Rams Oct. 13 and the Detroit Lions Oct. 20. In response to an appeal for cooperation in cleaning up the season ticket sale, made several weeks ago, more than 800 fans already have made their reservations for 1940. Cards have been mailed to all who held season tickets last year, and about 25 percent of these have been returned...SEND CARDS BACK: E.A. Spachmann, director of ticket sales, requests that the remaining 75 percent send in their notifications without delay, so that the corporation may know whether or not to hold the reservations. "We have fans who occupy the same seats every year," Spachmann said. "Some of them have been in the same location for eight and ten years, while others have just acquired the habit of keeping the same tickets each year. The Packers wish to accommodate all fans, and to assist them in getting their desired seats. Consequently, it is desirable to have all season ticket holders indicate their intentions for next fall." Season tickets are priced according to their location. Box seats, between the 35-yard lines on both sides of the field, sell for $11.10 each. Reserved seats between the 18 and 35-yard lined sell for $8.90, seats between the goal line and 18-yard line sell for $6.70, seats back of the goal line on the sides of the field sell for $4.50, and seats in the end zone, east and west, sell for $4.40. Purchasers save $1.10 for every seat on the sides of the field. In addition, they have the advantage of holding the same seat week after week, facilitating their entrance to the games, and they assure themselves of permanent possession of these seats. "This year more than ever before," Spachmann added, " a demand is being felt for Detroit and Bear game tickets, indicating that even at this early date fans are anxious to assure good accommodations for those contests."...PARTIAL PAYMENT PLAN: The partial payment plan which the corporation authorized this season is being used extensively already. According to the arrangement made by the Packers, fans may make down payments, may add to the balance at any time, and are not required to complete the amount until Sept. 1. This method avoids the necessity of fans paying down large lump sums at one time, particularly if they order two, three or four tickets altogether. If the entire amount is not paid before the end of the summer, the balance left by Sept. 1 is certain to be reduced greatly.
PACKER NOTES
MAY 4 (Madison Capital-Times) - Curly Lambeau, coach of the Green Bay Packers was expected today to watch the Badger Army-Navy football game. Lambeau won't admit it, but he is interested in George Paskvan, who won't see action in the game, being at South Bend with the Badger track team. Paskvan should be ready to fit into the Packer team a year from now. Clark Hinkle, Packer fullback, is getting no younger and Eddie Jankowski, a reserve fullback, is having eye trouble and may have to give up the game. "Roaring George" should be a sensation with the Green Bay club.
HERBER, GANTENBEIN SIGNED TO PLAY WITH PACKERS NEXT FALL
MAY 9 (Green Bay) - Two men whose names are synonymous with the achievements of the Green Bay Packers have signed their contracts for 1940, Coach Curly Lambeau announced today. They are Arnold Herber, right halfback, and Milton Gantenbein, end, and they will be appearing for the 11th and 10th seasons, respectively, as Packers. Herber, one of the greatest forward passers in NFL history, and Gantenbein, who captained the Green Bay squad, need no introduction to the horde of fans who follow the Packer fortunes. Their early signing, their zeal to get conditioned in ample time for the 1940 All-Star game Aug. 29, and their many years of experience all will count on the right side of the ledger for the Packers' early appearances. Herber, the only native of Green Bay to serve on the Packer team last season, is a graduate of West High school, where he led the Purple under Coach H.M. White to two consecutive victories over East, each carrying with it the championship of the Fox River Valley conference. He attended the University of Wisconsin long enough to star on the Badger freshman eleven, and then switched to Regis college in Denver, performing for another season there. Last year, at the age of 29, he was as effective as ever in the Packer lineup, and his deadly sharpshooting was instrumental in aiding the Bays to their fifth world championship...OLDEST TEAM MEMBER: In the point of continuous service, he is the oldest man on the Packer team, although in his early years he did not get the steady action which has characterized his later seasons. He is the only Packer now seeing active service who played on four league title holding teams. Herber is married, is a resident of De Pere and operated a men's clothing store in West De Pere. He weighs better than 200 pounds, and there never was a tougher customer playing professional football. Milt Gantenbein is the city of La Crosse's contribution to the Packers. At the moment he is starting his first season as regular umpire in the Wisconsin State Baseball league, but he'll be on deck pitching when the football season rolls around. Few Packers ever have exceeded the genial Milt in popularity, either with the fans or with other players. Big and rugged, seldom injured, he is prepared to start his 10th season of pro football with the same enthusiasm he displayed in his first...BEST ON DEFENSE: Gantenbein scales above 200 pounds, and also was 29 years old during the Packers' 1939 campaign. He is married, and the father of a son. The Packer captain hits his highest point of effectiveness on defense, although he ranks among the best pass-snatchers on the squad.
PRICES ARE SAME ON PACKER GAME FOR 1940 SEASON
MAY 9 (Green Bay) - Although several persons have visited the Packer ticket office and expressed the belief that prices have been raised for the 1940 season, tickets are selling at the same rates as in 1939, E. A. Spachmann, director of sales, said today. "There is a rumor that the Packer seats are selling for 55 cents above the 1939 level," Spachmann said, "but as a matter of fact the prices are the same as last year. The field setup has been revised a bit to afford better accommodations, but all sections are selling at the same prices they brought in 1939. The only addition to the total for each is 10 cents in taxes, which was authorized by law." The football corporation is in the early stages of a season ticket sales campaign designed to deliver 5,000 such tickets before Sept. 1.
BALAZS, GREENFIELD READY FOR SOPHOMORE YEAR WITH PACKERS
MAY 10 (Green Bay) - Two members of the championship Packer football team who will return for their sophomore seasons in 1940 have signed their contracts, Coach Curly Lambeau announced today, in revealing that Frank Balazs, fullback, and Tom Greenfield, center, have agreed to terms. The Packer squad is taking shape this season much faster than usual. Already 22 men are under contract, and the All-Star game at Chicago still is more than three months in the future. Coach Lambeau expects that the largest squad in Green Bay history will report here early in August to prepare for the Soldier field classic. Balazs and Greenfield had similar seasons in 1939. Each reported for his first year of professional football after completing a great collegiate record, the former at Iowa and the latter at Arizona. Each was hailed as a coming National league star but neither saw extensive service until the Packers made their invasion of California following the completion of the regular scheduled. Balazs ran into some impressive performances by Clarke Hinkle, still the team's No. 1 fullback after a long league career, and a comeback performance by Eddie Jankowski. Greenfield similarly worked as No. 3 man at his position serving as understudy to Charley Brock, the
freshman sensation from Nebraska, and Bud Svendsen, the Minnesota veteran. "I believe that both Greenfield and Balazs are ready for heavy duty with the Packers," Lambeau commented. "Both looked good during our Pacific coast invasion, and both are hard workers." The second year fullback and center both pack generous amounts of weight upon husky frames. Balazs hit the scales at 215 pounds, and stands two inches above six feet. He is 22 years old. Greenfield is the same height and weighs about 210.
PACKERS, WASHINGTON REDSKINS MEET AT MILWAUKEE LABOR DAY
MAY 11 (Green Bay) - The Green Bay Packers and the Washington Redskins will collide in a professional football game at State Fair park, either Labor day afternoon or night, Sept. 2, Coach Curly Lambeau announced today. Arrangements for the contest, which will not count in the National league standings, have been completed and permission received from the league, Lambeau said. "We anticipate an excellent game as the Packers will be fresh from the All-Star game, the Redskins will be ready to open their league schedule, and both will have squads totaling 40 men or more. The players, old and new alike, will be working hard to secure their positions, and they should produce a fine brand of football." Washington had planned to appear in a game on the Pacific coast Labor day, but broke off the arrangements when the Milwaukee contest was suggested.
RECALLS O'BRIEN'S GRID FEATS AS RAIN DROPS BALK BASEBALL
MAY 15 (Green Bay) - David O'Brien, the little man who gives them all a busy day, will dig his cleats into the turf that has felt the tread of many gridiron immortals when he makes his first appearance at City stadium here against the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 15. O'Brien, the atom that defies physical disintegration, returns to professional football very shortly for his second year with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles open the National league season here. Why this seemingly unseasonal chatter? Because rain balked baseball here, and our though naturally drifted to football. Once seen in football, O'Brien is not forgotten. With no reflection on the ability and prowess of the Green Bay players, and no feeling of disloyalty to the boys in Green and Gold, it would be unjust to pass by L'il Davey without some mention of his marked ability and his great courage. Fans who never have seen Davey in action have a real treat in store...LED ALL-STAR POLL: Idol of the southwest and particularly Fort Worth and Dallas, the wee one was almost unanimous choice for all-America honors as a Texas Christian back in 1938. He received 1,204,516 votes in the Chicago Tribune All-Star poll for last fall's eleven that met the New York Giants at Soldier's field. His total was the largest of any member of the squad, and he started at quarterback. The big boys of football were inclined to take David lightly (no pun intended). The Texas Christian flash admittedly had been a great college forward passer, but most followers of the game doubted that his 150 pounds and 5 feet 7 would stand the bruising play of postgraduate ball. David had some ideas of his own about that. On Aug. 20 of last year he took the field against the Giants and had his first taste of what he later was to encounter in the National league. His start was inauspicious, and the skeptics began to smile knowingly. But Davey was just warming' up. Five days later, on Labor day, he was in the Southwest All-Star lineup against the Green Bay Packers at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Subsequently the Packers were to prove that they were the best the National league could offer in 1939. That night of Sept. 4 they were as hot as the torrid Texas temperature. Thirty-one points were rolled up in such rapid fashion that the highly partisan southwesterners hardly could believe their own eyes. But if there was one man on the field in the All-Star lineup who added to the prestige of an all-America rating, it was little David...ALWAYS BOUNCED BACK: Later, in league play, fans and players were to learn that O'Brien found every setback stimulus for greater effort the next time. No quitter, this mighty mite. He has what the sport's world without apology calls "guts", and fans and players alike love him for it. Besides, he can really play the game of football. In the last quarter against the Packers at Dallas he passed to Dick Todd and Billy Dewell for touchdowns. In one march he completed three in a row to get the tally. He kicked both points after touchdowns, and earned the respect of everyone in the Cotton Bowl that night including the opposition. As a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, he was with a club that won only one game, lost nine, and tied one to share the eastern division cellar with Pittsburgh. Nevertheless, he was selected as quarterback on the official all-National league team over some pretty fancy performers on higher rated teams. In his first pro year O'Brien broke three forward passing record. He complete 99 out of 201 passes for 1,324 yards and six touchdowns. His yardage broke the 11 game mark of 1,127, and also the 12 game mark of 1,239. Against the extremely tough Chicago Bears he completed 21 for a new one-game mark. Likewise he starred against the Packers...HAD 19 COMPLETIONS: At Philadelphia against Green Bay last Nov. 12, David tried the air 37 times and complete 19 times, twice for touchdowns. Once he returned a punt to the Packer 31, and right after that passed for a score. O'Brien's official league average in punting last season was 40 yards, although he was used little in this department. He made one touchdown on a running play for the lowly Eagle. O'Brien's home is in Dallas, and he is regarded as a sort of deity there. A football halo can be seen above the little Irishman's head at other points on the map by the chosen who have seen him play. His record proves that his selection as the nation's outstanding college player in 1938 and all-pro quarterback in 1939 was well merited. He was the highest paid player in the league last season, and he was worth all $15,000 Bert Bell paid out to him. Bert's return was the best season's gate he ever had had at Philadelphia, including one gate of 33,258. All this is nothing more than rainy day reminiscing about one of the greatest little - or any size - performers we have ever seen in our favorite spectator sport. It is pleasant to reflect that we shall enjoy his work right here in Green Bay in the not so distant future, even though he will be playing his heart and hide out to beat the home club.
MULLENEAUX, STELLAR WINGMAN, SIGNS CONTRACT FOR 1940 SEASON
MAY 21 (Green Bay) - Carl Mulleneaux, one of the biggest, toughest ends in professional football, today sent in his 1940 contract to the Green Bay Packers, according to Coach Curly Lambeau. Lambeau said that the arrival of Mulleneaux's contract brings the announcements up to date, no more documents having been received as yet. "We are having our usual discussions with some of the veterans regarding terms," the coach said, "and a few of the boys seem a bit out of line. However we have had an unusually early start in rounding up our squad this season, and we expect the largest Packer squad in history to report before the All-Star game." Mulleneaux came close to being classified as a holdout last year, but this season he is back under the wire with plenty of time to spare. His name is added to those of several highly promising ends already on the Packer roster...DANGEROUS IN AIR: The former Utah State star, who stands three inches above six feet and weighs 206 pounds, is a crashing, powerful type of wingman who has completed two seasons of National league competition with the Packers. He has received forward passes for four league touchdowns, and is a dangerous man when the aerials start flying. He is the 26th man to sign his 1940 contract.
ZARNAS RETURNS FOR 1940 SQUAD
MAY 25 (Green Bay) - Two more contracts dropped today into the office of Curly Lambeau, coach of the Green Bay Packers, adding a guard and a blocking back to the 1940 roster and bringing the total of men signed thus far to 28. Gus Zarnas, who joined the Packers in mid-season last year and finished out the year, seeing service in the playoff game, is the guard. The back is Bob Temple, former teammate of Tom Greenfield at the University of Arizona. Zarnas, a 200-plus lineman, was drafted and signed by the Chicago Bears after a great career at Ohio State university, during which he attained all-America honors. The Brooklyn Dodgers obtained him from the Bears, and in October of last fall he was added to the Green Bay roster. Zarnas plays either right or left guard. Temple will be used in the same way as was Larry Craig last year, playing end on defense and blocking quarterback on offense. He is a big fellow, weighing 205 pounds and standing 2 inches above 6 feet. Temple already is in town and will be employed here until the start of the football season. The Packers have made a faster start in signing up men both old and new than ever before. Coach Lambeau expects to have four full teams - approximately 44 men - in uniform for the All-Star game at Soldier field Aug. 29.
BERT BELL ISN'T KIDDING; HE SAYS EAGLES ARE HEADING UP
MAY 25 (Green Bay) - While Hitler's forward passing game has the western front All-Stars with their backs against the goal posts, things are comparatively quiet along the National league football front. In fact, they are so quiet in most quarters that even the boys in section ZZ can hear the infrequent contracts drop. Don't be deceived by the lack of fanfare. The sun is beginning to shine, and that is the time wide-awake football coaches, like other industrious humans, are about making hay - according to the same authority that promised health and wealth and wisdom with a few happy dreams thrown in for the fellows who hit the mattress early and rise with the sun. Coach E.L. Lambeau of the Green Bay Packers is one of the coaches who is reaping an early harvest. Twenty-eight men have been signed, sealed and all but delivered already. And while he gathers the early grain, another coach many miles away is getting to bed early and setting his alarm clock to catch early trains for a grid roundup that may be the best Philadelphia ever has seen...SEES SILVER LINING: Dismal season followed right on the heels of the dismal season that preceded it in recent years for Bert Bell, the Eagles' owner. At long last the clouds give some promise of a silver lining, and Bert makes no bones about expecting a pretty fair prize at the end of the rainbow. Bert speaks of the coming season as "the Eagles' drive for Eastern division honors", and when he signs players he talks about "additions to the highly improved Eagles team, which will be a pennant contender this year." On the surface it sounds as if Bert might be too greatly inspired by spring fantasy. A peek behind the scenes, however, reveals that he may not be talking through his chapeau. About a week ago an Associated Press squib announced that Ray George, former Southern California tackle, was headed for Philadelphia in a deal that sent Dave Smukler to Detroit. It was of the little stories that may have gone unnoticed, even among football fans, but it carried a lot of weight. More often than not the tackles make or break a football team, and Mr. George is no dime-a-dozen type at that position...STARTED BOTH GAMES: Ray George started in both Detroit games against the Packers last season. He played the entire 60 minutes in a game against the New York Giants, and duplicated this performance when the Lions handed the Chicago Bears a surprise setback - which didn't hurt the Packers' title race at all. The big fellow (6 feet and 220 pounds) was all-Pacific coast tackle at USC in 1938, and last season received honorable mention in the official all-National league selections which is not bad for a rookie. He plays on the right side of the line. The trade was a happy one all way around for Bell. Besides George, he acquired Bob Wendlick, former all-Pacific coast end from Oregon State who should have been with the Detroit Lions last year, but chose an assignment with the United States Army engineers instead. It was a reserve tour that is now over, and Wendlick returned a signed contract to Bell early last week. Wendlick is a pass receiving artist whose dimensions are the same as those of George - 6 feet and 220 pounds. He was a college teammate of Elmer Kolberg, Philadelphia rookie of last season, who persuaded Bell to grab rights to Wendlick as part of the Smukler swap. Potsy Clark almost threw a wrench into the trade, especially where George was concerned, when he took over at Detroit. The transaction was made between Bell and Potsy's predecessors at Detroit, and it was only after he saw some chance of landing Harry Smith, all-America guard from USC, Bob Haas of Missouri, John Bowers of Oklahoma, Jack Hackenbrook of Oregon State and Bud Partin of Centenary, all tackles, that he acquiesced...HAD DIFFERENT VIEWS: As far as Bell was concerned, he realized that he had a still valuable piece of football material in Smukler, but he and the former Temple star fullback couldn't see things the same way. Like the rest of the National league coaches, Bert is strict on training. Although it never has been highly publicized, Dave has had lapses that caused sporadic flareups between him and the coach. He has voiced a desire to be elsewhere and probably will toe the line under Potsy. He'll have to. So as Bert continues his early to bed and early to rise policy, and collects players with the same ideas of living, there may be something to it after all. Sept. 15 will show to some extent, for that is the day his rebuilt Eagles, under new coach Heinie Miller, meet the Packers at City stadium in the league opener here.
CHARLEY BROCK SIGNS CONTRACT TO PLAY WITH PACKERS IN 1940
MAY 28 (Green Bay) - Hearty news for Green Bay Packer football fans was received today with word from Coach Curly Lambeau that Charley Brock, the sensational center recruit from Nebraska in 1939, has signed his contract for the coming season. Brock, who was the best center on pass defense in the National league last year, had a brilliant debut. He picked off pass after pass aimed by enemy sharpshooters during the season, and in the playoff with the New York Giants at Milwaukee in December he went into the air twice at crucial stages to intercept tosses of the Maramen. Fast and alert, smart and courageous, Brock rivaled Larry Craig as the No. 1 Packer freshman. He had a great career at Nebraska, where he starred for three varsity seasons. The former Cornhusker crowds 200 pounds in weight, and is six feet one inch tall. He is married, and a resident of Lincoln, Neb. Charley is not related to Lou Brock, Purdue halfback signed previously this year...MAY TRADE VETERANS: Coach Lambeau will attend a Western division officials' meeting at Chicago next Tuesday, and said today that one or two of the Packer veterans may be used for trading material with other clubs. "We are having some trouble reaching terms with all of our veterans," he said, "and it is possible that we may find it advisable to work out trades with other teams." Although the squad as yet is far from complete, it is ahead of all previous years in enrollment. Twenty-nine men are already signed, and the total will be in the middle forties when the squad reports for practice prior to the All-Star game.
GAVRE IS NEW GRID COACH AT MERRILL HIGH
MAY 31 (Madison) - Vince Gavre, one of the greatest quarterbacks at Wisconsin, has been named football and basketball coach at Merrill high school in the Wisconsin Valley conference, it was learned Thursday by the Capital Times. The prediction that the former Badger grid ace was a certainty for the job was made in this
newspaper last Friday. Gavre, who competed at Wisconsin in 1936-37-38, succeeds Palmer Mickelson and will begin his new duties on September 3. Vince also will teach chemistry, biology and general science. Mickelson was promoted to the post of director of athletics. Gavre recently signed a professional football contract with the world champion Packers, but Coach Curly Lambeau already had informed the ex-Badger he will not be bound by the signature. The Port Edwards ace played a year of pro football with the Kenosha Coopers last fall.
FRED SHIREY, GIANT EX-NEBRASKA TACKLE, SIGNS WITH PACKER TEAM
JUN 1 (Green Bay) - The Green Bay Packer tackle corps received a big boost today with the announcement by Coach Curly Lambeau that Fred Shirey, giant Nebraska lineman, has agreed to terms for the 1940 season. The signing of Shirey brings the total of Packers under contract to 20. After three brilliant years at Nebraska, he graduated to the College All-Star squad of 1938, and made a great showing in that contest as a teammate of Cecil Isbell and Gus Zarnas. It was his rushing of Sammy Baugh's forward passing attempts which contributed largely to the downfall of the Redskins, and a fine future for him in professional football was predicted...TURNED DOWN OFFER: Shirey thought otherwise at the time, and turned down an offer from the Philadelphia Eagles, who had drafted him, to accept a coaching position at Beatrice, Neb., high school. Within the past few months, Lambeau completed a deal with the Eagles for his services, and the Packer coach interviewed him at Chicago recently. Shirey, mentioned on many all-American teams during his tenure with the Cornhuskers, weighs 228 pounds and stands three inches above six feet. He is extremely aggressive and powerful, playing the left side of the line. "Shirey should do our line a lot of good," Lambeau commented upon receiving his contract. Previously only two tackles had been signed for this season, and neither was a regular in 1939.
RESERVE SEATS FOR STAR GAME
JUN 2 (Green Bay) - With the ticket sale for the 1940 All-Star football game opening officially today, Leland H. Joannes, president of the Green Bay Packers, Inc., urged Wisconsin fans of the Packers to waste no time in making their reservations. Already some 3,000 tickets have been reserved in the bloc of 5,300 set aside for the Packers, Joannes said. He added: "Our seats run in the first section from the 50-yard line north at Soldier field. We expect no trouble in disposing of our tickets among Packer fans in Wisconsin, but we urge all persons to lose no time in getting their seats reserved. All of our tickets are priced at $4.40."...PAYABLE TO PACKERS: Checks or money orders, made payable to Green Bay Packers, Inc., Legion building, Green Bay, may be sent in at any time and the reservations will be held. Twenty cents must be added to the order for mail registration fee. Joannes and Coach Curly Lambeau will be in Chicago tomorrow, attending a meeting of the Western division concerning officials.
FRANK BYKOWSKI JOINS PACKERS
JUN 5 (Green Bay) - The signing of Frank Bykowski, husky Purdue university guard who was chosen in the National league draft by the Green Bay Packers, was announced today by Coach Curly Lambeau. Bykowski was voted the most valuable player on the Boilermaker team last season, after completing three seasons with the Purdue varsity. Never a spectacular player, he rarely received mention on mythical teams, but he always was noted for his aggressiveness, hard play and intelligence. The new Packer is highly recommended by Cecil Isbell, Green Bay halfback, who played with him at Purdue. Bykowski weighs 198 pounds and stands six feet in height. He is the 31st Packer to sign his 1940 contract.
PACKERS CHALLENGE FEDERAL TAX CLAIM
JUN 5 (Washington) - Green Bay Packers, Inc., operator of the National Professional Football league team of Green Bay, has told the tax appeals board it should not have to pay a treasury claim for $5,865 of undistributed profits taxes for 1937. Its petition contended it was a non-profit-sharing organization, that any proceeds from its operations went to the Sullivan post of the American Legion or to Green Bay charities, and that as a charitable organization it as not subject to the tax.
HARRY JACUNSKI SIGNS CONTRACT FOR ANOTHER YEAR WITH PACKERS
JUN 6 (Green Bay) - Harry Jacunski, who stepped from the Fordham line to the front wall of the Green Bay Packers last season in workmanlike style, will report to the National professional champions again in August, Curly Lambeau announced today. Jacunski's is the 32nd Green Bay contract for 1940 which Lambeau has received. The Packer squad on paper is the largest ever assembled by the Wisconsin team this early in the season, and Lambeau expects that the total will exceed 45 before practice for the Aug. 29 All-Star game begins. The Packer pilot is glad to see Jacunski back in the fold. A 197-pound end, six feet two inches tall, Harry is tough and rugged, intelligent and aggressive. He was a slow starter last fall, but before the season ended he was one of the best wingmen on the Green Bay team. He scored a couple of touchdowns in National league competition, and developed into a spectacular forward pass receiver. He was married at the end of the playing season and will bring his wife here with him in August.
BEATTIE FEATHERS, FORMERLY OF BEARS, DODGERS IN SIGNED
JUN 10 (Green Bay) - Beattie Feathers, one-time halfback of the Chicago Bears and Brooklyn Dodgers, will try out of regular work with the Green Bay Packers this year, Coach Curly Lambeau announced with the receipt of Feathers' signed contract. Feathers was signed as a free agent, after having been out much of last season with an injury. At one time the best ground-gaining back in the National league, Lambeau believes that another change of scenery, with the recovery from his injury. may bring him back to his former spot as one of the most feared halfbacks in professional football...FAMILIAR TO PACKERS: Feathers has played against the Packers many times, both as a Bear and as a Dodger, and Packer fans are thoroughly familiar with his twisting, elusive style of ball toting. He is a big fellow, weighing above 180 pounds. He is the 33rd Packer to place his name on the dotted line for 1940.
TEAM TO BE CALLED MILWAUKEE CHIEFS
JUN 10 (Milwaukee) - The new Milwaukee club in the American Professional Football league will be known as the Milwaukee Chiefs, George M. Harris, club president announced today. Three former University of Illinois gridders were signed Saturday by Coach Tiny Cahoon. They were Ralph Bennett, fullback; Ralph Hathaway, guard, and William Lenich, center. Lenich was chosen most valuable player in Illinois' 1939 team.
ERNIE SMITH RETURNS HIS SIGNED CONTRACT
JUN 14 (Green Bay) - Ernie F. Smith, he of the golden toe who once starred in a great Trojan line, has signed his 1940 football contract with the Green Bay Packers. Smith's contract was received by Coach Curly Lambeau today, bringing the number of Green Bay players signed to 34. Lambeau still is working on several of his veterans who have not agreed to terms, but said today that none of them could be classified as holdouts. Smith's growing service string - this will be his fifth season as a Packer and his sixth in professional football - entitles him to recognition as one of the best known men in Green Bay gridiron history. A big fellow, who hits the scales at 220 pounds, he is capable of whirlwind action at left tackle, his favored sport. He had a bad season in 1939. In the summer practice games with the Pittsburgh Pirates he smashed a finger, carried the injured member in a cast for several weeks, and didn't come into his own until the playoff game against the New York Giants at Milwaukee, when he played magnificent ball...STARRED ON COAST: He also starred on the Pacific coast, in the Pro Bowl game at Los Angeles, and Coach Lambeau feels he should be back for another great season next fall. Ernie is a native of Los Angeles, and a great man with the fans. He always has time to stop and talk football, and has made as many contacts with the Packer followers as any player on the team. Before entering the pro game he was an ace for three seasons with the University of Southern California varsity. Smith's kicking has been among the most consistent in the National league. Although a lineman, playing a position which rarely is associated with high scoring totals, only 11 Packers in all Green Bay's history have scored more points than he. In his National league career Ernie has kicked 45 extra points and booted seven field goals for 66 points, six less than those of 10th place Hurdis McCrary...HEADING FOR RECORD: Ernie has expressed the opinion that before his playing days end, he would like to have more points after touchdown on his record than any other Packer. Right now he is in second place, only one point shy of Joseph (Red) Dunn's all-time record, and only two kicks will be needed next fall to set a new mark. However, Tiny Engbretsen is moving along fast behind Smith, and already has kicked 40 extra points. Clarke Hinkle, Engebretsen and Howard (Cub) Buck are the only Packers with more field goals to their credit than Smith.
WEISGERBER TO REJOIN PACKERS
JUN 17 (Green Bay) - Dick Weisgerber, the chunky back from Williamette who has played a reserve role on recent Green Bay Packer football teams, has signed his contract for 1940, Coach Curly Lambeau announced today. Weisgerber will be appearing with the Packers for the third season. He can play either fullback or blocking back, and has tried out at right half. He has not been talented enough yet to force first string players from their berths in any of the backfield spots, but with his added experience Coach Lambeau believes he will show continued improvement. Weisgerber is married, and serves as a sport official, principally an umpire, during the off seasons. He is powerfully built, weighing 205 pounds and stands two inches shorter than six feet. He is a native of Salem, Ore. Dick is a long punter and a good blocker. He may be seen principally in the latter spot next fall.
SCHERER NAMED AIDE AT MORNINGSIDE COLLEGE
JUN 17 (Sioux City, IA) - Bernie Scherer, former University of Nebraska end, Saturday was named assistant varsity football coach and head freshman basketball coach at Morningside college here. Scherer, who has been playing professional football with the Green Bay Packers, also will teach courses in the physical education department, president Earl Roadman announced.
PACKER NOTES
JUN 21 (Manitowoc Herald Times) - Although nine members of the Green Bay Packers are unsigned, the three real holdouts are Larry Craig, Eddie Jankowski and Bill Lee. Curly Lambeau's efforts to sign them has met a stone wall. Craig wants a salary far in excess of what was paid him last year. He probably is worth more but Lambeau does not believe his present demands are justified. Lee, who was married last fall, thus far is demanding considerably more than Lambeau feels he can allow him. Jankowski takes the point of view that he won't play for the salary offered him but he doesn't mention what he regards as a satisfactory figure and the negotiations are somewhat at a standstill. Curly is getting along fairly well in negotiations with the other unsigned veterans and believe that with minor adjustments all will be satisfied to sign. They are Don Hutson, Baby Ray, Paul Kell, Jimmy Lawrence and Clarke Hinkle.
PACKER NOTES
JUN 24 (Madison) - The exhibition football game here September 8 between the Green Bay Packers and another pro eleven will be sponsored by the local Shrine. Either the St. Louis Gunners or the Cincinnati Bengals will oppose the Packers in the clash here.
FAMED ATHLETE HERE FRIDAY TO LAUNCH NEW NYA PROGRAM
JUN 26 (Wisconsin Rapids) - Three famed athletes, helping to promote the physical education program which is a part of the National Youth Administration's special project in the field of preparedness training, will be here next Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. to meet with boys who have joined or expect to join the local training center. They are Chuck Fenske, University of Wisconsin sensational mile runner; Eddie Jankowski, former U. of W. football star now wit the Green Bay Packers, and Joe Laws, also a Packer star and onetime University of Iowa player. The trio has been hired by NYA to stimulate the interest of youth in physical fitness. The meeting will be Witter vocational school.
COLUMBUS GRID TEAM WANTS TO TRAIN HERE
JUN 27 (Manitowoc) - The Columbus Bullies, 1939 champions of the American Professional Football league has offered to come to Manitowoc late in August to train for the 1940 seconds but lack of a lighted field here is expected to work against putting through the deal. According to a letter received by Mead Hansen, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, from Phil Bucklew, general manager and coach of the Columbus team, the squad would be willing to train here providing their hotel and training accommodations are taken care of. In return Bucklew said the club will play a series of exhibition games, in which the local community may retain the receipts. Secretary Hansen said he planned to advise Mr. Bucklew that because there are no facilities here for night football, there would probably not be enough revenue from Sunday or afternoon games to make the project an even break for the city. There has been agitation on here for months to provide a municipal athletic field in the Seventh ward on part of the Washington junior high school grounds which could be equipped with lights for both night baseball and football. However nothing has come of it, and it appears the project is dead, at least for the 1940 season. Bucklew, in his letter, said Manitowoc was
1940 Photograph of NFL Head Coaches huddling up as they meet to discuss rules and officials for the upcoming season. Led by Packers coach Curly Lambeau and Bears Coach George Halas along with Potsy Clark (Detroit), Dutch Clark (Cleveland) and Jim Conzelman (Cardinals).
suggested to Columbus as a training base by George Harris of the Milwaukee team in the American Professional league. Bucklew wrote: "The Columbus Bullies, champions of the American league in 1939, are very much interested in such a proposition and would be agreeable to playing exhibition games as designated by your people in exchange for their hotel and training accommodations during the preseason period. I understand Wisconsin is being boomed as the 'leading professional football center of the world' for the coming season and that such agreements as forementioned are already in effect for the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cardinals, New York Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates of the National league and the Milwaukee Chiefs and St. Louis Gunners of the American league. Please let me hear from you." Last year the Pittsburgh Pirates trained at Two Rivers and played a doubleheader night game with the Green Bay Packers at Green Bay. The New York Giants and Chicago Cardinals trained at Duluth-Superior, and the Chicago Bears at Delafield, Wis. Fond du Lac is trying hard to have one of the National pro league squads train there in August.
GREEN BAY PREDICTS STRONGER TEAM FOR PACKERS
JUN 29 (Green Bay) - Those husky Green Bay Packers, undisputed champions of professional football, will be stronger and tougher to beat than last year, if something doesn't upset Coach Earl L. (Curly) Lambeau's applecart. Lambeau has assembled a rugged crop of promising football players, including the best performers from the 1939 team which crushed the New York Giants, 27 to 0, in the pro league's playoff game at Milwaukee last December. He has a head start on his rivals but he has not time to spare because the Packers, only team which has won the pro title five times, are scheduled to play the college all-stars at Chicago's Soldier field August 29. And that's an important game to Lambeau. "The all-star game will be a fine test of our squad's frame of mind," he said. "If we win that contest, it means the Packer have the correct mental attitude for the 1940 season. If we are fortunate enough not to have more than the average amount of injuries, and our share of the breaks, plus the right kind of mental attitude, I feel confident the Packers will win the championship again." Lambeau has 38 men under contract. Some of his topnotch players haven't signed yet, but he's confident they will accept teams by July 15. Lambeau is counting on new men to plug some of the weaknesses uncovered in his team last fall. Right end on defense was one of the weak spots but the coach feels he's got that position materially strengthened by new talent. He's also pleased with signing of halfbacks Harold Van Every of Minnesota and Lou Brock of Purdue. "Both are big boys, and good passers and should strengthen our offense considerably," he said. "They'll also give us a better defensive backfield." Other new men are expected to win their spurs in pro ball with the Packers are J.R. Manly, Oklahoma, guard; Fred Shirey, Nebraska, tackle; George Seeman of Nebraska and Raymond Riddick of Fordham, ends, and James Gilmore, triple-threat backfield star from the University of Virginia. A new player who may prove helpful to the Packers is Beattie Feathers, former University of Tennessee ace and veteran pro player. A free agent, Feathers signed with the Packers after playing last year with the Patterson, N.J., team in the American Football league. He holds the NFL's ground gaining record, set while a member of the Chicago Bears in 1934. Veteran Packers expected to sign contracts soon include Don Hutson, the pro league's No. 1 pass receiver; Clarke Hinkle, powerhouse fullback, and precision kicker; Cecil Isbell, former Purdue star; Eddie Jankowski, rugged fullback and former Wisconsin star; tackles Buford Ray and Bill Lee and guard Charles (Buckets) Goldenberg.
GEORGE SVENDSEN REJOINS PACKERS
JUL 1 (Green Bay) - George Svendsen, big brother of the Green Bay Packer Svendsen combination, has decided to return to professional football and has signed a contract with the Packers for 1940, Coach Curly Lambeau today announced. George, who crowds the scales at close to 230 pounds, today submitted his resignation as Antigo High school athletic director to the board of education in that community and will report to the team when practice opens here next month. The signing of Svendsen is likely to be something of a surprise to many Packer fans, who believed that the big fellow had turned his back on active playing for good when he signed up as Antigo coach. But he is only 26 years old, and despite his 2-year absence from league competition, Coach Lambeau thinks he'll pick up where he left off, as one of the best centers in the business. Like Bud Svendsen, his youngster brother who followed him both at Minnesota and with the Packers, George is a native of Minneapolis, and is married. He starred for two seasons with the Golden Gophers in their hey-day, being barred from a third year of action because of freshman participation of the University of Oregon...TROUBLE FOR HEIN: He broke into the National league at a time when the name of Mel Hein was ruling supreme, and for three years he gave that New York Giant veteran all the trouble he wanted. More than one sportswriter thought that Svendsen's name should have rated higher than Hein's on the all-league team, when George pounded through his third season of competition. The big Packer possesses amazing strength and stamina, has improved steadily with continued experience, and he is expected to round out the greatest set of centers in pro football next season, supplementing the present list which includes Bud Svendsen, Charley Brock and Tom Greenfield.
BROCK OIL WORKER
JUL 5 (Lafayette, IN) - Lou Brock, Purdue halfback under contract to the Green Bay Packers, has gone west to work in the Kansas oil fields until the Packers open practice August 12.
5TH COLUMN TO ASSIST PACKERS
JUL 6 (Green Bay) - Anchored over black bass beds off the numerous inhabited islands which dot Green Bay Coach Curly Lambeau these days quietly formulates plans for a blitzkrieg to break the tie in the Chicago All-Star series when his world's champion Green Bay Packers tackle the college All-Americans Aug. 29. The Collegians have won two of the six games to date, the NFL's representatives have taken two, and two have ended in ties. Foremost in Lambeau's plans is a "fifth column" composed of players who have participated in the game as All-Stars. This group recently was brought to 15 by the signing of Beattie Feathers, former University of Tennessee and Chicago Bears' star, and holder of the National league record for ground gained in one season. Feathers and two other members of the "fifth column", Joe Laws, veteran Packer halfback from Iowa, and Don Hutson, the pass catching paragon from Alabama, will be playing in their third All-Star game. Feathers and Laws were teammates on the first college squad in 1934. Feathers returned the next summer as a member of the Bears and Laws and Hutson played with the Packers when the All-Stars won 6 to 0 in 1937.
Hutson also was on the 1935 squad, which lost 5 to 0, to the Bears. Feathers, Laws and Hutson are the first players to participate in three Chicago games. The presence of so many former All-Stars on his roster is expected to give Lambeau some insurance against the handicaps which complicated his task in 1937 and was largely responsible for the Packers defeat. Men who have played with the All-Stars should not be lulled into a state of false security. They know with what diligence and eagerness the collegians tackle the All-Star assignment and they are familiar with the advantages, psychological and physical, the All-Stars have in this game...MORE FIFTH COLUMNISTS: In addition to the three-timers, Feathers, Laws and Hutson, the "fifth column" is composed of Cecil Isbell, Purdue halfback; Charlie Brock, center, and Fred Shirey, tackle, both of Nebraska; Frank Balazs, Iowa fullback; Bill Lee, Alabama tackle; Gus Zarnas, Ohio State guard; Harry Jacunski, Fordham end; Jimmy Lawrence, Texas Christian halfback; Andy Uram and Larry Buhler, backs, and Bud Svendsen, center, all of Minnesota; and Eddie Jankowski, fullback from Wisconsin. Isbell, Uram and Shirey were the stars' of the Collegians' 28 to 16 victory over the Washington Redskins in 1938. Isbell passed 24 yards to Johnny Kovatch, of Northwestern and later of the Cleveland Rams, for the All-Stars' first touchdown and was named the All-Stars' most valuable player by the 325 newspapermen covering the game. Shirey made a one-handed interception of Sammy Baugh's first pass to set up a 12-yard field goal by Frank Patrick of Pittsburgh, now with the Chicago Cardinals, on which the All-Stars took a to 0 lead. Uram intercepted Dick Tuckey's pass and returned 40 yards for the All-Stars' last touchdown at a time when it appeared the Redskins might pull the game out of the fire. Laws and Feathers were the stars of the first game in 1934 when the mighty Bronko Nagurski and associated Bears were held to a scoreless tie. Laws led a march down the field the first time the All-Stars took the ball, reaching the 15-yard line before a fumble broke up the advance. Feathers sparked another long foray a few minutes later.
HERMAN SCHNEIDMAN REJOINS PACKERS FOR 1940 SEASON
JUL 9 (Green Bay) - Herman Schneidman, a professional football back with four and a half years of experience at the game, will try for a comeback with the Green Bay Packers this fall. Coach Curly Lambeau announced today that Schneidman has signed his contract, following a temporary "retirement" in the middle of the 1939 season. "Schneidman is an experienced, heady player with a particular flair for pass defense," Lambeau said in commenting upon the former University of Iowa gridders' return. "In 1939, he did not display a good mental attitude, and was released, but we feel that he is ready to give us his best this season." Schneidman is a big man,. carrying 200 pounds upon a stockily built frame, and when he is blocking in his best form, there are few National league players who can carve 'em out of the way with more precision. He lives at Quincy, Ill., and since last football season has handled a government job. As regards the rest of his unsigned players, Coach Lambeau had little comment. Some of them, he intimated, may report without signing, as several did last year, in the expectation that they will come to terms with the corporation before the All-Star game...O.K. WITH PACKERS: "This is all right with us," said the coach, "but if after staying here awhile they cannot see their ways clear to signing, we'll have to buy them their transportation home." Lambeau had a conversation with Paul Kell, former Notre Dame tackle, recently and expects the big fellow to confer with him within a few days.
LOOKING UP IN THE REALM OF SPORTS
JUL 13 (Green Bay) - While Coach Curly Lambeau is working on the rest of his unsigned talent for the 1940 football season, take a look at the scoring leaders which the team has produced since 1921, its first year in the NFL. Nineteen years have the Packers represented Green Bay in the world's toughest football loop, but only 12 different men have emerged with the squad scoring leadership. Five of the 12 still were active with the team last season. The greatest number of league points ever scored by a Packer in one season was the 78 total compiled by Johnny Blood in leading the circuit in 1931, the last of the team's first three championship years. The smallest total was the 21 made by Howard (Cub) Buck, a lineman, in 1921. For the last five years, only two names have appeared at the peak of the Green Bay scoring list. Don Hutson was high point man for the Packers in 1935, 1936 and 1939, while Clarke Hinkle led the roster in 1937 and 1938. Neither has yet approached the record of Verne Lewellen, Packer scoring leader for five consecutive years, from 1926 to 1930 respectively. The only other Packer whose name appears more than once in Lambeau himself, top man in 1921 and 1922, and Blood, who after winning the title in 1931, tied Hank Bruder the following year. For your information, here are the Packer individual scoring leaders down through the years. Lambeau, 28 points in 1921 and 30 in 1922; Buck, 21 in 1923; Tilly Voss, and end, 30 in 1924; Marty Norton, back, 36, in 1925; Lewellen, halfback, 42 in 1926, 30 in 1927, 54 in 1928, 48 in 1929, and 54 in 1930; Blood, 78 in 1931; Blood and Bruder, 24 apiece in 1932; Buckets Goldenberg, 42 in 1933; Bob Monnett, 30 in 1934; Hutson, 43 in 1935 and 54 in 1936; Hinkle, 57 in 1937 and 58 in 1938; and Hutson, again, 38 in 1939.
LEE, CRAIG TO DISCUSS TERMS
JUL 16 (Green Bay) - Two gentlemen from the south, William Lee and Larry Craig, both listed as Packer holdouts, have signified their intention of coming to Green Bay to discuss terms with Coach E.L. Lambeau. Lee will arrive Wednesday for his conference with the Packer coach. Craig manifested his interest in playing another year when he wired that he will be here Aug. 1. Coach Lambeau still has had no word of any kind from Eddie Jankowski, the third player in the holdout category. The veteran fullback has been working on an NYA health project, and has said nothing about his plans for the football season...IMPORTANT LAST SEASON: Both Lee and Craig were important cogs in the championship machine of last season. Lee was one of the best right tackles in the National league. A former Alabama captain where he was a teammate of Don Hutson, he has been with the Packers for three and one-half seasons. Before that he spent two and one-half seasons with Brooklyn. Craig came to the Packers from South Carolina as a rookie last season. He was outstanding as a blocking back on offense and a defensive end. Before the season was many weeks old, he broke into the starting lineup and was especially valuable as a playing mate of Hutson who was permitted to drop back into the secondary on defense. Craig is interested in the army air corps, and has passed his examinations for entrance into a reserve unit. He is said to be in excellent condition after working on a South Carolina farm. Lee has been wrestling ever since last winter, and is near his playing weight of 228 pounds. Mrs. Lee is in Green Bay now, visiting her mother and brother and sisters. Lambeau does not hesitate to say that he wants to sign Lee, Craig and Jankowski if they can come to terms. In rejecting the contract offered him, Jankowski has failed to state just what he does want. Lee and Craig have mentioned figures the coach feels are far too high. However, in coming to Green Bay they will have evidenced a willingness to have the matter thrashed out...OTHERS NOT SIGNED: Other veterans who have not signed, but who are not classed as holdouts, are Don Hutson, end; Baby Ray and Paul Kell, tackles; Cecil Isbell, Jimmy Lawrence and Clarke Hinkle, backs. Kell was in the city recently and negotiations with him seemed to be progressing satisfactorily until last week when he informed the coach that he still desires more money. But Kell also has been apartment hunting in Green Bay, so it looks very much as if he will return. Hutson, Hinkle and Isbell all are working for the Kimberly-Clark Paper company in Neenah. Ray is operating a store in Nashville, and Lawrence is in Texas. All have been in contact with Lambeau. Hutson, Isbell and Hinkle have seen him personally on several occasions, and at this date there is no reason to believe that they will not return to the lineup. Nevertheless, nothing is definite as yet. The only persistent Packer holdout of recent years was Champ Seibold, who retired from the game last season rather than accept terms.
DETROIT BACK PREDICTS PACKER VICTORY IN ALL-STAR CLASSIC
JUL 16 (De Pere) - An opinion that the Green Bay Packers will beat the Collegiate All-Stars in the great football classic late in August in Chicago was expressed by Fred Vanzo, who played as an All-Star a few years ago and has since been a formidable back for the Detroit Lions, while speaking at the De Pere Rotary Club at its weekly dinner last night in Union hotel. Coach Curly Lambeau will not permit the Packers to lose this game, their season in the big football attraction of the year, Vanzo contended. In losing the first game, some of the Packers were not conditioned, he claimed, while admitting that the intense heat was a contributing factor in that defeat. Conditioning will be Lambeau's problem in preparing his players for the game, Vanzo said. The Packers will be a unit, and will depend upon the veterans. The advantage of all player knowing the system of play will be with the Packers, whereas the All-Stars, in many instances, will be required to learn a new system, he stated...THEY HAVE ADVANTAGES: The advantages which the All Stars will have in the game are youth and condition. The players will average about 21 1/2 years, and will be in shape from participation in athletic training and hardening work during he spring and summer. The preponderence of material always will be in favor of the collegians, who will use more than four teams, he said. The Packers may use 33 men in the game, however. Some newly signed Packers will be tried out, he presumed, in order that Lambeau may learn their abilities. The game is sure to be a great battle, he claimed, but he reiterated his belief that the Packers will be victorious. He based his belief in his knowledge of players he thinks will be picked by the fans to represent the All-Stars...HAS SIGNED CONTRACT: Vanzo said he had signed his 1940 contract, and believes the Lions will have much more reserve strength this season than in 1939. He opined that the Chicago Bears will "be the team to beat in the NFL.'
OLD DRIVING URGE RETURNING AS PACKERS PREPARE FOR ALL-STARS
JUL 17 (Green Bay - By Cecil Isbell) - It has been two years since Coach Gus Dorais sent us All-Stars out on Soldiers field in Chicago to ambush the Washington Redskins - two years that have been a steady succession of four-star thrillers for me against the finest football teams in the game. Yet as the Packers begin preparations to meet the college All Americans on Aug. 29, the old urge returns and with it come the tingling reactions that attended my first varsity game at Purdue and the opening of All-Star practice at Evanston in 1938. Unless you've waited under a descending punt or brought down a charging ball carrier this may be difficult to understand. But once you are in a headgear and cleats, it becomes obvious. First of all, I don't believe there is a person participating in football who doesn't attach importance to every game. In the case of the All-Star game this importance is multiplied ten-fold because the Chicago contest has all the glamour of a good nightmare...CAREER HIGH SPOT: Few players on the All-Star squads ever have the opportunity to appear before so many people. Also, they get a chance to participate with and match talents against the outstanding athletes in the country under the guidance of the leading coaches in the game. We on the 1938 squad were agreed that it was the high spot of our careers. And even before we beat the Redskins, 28-16, we regretted that in all probability we would never have a chance to play in the game again. The most envied men among football players today are Joe Laws, Don Hutson and Beattie Feathers of our Packer club. They'll be playing in their third All-Star game. My surprise matched the thrill of that All-Star experience when, upon joining the Packers, I learned the game is equally important to the pros. I believe they would rather beat the collegians than win the championship. It was difficult to tell last season whether we were battling for the title or a chance to play at Chicago...RECORD-BREAKING SCORES: I look for a game that will break all scoring records for the series. Green Bay always has been known as a score-making combination. The graduating seniors in college, on the basis of their records, also can muster a powerful offensive squad. When two highly geared point producers get together, it isn't unusual to see more than six touchdowns and two field goals, the number the Redskins and our All-Star team provided in 1938. I do not anticipate that training for the game will be any different as a pro than it was as a member of the All-Star squad, although we probably will have to work a little harder because older men take longer to reach peak condition. But from the emotional aspect and from the standpoint of ultimate objective, the only difference I can visualize now is that I will be in a gold and blue uniform this time instead of the traditional red, white and blue of the All-Americans. It goes without saying, I presume, that I expect to emerge from the game with a record of never having played on the losing side in an All-Star contest. And I hope that I can repeat my performance of 1938, but it isn't very often that a fellow gets that lucky twice.
AMERICAN PRO LEAGUE OFFICIALS TO MEET SUNDAY
JUL 17 (Cincinnati) - President George J. Heitzler announced tonight that American Professional Football league officials would meet in Chicago Sunday to discuss activities of a group which he said had "been trying to entice a few of the American clubs into their pro league." Heitzler said heads of most of the American clubs would be present, adding that there was a possibility Louisville, Hollywood, Calif, and several other cities would be represented. The meeting originally was scheduled for August 4.
BIG BILL LEE SIGNS FOR PACKER SEASON
JUL 18 (Green Bay) - William Lee will return to the Packers for at least another season. The big right tackle, termed a holdout although he personally did not consider himself one, came to an agreement with Coach Curly Lambeau Wednesday afternoon shortly after Lee's arrival in Green Bay. The contract was signed in the coach's Northern building office after only nominal discussion of terms. Professing a great desire to continue playing football, Lee said after business was completed, "In all my experience in professional sports, I never have met anyone I would rather play under than Curly, certainly no one ever has treated me better." There is no doubt that Lee fully intended to be in the Green Bay lineup this gall, even before he conferred with Lambeau. He and Mrs. Lee already have taken up residence on Cherry street here in an apartment that was selected because of its proximity to City stadium and the training quarters. Lee and Buckets Goldenberg, veteran guard, started working out today. Together they represent a sizable chunk of the right side of the Packer line. Despite the fact that he is in excellent condition after several months of wrestling, Lee wants to take five
pounds off his 235 to start the regular team training period at playing weight. With Goldenberg, he plans daily roadwork, handball and calisthenics. Buckets has been playing daily handball for some time and supplements these workouts with softball...CAME IN TRADE: Bill came to the Packers in the middle of the 1936 season from Brooklyn in a trade which sent Averill Daniell to the Dodgers. Since leaving the University of Alabama where he was the captain of the great Rose Bowl victor of 1934 and a teammate of Packer end Don Hutson, Lee has played six seasons of football. All were with the Dodgers and Packers. Highly regarded by Lambeau and Assistant Coach Richard (Red) Smith for his fine play last season, Lee received honorable mention on the all-league team. Many believed he deserved a higher rating. Mentioned as a holdout along with Lee, Larry Craig, end and back, will arrive from South Carolina Aug. 1 to discuss terms with Lambeau. He too has expressed a desire to play if a contract satisfactory to him is arranged. Neither the Packers' offer nor his demands have been specifically mentioned.
AMERICAN GRID LOOP TO OPEN SEPTEMBER 15
JUL 22 (Chicago) - The American Football League announced at a schedule-making meeting Sunday that its season would open September 15 with at least six teams in the circuit. The league, as set up now, consists of the St. Louis Gunners, Kenosha Cardinals, Milwaukee Chiefs, Chicago Indians, Dayton Bombers and Cincinnati. All of these cities except Milwaukee had teams in last year's league. Columbus, Louisville and Los Angeles were represented a year ago but will have no team in the circuit this season. Several club owners attending the meeting were present a recent conference here to consider formation of a "new" American league. League officials said, however, that this plan had apparently fallen through.
CHAMP SEIBOLD SIGNS CONTRACT
JUL 23 (Green Bay) - Champ Seibold ended a year of voluntary retirement from professional football Monday afternoon when he signed a Packer contract after a brief conference with Coach E.L. Lambeau in the latter's Northern building office. The husky tackle of five seasons' pro experience left the game a year ago when he and Lambeau failed to come to terms. The year before Champ had worked his way to a starting position on the left side of the Packer line. In quitting the game, Champ was the most persistent Packer holdout of recent years. He spent the year furthering his education at Oshkosh State Teachers college. Before his debut in the play-for-pay circles, he had a year at Ripon and two years at the University of Wisconsin. Seibold is one of the biggest Packers, standing 6 feet 4 inches and packing a playing weight of 240 pounds. Despite his vast experience, he still is only 25 years old. "There is nothing particularly unusual about Champ coming back," Lambeau said in announcing his latest acquisition. "Last year we just couldn't get together. This year we did. Champ has been working out, and I believe that he is in better condition now than when he reported last August." Seibold "reported" when the others did, but when Lambeau refused to meet his contract demands, he did not turn out for practice. After a week of fruitless negotiations, he packed up and checked out...FARMED TO MEMPHIS: Packer property since 1934, that year Champ was farmed out to Memphis of the Southern association. There he was an all-conference choice at tackle. For three seasons he understudied the great Ernie Smith in the Green Bay forward wall, and when Ernie stayed away in 1938, Seibold stepped in as starting left tackle. This year Seibold will find the picture changed. Baby Ray in his second year of pro football became the first string left tackle when Ernie Smith broke two fingers in a practice tilt against Pittsburgh and spent almost half the season on the bench. Smith returned to share the starting responsibility. Charlie Schultz, big rookie from Minnesota, was in reserve. On the other side of the line the veteran Bill Lee and yearling Paul Kell held forth. Warren Kilbourne, a rookie from Minnesota, was a right tackle reserve until he was loaned to Kenosha of the American league. All but Kell have already signed for this season, and with an excellent center corps coming up, it is highly probable that George Svendsen may be tried at tackle. He played that position up to his senior year at Minnesota when he transferred to center. Seibold's size and experience should assure him a position on the squad if he is in shape, but the competition for tackle berths will be keen - as it also will be for all other positions this year.
PACKER OFFICIALS MAKE PLANS FOR SEASON TICKET CAMPAIGN
JUL 23 (Green Bay) - Electing officials, discussing plans for an intensive ticket sale campaign and hearing an optimistic report from Coach E.L. (Curly) Lambeau, stockholders of the Green Bay Packers. Inc., held their annual meeting in the courthouse assembly room Monday evening. L.H. Joannes was elected to serve his 10th consecutive year as president of the board of directors. He, along with other officers and the executive board, was chosen during a brief meeting of the directors after the stockholders adjourned. Fred Leicht is first vice president; Lambeau, second vice president; Frank J. Jonet, treasurer, and G.W. Calhoun, secretary...ON EXECUTIVE BOARD: On the executive board are the following: Joannes, Leicht, Jonet, Lambeau, A.B. Turnbull, E.R. Fisher, Gerald F. Clifford, H.J. Bero and Dr. W.W. Kelly. Named to the board of directors by the stockholders were: Bero, Clifford, Fisher, Joannes, Dr. Kelly, Leicht, Turnbull, Lambeau, Fred L. Cobb, Leslie J. Kelly, Harvey J. Lhost, Charles Mathys, John D. Moffatt, Gus Reimer, John E. Paeps, Milan Boex, Ed Schuster, Arthur Schumacher, Edward Bedore and H.G. Wintjens. Jonet, who succeeds himself as treasurer, presented his detailed report to the stockholders, and it was adopted. Various methods of stimulating the season ticket sale were proposed. It was pointed out that the fans who purchase these tickets not only save some money, but they are assured the same seat for every home game...AN AUTOMATIC CUSTOMER: "Once you get a football fans sold on a season ticket," Joannes declared, "he's almost an automatic customer the next year." E.A. Spachmann, the director of ticket sales, reported that a total of 2,086 season tickets have been sold so far this year. Last season the all-time peak was reached with the sale of 2.345 such tickets. Several stockholders pointed out that the first football fever should result in many additional sales. Having set the goal at 5,000, however, the corporation is planning to launch several plans to stimulate business. Ralph Smith, one of the stockholders, spoke favorably of the partial payment plan. Under this plan, which is already operating, the fan may select his ticket, have it set aide, and make a payment every month or so as he chooses. The final payment is not made until the fan picks up the ticket...COOPERATE WITH FANS: Smith suggested that employers cooperation with the fans in their employ in promoting the partial payment plan. Payments might be made to the cashier of the office, making it unnecessary for the purchaser to make a special trip to the Packer ticket office every time he wished to pay an installment. In furthering this project, it was suggested that circular letters describing the advantages of buying season tickets be placed in the pay envelopes of cooperating firms. Publicity of various kinds will be employed in soliciting additional sales. It is probable that some of neighboring communities will be "worked" by a representative of the corporation as an experiment. The past season was not too successful financially, although a slight profit was made. In Detroit rain held down the attendance, and the crowd at the Chicago Bear game in Chicago was smaller than expected because the Bears were out of the race...EAST CROWDS SMALL: Money was lost on the Eastern invasion. There was no game in Washington or New York, which were drawing the best crowds. Games were played with Philadelphia and Brooklyn after these teams were defeated, and the attendance was small at both. "Prospects are better for this year," Joannes declared. Coach Lambeau agreed that this season's schedule should benefit the treasury. Clifford commented that the improvements at City stadium, where the Packers' home games are played, are progressing favorably. An attractive wall is being built at the front and part of the two sides of the stadium...COACH IS OPTIMISTIC: Coach Lambeau obviously is optimistic about the Packers' prospects for the 1940 season. Piled with numerous questions, he spent a full half-hour sizing up players and drawing a general picture of the defending champions and their opponents. "Although we won the NFL championship last year, we have strengthened our club considerably. We couldn't rest where we were, because the other teams are building up. If everything works right, we should have the greatest team Green Bay has ever sent out in the league," Lambeau continued. As has been his theme in the past, he stressed the fact that optimism, the "let-George-do-it" attitude, is sometimes a great handicap for a championship team to overcome. "We want to have a team so good, drawing so well on the road, that the other clubs have just got to have us in the league," he declared...SQUAD LIMIT RAISED: The Packers will have some 49 men this year. There will be enough for four full teams when they meet the College All-Stars in Chicago the night of Aug. 29. A club in the National league may have 60 men up to the first game. After that the squad must be cut down to 33 players. Last year only 30 players were permitted after the first three games.
PACKERS TO PLAY 11 LEAGUE TILTS
JUL 23 (Green Bay) - Eleven league games, including
four at home, two in Milwaukee and five on the road, appear on the 1940 NFL schedule for the Green Bay Packers. Defending their fifth world's crowd, the Packers' tilts at City stadium here will be with the Philadelphia Eagles, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Rams and Detroit Lions. They will meet the Chicago Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers at State Fair park in Milwaukee. The colorful Green Bay eleven will make only one eastern appearance this season. It will be on Nov. 17 with the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, a battle that undoubtedly will have important bearing on the title hopes of both traditional rivals. Besides visiting New York, the Packers will invade the home fields of the Detroit Lions, Cleveland Rams, Chicago Bears and Chicago Cardinals...START SEPT. 8:: The NFL will open its 1940 championship seasons on Sunday, Sept. 8, when the Chicago Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers clash at Pittsburgh. This start is two days earlier than the 1939 opening. The ten teams that comprise the country's only major gridiron circuit won't all be engaged until Sunday, Sept. 22, when the Chicago Bears will be the last to swing into the pennant campaign. The season will end on Sunday, Dec. 1. This is two days earlier than the dramatic 1939 finale when deadlocks were narrowly missed in both division. Fifty-five title games, plus the championship playoff, will be played in the league this year. In addition, the pros will play a limited number of preseason contests, headlined by the game between the Packers and College All-Stars on Aug. 29 at Soldier field, Chicago. The New York Giants and Eastern All-Stars are to clash on Sept. 4 at the Polo Grounds...FIVE NIGHT GAMES: President Carl L. Storck expressed confidence that the league's schedule this season will prove the most attractive in history. Five night games have been carded, same as last year. It is singular that Davey O'Brien and his Philadelphia Eagles will participate in four of the five nocturnal engagements. Thirteen intersectional games will be played this autumn, three less than last year. This is partly due to the fact that the New York Giants will not fill a single Western division engagement. The 1940 schedule represents a new departure. It was assembled by President Storck. Previously, club owners, after hectic swapping of dates, arranged the playing schedule at the winter meeting. When releasing the schedule, Storck said that it is the opinion of the owners that over 1,500,000 spectators will see the league's championship games this year.
PAUL KELL WILL REJOIN PACKERS
JUL 24 (Green Bay) - Green Bay's prospective tackle corps for 1940 reached a total of eight today when Coach E.L. Lambeau received the signed contract of Paul Kell, who came to the Packers last year as a rookie from Notre Dame. Lambeau had been carrying on negotiations with the former star lineman of the Fighting Irish for several weeks. A tentative agreement of early this month was completed when Paul visited Green Bay this week. Kell and Wayne Millner, Washington Redskins end, were the only two former Notre Dame gridders who played in the National league last season. The season's latest addition to a growing squad of 42 is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 220 pounds. He played the right side of the line along with Bill Lee and Warren Kilbourne. The latter comes back to the Packers this year after being loaned to Kenosha at midseason last year. Veteran left tackles who have accepted terms are Ernie Smith, Buford Ray, Charles Schultz and Champ Seibold. Fred Shirey, ex-Nebraska tackle who comes to the professional league for the first time this season, will be used wherever he best fits into the Lambeau system. George Svendsen, former Packer center who comes back after two seasons' absence, may be a ninth tackle candidate...HE IMPRESSES COACHES: In accordance with Lambeau practice, as a rookie Kell was used sparingly. Nevertheless, the aggressive nature of his play and a fine competitive spirit impressed the head coach and Assistant Coach Richard (Red) Smith as the season progressed. He charges fast, and his size has made him a tower of defensive strength. With a year's experience behind him, Kell is expected to cut an important figure in line play. Of him Coach Lambeau said, "There are many things about professional football that a player doesn't learn in college. Kell has the other equipment. He is big, strong and fast. I am in hopes that with his year of getting on to the ropes he will be one of our valuable lineman. Good tackles are especially important to a big league club with championship aspirations." Paul is 23 years old. Last season he was the second youngest man on the squad. Tom Greenfield, a returning center, was the youngest...EMPLOYED AS SALESMAN: Shortly after the championship was won last year, Kell married. His present home is in Chicago where he is employed as a salesman for a metal container corporation. He is seeking an apartment in Green Bay for the duration of the football season.
JOE LAWS PREDICTS PACKERS WILL WIN 1940 PENNANT TOO
JUL 25 (Manitowoc) - Joe Laws, shifty quarterback of the world champion Green Bay Packers, who is a supervising director of the body building program of the NYA, paid an "official visit" to the Manitowoc class which is in charge of Harold Beduhn, and meets daily at West field for calisthenics and games. Beduhn, former Lincoln high school athlete, is a sophomore at the University of Idaho and a likely varsity football prospect. Laws was named outstanding player in the Big Ten while attending the University of Iowa. The Packers ought to repeat their 1939 championship in 1940, Laws told members of the Kiwanis club at the Catholic Center last night. "We aren't much older than we were when we won the 1939 championship," Laws said in answer to a question on the Packers chances to repeat, "and with the old crowd almost all back and with some fine new material we ought to repeat." Fifty players will report to the Packer camp Aug. 10 to begin training for the All-Star game. Laws told the Kiwanians that the Packer squad is "Wisconsin's team and all over the state people call it 'our team'."
ANNUAL CROP OF UNKNOWN STARS WILL SEEK BERTHS WITH PACKERS
JUL 26 (Green Bay) - Any number of graduating college luminaries who are stars on their home gridirons but virtually unknown in the national picture seek berths in the National league. A couple of them may turn up here when the Packers start practicing next month. For instance, Baby Ray has sent Coach Curly Lambeau a letter of recommendation for one Granville Hester of Nashville, who just completed a rip snortin' varsity career at Union university in Jackson, Tenn. Hester seeks a tryout at end or tackle. He weighs 230 pounds, stands 6 feet 2, and is 26 years old. Those measurements are Ray's, so they may be accepted as fairly accurate. Another lad who has manifested some desire to give his all for dear old Green Bay is Frank Isosa, for four years first string quarterback at St. Vincent college in Latrobe, Penn. Isosa was a high school teammate of Fred Shirey, Packers' new tackle who attended the University of Nebraska. Both live at Latrobe. In seeking a chance for Isosa, Shirey claims that he is an outstanding blocker. He is 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 203 pounds. Sounds sorta square.
BRUDER MAY LEAVE
JUL 26 (Green Bay) - A possibility that Henry (Hank) Bruder of the Green Bay Packers may be traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers was mentioned today by Coach Lambeau. Lambeau will meet President Art Rooney of the Steelers in Pittsburgh this weekend, when the annual rules interpretation meeting of the NFL is held. Lambeau left today, while President L.H. Joannes of the Green Bay Packers, Inc., will leave Saturday. "There will be numerous trades in the air at this meeting," Lambeau said, "and Bruder may figure in one of them."
BULLETIN
JUL 27 (Cleveland) - The championship Green Bay Packers sent Hank Bruder, veteran blocking back, to the Pittsburgh Steelers today for Lou Midler, 225-pound guard. It was the first player deal completed in connection with the league's rules interpretation meeting here today. Coach Curly Lambeau of the Packers said it was an "even up" trade with no cash involved. Bruder, with the Packers eight years, formerly played for Northwestern. Midler, with the Pittsburgh club two seasons, is a former University of Minnesota athlete.
LOU MIDLER EXPECTED TO JOIN RANKS OF PACKERS
JUL 29 (Green Bay) - Coach Curly Lambeau of the Green Bay Packers was back in town today, attending a rule interpretation meeting in Cleveland at which officials of the NFL were given their annual going-over prior to the opening of the league season. At the meeting Lambeau announced that Hank Bruder, veteran blocking quarterback of the Packers, had been traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers for Lou Midler, 228-pound former University of Minnesota guard. Lambeau discussed the trade this morning following his return from the Ohio meeting. "Bruder told us several times last year," the coach said, "that he was planning to retire from professional football, and we drafted accordingly. This spring Bruder was visited by Coach Walter Kiesling of the Steelers, and later he asked for his release. We heard that Midler was dissatisfied at Pittsburgh, and that he wanted to play with the Packers, so we arranged the trade on that basis."...EXPECTED TO SIGN: Midler will be contracted immediately, Lambeau said, and offered a contract which he is expected to sign. He carried his 228 pounds on a 6-foot-2-inch frame, and was a member of the same All-Star football team which included Cecil Isbell. Most of the chatter at the Cleveland session, Lambeau said, concerned the coming All-Star game at Chicago. With Eddie Anderson, Iowa, and Buck Shaw, Santa Clara, certain to be included on the coaching staff. the Notre Dame system will be used against the Packers. Anderson played at Notre Dame with Lambeau. Hugh Ray, nationally known rules authority, presided at the meeting, held at the Hotel Cleveland. All National league officials were present and all clubs were represented...PREPARE FOR PRACTICE: Lambeau said today that official workouts for the Packers will open here Saturday, Aug. 10. The training quarters will be open this week for players who wish to work out informally, but the Packer coaches will not be allowed to witness the workouts. The only serious holdout on the Packer roster now, Lambeau said, is Larry Craig, end-quarterback, and Craig is expected in town soon to talk over teams. The result of that conference will determine whether the former South Carolina star will return to professional football, or accept a commission in the United States Air Corps.
WILL DRAFT CUT INTO RANKS OF PROFESSIONAL GRID ACES?
JUL 31 (Chicago) - Some of the country's finest specimens of young manhood, as you may have noticed, earn their board and keep, to say the least, playing football. Many of these husky young men would be among the first called for war training, if and when that comes - a fact that is causing more than a little uneasiness among NFL officials. The club owners discussed the question at a recent meeting, but had nothing to say publicly about it...HALAS IS OPTIMISTIC: George Halas, owner and coach of the Chicago Bears, however, is highly optimistic over the 1940 prospects regardless of whether draft legislation is passed. "In times like these the public turns to sports for recreation and to get their thoughts away from war and trouble," Halas said. "That is why we expect a big season." Discussing the effect the proposed draft might have on the 1940 season, Halas said: "I do not believe the government will call our players until the season ends. Most of them (80 percent) are married and the single ones will be better trained staying with us the three months we need them than by going into the army."...WILL AHVE TO GO: "Of course, if they are called they will have to go. But we could still go right on with our schedules with our married players. But I think we would be allowed to complete our schedules before any players are called. We will put this question to the government at the proper time."
PACKERS DRILL INFORMALLY, BUT REGULAR WORK STARTS AUG. 10
AUG 2 (Green Bay) - Although a number of oversized individuals already are running through daily practice sessions at the training field of the Green Bay Packers, the official opening of the drill season will not take place until a week from tomorrow, on Saturday, Aug. 10. At that time the largest squad in Packer history will assemble to start preliminary work prior to its appearance in the eighth annual All-Star game at Soldier field, Chicago, Thursday, Aug. 29. Members of the team now are arriving almost daily. The Svendsen brothers, Bud and George, are on hand, while such Packers as Bob Adkins, Bob Temple, Tom Greenfield, Frank Balazs and Russ Letlow have been employed in town all summer...BROCK BACK AGAIN: Charley Brock, the ex-Cornhusker who was a center sensation with the champions last fall, is back in Green Bay, and so are Charley Schultz, the Minnesota tackle; Bill Lee, Alabama lineman; Carl Mulleneaux, the Utah State end; Dick Weisgerber, the Williamette back, and Larry Buhler, Minnesota fullback. Howard (Smiley) Johnson, Georgia guard, and Fred Shirey, Nebraska tackle, are two newcomers who are in town and working out with the other players. Larry Craig, the holdout end and blocking quarterback, is expected daily to discuss salary terms with Coach Curly Lambeau...COACHES ARE ABSENT: Lambeau and Assistant Coach Red Smith are staying away from the drill field, as by rule they are not permitted to work with the players until Aug. 10. The Packer season gets off to a hectic start this year. After the All-Star appearance Aug. 29 the Bays are due in Milwaukee to play the Washington Redskins Sept. 2, and will launch their National league season against Philadelphia here Sept. 15.
LAMBEAU PREDICTS WIN IN 1940 ALL-STAR GAME
AUG 2 (Green Bay) - An optimistic but characteristically non-committal review of Packer prospects for the 1940 season was given yesterday by Coach E.L. (Curly) Lambeau at the weekly meeting of the Rotary club. In regard to the All-Star game in Chicago Aug. 29, Lambeau predicted a Green Bay win. "The All-Stars have very good ends and backs, but their line is not as good this year as most of the other years. Green Bay, on the other hand, has a line that was proved strong in last year's league games, and a backfield array comparable to any in our history."...EXPECTS FREE SCORING: "Both teams will be effective offensively, and I predict scoring by both sides." Lambeau then reviewed the various players who will start for the Stars, as well as the prospective coaches. "With Anderson as head coach and Buck Shaw assisting, we'll be up against something we're familiar with - the Notre Dame system." Curly expressed the opinion that the All-Star team picked by the fans comes very near to consisting of the best material in the country. In regard to the Packers in general, Lambeau pointed out the various weak sports in last year's squad which have been ironed out. The position of right end, he said, will be filled admirably this year with a number of new players of that position already signed...KEEP DRAWING POWER: Curly also pointed out the importance of Green Bay's keeping its drawing power if it wishes to remain in the National league without a struggle. "Philadelphia and other teams that haven't been doing so well are getting consistently better, and we 'top' teams are going to have watch our step," he remarked. The talk ended with an open discussion in which club members and visitors asked Curly various questions. Lambeau was introduced by Verne Lewellen, Packer all-time great.
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE CLUBS MOBILIZING FOR ANOTHER STRENUOUS GRID CAMPAIGN
AUG 3 (Chicago) - If the summer's humid atmosphere has made you a bit sluggish, the knowledge that football is just around the corner may be just the antidote needed to jolt you out of your lethargy. NFL teams already are mobilizing for a new championship campaign, 1940 variety. Within the next two weeks every league team will be training. One of them, Washington's Redskins, already is en route to its far-off training base, Spokane, Wash. The Redskins will begin the business of kicking the football around when they report to Head Coach Ray Flaherty on Tuesday, Aug. 6. Three days later, Friday, Aug. 9, Philadelphia's Eagles and the Chicago Cardinals will establish camps, the Eagles at the West Chester, Pa., Teachers' college and the Redbirds at Morgan Park military academy, Chicago. Owner-Coach Bert Bell and assistants Heinie Miller and Jim Mac Murdo will direct the Eagles' training...CONZELMAN AT HELM: Jimmy Conzelman, one of the circuit's two new coaches, will be starting his regime as the Cardinals' head man. Conzelman is by no means a stranger to major league football. It is a matter of record that he coached the old Providence Steamrollers to a league championship in 1928. Last year, he coached the Washington university of St. Louis to the championship of the Missouri Valley conference. The Brooklyn Dodgers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Chicago Bears and the world's champion Green Bay Packers will follow the Redskins, Cardinals and Eagles into camp. The Dodgers will train at the Hun School in Princeton, N.J. They will report Sunday, Aug. 11, and so will the Steelers. Dr. John (Jock) Sutherland, ex-coach of Pittsburgh's Panthers and one of the most successful of the collegiate mentors, will begin his career as a pro coach when the Dodgers report. The Steelers, with Walter Kiesling in command, will train at St. Francis college, Loretto, Pa. The Packers and Bears will establish their camps Saturday, Aug. 10 and Monday, Aug. 12, respectively. The Bears will train at St. John's Military academy, Delafield, Wis. Owner-Coach George S. Halas and Hunk Anderson will direct their conditioning campaign. The Packers will train at City stadium in Green Bay, Coach Earl L. (Curly) Lambeau's immediate objective being the seventh annual preseason grid classic with the 1939 graduated college All-Stars in Chicago. This game will be played Thursday night, Aug. 29, in Soldier field...JOIN DRILL PARADE: The Detroit Lions and the Cleveland Rams will join the training camp parade two days later, Wednesday, Aug. 14. The Lions again will train at Cranbrook school in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and the Rams will return to Baldwin-Wallace college, Berea, O., to warm up. George (Potsy) Clark will return to the Lions as head coach, after two seasons as Brooklyn's coach. Potsy coached the Lions to their only championship in 1935. He still is regarded as a heroic figure in Detroit. It generally is agreed that Fred Mandel, Jr., new owner of the Lions, put over a smart transaction when he induced popular and crafty Potsy to return to Detroit as the Lions's head coach. Earl (Dutch) Clark, the league' s youngest coach and one of its ablest, again will direct the Cleveland club. Dutch inspired the Rams to sensational upset triumphs over Green Bay and Detroit last season. Cleveland may not win a championship this year, but it's a good bet that the Rams will not be very far off the pace. The New York Giants, Eastern division champions last year, will be the last league team to go into training. New York will assemble Thursday, Aug. 15, at the Blue Hills country club in Orangeburg, N.Y. Steve Owen again will do the master-minding for the Giants.
SIX LEAGUE TEAMS PLAN PRESEASON GRID GAMES
AUG 3 (Dayton) - Four preseason games, involving six NFL teams, have been approved by Carl L. Storck, president of the league, he announced today. Two of these games will send league teams against graduated college All-Star squads. The champion Green Bay Packers will appear in the seventh annual preseason classic in Solider field, Chicago, Thursday night, Aug. 29, against the 1939 college All-Star squad in the first game. The New York Giants, Eastern champions, will represent the league in the second All-Star game in the Polo Grounds, N.Y., Wednesday night, Sept. 4. Eastern All-Stars will be their opponents...NON-LEAGUE GAMES: The other two preseason games will pit league games against each other in exhibitions. League rules now permit teams which do not meet in championship competition the same season to engage each other in preseason exhibition contests. The champion Packers and the Washington Redskins will be the principals in the first exhibition game in Milwaukee Labor day night, Sept. 2. The Chicago Bears and the Philadelphia Eagles will tangle in the other exhibition, a night game, which will be played in the Temple university stadium, Philadelphia, Thursday, Sept. 5
CRAIG IN TOWN TO TALK TERMS WITH GREEN BAY MENTOR
AUG 3 (Green Bay) - Larry Craig, No. 1 holdout of the Green Bay Packers for the 1940 season, was in town today and held a late morning conference with Coach Curly Lambeau. At the end of the talk Lambeau said "nothing to report", and added that he and Craig would resume their conversations this afternoon. Craig starred at offensive blocking quarterback and defensive end last season, and this year his salary demands, according to Packer officials, have been out of line. Since last season he has completed his examinations for a commission in the United States army air corps, and will enter the service if he does not sign for another football season.
PHANTOM OPPONENT WILL FACE PACKERS IN CHICAGO CONTEST (By Curly Lambeau)
AUG 3 (Green Bay) - If this were an assignment to discuss the three factors that have contributed the most toward football's tremendous popularity, these articles would be devoted to President Theodore Roosevelt, the Rockne-Dorais passing combination and the Chicago All-Star game. Not since Roosevelt assumed control of and saved the game in 1905, when charges of brutality threatened its existence, and Knute Rockne and Gus Dorais (the 1937 All-Star coach) established the practicality of the forward pass in 1913, has received such impetus from a single event as it derives from the contest originated by the Chicago Tribune. It is this contest with which these articles will be concerned. I have seen half a dozen Army-Navy games, been a sideline observer at as many Rose Bowl contests and witnessed innumerable other recognized headline gridiron attractions. But after seeing them all, the All-Star game remains football's greatest spectacle. This statement includes even the 1937 game, though at the time the only spectacle I could see was the one we made of ourselves on the All-Stars' 2-yard line, We lost that one, 6-0, much to our surprise. But it did have its compensations. It taught us a great deal about that mysterious footballintangible, mental attitude, if there was anything about it we should not have known from sad experience. And it made us strive just that much more to qualify for another All-Star assignment. We will profit by that 1937 experience when we step out on Soldiers' field in Chicago on the night of Aug. 29. This is the most precious opportunity that has come to the Packers, and we do not intend to outsmart ourselves again, either on the two yard line or in our preparations for the game. It is the opportunity for which the Packers were battling when they evened an old score with the New York Giants in the National league championship game last December. There was a rumor around that the Packers did a pretty fair sort of job for country boys in that game. The score was 27 to 0. I will be satisfied with the same margin of victory on August 29...FACE PHANTOM OPPONENT: Preparing a team for an All-Star game is like getting ready for no other contest in football. The All-Stars are a phantom opponent. The combination of quality and quantity in a squad of 65 of the finest college players offsets whatever advantage a team of seasoned pros might expect to have. Placing this wealth of material under five outstanding coaches, all of whom contribute to the strategy and offense from their own pet ticks, further complicates the job of the professional coach. And as if this wasn't enough, an All-Star Gestapo has been set up through which the college coaches receive a full report on the pro champion from trained scouts. We are the first pro team in the All-Star game on which such a scout report has been made. I will
be anxious to see whether it does the collegians any good. These are only a few of the problems peculiar to the All-Star game. They form part of the reasons why the game, over a long period of time, will never see either side gain a decisive advantage in victories. And they combine with the unique promotional aspects of the undertaking to assure a game a permanent place in the No. 1 spot among athletic spectacles. They're not, however, very conducive to restful nights if you happen to be lucky enough to win a National league championship. In that case, you seek the innermost reaches of your office and there, surrounded by clippings, letters from a few friends qualified to appraise football players, and unsigned contracts returned by veterans trying to pioneer a Babe Ruth era for professional football salaries, you take invoice of your problems and prospects. They simmer down to this: 1 - Talent available for the All-Star team. 2 - Obstacles confronting professionals. 3 - Experience gained in the 1937 All-Star defeat. 4 - Professionals' assets and possible advantages. Taken once over lightly, this resume makes the outlook rather rosy. But possibly after each point has been analyzed and expanded, we won't be quite as optimistic. We may be ready to settle for a 2 to 0 victory - or a tie.
LARRY CRAIG COMES TO TERMS WITH PACKERS; OTHER MEMBERS OF SQUAD ARRIVING DAILY FOR WORKOUTS
AUG 5 (Green Bay) - Larry Craig, who had been regarded as the No. 1 holdout on the Green Bay Packer roster for 1940, signed his contract at 10:30 this morning in the office of Coach Curly Lambeau. An offensive blocking quarterback and defensive end from the University of South Carolina, who broke into the National league with a terrific showing last fall, Craig has caused a lot of worry among Packer fans. This summer he passed his examinations for the United States army air corps, and was believed ready to forsake professional football. He has been in town for several conferences with Coach Lambeau this weekend. The popular Larry, a hard driver every minute he plays, weighs 205 pounds and stands six feet in height. He has unusually long arms, which he used to excellent advantage. While at South Carolina he was a teammate of Rock Stroud, Bluejay left fielder who captained the S.C. team last fall as halfback. Craig and Stroud were coached by Rex Enright, former Packer halfback. With Craig signed, six Packers remain on the outside, and Lambeau stressed that not all of these are in the holdout class. Those whose names do not yet appear on Green Bay contracts are Baby Ray, tackle; Don Hutson, end; Cecil Isbell, Jimmy Lawrence, Clarke Hinkle and Eddie Jankowski, backs...MOST PLAYERS HERE: Of his entire squad, Lambeau found today that very few are not in town already, five days before practice is supposed to start. Jankowski and Joe Laws are missing, but both are engaged in NYA work out of Madison. Hinkle and Hutson are not working out, nor are Lawrence, Paul Kell and Gus Zarnas. Lambeau also planned conferences today with Baby Ray, Vanderbilt tackle who has arrived in town, and with Hinkle. Jim Gillette, the Virginia halfback, reached town over the weekend, and so did Dick Evans, Iowa end, who was picked on the All-Star squad but who wants to work out with the Packers until next Sunday, the date he reports to the All-America squad...ERNIE SMITH ARRIVES: Ernie Smith, the veteran U.S.C. tackle, is a new arrival, and J.R. Manley, a guard, turned up as a candidate from the Oklahoma university sector. Lou Midler, the Minnesota guard acquired in a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers, is here and Lambeau expects no trouble in arriving to terms. Beattie Feathers, one-time leading ground gainer of the National league, an acquisition from the Brooklyn Dodgers, is on hand and drilling. Isbell also is working out with the growing squad. With the Packers preparing to launch their drills for the 1940 All-Star game, and other professional football squads getting ready for practice, the National league picture is gaining strength. The Washington Redskins, who with the New York Giants appear to be the strongest of the Eastern division clubs, start training tomorrow at Spokane, Washington.
BABY RAY SIGNS HIS PACKER CONTRACT FOR 1940 AS FIRST OFFICIAL DRILL NEARS; INVITE FANS SUNDAY
AUG 6 (Green Bay) - Another name was lopped off the unsigned list of the Green Bay Packers late yesterday when Coach Curly Lambeau successfully completed a conference with Buford (Baby) Ray, former Vanderbilt lineman who starred at left tackle with Green Bay last fall. The giant Ray - he goes somewhere between 245 and 260 pounds - is one of the largest men ever to play in the National league. With Green Bay fans, he is one of the most popular. A great mixer who likes to talk his football as well as play it, Ray is a fellow who thoroughly enjoys the professional game. Time and again he has said that he'll play it until he drops. This will be Baby's third season with the Packers. He broke in successfully in 1938, and was a tower of strength on the left side of the line last fall. His home is at Nashville, where he is in business during the offseason. Five Packer veterans still are unsigned, and Coach Lambeau expects that all of them will report for the first official workout next Saturday morning at 9 o'clock. Most of the players are working out daily, doing conditioning work to get themselves in top shape for the strenuous training grind ahead. Lambeau plans only one drill Saturday, but he will have the men out twice Sunday, morning and afternoon, and twice Monday. Although most of the Packer workouts will be secret, the Sunday morning drill, starting at 9 o'clock, will be open to spectators.
NEW PRO GRID LEAGUE LISTS SIX ELEVENS
AUG 6 (Buffalo) - The American Professional Football league was a toddling infant today, after a hectic birth, and it appeared that it might learn early an important natural law - survival of the fittest. Only a few hours after the organizers took two days to elect officers, decide a schedule and select team names, the new league's right to call itself the "American professional football league" had been questioned by an organization claiming it is in business under the same name. In Cincinnati, Charles J. Heitzler, president of American Professional Football league, declared the loop formed in Buffalo had no authority to use the name "American". He said his organization, five years old and formerly known as the Mid-West Professional football league, was incorporated as the American last year. Meanwhile, William D. Griffith, Columbus, O., president of the Buffalo-born "American" league, asserted member teams would be allowed to draft college players, who were not still in school, beginning next year. Griffith, former Ohio State university publicity director, listed the six teams in his league, their nicknames and home stadiums as follows: Buffalo Indians, Civic Stadium. Boston Bears, Fenway Park. New York Yankees, Yankee Stadium. Cincinnati Bengals, Crosley Field. Columbus Bullies, Red Bird Stadium. Milwaukee Chiefs, Dairy Bowl. A 25-player limit for each team has been set, Griffith said, with three additional players for the "suspended list", but a minimum of 20 players will be required for each squad. Griffith said the league's schedule would be played on a home-and-home basis from September 15 to December 1. Headquarters will be at Columbus, he said...CHIEFS' SCHEDULE SAME: Word from George M. Harris, president of the Milwaukee Football club, Monday was that Milwaukee's schedule as previously announced will be adhered to and that the Chiefs will include home and home games with Chicago and Kenosha, non-members of the newly re-organized American Professional Football league. The new league is actually an organization made up of the stronger teams in the old American league and an eastern group. Although the Chiefs were not organized until this year Harris and Coach Tiny Cahoon have gathered a strong unit for that classification. The Milwaukee setup was so bright, Harris said, the league wasted no time in granting the club a franchise.
LOU MIDLER SIGNS WITH PACKERS
AUG 7 (Green Bay) - Lou Midler, a giant lineman who followed a collegiate gridiron career at the University of Minnesota with two years of professional service at Pittsburgh, signed his Green Bay Packer contract yesterday following a conference with Coach Curly Lambeau. Midler, according to Lambeau, is "just the type we are looking for." He weighs 225 pounds, stands two inches above six feet, and will be used at right guard. He played both tackle and guard at Pittsburgh, coming to Green Bay in the trade involving Hank Bruder. The newest Packer was a member of the 1938 All-Star squad, which also included Cecil Isbell. He reputedly was not satisfied to play again with the Steelers, and expressed a desire to join the Packers. Big, tough and experienced, he may prove a valuable addition...FIVE NOT SIGNED: Lambeau said today that he had nothing new to report concerning his unsigned quintet of veterans - Don Hutson, Isbell, Clarke Hinkle, Jimmy Lawrence and Eddie Jankowski. All except Jankowski now are here, working out unofficially. The coach expects 42 men to report at 9 o'clock Saturday morning, when the first official drill will be held. It will be a secret session, but spectators will be welcome to inspect the squad at the Sunday morning practice, also scheduled for 9 o'clock. The Sunday afternoon program will be given over principally to press photographers. A few of the new Packers will be absent for a few weeks at the start of the season. George Seeman, Nebraska end; Hal Van Every, Minnesota halfback; Dick Evans, Iowa end; and Lou Brock, Purdue halfback, will be members of the All-Star squad at Chicago. Ray Riddick, Fordham end, will remain in the east to play in the Eastern All-Star game against the New York Giants Sept. 5...TEAM ADOPTS SLOGAN: Lambeau said today that the slogan "Wisconsin's Football Team" henceforth will be adopted by the Packers, to signify the interest and support the team has received. Right now only four members of the Packers, exclusive of the All-Stars, are not in the city. They are Jankowski, Joe Laws, Gus Zarnas and Paul Kell. The players have been working out to get into condition, and most of them will be ripe for hefty work starting Saturday. As scant time remains before the All-Star appearance Aug. 29, Coach Lambeau plans to turn on the heat right from the start.
ANDERSON NAMED HEAD COACH OF COLLEGE ALL-STARS
AUG 7 (Chicago) - The Green Bay Packers, scourge of professional football, have a date with trouble Aug. 29. That's the night the pro champions line up in Soldier field against a "dream squad" of collegians having their last fling at football glory as amateur gridders. The game, which usually attracts 80,000 spectators, will reunite for a night the famed and feared Iowa combination of Coach Eddie Anderson and his dazzling triple-threat halfback, Nile Kinnick. Anderson was selected as head coach of the All-Stars in a nationwide poll. In a similar contest Kinnick was designated as a starter in the game, polling more votes than any other player. The leadership of Anderson and Kinnick in the two polls conducted in 47 states was an eloquent tribute to their spectacular record at the University of Iowa last autumn...COACHES ARE CHOSEN: Assisting Anderson in handling the All-Star squad of 67 players will be Don Faurot, Missouri; Buck Shaw, Santa Clara; E.E. (Tad) Wieman, Princeton; and Lowell (Red) Dawson, Tulane. Each earned his spot on the staff by leading the voting in their respective sections. The Packers, who won their fifth pro title last fall, and the All-Stars will begin practice next weekend, giving each squad two and a half weeks for conditioning exercises. The pros will drill in their Green Bay stadium and the collegians at Northwestern university. Kinnick's running mate on the starting 11 chosen by the fans will be Lou Brock of Purdue with Ambrose Schindler of Southern California at quarterback and Joe Thesing of Notre Dame at full...HAS OTHER TROJANS: The line contains two other members of the great Trojan machine of last fall as well as many other 1939 headliners. At the ends will be Bill Fisk of Southern California and Esco Saarkinen, Ohio State. Nick Cutlich, Northwestern, and Joe Boyd, Texas Aggies, were named tackles; Harry Smith, Southern California, and Jim Logan, Indiana, guards, and Clyde Turner, Hardin-Simmons, center. The game, originated in 1934 by the Chicago Tribune as a charity attraction, has left neither side with a margin in six years. Two games ended in ties, the All-Stars won two and the pros two. The New York Giants, then pro champions, defeated the college boys last August, 9 to 0, on three field goals.
KICKOFF BREAKFAST FOR PACKERS IS SCHEDULED ON SUNDAY; TALENT OF ALL-STAR COACHES STRESSED
AUG 8 (Green Bay) - Concern for the vast amount of coaching talent contained on the staff of the College All-Stars was expressed today by Coach Curly Lambeau of the Green Bay Packers, as he prepared to launch his practice officially here Saturday morning. There is no question, Lambeau indicated, but that the All-Stars will employ the Notre Dame system. as Head Coach Eddie Anderson and one assistant, Buck Shaw of Santa Clara, both are former Irish gridders. Anderson was a teammate of Lambeau's at Notre Dame for one season some 22 years ago, playing left end to Curly's fullback. Later the Iowa coach performed for two seasons with the Chicago Cardinals, and played against Green Bay four times...WORK ON DEFENSE: "Probably the other All-Star coaches - Don Faurot of Missouri, Tad Wieman of Princeton and Red Dawson of Tulane - will spend most of the time working on defense, leaving the Notre Dame offensive maneuvers to Anderson and Shaw," Lambeau said. "We expect Anderson to produce the greatest offensive team in the history of the All-Star series. All football fans remember the outstanding success he enjoyed last season with his Iowa team, which was terrific on offense." Nile Kinnick, all-America member of that Hawkeye quintet, will be in the starting backfield for the All-Stars Aug. 29. Radio station WGN sponsored a 15-minute broadcast last night, in which five coaches were contacted at various points of the country, plugging the approaching gridiron classic...NO NEW SIGNEES: Final preparations for the opening of the Green Bay practice season Saturday were being made today, as a number of the squad members continued their informal workouts and exercises. No new additions to the contract list were announced, which means Cecil Isbell, Don Hutson, Clarke Hinkle, Jimmy Lawrence and Eddie Jankowski still are unsigned. Ernie Smith, U.S.C. tackle, arrived in town announcing the birth of a baby boy, his second, in California a month ago. Smith flew in from the Pacific coast. Coach Lambeau announced today that a kickoff breakfast of all squad members and coaches will be held at the Hotel Northland Saturday morning at 8 o'clock. The players will receive their first instructions for the season, and at 9:30 they will travel to their practice field in back of East High school, don sweat suits and start the grind which will last until December. All drills will be secret except for the one scheduled for Sunday morning, when the public will be admitted to get a glimpse of the Packer squad. Sunday afternoon will be devoted entirely to press photographers, local and otherwise.
PACKERS HOLD FIRST SQUAD MEETING EARLY TOMORROW, THEN GATHER FOR INITIAL DRILL
AUG 9 (Green Bay) - The Green Bay Packers stand on the eve of another extensive training season, followed by competition in the world's toughest football league, and Coach Curly Lambeau today announced that final plans for the drill schedule have been completed. Next Friday night, Aug. 16, the Packers will appear at City stadium in an intra-squad game, for which a nominal attendance fee will be charged. The state Elks convention, drawing some 2,000 delegates, will be in progress, and the Elks are expected to swell the game attendance as part of their convention program. Tomorrow morning at the Hotel Northland the Packers will assemble as a unit for the first time this year. The occasion will be a kickoff breakfast, at which Wisconsin's professional football team will receive preliminary instructions from Coach Lambeau, and mimeographed copies of Packer plays will be submitted for their study...ONLY ONE HOLDOUT: The contract situation stood pat today, although Lambeau stated that he regarded Eddie Jankowski, the Wisconsin fullback, as his only real holdout. "Cecil Isbell, Clarke Hinkle and Don Hutson are about set on their terms, but have not yet signed their contracts," he said. "Jimmy Lawrence is reporting on a tryout basis, which leaves only Jankowski unaccounted for. "Eddie did the same thing last year. We didn't know what he planned to do about his contract, and then one day there he was, running around the practice field. He came into my office and signed up the same day. Maybe he is planning to do the same thing this year; at any rate, I haven't heard from him."...DRILL SATURDAY MORNING: With the breakfast set for 8 o'clock, the Packers will be on the practice field by 9:30, ready for a secret drill. They will continue their work Sunday, gathering in the morning for a public practice, and performing in the afternoon for the benefit of press photographers. George Strickler, Chicago Tribune sportswriter who arrived in town today, brought glowing reports of the progress of ticket sales for the All-Star game Aug. 29. All $4.40 and $3.30 tickets have been sold out, and fans even are snapping up one dollar seats in advance, something which never before has happened in the history of the All-Star series. The All-Americans are assembling in Chicago this weekend from all parts of the nation and will start work immediately under Head Coach Eddie Anderson in preparation for the classic.
NEW PRO LOOP SCHEDULE OUT
AUG 9 (Columbus) - President W.D. Griffith of the new American Professional Football league announced Friday that the six members of the league would play home and home games with every other team in the
circuit during the 30 game schedule this fall. In addition to league games, the teams - Milwaukee Chiefs, Buffalo Indians, Cincinnati Bengals, Columbus Bullies, New York Yankees and Boston Bears - have scheduled exhibition games with other pro teams, Griffith said. The schedule lists six night contests, three to be held at Buffalo and one each at New York, Cincinnati and Boston. The league opens its season Sept.15 with Columbus at Milwaukee and winds up December 1 when the Chiefs play Cincinnati.
COLUMBUS BULLIES GRID TEAM WILL TRAIN IN TWO RIVERS
AUGUST 10 (Two Rivers) - The Columbus Bullies of the American Professional Football league will train in Two Rivers. Word was received in that city this morning that the team will arrive August 20 to condition for the 1940 season, which opens Sunday September 15. The Bullies will bring a squad of between 35 and 40 players. The letter asked Arthur Eckley, Recreation director at Two Rivers, to arrange facilities at the hotels and also a training table for the players at the community house. The players will practice on the high school field, in the northern limits of the city. Two Rivers has also been advised by the Columbus management that a tentative game has been arranged with the Green Bay Packers at Green Bay on Sunday Sept. 8, which is an open date for the National Pro league champs. The Bullies are scheduled to meet the Milwaukee Chiefs, also in the American loop, Sunday September 15 in the opening game of the schedule. Two Rivers may also get a glimpse of the Packers next week. Coach Curly Lambeau has promised Two Rivers that if the weather continues to be hot next week at Green Bay, where the Packers begin training for the All-Star game tomorrow, he will bring this team to Two Rivers for practice sessions.
WEYWAUWEGA MAKES PLANS TO ENTERTAIN MILWAUKEE GRIDDERS
AUG 10 (Waupaca) - Ivan "Tiny" Cahoon, head coach of the Milwaukee Chiefs, who are to be in training for two weeks on the Weyauwega fairgrounds, will arrive in that city Aug. 13 to prepare the field for the 40 players who will arrive the 14th. On the evening of his arrival he will be greeted by 150 Lions of clubs from Waupaca, Stevens Point, Manawa, Appleton and Oshkosh who will hear his talk on his favorite sport. Cahoon was formerly a member of the Green Bay Packers. An inter-squad game is to be played on August 18 and an exhibition game is scheduled for August 25 when Governor Julius P. Heil will be the guest of honor. Also expected that day will be George Harris, president of the Chiefs, and one of the governor's colonels. Russ Winnie is also expected to announce the game by radio broadcast. Fifteen mayors from surrounding cities will be at Weyauwega to greet the governor.
40 PACKER PLAYERS ARE PRESENT AT KICKOFF BREAKFAST
AUG 10 (Green Bay) - The first meeting of the Green Bay Packer football squad as a unit was held at the Hotel Northland this morning, as the players met with Coach Curly Lambeau for a kickoff breakfast. Following the breakfast and a few announcements by the coach, the 1940 version of the Packers took to the practice field for its first official workout. It was a husky assortment of football material which gathered for breakfast. Almost every man on the squad, rookie or veteran, sported a terrific coat of tan. Most of them looked as though working off surplus weight is the least of their problems. Forty players attended the session. Others present were Coach Lambeau, Assistant Coach Red Smith, President L.H. Joannes and Dr. W.W. Kelly, team physician...THREE VETERANS MISSING: Three were missing. Eddie Jankowski, fullback, and Joe Laws, halfback, the two Packers engaged in NYA work, were not present, nor was Gust Zarnas, guard, who has signed his contract, but did not report for the first meeting. Laws, however, arrived in time to appear at the field. Don Hutson, Clarke Hinkle, Cecil Isbell and Jimmy Lawrence, the four veterans in addition to Jankowski who have not signed, all were on hand and all reported for the initial practice. First year Packers who reported today are the following: Connie Mack Berry, North Carolina State, end; Ed Merlin, Vanderbilt, Lou Midler, Minnesota, Smiley Johnson, Georgia, and Jim Manley, Oklahoma, all guards; Fred Shirey, Nebraska, tackle; Beattie Feathers, Tennessee, Jim Gillette, Virginia, Bob Adkins, Marshall, and Bob Temple, Arizona, all backs. Then there were the veterans, all of them carrying names with which Green Bay and Wisconsin football fans are thoroughly familiar...EXPERIENCED MEN PRESENT: Present this morning were Hutson, Larry Craig, Carl Mulleneaux, Captain Milt Gantenbein, and Harry Jacunski, all ends; Champ Seibold, Bill Lee, Baby Ray, Paul Kell, Ernie Smith, Charley Schultz and Warren Kilbourne, tackles; Tiny Engebretsen, Buckets Goldenberg, Russ Letlow and Pete Tinsley, guards; George and Bud Svendsen, Charley Brock and Tom Greenfield, centers; and the following backs - Arnold Herber, Andy Uram, Herman Schneidman, Clarke Hinkle, Frank Balazs, Cecil Isbell, Jimmy Lawrence, Dick Weisgerber and Larry Buhler. Five men who will report later to the Packers are tied up with All-Star activities. Dick Evans, Iowa end; Lou Brock, Purdue halfback; George Seeman, Nebraska end; Frank Bykowski, Purdue guard; and Hal Van Every, Minnesota halfback, all are with the Chicago collegiate assemblage. Ray Riddick, Fordham end, is in the east preparing for a game against the New York Giants. George Strickler, sportswriter of the Chicago Tribune, who is town gathering publicity material for the All-Star game, was a breakfast guest. He reported that the sale of seats for the annual classic is "terrific". According to Strickler, all but five of the 70-odd All-Stars selected in the nationwide poll will report for practice this weekend. Harry Stella, Army tackle and captain from Kankakee, Ill., is doubtful. Stella received his commission this spring in the United States army, which at the moment is concerned with other matters than football, and was assigned to Fort Still, Okla. There was talk recently that he may be switched back to the military academy as assistant football coach, in which case he would be able to play against the Packers Aug. 29...BOYD WON'T REPORT: Joe Boyd, named starting tackle, will be out of action. Hailing from Texas A. and M., Boyd was fortunate enough to land a job with a big company which launched an extensive pension program, and placed him in charge of it. He consulted with All-Star game officials, who advised him against risking loss of his job by playing. His place in the starting lineup will be taken by Tad Harvey of Notre Dame. Erwin Prassle of Iowa, an end who was on the receiving end of many of Nile Kinnick's passes last year, is playing baseball with a St. Louis Cardinal chain club in Texas, and can't get away. Ken Kavanaugh, great Louisiana State end, signed with the Chicago Bears, also is playing baseball for the Cardinals, at Kilgore, Texas. He is trying to get away for the game, but success of his attempt is doubtful. The fifth All-Star on the absentee list is Jim Turner, Holy Cross guard...LANDS MASSACHUSETTS JOB: "We don't know what is the matter with Turner," Strickler said. "He just didn't say he would report, and we heard he had a job in Massachusetts." Coach Lambeau got right down to brass tacks in giving the squad its first introductions. First of all he handed out mimeographed sheets of Packer plays, and explained changes from last year's tactics to the men. He told them that they will start getting rough work Monday. that they will have two workouts Sunday, and probably will go out twice daily until the All-Star game.
PACKERS LAUNCH PRACTICE FOR 1940 ALL-STAR BATTLE
AUG 12 (Green Bay) - The Green Bay Packers, in their first official 1940 workout here Saturday morning, gave indications that the team which wrests the NFL championship from their grasp this fall will go through a magnificent battle in the process. No one can sit back in August and predict with surety things like an All-Star game victory, a professional football championship and the like but one factor already has become very evident - the Packers never placed upon the practice field, for their opening drill, a better looking assortment of gridiron talent. Naturally, the execution and timing of offensive maneuvers was ragged, as expected for the first time a strong team reassembles, but the material looked great. Most of the first year men are speedy and powerfully built, and already demonstrate a blazing spirit which should please Coach Curly Lambeau...FINISH WITH RACES: The Packers threw passes, kicked the ball, worked out a few plays and finished with 100-yard races for their initial workout, lasing an hour and a half. The only new passer of consequence was Virginia's Jim Gillette, others who tossed the ball being Jimmy Lawrence, Beattie Feathers, Cecil Isbell and Arnold Herber. Feathers, who came to Green Bay from Tennessee via the Chicago Bears, via Brooklyn, is giving indications that he intends to land a regular job with Green Bay. He appears to be in prime condition, is working hard and earnestly and totes the ball with all his old-time fire. There was nothing slow about Clarke Hinkle, the veteran fullback who as been a mainstay of the Packers for many a year. Hinkle showed up in great shape and he always is a hard worker, both during practice and during games...ED JANKOWSKI ARRIVES: With Eddie Jankowski missing at the opening drill (he showed up over the weekend), Larry Buhler and Frank Balazs made handsome appearances at the fullback position. Hinkle appears certain this year to get all the relief he needs. Howard (Smiley) Johnson, a new guard from Georgia, attracted attention Saturday because of his powerful build and willing attitude. He also showed a lot of speed in the races. Coach Lambeau indicated that Jim Manley will be used at left guard, that Johnson will play right guard, Connie Mack Berry left end, Fred Shirey left tackle, Lou Midler left guard, Bob Temple right end, Gillette right half, Feathers left half and Bob Adkins blocking back...PUNTING WORK DIVIDED: When the time for punting arrived, the chore was divided among Isbell, Hinkle, Dick Weisgerber, Herber, Balazs, Feathers, Lawrence and Gillette. Herman Schneidman, Buhler, Joe Laws and Andy Uram received in the safety position and the rest of the men practiced going down under the kicks. The races developed some interesting competition. As has been customary for the last half-decade, Don Hutson outstripped the ends, with Berry running a fair second. In the sprints between center and guards Johnson was the class by a good margin. Buckets Goldenberg placing second. Baby Ray was the fastest tackle by a shade over Shirey, and the speediest back was Gillette. Larry Craig won the blocking backfield race, Adkins placing second. Bud Jorgenson, Packer trainer who starts his first season at that vital spot following the death of Dave Woodward, pronounced the squad in the best physical condition of any he has seen at the start of the season, and Bud has worked with the Packers since the pre-championship days. Sunday morning's workout was general conditioning drill, with plenty of punting, passing and ball carrying. Coach Lambeau and Assistant Coach Red Smith kept the husky squad busy from 9 until 11 o'clock, and while some poundage must have been washed away in the sultry August heat, the routine did not call for heavy work. More than a hundred cars were parked on E. Walnut street opposite East high school and the practice field. Spectators made a good-sized gallery, picking out their favorites and becoming acquainted with the faces and forms of the new men...BUCKETS IS BACK: Buckets Goldenberg, well-built guard, was there as usual - apparently a permanent fixture. "How's the poundage?" the fans wondered, and spoke in admiring terms about his ability to get around with the youngest of the newcomers. No individual was given much opportunity to show up in a spectacular way, but Don Hutson did snare some passes that brought the old thrill back. Practically everybody was given a chance at throwing and catching. Punting and receiving punts took up about a half hour of the drill. Red Smith devoted the early part of the morning to the centers. Just before the shower call sounded, Coach Lambeau called them all together and ran them through several offensive formations.
HUSTON, ISBELL AND JANKOWSKI ARE SET
AUG 12 (Green Bay) - The signing of Donald Hutson, Cecil Isbell and Eddie Jankowski for the 1940 football season was announced today by Coach Curly Lambeau as the Green Bay Packers prepared to resume their strenuous drill schedule under soggy skies. Lambau also said that he had reached terms with Clarke Hinkle, veteran fullback, but that Hinkle "just hasn't brought in his contract yet." This burst of weekend activity just about clears up the Packers' contract problems.The team faces a terrific week of work, preparatory to appearing in an intra-squad game at City stadium next Friday night. At that time the visiting delegates to the state Elks convention, plus the Packers' host of Northeastern Wisconsin fans, will witness the first competitive appearances of the National league champions. The only Packer missing today, other than the All-Stars, was Gust Zarnas, veteran guard from Ohio State, who signed his contract but has not yet put in an appearance. Two outdoor workouts were carded for today, the rain notwithstanding, and tonight the squad will assemble at the Hotel Northland for a lengthy skull drill and chalk talk. All too little remains, Lambeau stressed, for the All-Star game strategy to be completed. The game will be played at Soldier field, Chicago, Aug. 29 before a crowd which will probably exceed 85,000. The return of Hutson to the Packer fold for his sixth season of professional football brings back one of the game's best known names. The fastest man and greatest pass receiver in the league, Hutson has chalked up 39 touchdowns in his five season, and has added six points after touchdown for a grand total of 240. Only two Packers, Verne Lewellen and Hinkle, rank higher on the team's all-time scoring list than the Alabama veteran. Lewellen is the only player with more touchdowns to his credit. Weighing 185 pounds, married, and a native of Pine Bluff, Ark., Hutson is at the peak of his great game and is expected to continue his program of terrorizing National league defenses this season. With Arnold Herber, he ranks as half of the greatest scoring threat in the game. Isbell will start his third year as a Packer. He broke into the pro game from Purdue university with a fiery performance in the All-Star game of 1938...SHARES PASSING CHORES: In two season with the Packers, he has shared a major part of the forward passing burden and has scored 27 points on four touchdowns and three extra points. A 190-pounder with a flaming competitive spirit, he is one of the most popular men on the team. Isbell is a native of Houston. Eddie Jankowski, starting his fourth year as a Packer, formerly starred as a battering ram at the University of Wisconsin. One of the hardest runners in professional football, he weighs 200 pounds, is strong as an ox and has served as relief man for Hinkle during most of his tenure with Green Bay. Jankowski weighs well up the scoring list, with 57 points, attained on nine touchdowns and three extra points. His home is at Milwaukee, and he has been employed in NYA work.
LOOKING UP IN THE REALM OF SPORTS
AUG 12 (Green Bay) - The fact that the freshman members of the 1940 Green Bay Packer football squad carry less weight and pack more speed than the usual first year crop can go down on the credit side of the team's ledger. Enthusiasm almost always runs high at the first workout. Men who later in the season are to be shunted to minor league teams, or will return to non-sports tasks, look magnificent. Others who don't sparkle with the first punts and passes grind down to their 14-karat worth and travel through the schedule as important cogs of a great machine. You can watch a man as he steps through his practice paces for the first time and observe that he is built sturdily, moves fast, packs enthusiasm, seems intelligent, wants to work. Just how he'll react with half of the Chicago Bears' line on top of him, with a face full of cleats and a tummy compressed by the weight of guards, tackles and centers, you can find out only in one way - by putting him underneath part of the Chicago Bears line. Yes, the real test can't be met until the time for competition arrives, but still it must be said that a glance at the Green Bay Packer squad over the weekend offers not the slightest reason for pessimism. No team yet has emerged from the All-Star game to make a successful defense of its championship. If the Packers are to be the first, they'll do it on the strength of their mental attitude, for they have everything else. Physically, the team should be no weaker and it may be a whole lot stronger than it was last year. The mental edge - the fine bit of tuning which determines whether we lick you or you lick us - must come later. The veterans seem to realize that they are in for a lot of competition from the younger men this season. Only a few were overweight Saturday, and those who were were the ones who can least afford it. We can see where five or six men can be lopped off the squad after the All-Star game without causing great damage. From there on, it is going to be tough and no one knows it better than Curly Lambeau.
BEATTIE FEATHERS WORKS HARD TO LAND JOB WITH GREEN BAY
AUG 12 (Green Bay) - Packer practice: Fans turned out in goodly sized throngs to appraise the Green Bay Packers in their initial workouts over the weekend. Cameras responded to both the amateur and the professional touch Sunday afternoon when Coach E.L. Lambeau had the boys dress just for the benefit of picture takers. But from now on the team works out under cover. No writers to take notes. No cameras. And no All-Star fifth columnists...Several cities in the Fox River valley were represented among the spectators Sunday. Tourists also looked in at one of Green Bay's better known properties. Percy M. Nulton, St. Petersburg, Fla., came down from Sturgeon Bay where he is vacationing to get a view of the team he had read so much about. He was one of the picture takers...Destined to become a fan favorite if he makes the ball club is the transplanted veteran, Beattie Feathers. The former Tennessee halfback came to the Packers as a free agent. He selected Green Bay above two other clubs because he wanted to play in Green Bay. "The Packers always play to win," he said in the dressing room Sunday. "That is the kind of team I want to play with." Feathers spent the 1938 season in Brooklyn after his service with the Chicago Bears. Early last season against Philadelphia his knee was thrown out. He retired from the game for about a month, and then turned up with Patterson, N.J., of the minor eastern circuit. He finished the season there and found the injured leg in good shape. Thus, his decision to take another turn at the big time. If things work out for him, his wife and two daughters will come up from Knoxville to join the football colony. Feathers is a salesman for a sporting good company in the offseason, and he is building a home at Knoxville...A new backfield combination which may spring into prominence is composed of Bob Adkins at blocking back, Feathers at left halfback, Jim Gillette at right halfback, and Larry Buhler at fullback. The mental attitude of the entire squad seems to be ideal, but if there is any single man whose determination to make good is especially noteworthy, that man is Buhler. Unless the fates deal him a bad hand from the bottom of the deck, Larry will be very much in evidence in the 1940 championship campaign. One veteran expressed the viewpoint that some of the first year men have a prima donna attitude. Claims he never saw it so pronounced here. Well, under Lambeau and Assistant Coach Red Smith every man out there will have a chance to produce. And if some of the lads are as good as they think they are, it will be very, very tough on the rest of the teams in the league...William Clarke Hinkle, the bruising Bucknell buster who has been around a long time now will continue to cause opposition headaches and backaches. The "Hink" is at playing weight of less than 200 pounds right now. Construction work at Appleton for the Kimberly-Clark mills and softball with a Neenah team kept him in shape all summer. That limp which some of the onlookers noticed Sunday is nothing to worry about. Hink pulled a muscle in the opening practice Saturday. Many of the veterans are in excellent condition. Captain Milton Gantenbein is around 198 pounds that means he is set. Milt spent most of the summer up north fishing after the termination of his brief career as a baseball umpire. Ernie Smith is dropping pounds and figures that he is about right now. Pete Tinsley, after working for the Foeller Construction company, probably is in better condition for this time of the year than he has been in any of his previous turns here...Squad meets squad in a regulation game Friday night. With the All-Star game at hand, the workouts are coming early and hard. Joe Laws and Arne Herber, a couple of handy guys to have around when sides are being chosen in a football game, both carry too many pounds, but they are melting off. Frank Balazs should show well at fullback this year. Dick Weisgerber definitely will be at blocking back in one combination. He probably will do some punting as well. Champ Seibold looks much better than he did a year ago when he decided to let the Packers struggle along without him. He is in shape, knows the competition for tackle berths is keen, and is a rarin' to go. Ernie Smith and Red Smith will continue to influence his ways at tackle play, and they are a pair of very influential gentlemen in line direction. Keep an eye on Smiley Johnson, rookie guard from Georgia. Lotsa promise there...The players attended the Bluejays baseball game Sunday night and were introduced there. Deacon Delmore, Jay pitcher, suggested that the baseball players ought to take a duck when the gridders appeared. Said that the diamond players with the exception of Rudy Novak looked like midgets by comparison. The Packer corporation and the baseball club get along much better than is generally realized. Up to now the baseball team was given the use of the Packer training quarters and locker rooms at City stadium. Pretty fair accommodations, and it was years before the Packers had the,. Bud Jorgenson has taken over as trainer where the late Dave Woodward left off. Bud's chief assistant and bottle washer is Tim O'Brien. Dick Holznecht has been added to the staff of property assistants. And Howie Levitas, who has worked with the team for many seasons but never lost his amateur standing, is around again. Howie and the newspaper writers, photographers and sideline coaches went through a trying day in the heat yesterday. Mopping the perspiration from his brow, one of the fifth quarter specialists remarked, "And the players think it's tough." Familiar faces back on the scene included Mrs. Don Hutson, Mrs. Russ Letlow, the two Madames Svendsen, Mrs. Clarke Hinkle, and a dozen others who also serve as they sit and wait. New to the scene is Mrs. George Strickler, wife of the Chicago Tribune scribe. The Stricklers will be here until the All-Star game. George thinks the Packers look better at this early writing than any other squad that he has watched prepare for the charity tilt. And he points to the necessity of being in condition for a happy ending so far as the pro team is concerned. The men who played in the 1937 game don't have to be reminded of that.
TWO RIVERS BACKS FAITH IN PACKERS WITH OFFER OF CAMP
AUG 12 (Green Bay) - The Green Bay Packers' participation in the Chicago All-Star game on August 29 ceased to be a local matter. Two Rivers, a lakeside neighbor, today sent over a one man delegation to declare itself in. Duke Bridges, sports editor of the Two Rivers Reporter, representing the Chamber of Commerce and the school board, offered the Packers Two Rivers' exceptional training facilities for the All-Star game and made arrangements for the famous Hamilton band, a prize winning musical organization, to attend all Packer games in Wisconsin. "The Packers," Bridges said, "have become more than a Green Bay team. They are a Wisconsin institution and we are anxious to do what we can to keep them foremost in the football parade. Situated as we are on Lake Michigan between two rivers, the temperature in Two Rivers is more suited for the conditioning of a football team than nearly any other place in the state. Our high school has the most complete locker room facilities in the middle west and our field is in better shape right now than Camp Randall field in Madison or the Packers' own stadium. These facilities are all at the Packers' disposal." Pittsburgh's Steelers trained at Two Rivers last year. They were unable to return this summer because of previous commitments. Columbus of the American league is planning to train there, but Bridges said the Bullies would be moved to other headquarters any time Coach Curly Lambeau wants to bring the Packers to town. It is only a forty minute drive from Green Bay to Two Rivers and Lambeau said he would accept Bridges' offer if Green Bay suffered a protracted heat wave. "We send about 500 persons on an average over to Green Bay for every Packer game," Bridges said, "and there probably will be 50 or 100 follow them to Chicago on August 29 if tickets are available. We, like everyone else in Wisconsin, long have looked on the Packers as our team. While there is almost a unanimous belief that they will defeat the All-Stars, a belief that may be too unanimous to be healthy, there is also a more overwhelming belief that an All-Star victory this year will be injurious to Wisconsin football prestige. All Packer fans are hero worshipers, of course, and we are always willing to give the boys one more chance," Bridges said. "This is their second All-Star chance. This is the time they have to make good. We've been saying for years they are the best team in football. We are asking now that they prove it and we are willing to help all we can. We can't play, however. All we can do is offer them every training advantage." While Bridges told of plans being made in other northern Wisconsin towns for the trip to Chicago, the Packers tried on their new uniforms and spent the afternoon practicing various grimaces and techniques for the photographers who will be barred from the field with the beginning of practice tomorrow. Forty-one of the 42 players were in uniform. Gus Zarnas, the frugal Greek who signed several weeks ago, has not reported. It was supposed Zarnas, a former All-Star and Chicago Bear, had turned left somewhere between here and Columbus and would be in as soon as he could get back on the right highway. Eddie Jankowski, another former All-Star who has been having contract trouble, was allowed to take out a uniform and pose for photographers. He will not be permitted to take part in the workouts until he signs.
MELTING SUN HELPS PACKERS PREPARE FOR FRIDAY'S INTRA-SQUAD COLLISION; EXECUTION IS RAGGED
AUG 13 (Green Bay) - The Green Bay Packers, toiling under a melting sun for their engagement with the College All-Americans at Soldier field Aug. 29, rumbled through two workouts yesterday and were in session against last night at the Hotel Northland under the tutelage of Coach Curly Lambeau and his assistant, Red Smith. The Packers got in some husky body contact work during the periods on the drill field, but their coordination was ragged and they had trouble keeping their minds on the signals. Time and again simple plays were messed up through failure of someone to be at the right place at the right time, and the coach expressed disappointment at the squad's showing generally. The men are trying to brush up their plays rapidly in anticipation of their intra-squad game at City stadium next Friday evening, when two divisions of the Packers will meet in combat against each other. The contest is being staged primarily as entertainment for the Elks' state convention, which then will be in session, but all Packer fans are invited. The game will afford fans a No. 1 opportunity to glimpse both newcomers and veterans of the Green Bay squad. Although Lambeau indicated pleasure at the vigor of the contact work yesterday, he was displeased at the execution of the plays. "There were too many assignments missed," he commented. "Too many men didn't have their minds on football." The practice brought out one fact clearly - that the scrap for fullback service this year will be a mighty one. Clarke Hinkle, back in the old groove, apparently as powerful and dangerous as ever, faces competition from three quarters. Larry Buhler, former Minnesota star who was given little play last year, has been shifted to fullback and looks terrific. He has put on 10 or 12 solid pounds, in between seasons, runs hard as a tank, and is filled to the brim with determination. Frank Balazs, another huskily built young fellow, also starting his sophomore season, is in the pink, too, and alternated with Hinkle and Buhler in toting the oval yesterday. Then there is Eddie Jankowski, a Packer veteran, who showed up late for the drill program but is diving into practice with all his old-time vigor...SOMEBODY MAY GO: It is doubtful that the Packers will keep four fullbacks this year, and the candidates are working as though they realized it. Much the same situation exists at center, where four men - George and Bud Svendsen, Tom Greenfield and Charley Brock - are engaged in keen competition. With 43 men on the field - Gust Zarnas, guard, reported yesterday - bitter competition exists for every position. The squad is not likely to be slashed until after the All-Star game. Arnie Herber was given poor protection on passes at several stages of the scrimmage, and his tosses generally were wide. Joe Laws, as usual, sparkled on pass defense, knocking down several tosses and intercepting a couple, Andy Uram and Cecil Isbell also contributed some forward passing...RAY WORKING HARD: Baby Ray looked strong at tackle, at one time hitting Hinkle so hard when the latter's blockers missed their assignment that he brought yelps from the other players. Bob Adkins, the blocking back from Marshall college, did some effective work. Today a Paramount News cameraman was here to take news photos of the squad, having come directly from the All-Star camp.
STARS MAP PASSES
AUG 13 (Evanston, IL) - The College All-Stars are planning to beat the aerial-minded Green Bay Packers at their own game when the two teams meet in the seventh annual All-Star battle in Soldier field Aug. 29. When the Collegians began serious preparations for the game yesterday, Coach Eddie Anderson of Iowa lost no time getting his passers lined up. It was recalled that the All-Stars of 1937 defeated the Packers, 6 to 0, in this manner. Two drills daily are on tap for all of this week.
COACHES ORDER FULL SPEED FOR ALL-STAR GAME
AUG 13 (Green Bay) - Oppressive hear in the morning and a steady drizzle in the afternoon did not prevent the Green Bay Packers from breaking all precedent today by engaging in rough work on the second day of their preparation for the Chicago All-Star game August 29. No professional team in the seven year history of the All-Star series has gotten down to the rigorous phases of conditioning with such rapidity. Seasoned observers took it as an indication that the Packers expect to enter the game with more scrimmage than any of their predecessors, regardless of the risk involved. After newsreel photographers had finished with assignments in their morning drill, blocking aprons were hauled out for a dummy scrimmage. Before the drill progressed through a dozen plays, the Packers turned it into a regular scrimmage, with backs leaving their feet to mow down defenders and ball carriers striving for distance. A halt was called only when too many missed signals brought a rebuke and orders for night classes from Coach Curly Lambeau. At the outset of the All-Star series the professionals shunned scrimmage. Their rosters were too small to permit worthwhile intrasquad skirmishes, and, furthermore, scrimmage does not hold as prominent a place in the pros' normal routine as it does in college, where actual game conditions are the most effective means of teaching inexperienced players. Failure to run away with the All-Stars in the first few games led to more attention being given this phase of conditioning, until finally the New York Giants last summer called in the Chicago Cardinals for two practices behind locked gates. The experiment was an unqualified success. The Giants beat the All-Stars, 9-0. With the case history before him, Lambeau entered into this year's preparations with a definite schedule of intrasquad games and dates for practice encounters against any professional teams he can induce to come to Green Bay. The first of these may be the Columbus Bullies of the American league, who open training this week in nearby Two Rivers. The first intrasquad game is set for Friday night. But with all this planning, Lambeau had not expected that scrimmage would be a part of his program on this second day, nor had he anticipated the spirited rivalry for the jobs which developed suddenly with the impressive showing of a dozen rookies. Restraint was beyond some of the more ambitious players when they got a ball in their hands and had a shot at opponents who were protected in the new blocking pads and the exaggerated combinations of umpires' chest protectors and hockey goalies' shinguards that give the wearer the appearance of something out of "Alice in Wonderland". Within a few minutes, everybody was entering into the spirit of the thing and a rousing little ball game was under way. At its conclusion, there was no doubt of the accuracy of earlier appraisals of the squad's condition. The Packers came to camp prepared for work and football. The afternoon session saw a great deal of effort devoted to punting for the first time. Eight men took part in this drill, indicating that the Packers never will be without a kicker. Clark Hinkle, veteran all-National league fullback, one of the better punters in the league, led the drill, with Cecil Isbell, Arnie Herber, Frank Balazs, Dick Weisgerber, Larry Buhler and Jim Gillette, the rookie halfback from Virginia, all consistently getting away good kicks. Lambeau will form a regular part of the daily drill for the remainder of the training period, Lambeau said, after chiding the players for not being better acquainted with the plays handed out last Saturday morning.
LAMBEAU DIVIDES PACKER SQUAD FOR FRIDAY'S GAME AT STADIUM
AUG 14 (Green Bay) - The City stadium gates will be open well before 8 o'clock next Friday evening, when two teams selected from the squad of the Green Bay Packers will do battle in their annual intra-squad contest. The public is invited, the admission charge being 50 cents. Hundreds of visiting Elks, here for their state convention, are expected to swell the attendance total. The Packers, with the largest squad in their history - 43 are working out twice daily at the practice field - are prepared to offer an entertaining, interesting contest which will provide the team with needed competition, and the fans with a fine a sports evening. Captains for the two Packer teams will be named tonight by Coach Curly Lambeau, who now is engaged in splitting up the squad into two equal parts...ANOTHER BUSY DAY: Yesterday was another busy day on the drill field. In the morning, in addition to the regular program, a Paramount News camerman was on hand to take photos of the big gridiron campaign. In the afternoon, another hot drill was staged under humid conditions, further melting down the big fellows for their tasks ahead. The Packer now are working under conditions close to those they may expect in the All-Star game, and although the schedule is tough, the men aren't complaining. Steps are being taken to afford the best possible setup for their assault on the All-Star ramparts. For one thing, new lightweight uniforms will be worn, attractive in navy blue and gold, with gold pants. The uniforms arrived yesterday at the team's training quarters...PLAYERS MISS SIGNALS: Another performance of missed assignments yesterday afternoon had the coach a bit worried. Although it's early in the season to expect perfection in the execution of plays, the coach thought that too many of the Packers didn't seem to have their minds on what they were doing, and he so expressed himself. Don Hutson, left end who has been snagging passes for the Packers since 1935, demonstrated yesterday that he still is at the peak of that important specialty. During the signal drill, which was close to a scrimmage in that the defensive line wore blocking pads and roughed it up, Hutson was spearing footballs all over the field, from most of the passing backs on the squad...MEETING IN MORNING: Starting today, the squad was given an additional assignment. Each morning at 8:30, before it visits the practice field, it will assemble to hear an outline of the day's work, with suggestions and instructions where needed from the coach. Coach Lambeau, Head Coach Eddie Anderson of the All-Stars and Sports Editor Arch Ward of the Chicago Tribune, will appear over radio station WGN at Chicago Monday evening, Aug. 26, to discuss the great football classic. That same day a rules consultation will be held, at which Lambeau will fight for the professionals' rights.
LOOKING UP IN THE REALM OF SPORTS
AUG 14 (Green Bay) - Notes taken from the cuff at the Packers' practice field yesterday afternoon, while watching the big fellows melt off that surplus weight under the hot August sun: A few of the Packers still are overweight, but they are rapidly approaching the playing standard. Two or three of the Packers who run easily to excess poundage, and always report over their desired weight, are lighter than usual this year. Spectators are noticing the great resemblance between Charley Brock, center, and Beattie Feathers, halfback, who always are being mistaken for each other by those who don't know them well...Benny Allard, East High's forward passing star, was leaning against the fence and gave forth the information that his credits have been accepted at the University of South Carolina, a Southern conference member, mopping his brow in the humid Wisconsin temperature. Ben wondered how that Southern football is going to feel, after playing on cool Fox River Valley conference gridirons at night. News of Allard's choice was of interest to Rock Stroud, injured Bluejay left fielder, who was nearby. Stroud is a graduate of South Carolina, where he was captain of the 1939 football team. He reminds you of Bobby Monnett. South Carolina is coached by Rex Enright, former Packer back...There are three members of the Packers - Don Hutson, Feathers and Joe Laws - will be playing in their third All-Star game. Feathers and Laws were teammates on the All-America squad of 1934. Hutson was with the All-Stars the following year. Feathers played against the All-Stars while with the Chicago Bears in 1935, while Hutson and Laws both were with the Packers on that hot night in 1937 when Mr. Baugh dropped one into Mr. Tinsley's hands.
CORDILL FIRST CASUALTY OF ALL-STARS' TRAINING
AUG 14 (Chicago) - Olie Cordell, fleet halfback from Rice Institute, is the first casualty in the College All-Star camp. Crodill broke a toe on his left foot in the morning drill yesterday in Dyche stadium, but is expected to play against the Green Bay Packers in Soldier field, Aug. 29. Cordill's injury wasn't learned until several hours afterward. He apparently suffered it during a sprint downfield under a kick, but at that time he didn't feel a severe pain. Upon reporting for the afternoon drill, he was sent to the team physician because of the swelling in his foot and the subsequent X-ray revealed the injury. Cordill's foot was placed in a cast, which cannot be removed for 10 days. Since the Texan is one of the finest punters on the squad, he probably will get into the lineup at some stage of the battle...ALL-STARS ARE SPEEDY: The keynote of this All-Star squad is speed. While the boys still are drilling without pads and concentrating on offensive plays, there is no let-up in the emphasis of speed. Coach Eddie Anderson, at a meeting of his assistants yesterday noon in the Goodrich house between the team's practices, drew up the final pass plays to supplement the running attack. With frequent suggestions from Tad Wieman of Princeton, and Lowell Danson of Tulane, Anderson drew the course of the ends and halfbacks who will decry the defense or receive the passes. There is no secret about Anderson's plans for the All-Stars. He expects to have his most difficult problem later when he must devise a system of defense against the Packers' passes thrown by Cecil Isbell and Arnie Herber. But while this will be a task for the All-Star staff, Anderson hopes to give Curly Lambeau and Red Smith of the Packers sleepless nights thinking of means to stop passes by Nile Kinnick and others...FAVORS OPEN GAME: The All-Stars have power for line smashes with such forwards as Harry Smith of Southern California, possibly the best guard in the history of the All-American-Professional competition; Win Pedersen, Hal Method, John Haman, Stan Andersen and Walt Merrill, to mention on a few of the men from tackle to tackle who know how this is done. But the All-Star coaching staff is agreed on an air game as much as is feasible. Coach Anderson was convinced after the 1938 victory of the collegians over the Washington Redskins, 28 to 16, that aggressive, head-up football, with emphasis on speed and passing, is to be preferred over a more rugged and cautious system of advance. For cautious strategy, the New York Giants take first honors with their 9 to 0 conquest last August. Three field goals won for New York...DIDN'T SCORE TOUCHDOWN: It is one of the unusual facts of the rivalry between the All-Stars and the professionals that in winning two games the pros have failed to score a touchdown. In 1935, the Bears won, 5 to 0, with a field goal by Jack Manders and a safety. Last year's scoring has been explained. The professionals' touchdowns were made in 1936 when the Detroit Lions tied the All-Stars and in 1938 when Washington was soundly trounced. To improve the All-Stars' wide open running and passing game, several halfbacks and quarterbacks may be converted to fullback. The All-American coaches are not interested primarily in power.
FEATHERS, LAWS JOIN FORCES TO BEAT ALL-STARS
AUG 14 (Green Bay) - Six years ago in Soldiers' field two little halfbacks dug in against the huge Chicago Bear line and twice penetrated within twelve yards of the professionals' goal in the first Chicago Tribune All-Star game in 1934. Today these two halfbacks, Beattie Feathers of Tennessee and Joe Laws of Iowa were together again in a backfield combination with every indication that they might be starters in an All-Star game once more when the Green bay Packers meet the collegians on Soldiers' field August 29. Laws and Feathers, who first teamed as starting halfbacks in the 1934 East-West game, then led the Tribune's first nationwide poll, were placed in a backfield with fullback Clark Hinkle and Bob Adkins, rookie blocking back from Marshall college, as the Packers engaged in two drills today, preparatory to the first intrasquad game Friday night. With Don Hutson, veteran Packers end, they will be the only players who will have participated in three Chicago All-Star games. Feathers is a newcomer to Packer ranks. He was signed as a free agent after he had been released by Brooklyn to which he was traded by the Bears in 1938. He is not a stranger to the world champions, however, for it was against them that he piled up much of his yardage as a Bear rookie in 1934 when he set an all-time National league record for ground gaining in one season. Following in the wake of Bronko Nagurski, one of football's greatest blockers, the former Tennessee sprint champion gained 1,004 yards that year. Placing him in a backfield with Hinkle and Laws indicates that Coach Curly Lambeau plans to rely heavily for former All-Stars in the Chicago game. There are 16 former members of Tribune All-American squads on the Packer roster, and it will be possible for Lambeau to start an entire All-Star alumni eleven. Such an alignment might not be the Packers' most effective unit against National league competition later on, but it probably would be better primed mentally for the All-Star tussle. Players who have been members of the college squad are not so likely to underestimate the All-Stars. This possibility has a special appeal to Lambeau. It was indifference that led to the Packers' downfall in their first appearance in the Chicago game in 1937. Adkins earned his place in this quartet by exhibiting speed and blocking ability in the dummy scrimmage which turned into a roughhouse workout yesterday. He has demonstrated considerable pass catching ability and only one back, rookie Jim Gillette of Virginia, is faster than the taciturn six footer from Marshall college. Lambeau ordered a morning skull session today, herding the squad into a meeting room in the Northland hotel immediately after breakfast. Following a lecture, the players were given a written examination on assignments, Adkins turned in the only perfect paper. From the lecture, the squad hiked out to Municipal stadium where it drilled for an hour and a half on signals. Pass defense occupied it in the afternoon. A short dummy scrimmage was attempted, but when rivalry for jobs threatened to turn the session into another actual scrimmage Lambeau called a halt. Hereafter pass defense will come in for some attention at each workout. Lambeau and his assistant, Red Smith, expect the All-Stars to base their entire attack on the passing ability of Nile Kinnick, Kenny Washington and Banks McFadden, Clemson halfback, was stationed at fullback where sweeping runs, after fake spinners, will pay dividends. Amby Schindler, Southern California, Bill Hutchinson, Dartmouth, and Grenville Lansdell of the Trojans are other possibilities. Kickoff drill and dummy scrimmage were particular points emphasized yesterday. Plays will be called from a huddle, Anderson said. The orders for today again call for a double daylight practice.
PACKER GREENS, PACKER WHITES READY FOR INTRA-SQUAD BATTLE
AUG 15 (Green Bay) - Two teams selected from the Green Bay Packer football squad, the "Greens" and "Whites", are ready for the annual intrasquad game, schedule for City stadium tomorrow evening at 8 o'clock. Coach Curly Lambeau today announced the division of his large squad. He offered the lineups without comment, but a glance of their makeup indicates that the Whites will attempt to score primarily through the air, while the Greens will stake their advancement along the ground. Both teams are loaded with experienced, veteran material and young hustling candidates. The Whites appear stronger at center, guards and ends. The Greens have fine tackle strength. Most of the Packers' best forward passers are with the Whites, while the majority of outstanding ball carriers are on the Green side...FIND CONDITIONS HUMID: The team is working out under sweltering conditions for the All-Star game, but Coach Lambeau seems satisfied at this break in the weather, regarding it as a valuable conditioner. The players are likely to run into the same humid stuff at Soldier field Aug. 29, and by that time they should be trained down thoroughly, and used to it. The Packers this season are in the happy condition of having a giant squad, almost every member of which appears to have a clear chance to make the grade as a permanent player for 1940. Lambeau stated yesterday, after the second drill of the day, that he did not recall a previous year in which so many of the players, new and veteran, were in the race for definite positions. The squad probably will not be cut before Sept. 12, he said. By that time, with three games under their belt, all Packers should have indicated pretty definitely whether or not they are capable of making the grade. The NFL player limit has been raised to 33 this year, and at present 43 Packers are here, with six more coming from two All-Star teams. This vast assortment will intensify the competition, which is already as keen as it ever has been before...BAD HEADACHE AHEAD: Apparently a severe headache is in store for the coach, as in all positions several highly talented and husky men are trying for steady work, with no apparent intention of losing out. The Packers followed a routine schedule
yesterday. After the rough work of the day before, they were turned out in their sweatsuits, and spent the biggest part of their time ripping through signals. Their execution, timing and knowledge of assignments was much improved over recent practices. At one stage they turned loose a barrage of beautifully directed passes, with Laws, Mulleneaux, Hutson and Gantenbein making some especially fine catches. Several sets of teams rotated on the dummy linemen, keeping the action going constantly, and it was fast action. Part of the improvement was due to an overtime skull session which the Bays held yesterday morning, when they were given a written quiz. Tonight the squad will work out under the lights at the stadium, getting their eyes tuned up for Friday night's appearance, the first opportunity Green Bay fans have had to see the team in competitive action this year.
BLOOD IN GREEN BAY
AUG 15 (Green Bay) - Johnny Blood, popular vagabond halfback of bygone days, is a visitor in Green Bay today and offered to assist Coach Curly Lambeau of the Packers in any way he may be useful. After leaving the Packers, Blood served as coach of the Pittsburgh Pirates, now the Steelers.
PACKERS PROTEST ALL-STARS' SCRIMMAGE WITH CARDS
AUG 15 (Green Bay) - Opposed to the principles involved in a NFL team helping the College All-Stars prepare for a game against another National league member, Coach Curly Lambeau of the Green Bay Packers today cancelled two practice games scheduled with the Chicago Cardinals. Lambeau's action followed announcement that the Cardinals had been engaged to scrimmage the All-Stars on August 22 and 24. Previously the Cardinals had agreed to come to Green Bay next Monday and Tuesday. As a result of Lambeau's action, Arch Ward, sports editor of the Chicago Tribune and originator of the All-Star game, notified the Packers that the Cardinals would not be permitted to meet the collegians, now in training in Evanston for the seventh annual All-Star game August 29. In the future Ward decreed no National league team would be allowed to assist either of the contestants in the All-Star game. Last year the New York Giants defeated the All-Stars, 9 to 0, largely through the benefits received from two practice games against the Cardinals their Superior, Wis., camp. The proposed Cardinal-All-Star scrimmage, Lambeau said in explaining his decision, would not only give the collegians another advantage over the professionals, but violated the spirit of the All-Star competition. Furthermore, permitting the Cardinals to spend two days in the Packer camp and then going to Evanston was not exactly an intelligent method of safeguarding his team's chances in a contest as important as the Chicago game, the Packer coach added. If Eddie Anderson, the All-Star head coach, who got along all last fall with a dozen men, cannot find sufficient material among his roster of 63 All-Stars to give the collegians adequate scrimmage, Lambeau says he is willing for Eddie to recruit outside help, but he does not believe that it is ethical for such help to come from the National league. In the loyalists' meeting places, up and down Main Street and in nearby communities, Lambeau's action and Ward's subsequent decision were interpreted as a defeat for the Packers in their first skirmish with the 1940 All-Stars. It was the consensus that the All-Star coaches were not as anxious to scrimmage the Cardinals as they were to prevent the Cardinals from scrimmaging the Packers. It appeared to be a neat bit of astute coaching finesse. Cancellation of the two practice games disrupts Lambeau's training schedule and makes it certain that he will not get near the rough work he deems necessary for the All-Star game. As a substitute, he will be forced to rely on intrasquad games, the first of which will be played tomorrow night. Meanwhile, the Packers maintained the spirited tempo set in early drills. After the 8:30 lecture, which will be a regular morning feature until the squad goes to Chicago on August 28, the players stepped through an hour drill, nearly all of which was conducted in a downpour that left huge puddles on the field. In this half hour storm, one of the most severe of the summer, the backs worked on pass defense and linemen charged the bucking sled through miniature lakes. The first night drill was held tonight. Half or more of the remaining workouts are planned under the lights. Lambeau feels night sessions will serve the dual purpose of accustoming the players to the conditions they will encounter in Chicago and also will save much of the energy that is sapped by the oppressive heat which has been followed by intermittent showers for the last week.
GREEN MEETS WHITES IN STADIUM CONTEST
AUG 16 (Green Bay) - Forty-three members of the Green Bay Packer football squad tonight will try to prove their fitness for permanent occupation in a gridiron way this fall, when they step onto the turf of City stadium for the team's annual intra-squad contest. The game will start at 8 o'clock, with the squad halved between the "Greens" and the "Whites". Coach Curly Lambeau yesterday decided he wouldn't appoint captains for the two teams. Instead, whoever is calling the signals will serve as team leader, which means that the opening whistle will see Arnold Herber in charge of the Whites and Cecil Isbell leading the Giants...NO CARDINAL SCRIMMAGES: A projected set of scrimmage game with the Chicago Cardinals, which were planned next week, were called off by Coach Lambeau, on the basis that the games would give the All-Americans, now drilling at Evanston, a right to scrimmage the Cardinals also. As a matter of fact, the scrimmages with the All-Stars had been arranged, and rather than permit the collegians to face a National league team and thereby benefit, Lambeau decided that the Packers could do without the Cardinal presence here. The Chicago Tribune raised a howl on the grounds that the decision was a tactical victory for the All-Stars, but actually the matter seems considerably less important than that. The Packers rarely have scrimmaged against an outside team during their practice sessions, and the Green Bay squad is sufficiently large to provide adequate replacements during the rough work...CHANGE LINEUPS OFTEN: Just how the Green and White teams will line up tonight at the opening kickoff is a matter of conjecture and won't be decided until just before game time. Both teams will have ample reserves, and the rosters will be switched frequently as Coach Lambeau and Assistant Red Smith get lines on the talent. The Packers worked out during yesterday morning's rainstorm, and then called off practice until the evening, when they trotted around for an hour under the stadium lamps. The forward passing drill indicated that the receivers will have no trouble picking off the oval during the night lighted game, and its extent showed that the aerial game will be stressed by both sides tonight. The Packers need the night work, as in addition to the All-Star struggle Aug. 29, they will meet the Washington Redskins in a night engagement at State Fairgrounds, Milwaukee, Sept. 2. Gates will be open soon after 7 o'clock tonight, and no seats will be reserved. Admission is 55 cents for adults and 10 cents for children.
LOOKING UP IN THE REALM OF SPORTS
AUG 16 (Green Bay) - Not meaning disrespect to a good half of the Green Bay Packer football squad, which is concentrated among the "Green" forces for tonight's intra-team battle at City stadium, but we like the looks of the White boys, as a group packing sufficient offensive wallop to acquire the better point total. Not that the Greens lack punch, in any sense. Any backfield including Cecil Isbell, Larry Buhler, Clarke Hinkle and Joe Laws has the capacity of moving the football along the ground in large gulps. The Whites, too, will have the use of Isbell's right arm in the aerial department, and maybe one or two other White backs may surprise the folks. You will remember that Harry Jacunski, who caught more than one long toss last season, including a very crucial one against the Bears at Chicago, is a member of the White brigade. But there is something about those Greens which seems to spell touchdowns. The only expert passer which the team appears to have is Arnie Herber (unless Beattie Feathers or Andy Uram fools 'em), but Herber is not exactly in the spot of an untried rookie where forward passing is concerned. And he can fling it at people like Don Hutson, Carl Mulleneaux and Milt Gantenbein, to say nothing of his own backs, who include such well-known performers as Feathers, Uram, Eddie Jankowski and Frank Balazs. As to the new men, they may top the scale of victory one way or the other, and tip it decisively. Players who have looked great loping around in sweatsuits, and spearing passes without hindrance, may show something very different when the competitive heat is turned on. Offhand, we would say that the White line is stronger, except at the tackles, where the Greens have the services of Bill Lee and Baby Ray, the Packers' two starters at the positions last season. In line play also, the new men will play a deciding factor, as they have had scant opportunity to show that blocking and tackling during squad drills.
PACKER GREENS ARE VICTORS IN OFFENSIVE SHOW BEFORE 2,500 GRIDIRON FANS, 34-14
AUG 17 (Green Bay) - Under conditions almost as severe meteorologically as those of the 1937 All-Star game, the squads of Green Bay Packers battled through four periods of an exhibition football game before 2,500 at City stadium last night and wound up with the basketball score of 34 to 14. Cecil Isbell's Greens defeated Arnold Herber's White, and if any Packers were overweight when the game started, they were down to rock bottom when it ended. Spectators sat in melting heat and watched a contest of breaks, with most of the scores resulting directly or indirectly from misuse of the forward pass. Each team turned loose 16 tosses, and seven of the total were intercepted. Long runs, with Eddie Jankowski, Jimmy Lawrence and Joe Laws traveling the farthest, were the specialty of the evening, and added an unexpected measure of thrills to the practice game. The final three periods were cut drastically in time to save the players from unnecessary punishment. As a conditioner, the contest was tops. The Packers toiled and sweated under much the same setup they may expect at Soldier field one week from next Thursday, and while they didn't enjoy the temperature, soaring around in the 80's, they deserved a lot of good out of the work. Just how much progress was made by the individual players during the torrid evening won't be revealed until the squad settles back to its practice routine, but there were any number of bright spots to cheer the spectators...FULLBACKS RUN HARD: For one thing, the Packers are loaded with a quintet of the hardest-running fullbacks in the game. Larry Buhler, Clarke Hinkle, Eddie Jankowski and Frank Balazs appeared capable of dishing out a lot of headaches this fall. The overhead game, while it boomeranged frequently and missed fire on many more occasions, clicked every so often in spectacular fashion, although no rookie sharpshooters appeared during the evening. Jimmy Lawrence, who ran and passed with adeptness for the Greens, provided a pleasant wallop, and the blocking of Bob Adkins, quarterback from Marshall college, opened a lot of eyes, making Adkins a sure fire candidate for his position. Not many of the veterans fell down on their assignments, although the many breaks of the game gave a premium to the offense and somewhat overshadowed the defensive maneuvers. Tackling in general was ragged. Jim Gillette, a right halfback from Virginia, showed speed and an ability to go after passes...GOES FULL TIME: Only the first period went
the full length, and it was scoreless. An 18-yard forward pass gain from Cecil Isbell to Dick Weisgerber - a pair who played hard football all evening - gave the Greens a scoring chance which went glimmering when Tiny Engebretsen's full field goal attempt from the 29-yard line twisted to the left. The old Herber to Hutson aerial combination clicked twice in a row for the Whites on the next sequence of plays, but the advance was checked on the Green 20-yard line, when the Whites lost the ball on downs. At this stage it began to look like a low scoring contest. Late in the period the Whites moved in, after Hutson intercepted Lawrence's forward pass and got off an 18-yard return to the Green 21-yard stripe. Jankowski was dumped on a line play, but the Greens drew a 5-yard penalty, and on Herber's forward pass to Feather, which went sour, the Greens were penalized again, giving the Whites a first down on the 11-yard line...BEATTIE GOES THROUGH: Feathers dodged through center for five yards, and Adkins added three on a quarterback sneak as the period ended. Feathers was stopped cold on the next thrust at center, but on the fourth down he ran wide to the left, pivoted and made a spectacular snatch of Herber's forward pass as he fell over the goal line, Milt Gantenbein's arms wrapped around him. With Herber holding the ball, Jankowski placekicked the extra point, and the score was 7 to 0, in the Whites' favor. The Whites kicked off, and Lawrence broke loose on a sensational return of 80 yards, displaying a shifty change of pace as he raced down to the White 15-yard stripe with benefit of expert blocking en route. The Whites were penalized five yards on Isbell's unsuccessful line play, but on the next play Isbell passed over center to Harry Jacunski, who gathered in the ball unmolested for a touchdown. Hinkle's try for the extra point, with Laws holding the ball, was blocked...SCHNEIDMAN GETS PASS: After the next kickoff Herman Schneidman of the Greens intercepted Herber's forward pass and returned eight yards to the White 17. Three plays netted four yards, and on last down Isbell ran on an attempted forward pass play, clearing right end and stepping over the line for a touchdown. Hinkle's kick for the extra point were low, but the Whites were offside and Isbell tried it, making the point. The score was 13 to 7 in the Greens' favor. The Whites came back hard, but the threat was halted when Isbell intercepted a forward pass by Herber on the Green 5-yard line and returned to the White 34, where Uram tackled him. Late in the half an Isbell to Gillette forward pass gained 14 yards, the receiver going out of bounds on the White 1-yard stripe. Buhler rammed over right guard for a touchdown on the next play, and when Isbell kicked the extra point the Greens held a 20 to 7 advantage...LAWRENCE LOOSE AGAIN: A 31-yard spring by Lawrence in the third period, during which he adroitly evaded George Svendsen, Herber and Red Olson, gave the Greens another touchdown, to which Ernie Smith added the extra point. The count was 27 to 7. There was a momentary flurry right after that, when Herber's forward pas was intercepted by Buhler, and a toss by Laws was grabbed off by George Svendsen. A long pass from Lawrence to Jacunski gained 40 yards and gave the Greens a first down on the West 28, but after the fourth period started Jankowski intercepted Uram's forward pass on the White 26 to prevent the advance...80-YARD RETURN: When the Jank picked off the ball, he tucked it under his arm and got up speed for an 80-yard return which didn't end until he crossed the Green goal line for a White touchdown. Dick Weisgerber was the last man to snipe for the runner. Jankowski booted the extra point, and the Green lead was 27-14. A 66-yard sprint by Joe Laws from scrimmage late in the game set the stage for the final Green score. Weisgerber cracked center for six yards, bringing the ball to the White 8-yard line, and in two hard pokes Hinkle added four more yards. Uram traveled fast around right end for a touchdown, and Weisgerber kicked the extra point.
NO SERIOUS INJURIES
AUG 17 (Green Bay) - No serious injuries were acquired by the Green Bay Packers in last night's intra-squad game, Dr. W.W. Kelly, team physician, announced today. Charley Brock, center, was hurt in the shoulder, and leg bruises were picked up by Jim Lawrence, halfback; Red Olson, quarterback; and Lou Midler, guard. All will be available for the All-Star game.
LOOKING UP IN THE REALM OF SPORTS
AUG 17 (Green Bay) - Coach Curly Lambeau has been speaking in a light-hearted way about the intensity of the struggle for positions on the 1940 Green Bay Packer football squad, which has been wading through its drill schedule four deep, but last night's intra-squad game at City stadium gave indications that many an aspirin may be consumed by the coach before he selects the boys who won't be in uniform after Sept. 12. A lot of folks, for instance, figured that Jimmy Lawrence, the former Cardinal acquired by the Packers in mid-season last year, was here principally on a tryout basis, his attitude being "let me show you that I'm worth what I want." If Lawrence is a has-been, he didn't prove it to a lot of people last night. Giving the fellow his just praise, he was the star of the game, and probably attracted more comment than any other player on the field. Granted that one good game doesn't make a lifetime record, Jimmy still must feel pretty good about things today. Not knocking the other centers - three of the finest middle men in the pro football whirl - but it does seem elegant to witness big George Svendsen in action at City stadium again. We didn't realize how much that large guy had been missed until he broke into action again. No noses were shattered in the process, but the collision between Svendsen and Clarke Hinkle in the fourth period went down as the sensation of the game, barring possibly Beattie Feathers' stab of Arnold Herber's forward pass for a touchdown in the second quarter. When two moving objects like George Svendsen and Clarke Hinkle come together en route, and traveling in opposite directions, the sight is well worth a trip to any stadium. Hinkle is a tough man, and prides himself upon it. When his head-on smash with Svendsen knocking him flat, he scrambled to his feet like a cat and was all for continuing his advance, except that the officials ruled that forward progress very definitely had been stopped. Getting back to the center proposition, we don't envy Curly's problem. Charley Brock was the line riot of the year in 1939, as a freshman. Tom Greenfield, one of the biggest men on the team, never has failed in a given assignment. Bud Svendsen is a center who would be welcomed by any team in the National league. George Svendsen was the league's best man at his position when he retired - Mel Hein or no Mel Hein - and he gives every indication of picking up right where he left off. The Packers very probably won't carry four centers for the entire season. So you can see what we man by the reference to the aspiring bottle. It's a dirty job to slash large slices of talent off a squad you'd like to keep intact.
LAMBEAU AVOIDS ROW OVER WHO'LL PRACTICE WHOM
AUG 17 (Green Bay) - Coach Curly Lambeau of the Green Bay Packers today dismissed with a shrug the statements of Eddie Anderson, head coach of the college All-Stars, concerning the cancellation of the Packers' two practice games with the Chicago Cardinals. Last week Anderson asked Coach Jimmy Conzelman to bring the Cardinals to Evanston for scrimmages and the offer was accepted. This led to Lambeau cancelling two scheduled practice sessions with the Cardinals and the request that the All-Stars do likewise. Anderson replied that he still wanted scrimmage with the Cardinals and criticized Lambeau for his stand. "Anderson is unduly excited," Lambeau said today. "We don't care who the All-Stars scrimmage. Our position is that we don't believe it is cricket for a NFL team to help the All-Stars prepare for a game against another National league team. When it appeared that the Cardinals were going to help Anderson, we did not attempt to stop them; we merely cancelled our dates with them. I was quoted correctly, but misinterpreted by Anderson and you can quote me further as saying that we will never scrimmage a team which also scrimmages the All-Stars, no matter what league it is in." Arch Ward, sports editor of the Tribune and originator of the College All-Star game, has ruled that the Cardinals and collegians would not be allowed to scrimmage. He also decreed that in the future no National league team would be allowed to assist either of the contestants in the All-Star game. Last night he reiterated that the Cardinals would not be allowed to scrimmage either the All-Stars nor the Packers.
INJURIES WORRY PACKERS AS RAIN HALTS PRACTICE
AUG 18 (Green Bay) - There was no sunshine in Green Bay today. Ten hours of continual rainfall forced the Packers into idleness on the seventh day of preparation for the Chicago All-Star game and a resume of the week's progress was as encouraging as a coroner's report on suicide. Water covered the practice field when the squad assembled in Municipal stadium for a three hour drill this morning. There was nothing to do except call off practice, leaving the world champions with only 10 workouts in their first week of organized drill for the most important assignment on their season's schedule. The gloom was deepened when Charles Brock, star center, and Larry Craig, the Packer's great blocking back, reported no improvement in their injuries. Brock was unable to lift his arm and the swelling in Craig's infected knee has increased during the night. Brock was ordered back to the hospital for more X-rays of the shoulder jammed up in Friday's practice game. X-rays made yesterday revealed no fractures. Examination will be made now for a separation or nerve bruise, either one of which, physicians said, would keep the former Nebraska and All-Star center out of the Chicago game. Craig's case is more mystifying. Several weeks ago the former South Carolina quarterback bumped his knee in an automobile accident. The injury was diagnosed as a bruise. Shortly before he reported for practice a boil developed on the bump. Others appeared, until the entire knee became infected. If X-ray examinations do not reveal the source of infection, it may be necessary to operate. Only one factor has developed to encourage the army of loyalists who look to the champions for revenge for the humiliation suffered in 1937 when they descended on Soldiers' field to see their heroes "massacre those college kids" and came away crushed under a 6 to 0 All-Star victory. That factor is the squad's possibilities. This year's Packer team has the material to become one of the finest in professional football history. It may suddenly find itself and enter Soldiers' field August 29 ready to perform to the full extent of its ability. Then again it may take three or four games to transform the squad from a group of stars into a coordinated unit. The Packers are notoriously slow starters. Condition is one of the chief problems now. A majority of the 43 players reported in good shape and need only the routine repetition of assignments and fundamentals to bring them to their peak. But others, among whom are a number of key men, are overweight. These men have been assigned special exercises and will be given additional work at each practice beginning tomorrow. Coaches Curly Lambeau and Red Smith have been concerned mostly over the passing. Arnie Herber, who is reported to be recovering rapidly from the leg injury he suffered in Friday's game, has been wild. None of the passers appear as far advanced in this art as in the first week of drill for the 1937 All-Star game. With the Packers committed to an offensive game, with emphasis on passes, this situation is cause for alarm. Among the Packers' assets at the moment are Cecil Isbell. The former Purdue star goes back into the All-Star game determined to make as impressive a showing as he did in 1938 when he led the collegians to victory over the Washington Redskins and won the first All-Star most valuable trophy. He played the type of football Packer fans hoped for all last season and saw only flashes.
PACKERS REST OVER SUNDAY, GET BACK TO HEAVY SCHEDULE TODAY
AUG 19 (Green Bay) - Getting the benefit of something which looked more like football weather, the Green Bay Packers were back on the practice field today, following a weekend's rest after their intra-squad game. Coach Curly Lambeau, who met with the players for a skull drill this morning and planned two drills during the day, checked over his team today and found no one who positively will be unavailable for the All-Star game at Soldier field a week from Thursday. Seven or eight of the Packers were shaken up badly in the intra-squad combat, and were excused from heavy work today, but the only two causing concerns were Larry Craig, end, and Charley Brock, center. Brock's shoulder was damaged Friday night and he was taken to a hospital for X-ray examinations. which revealed no fracture. It is possible, however, than a separation occurred, as he cannot lift his arm freely, and the injured wing is being watched carefully. Craig was involved in an automobile accident about two weeks before the drill season opened, and has had leg trouble. If he runs for 10 minutes or so, the member goes "dead' on him, and he was not used in Friday's game. Lambeau said today that he hopes both Brock and Craig will be on tap for the All-Star game, and he is certain that the rest of the damaged members will be ready for play. The weekend rest seemed to do the Packers a lot of good, as the intra-squad battle was played under steaming conditions. There is every probability that the Chicago contest will run into somewhat the same temperatures, and if so the Green Bay team is well dehydrated and ready for action. At any rate, the Packers won't be caught napping by the extreme heat as they were in 1937...HAVE FIVE RESERVES: Coach Lambeau expects, too, that his extensive reserves - the Packers will enter the game with 43 men available for duty, barring casualties - will avoid repetition of the player shortage he experienced in 1937. The Packers will be drilled at double speed from now until the All-Star game, and once the classic is completed there won't be a bit of rest, as Packers and Washington Redskins tangle at State fair park Labor day, Sept. 2, in an exhibition game. The engagement with the Redskins finished, the Packers will return to Green Bay and settle down to hard work preparatory to opening their National league schedule against the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday, Sept. 15.
4 DRILL SESSIONS MAKE PACKERS ALL-STAR MINDED
AUG 19 (Green Bay) - Green Bay's world champion Packers began taking the College All-Stars seriously today. As evidence of his displeasure with their progress to date, Coach Curly Lambeau ordered four sessions beginning with an early morning lecture and finished with a special drill for overweight and sluggish members of the cast. This will be the daily routine until the desired improvement is attained, Lambeau said, indicating that it would continue right up until the night of the game in Chicago August 29, if necessary. Lambeau's goal is a squad equally well-conditioned, physically and mentally, as the one which left here a year ago for Dallas to run up 31 points in the first 25 minutes against a group of southwestern All-Stars. That squad was in superb shape. After the early morning lecture today, the squad stepped through an hour and a half of calisthenics, kicking and signal drill. The afternoon's work was opened with an hour's meeting of the backs and ends downtown, and individual rough work for the tackles, guards and centers. Later in the afternoon the backs and ends joined the linemen on the practice field for more offensive work. At the conclusion of this session, players who have been slow about learning assignments were kept at work for an additional half hour, running signals against six comeback dummies fastened in the ground in an alignment simulating a defensive line. Today's kicking drills were the best of the training period. Clarke Hinkle, veteran fullback, who disappointed Coaches Lambeau and Red Smith with a miserable performance in Friday night's practice game, exhibited some of the form that has made him one of the NFL's outstanding punters and placekickers. Frank Balasz, who covets Hinkle's job, and Cecil Isbell also appeared to have regained their punting skill. Kicking will be given considerable attention in the next eight days. It was punting that led to much of the Packers' embarrassment in their first All-Star game appearance in 1937. Hinkle, Arnie Herber and Bobby Monnett, who were doing the Packers' kicking at the time, were unable to match the long, booming punts several All-Stars sent spiraling down Soldiers' field, and the Packers found themselves driven back every time they got an attack underway. Lambeau does not intend to have history repeat itself. He has among his 43 players enough good punters to match any team in kicking. However, the problem here is the same as in other departments. The Packers have it, but will it be ready by August 29? Lambeau has about given up on Charles Brock, the former Nebraska star, who was injured in Friday's intrasquad game. X-ray examinations today revealed Brock has suffered a separation of the acromio-clavicular joint in the shoulder and severe bruises of the deep tissue of the entire shoulder girdle. Brock did not participate in today's workouts. Physicians declined to say whether he would be able to play against the All-Stars. Other cripples, Larry Craig and Herber, were reported greatly improved. The remainder of the squad is troubled by nothing more than leg stiffness, which is not serious enough to challenge Lambeau's plans for a scrimmage tomorrow morning.
FOOTBALL WEATHER SPURS PACKERS, IN PRACTICE FOR ALL-STAR BATTLE
AUG 20 (Green Bay) - A cool wind and invigorating football weather helped the Green Bay Packers yesterday as they returned to the drill field in preparation for the seventh annual All-Star game, but the squad still showed the need for extensive work before kickoff time Aug. 29. Coach Curly Lambeau, surveying yesterday's dummy scrimmage, pointed out that the appearance at Chicago is scheduled for one week from next Thursday, and indicated that missed assignments during signal drill still occur too frequently to suit him. The team is in almost as good physical condition as it can get, as the second All-Star test in its history approaches, but the players' mental edge, so vital for a victory at Chicago, hasn't asserted itself as yet...TRIES VARIOUS COMBINATIONS: Lambeau tried all varieties of backfield combinations yesterday, with the backs carrying the ball and passing for an hour straight. Men were tossed indiscriminately into the blocking back, left half, right half and fullback positions. There was one with Glenn (Red) Olson at quarter, Beattie Feathers at left half, Joe Laws at right and Clarke Hinkle at full. Another had Olson, Feathers, Laws and Eddie Jankowski. Then there was one with Bob Adkins, Cecil Isbell, Jim Gillette and Hinkle, another with Herman Schneidman, Isbell, Johnny Blood and Jankowski; another with Larry Craig, Feathers, Laws and Hinkle; another with Dick Weisgerber, Jimmy Lawrence, Arnold Herber and Frank Balazs. In short, the coach failed to provide a tipoff as to his favorite backfield, if there is such a unit, as he pushed his ball carriers and blockers through their workout without partiality...BLOOD TRAINS WITH TEAM: The status of Johnny Blood with the squad wasn't apparent, but the former Vagabond was working as hard as every, caught a few passes, served on defense during the dummy scrimmage and ran a few signals. Previously he had offered his services to Lambeau in any capacity desired. The injury problem, while not severe, is proving vexing to the coach. Craig was romping around in fine form yesterday, but his leg, damaged in an auto accident several weeks ago, is being watched carefully, and Charley Brock, center, continues to sport a lame shoulder. Lambeau commented with disfavor upon the appearance of eight or nine strained leg muscles, the result of running upon the uneven practice field ground. The newly sodded area has displayed a tendency to sink in odd places, and now affords an extremely rough surface. Lambeau indicated that nothing could be done about it this year, but added that he blamed it for the epidemic of pulled muscles...JACUNSKI SPEARS BALL: Beattie Feathers was passing well yesterday morning, and Harry Jacunski made several handsome catches. Joe Laws, who has a knack of floating under the ball while traveling under it, picked off his share, and a sore leg muscle didn't prevent Don Hutson from grabbing the usual number of aerials. The Packers drilled over and over again on plays involving sharp, short passes of the type which may not produce immediate touchdowns, but which gobble up steady slices of land. Concluding the workout, the field goal kickers spent a few extra minutes booting ovals at the posts, with good results. The punting of Hinkle as the best of the practice season. Trying for field goals were Hinkle, George Svendsen, Tiny Engebretsen, Eddie Jankowski, Fred Shirey, Hutson and Adkins. In the afternoon Assistant Coach Red Smith gathered with the guards, tackles and centers for individual rough work, while Coach Lambeau met downtown with his backs and ends for a special skull session. After that, the second group repaired to the field to participate in the second drill of the day.
LAMBEAU WARNS LAGGARDS; TEAM DRILLS IN SECRET
AUG 20 (Green Bay) - Warned that a contract is no guarantee of a trip to Chicago for the All-Star game, the Green Bay Packers leveled away at each other in an hour and a half scrimmage behind locked gates today. Only players who can be counted upon to do the team some good against the collegians on August 29 will be taken to Chicago, Coach Curly Lambeau said after taking the squad to task for having attained only 70 percent of its expected efficiency in the first nine days of practice. Those who do not show enough to warrant their appearance in the Al-Star game will be left at home and given another week to save their jobs after the squad returns from Chicago. A veteran line and two rookies dominated today's scrimmage, which saw frequent fumbles and missed signals ruin chances for long gains. The veteran line composed of Harry Jacunski and Milt Gantenbein at ends; Baby Ray and Bill Lee, tackles; Buckets Goldenberg and Russ Letlow, guards, and George Svendsen, center, opened the way for Joe Laws, Andy Uram, Frank Balazs and Herman Schneidman to score two touchdowns on consecutive marches from the 50 yard line without the use of a pass. Thereafter the defense, led by Bob Adkins, Marshall; Smiley Johnson, Georgia; Fred Shirey, Nebraska, and Champ Seibold, veteran tackle who is returning after a year's absence, bottled up the running attack effectively. Adkins, a rookie blocking back who will share the quarterback position with Larry Craig, Schneidman and Dick Weisgerber, was at left end on defense. Craig and Adkins will play when Don Hutson is in the lineup, shifting to left end on defense. Schneidman and Weisgerber will be used when the other left ends are in the game. Seibold and Johnson, a rookie guard, were charging better than any linemen in the practice sessions thus far. Shirey, one of the stars of the collegians' victory over the Washington Redskins in the 1938 All-Star game, finally has begun to find himself. The Packer defense is entirely different from any Shirey has played. At the conclusion of the drill Lambeau ordered 18 men who had missed assignments or revealed the need of more work to report at 2 o'clock. The others were excused for the day. Although there was a perceptible improvement in the squad today, it was difficult after the scrimmage to understand the odds of 8 to 5 on the Packers quoted in Chicago. Even the more rabid Packer followers here are willing to give no better than even money.
KENOSHA PLAYS HERE
AUG 20 (Green Bay) - Contracts arrived here today for a football game between the Kenosha Cardinals of the Midwest league and the Green Bay Packers at City stadium Saturday night, Sept. 7, Coach Curly Lambeau announced. Kenosha has a community-sponsored team operated similar to that of the Packers, and the contest will give Packer fans their first opportunity to see the 1940 All-Star members of the team in action with Green Bay.
ALL-STAR FEVER MOUNTS AS PACKERS DRIVE THROUGH SCRIMMAGE; CRAIG'S INJURY BETTER
AUG 21 (Green Bay) - As the Green Bay Packers tore through a rough-and-tumble scrimmage session yesterday morning, and then sent part of the squad back for additional practice in the afternoon. All-Star football game fever began to mount in the Wisconsin championship community today. The team still is a long way from the spot it wants to be in on the eve of combat at Soldier field, but there was no question yesterday but that progress is being made. For one thing, the players are beginning to talk about the game in terms which show they realize its seriousness. Another thing, they are hitting hard and very few of them still carry excess poundage in odd places. Lastly, sports chatter around the town is beginning to turn more and more on the chances of Green Bay sending a championship football team to the All-Star game, and coming home with more points than the opposition...MAPS RULES STRUGGLE: Before the actual contest takes place on the field, Coach Curly Lambeau faces a stiff struggle with the rules committee, and he indicated today that he is prepared to fight to the limit for the rights of professional against the Collegians. The All-Star management has been scared to death ever since the series started that some talented professional crew some day would go pfft! through the All-Americans, and for that reason the rules have been regulated carefully to give the chief advantage to the former campus idols. The things which irk Lambeau the most concern the forward passing rule, the dead ball rule and the decision which gives an offensive team the ball on the 1-yard line in case of a 15-yard penalty...RUIN PASSING GAME: As college rules prohibit the throwing of a forward pass from any point within five yards of the scrimmage line, some 30 percent of the professional team's offense has to be scrapped for the one game. Lambeau would be glad to play one half professional rules and one half college rules, but he feels that the present setup works an unfair handicap on the National leaguers. The dead ball business is worse. "According to the rule we must follow at Chicago," Lambeau commented, "a player is ruled dead if his knee or elbow touches the ground, even through no defensive player is within 15 yards of him. The professional players aren't used to that rule, and we shall seek to have it altered."...HALF THE DISTANCE: Giving the offensive team the ball on the 1-yard line is the same as giving it a touchdown, and Lambeau wants the pro rule used, wherein a 15-yard penalty drawn within the 15-yard line results in a penalty of half the distance to the goal. The coach was dismayed to hear that odds of the game are 8-5, in favor of the Packers. "This places the All-Stars in the position of underdogs, which they don't deserve," he said. "The Packers have not reached 70 percent of their desired peak as yet, and we are working three and four times a day to achieve it." Lambeau was in touch with Arch Ward, promoter of the game, by telephone yesterday and heard that the ticket sale is the largest in the history of the game. All $4.40 and $3.30 tickets have been sold, and the last of the $2.20's are disappearing. A crowd upwards of 85,000 is entirely possible...SELECT OFFICIAL BALL: The conversation involved selection of the official ball, which will be a Spaulding, white with black lines. Although five men signed with the Packers are with the College All-Stars now, Lambeau said he doubted that Frank Bykowski, Purdue guard, would be called to Green Bay. The Packer guard situation seems well under control and Bykowski may be used as trading material. Yesterday's scrimmage went well. It included some fancy ball toting by Jimmy Lawrence and Beattie Feathers, and some good defensive work by Champ Seibold, out to land a squad position after a year of gridiron inactivity. George Svendsen also was a useful individual on defense...GREAT OFFENSIVE LINE: What generally is regarded as the No. 1 line of the Packers looked red hot on offense, and moved the ball freely. Milt Gantenbein and Harry Jacunski were at ends, Baby Ray and Bill Lee worked at tackles, Russ Letlow and Buckets Goldenberg did the guard duties and the center assignment was shifted around the two Svendsens and Tom Greenfield. The casualty situation shows some improvements, Larry Craig was galloping around in old-time form, and barring unexpected trouble should be ready to go against the All-Stars. Charley Brock's injured shoulder was slightly better, but not enough to cause the coach to turn loose any cheers. Another scrimmage is planned for Thursday. Signing of the Kenosha Cardinals, Midwest leaguers, for an exhibition tilt here Sept. 7 was hailed by the coach as a great final test for the Packers prior to the opening of the National league schedule Sept. 15 against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Packers now will enter the combat zone thrice before the Eagles invade Green Bay, facing the All-Stars at Chicago Aug. 29, meeting the Washington Redskins at Milwaukee Monday afternoon, Sept. 2, and returning home for the Kenosha engagement the 7th.
KENOSHA BOLSTERS ITS LINEUP FOR FIRST TILT
AUG 21 (Kenosha) - The Kenosha Cardinals have added two tackles and a halfback to their roster as they prepare for the season's Midwest Football league opener with Columbus Sept. 18. Paul Berezney, formerly of Fordham, and Harold Klaus, West Bend, are the tackles. Al Christensen, Knox college's spark plug of last year, is the back. Klaus played at St. Norbert college, West De Pere, and at Oshkosh Teachers' college.
PACKER DEFENSE IMPROVES AS GRIDDERS CONDUCT SCRIMMAGE
AUG 22 (Green Bay) - The defense caught up with the offense yesterday as the Green Bay Packers again scrimmaged in preparation for the All-Star game a week from tonight, and the boys who toted the freight had trouble making consistent progress. Tightness of the defensive players, who were ragged in the previous scrimmage, did not prevent a well-executed Arnold Herber to Carl Mulleneaux forward pass from clicking for a score, and it didn't stop Larry Buhler from plunging across twice from points inside the 10-yard stripe, but in general the offensive maneuvers didn't overshadow the men on the other side of the line. With the big conflict only a few hours more than a week away, a thousand things remain to be done before the big football squad can be whipped into battle formation, but definite progress is being made. The Packers have not reached their peak yet, but some time before the kickoff at Soldier field Coach Curly Lambeau expects them to arrive at the fine point needed for victory...HOLD LONG SCRIMMAGE: An hour of preliminary work, of executing plays against men wearing blocking aprons, was conducted yesterday, and then came an hour and a half of steady scrimmage, which finally was halted because several of the men picked up bruises which slowed them down. Lambeau checked over the casualty list after the rough work and found only one player who is unlikely to see action against the All-Americans next Thursday. That
individual is Charley Brock, the center with the injured shoulder, and he is one man the Packers need about as badly as anyone. Brock is one of the best men on the squad in the vital matter of forward pass defense, and while he may be able to see some action at Chicago, he is certain to be under the point of complete recovery...CRAIG IS RECOVERING: Larry Craig, blocking quarterback-end, is romping around with all his old-time vigor, but Lambeau was concerned today about the condition of Joe Laws, right halfback who wrenched a leg during the scrimmage. Laws' leg stiffened up during the night and he looked like a doubtful bet for work during the next few days. The coach immediately shifted Jimmy Lawrence from left to right halfback, just in case. Charley Schultz, tackle, sprained a wrist yesterday but is not expected to be out of action for long. The Packers face a strenuous exhibition schedule, "and we need it," Lambeau commented. After the All-Star battle Aug. 29, the Bays will travel to Milwaukee to meet the Washington Redskins in a Labor day afternoon struggle, and Saturday, Sept. 7, they will entertain the Kenosha Cardinals of the Midwest league right here at home. Kenosha is beginning to kick up a big interest in the Sept. 7 game. An order of 800 seats arrived today, along with word that Cardinal boosters will invade Green Bay in a special train...PLACES STRESS ON KICKING: Coach Lambeau is placing overtime stress on kicking, a factor likely to be of the utmost importance in the All-Star game. Punters are working for long periods each day, and the various talented field goal booters are getting a lot of attention, too. Clarke Hinkle and Frank Balazs were getting off the best punts yesterday from a group which also included Cecil Isbell, Jimmy Lawrence, Arnold Herber, Johnny Blood and Dick Weisgerber. Herber also did some of the receiving, aided by Jim Gillette, Beattie Feathers, Joe Laws, Andy Uram, Herman Schneidman, Glenn Olson, Eddie Jankowski and Larry Buhler. Dummy scrimmage was next on the program. Six husky Packers- guards Ed Merlin and Jim Manley, tackles Schultz and Champ Seibold, and ends Craig and Bob Temple - wrapped themselves in blocking aprons and had more than a little luck in breaking up offensive forward passes, although they had the considerable advantage of knowing what plays were to be tried...KNOCKS DOWN PASSES: Tom Greenfield, backing up the line on defense, had some good moments guarding against passes during the session, knocking down one thrown by Herber and later intercepting a toss from the same player. Herber and Cecil Isbell were being rushed hard on many of their throws. Milt Gantenbein pulled the catch of the day by hooking off a long forward pass over Jim Lawrence's shoulder. Herber was on the forward end of the toss. Brock was the only Packer who didn't wear pads. Togged in light sweat clothes, he confined his activities to jogging around and keeping his legs in condition. Schultz and Temple broke through consistently to spill up would-be passers. When the squad adjourned to the stadium for scrimmage, Lambeau put two strong teams on the field as starters and let them go to it...SET FOR OFFENSE: The offensive team had Don Hutson and Mulleneaux at ends, Ernie Smith and Paul Kell at tackles, Lou Midler and Pete Tinsley at guards, Greenfield at center, Craig at blocking quarterback, Uram and Herber at halfbacks and Buhler at full. Starting on defense were Harry Jacunski and Gantenbein, ends; Baby Ray and Bill Lee, tackles; Russ Letlow and Buckets Goldenberg, guards; Bud Svendsen, center; Weisgerber, blocking quarterback; Isbell and Jim Gillette, halves; Eddie Jankowski, full. Developments during the long workout featured mostly defensive play. Jim Gillette displayed an exceptional talent for pass defense, and Buhler's two touchdown bucks were plays of beauty. Fullback Larry has his mind all made up to do regular duty with the Packers this year, and he has been running exceptionally hard. There were ragged spots in the general play, and some of the Packer veterans missed their blocks a few times. The cool weather was a big help, as the players felt like working, and showed it.
PACKERS REBUT VINEGAR SQUIRTS: WATCH OUR LINE!
AUG 23 (Green Bay) - With only the daily lecture, which comes with their grapefruit, to occupy them before their final scrimmage tonight, the Green Bay Packers had time today to attend to their correspondence and take invoice of their assets for the Chicago All-Star game next Thursday. Voluminous correspondence has piled up on the world champions since practice began on August 12, most of it from an anonymous nature from Chicago. The Professional Football Alumni Association has weighed in daily with such sagacious observations as "quit fishing, get to work", "we hope you'll try to keep the All-Stars from scoring too much" and "we want you to make a respectable showing." Today's bon mot, which could not possible have come from the Chicago Cardinals because it is too early in the season for them to be even professional football alumni, read: "Mr. Washington will cut down the Green Bay tree as another Washington cut down the cherry tree. But he will not be spanked, because you will not be able to catch him." This is the first time that the vinegar quill technique has entered into preparations for the All-Star game, and the Packers would be left speechless if the answers weren't so obvious. The answers are that it has been so cold and wet up here for the last week that no fish could allow itself to be lured by anything other than a pair of mittens or an umbrella. And as for the uncatchable Mr. Washington, no one in the Packer camp ever heard of UCLA setting any scoring records during Washington's career, nor is there any documentary evidence that it went undefeated for three seasons. The Washington matter will be left up to the Packer line, which brings us down to the champion's chief asset in Thursday's engagement. Before Washington can electrify many people, he must pass a veteran line that averaged 221 pounds and 6 feet 1 1/2 inches from end to end. This line and its husky, capable replacements will be charged with keeping Washington bottled up on running plays and harassing him so consistently on passes that he will not have time to draw a bead on eligible receivers. The tackle jobs are entrusted to Buford (Baby) Ray and Bill Lee. Ray, a Vanderbilt product regarded by many as the finest tackle in professional football, weighs 248 pounds and is fast, despite his tremendous heft. His weight is distributed over 6 feet 6 inches and he moves with great strides. Lee, a former Alabama star who played with the All-Star team in 1934, is a 235 pound veteran who stands 6 feet 3 inches. Behind this pair the Packers have Fred Shirey of Nebraska, a star in the collegians' victory over Washington in 1938; Paul Kell, of Notre Dame, Charles Schultz of Minnesota, and Ernie Smith, a veteran, who also specializes in placekicks. Champ Seibold, who played with the Packers in the All-Star game in 1937, and Warren Kilbourne of Minnesota, round out the tackle corps. The Packers are equally as well fortified at guard and center. Russ Letlow, Buckets Goldenberg and Tiny Engebretsen and holdovers from the 1937 squad, veterans of three championship drives and fully capable of taking care of themselves. Each weighs over 215. There are seven relief guards on the roster. Add the names of George and Bud Svendsen and Tom Greenfield, three husky, fast and experienced centers, and it is evident that Washington will find the Packers' first line of defense worthy of his artistry. The importance of the reserve strength at center was given new emphasis today when George Svendsen injured his knee in scrimmage and Dr. Weber Kelly, team physician, ordered him to spend tonight in the hospital. Svendsen is the second center to be hurt in scrimmage, Charlie Brock of Nebraska having been incapacitated by a shoulder injury. However, Svendsen is expected to be out of the hospital tomorrow and it is hoped Brock also will get in to the All-Star game.
ISBELL FLASHES PASSING FORM AS PACKERS HOLD SECRET DRILL
AUG 23 (Green Bay) - The Green Bay Packers practice program was shrouded in secrecy yesterday as the NFL champions began polishing up their offense and tightening their defense for the engagement at Soldier field, Chicago, next Thursday evening with the 1940 version of the College All-Americans. Gates were closed, a uniformed officer patrolled the fence and all the visitors were shooed away as the squad worked out in sweatsuits for more than two hours. Inasmuch as Coach Curly Lambeau went to all that trouble to keep his activities secret, he naturally gave out very little in the way of news, but the team showed fire and spirit as it drove through its many formations. A somber note was provided by halfback Joe Laws, who attended in street clothes, limping on a wrenched leg which has been causing him trouble and which may prevent his participation in the All-Star game. The other prominent casualty, center Charley Brock, was doing his daily running and leg exercises, but didn't participate in the drill. He said that his shoulder shows signs of improvements, but he isn't able to lift it very high and it is doubtful if he will be able to see much action at Chicago next Thursday...TRIM DRILL SCHEDULE: The Packers will cut down their practice schedule to one turn a day henceforth, as Lambeau wants the players fresh and full of life for the important games ahead. A scrimmage tonight under the City stadium lights is planned. Arrangements for moving the team to Chicago for the All-Star fracas were completed today. The Packers will leave at 9 o'clock next Wednesday morning on a special train, over the Milwaukee Road line, and will make their headquarters at the Edgewater Beach hotel. They will work out Wednesday evening under the lights at Soldier field. The return trip to Green Bay will be made on the Milwaukee Road Chippewa Friday...ISBELL THROWS PASSES: During yesterday's practice Cecil Isbell, left halfback, came up with some extremely fancy forward passing, particularly on the short, sharp tosses into the flat zones. Harry Jacunski, Carl Mulleneaux and Don Hutson were getting under a lot of the aerials, which is no violation of the secrecy program, inasmuch as those ends usually are somewhere around when the passes settle. Tackles, guards and centers spent much of the period working with Assistant Coach Red Smith, perfecting blocking assignments which are apt to play a vital part in determining the final score at Chicago Aug. 29. Although the No. 1 event on the calendar of Packer fans is the All-Star engagement, corporation officials are beginning to plug the battle with the Washington Redskins, which takes place at State Fair park, Milwaukee, Monday afternoon, Sept. 2. After that comes a meeting with the Kenosha Cardinals of the Midwest league at City stadium, Sept. 7, in the evening, after which the stage will be set for the National league season.
ANDERSON SAYS NO RULE CHANGE
AUG 23 (Chicago) - The good fortune which has followed the College All-Americans through most of their workouts for their game with the Green Bay Packers at Soldier field next Thursday night deserted them for a few moments last evening and the result was a sprained right ankle for William (Bud) Kerr, the Notre Dame end. Kerr's injury occurred during a furious scrimmage. Head Coach Eddie Anderson called his men to order for a late drill, following their return from the La Salle hotel, where they had been luncheon guests, along with the staff, of the Interfraternity club of Chicago. For the seventh consecutive year, the club entertained the All-Stars in what has become the only social appearance of the squad as a group in Chicago...SATISFIED WITH RULES: "I will not consent to any change in the rules for the All-Star game," Coach Anderson said at the luncheon. "They have, after long argument, become standardized. They have been proved satisfactory, and I do not wish to take the responsibility for any change. The Packers will have a decided advantage anyway," Anderson went on in his perusal of the rules, "since the goal posts are on the goal line. Professional football develops placekickers and with the posts on the goal line, any time the Packers are within our half of the field, they may score. The Giants couldn't have scored their second field goal last year if the goal posts were on the end line where they belong." Curly Lambeau, Packer coach, and Anderson will meet Monday evening to ratify the rules under which the game will be played Thursday. They will consider, in addition to the position of the goal posts and the forward pass rule, the flying block and tackle, illegal use of hands by the linemen, dead ball rule, offside penalty within the defensive 10-yard line, and the restrictions on the kickoff...WANT TO WIN GAME: Anderson emphasized, in addressing the luncheon, the thought that the players are enjoying the practice period thoroughly and that he believes the most fund they can get out of the game is by winning it. All of the players were introduced to the fraternity men.
JOHNNY BLOOD HANDLES PACKER TEAM IN LAST SCRIMMAGE BEFORE ALL-STAR GAME
AUG 24 (Green Bay) - Possibility that Johnny Blood, former Vagabond halfback who has been working out with the Green Bay Packers, may see action in his first All-Star game was apparent today after Blood handled both the team and the ball during part of last night's scrimmage under the lights at City stadium. The Packers will meet the College All-Americans at Soldier field, Chicago, next Thursday evening in the seventh annual All-Star game. Blood, along with some 43 other men, will be in Packer uniform at Soldier field, but whether or not he will get a chance to call signals, and perhaps go down in one of the specialized forward pass plays which thrilled his fans in bygone days, will depend upon Coach Curly Lambeau. Johnny arrived in town a few weeks ago after having spent very little of the summer doing exercises, and started out to get himself in condition. He worked out regularly with the Packers, after offering his services to them in any capacity needed, and in the last few days has been looking like a much improved ball player. He has been issued a new uniform, and will be listed "among those present" next Thursday night. An important addition to the Packer casualty list was made during the scrimmage last night, as George Svendsen, giant center from Minnesota, was helped to the sidelines with an injured leg. The extent of the bump has not been determined, but if it proves serious, the Packers may face a decided shortage of center talent in the All-Star game...BROCK STILL OUT: Charley Brock, middle man from Nebraska, has been nursing a damaged shoulder since the intra-squad game, and that leaves only two men - Bud Svendsen and Tom Greenfield - to handle the assignment. The other Packer casualty, halfback Joe Laws, was not in uniform last night. He has an injured leg. Lambeau always uses his new men sparingly until he is convinced that they have the talent to make the grade in major league football, but there are a few first year Packers who probably will see a sizable chunk of action in the All-Star conflict. One of them is Howard (Smiley) Johnson, guard from the University of Georgia. Johnson has displayed an occasional defensive weakness, but he is mopping up the deficiency fast and is one of the most aggressive men on the squad. He also is the fastest of a strong guard contingent. Bob Adkins, blocking quarterback and defensive end, is following the trail blazed last year by Larry Craig, and appears to be heading for steady work. He is tough and fast, and playing defensive end looks as good as anyone on the squad...STRONG ON PASS DEFENSE: A hand, too, for Jimmy Gillette, the Virginia halfback with the flare for pass defense, so vital in National league football. Gillette is the team's fastest back, and is one of a quartet of right halves which includes also Joe Laws, Johnny Blood and Jimmy Lawrence. This isn't meant to be an indication of what new men will stick around after the squad is cut to the legal 33. Guards Lou Midler and Jim Manley, tackle Fred Shirey and end Connie Mack Berry are showing talent and willingness to work, and there are others. Lambeau was asked directly today which 11 men he plans to start against the All-Stars, and ducked the answer. The reason, he said, was that he isn't sure yet, but he got some fine ideas on the subject from last night's scrimmage. Most distressing to the coach right now, other than his injured men, is the fact that every effort is being made through Chicago publicity channels to get the Packers overconfident for the big contest. Every news blast out of Chicago plays up the fact that the odds are running 2-1 in favor of the Packers - a ridiculous figure - and that the Collegians have several glaring weaknesses...TEAM LOOKS SUPERIOR: "As a matter of fact, I am informed," the Packer coach said, "that in spirit and talent the All-Stars are superior to any in recent years, and in Eddie Anderson they have one of the best coaches in the country. Ken Washington, the Negro halfback from U.C.L.A., reputedly is one of the greatest backs any All-Star team ever had, and Ken Kavanaugh's ability as a pass receiver is said to rival Hutson's." This doesn't mean that Washington and Kavanaugh are "in" as yet, but negative attitude now won't help the Packers should the pair achieve an All-Star victory. The Packer training schedule between now and the All-Star game has been completed. They held a skull session at the Hotel Northland this morning at 11 o'clock, and worked out at the field this afternoon. A 10 o'clock Sunday morning workout will complete the assignment for tomorrow...SCHEDULE IS READY: Monday morning they will gather to discuss plays at 8:30 and at 10 o'clock they will drill, the only one of the day, as the tapering off process has begun. Tuesday's meeting will be at 2 o'clock, and a night practice will be held at 8 o'clock that evening, at City stadium. The squad will leave on a special Milwaukee Road train at 9 o'clock Wednesday morning, and upon arrival at Chicago will headquarter at the Edgewater Beach hotel.
BUD KERR LOST TO ALL-STARS
AUG 24 (Chicago) - William (Bud) Kerr, Notre Dame end, will have no part in the seventh annual All-Star game in Soldiers' field next Thursday night. An X-ray examination yesterday of his left ankle, injured Thursday in scrimmage, revealed a broken bone. A cast was applied, and it cannot be removed for 10 days. "From now on we are going to concentrate on fitting our attack to penetrate Green Bay's five man defensive line," Eddie Anderson, head coach of the All-Stars, told his players at the noon squad meeting. Anderson and his assistant coaches sent the All-Stars through two long practices yesterday with a minimum of contact work. Although the squad has not had sufficient defensive drill, particularly against passes, and will return to this subject later, Anderson's anxiety to match the All-Star attack against a five man line is easily understood...COME UP QUICKLY: "The three men backing up the five man line are the ones who stop the attack," Anderson continued. "Since these secondary defenders come up so quickly, depending on the direction of the play, the line actually can be called an eight man line. Green Bay remembers, no doubt, how the New York Giants caused the Packers no end of trouble in 1938 with their five man line. Last year, with experience, Green Bay solved the Giants' defense. We now are asked to accomplish in a week what the Packers required two years to master."
BROCK, LAWS ABLE TO PLAY THURSDAY NIGHT AGAINST ALL-AMERICANS AT SOLDIER FIELD
AUG 26 (Green Bay) - The Green Bay Packers batted .667 on injuries over the weekend. Coach Curly Lambeau announced today that Charley Brock, center, and Joe Laws, right halfback, both damaged during recent rough sessions, will be able to play against the College All-Americans at Soldier field, Chicago, Thursday night, but he added that George Svendsen, best center in the National league three seasons ago, won't be available for the same occasion. Svendsen fell in scrimmage, as did Laws, while Brock was hurt in the Packers' annual intra-squad game. Lambeau added a qualifying word. "Although we plan to use Brock and Laws," he said, "we are not certain how much of the game they will be able to play and have been unable to work out with the squad recently." Nevertheless, the return of Brock and Laws serves as a cheering note. Charley was one of the leading centers in the league last
fall, developing into a wizard on pass defense, and Joe Laws is invaluable at the right half post. Even with Brock back in togs, the center situation is delicate. Lambeau has big Tom Greenfield, an Arizona veteran who came through every time he was called upon last year, and Bud Svendsen, George's kid brother with a wealth of professional football experience. If Brock is up to his usual efficiency, the trio should handle the assignment nicely, but Lambeau was counting heavily on the biggest of all of the Svendsens Thursday night. The Packer coach left early for Chicago this afternoon prepared to wage the pro mentor's usual battle over rules, without definite indication that he would be more successful than the NFL leaders of the past...WANTS RULE CHANGED: Lambeau wants the forward pass rule restricting passes to an area five yards behind the scrimmage line modified, and he would like to see the dead ball rule eliminated; but coaches in previous years have sought the same changes, and always have been refused. Tonight from 9 to 9:30, Green Bay time, Lambeau will be heard over Chicago radio station WGN, with Arch Ward, Tribune sports editor, and Head Coach Eddie Anderson of the All-Americans. Anderson and Lambeau were teammates at the University of Notre Dame when both played under Knute Rockne. The Packers were idle yesterday as far as physical combat was concerned, but they got in their training licks despite the rain. There was a skull session which lasted an hour and a half, and when the team visited the Orpheum theater to witness pictures of teams using the Notre Dame system, against which they plan to compete next Thursday. In stressing the importance of the All-Star game, the Packers are not overlooking their engagement with the Washington Redskins, scheduled for State fair park, Milwaukee, next Monday afternoon. Game time will be 2 o'clock, and a large visitation from Green Bay and the surrounding territory is expected. The Packers met for their usual morning skull drill today and were out on the practice field well before noon. There will be no more scrimmage prior to the All-Stage game, but Tuesday night the team will work out under the lights at City stadium for a final practice on their home field. Wednesday night the Packers will be allowed the use of Soldier field. During their stay in Chicago they will remain at the Edgewater Beach hotel.
LOOKING UP IN THE REALM OF SPORTS
AUG 26 (Green Bay) - The All-Star football game which will take place next Thursday evening at Soldier field, weather permitting, will be the seventh of a string started back in 1934, and already an impressive string of statistics concerning the series has been compiled. As the All-Star engagement combines the cream of the professional world with the class of the collegiate crop, it might be expected that its records are more than a little on the strong side, and such indeed is the case, particularly in the matter of the forward pass offense. A surprising fact can be gleaned from a glance at the game statistics - the Green Bay Packers of 1937, first professional team to lose in the All-Star series, made the greatest offensive show against the Stars of any team which has appeared against them in Soldier field before or since. The Packers were beaten 6 to 0, but they made 17 first downs against the All-Americans, who made only eight, and that stands as the record for the series. Washington, in 1938, another losing team, was next in line with 13 first downs. The Packers gained more yards, 343, in 1937 than any other team in the growing young string. Washington piled up 270 in 1938. The Packers picked up by far the most yards in passing, with 202, and completed the most passes of any team in any All-Star game, with 38. The longest touchdown runs in the All-Star series was made by Andy Uram of Minnesota, then a Packer draftee, and Phil Dougherty of Santa Clara, with intercepted passes against Washington in 1938. The longest touchdown run from scrimmage was attained by Babe Le Voir of Minnesota, in traveling 17 yards for a score against Detroit in 1936. The longest touchdown pass, a 47-yard affair, was that fatal toss which Sammy Baugh of Texas Christian sent to Gaynell Tinsley of Louisiana State in 1937 to beat the Packers. The longest field goal was the 41-yarder kicked by Ken Strong of the New York Giants last summer, and the longest run from scrimmage was a 31-yard jaunt by Detroit's Dutch Clark in 1936. The longest punts booted by Baugh against the Packers in 1937 were a quick kick good for 68 yards; and a 65-yard kick by Wayland Becker of the Chicago Bears in 1934. The longest punt returns were good for 15 yards each and were made by Bob Monnett of the Packers in 1937, by Baugh in the same game, and by Tuffy Leemans of New York in 1939. Max Krause, Washington's fine back, made the longest kickoff return in 1938, when he scooted 43 yards.
MAJOR CHANGES MADE IN RULES
AUG 27 (Green Bay) - Coach Curly Lambeau returned from the Chicago rules meeting today, prepared to steer his Green Bay Packer football team into its final practice steps prior to leaving tomorrow for the seventh annual Chicago All-Star football game. The Packers will meet the cream of the 1939 collegiate crops at Soldier field Thursday night, starting at 8:30, Chicago time (7:30 Green Bay time). Dismal weather, which has handicapped the Packers in their drills during the last week, continued today. The squad held a long indoor skull session at the Hotel Northland this afternoon, when all details of every play in the book were gone over thoroughly. Tonight, rain or shine, the players will take to the turf at City stadium for a night workout, and then will pack for tomorrow's exodus. The Packers, some 44 strong plus coaches, trainers and officials, will leave at 9 o'clock Wednesday morning on a special Milwaukee Road train, and upon arrival at Chicago will be whisked to the Edgewater Beach hotel. There another indoor meeting will be held during the afternoon hours, and at night the use of Soldier field and its great batteries of lights will be turned over to the professionals from Green Bay. As usual, the rules session among Arch Ward, manager of the game; Coach Eddie Anderson of the All-Stars; and Coach Lambeau of the Packers produced little in the way of major changes. Both coaches fought for alterations, and in two cases shifts were made favoring the professional standpoint, but in general the rules stood as they have since the All-Star series began. On out-of-bounds plays, the ball will be moved in 15 yards instead of the 10 as in college rules, and the professional rule calling for a play to be started within 30 seconds of the previous play was adopted...COLLEGE KICKOFF RULE: The college rule on kickoffs will prevail, with no tee allowed and five receivers in the restraining zone will be used. The offside penalty by the defense within its own 10-yard line will be half the distance to the goal, as in the National league. A player substituted may not communicate with his mates until a play if run off, as in college football, and no flying blocks or flying tackles will be permitted. The forward pass must be thrown from a point at least five yards in back of the line of scrimmage. The officials must notify coach and captain when three timeouts have been taken, and failure to notify will void the penalty for the fourth timeout, as in pro football. The dead ball rule will follow the college code, except that a carrier in the open (roughly defined as 10 yards from any defender) may continue if he fails or touches part of his body except his hands or feet. This is to be administered by the referee at his discretion and judgment of distance, and his whistle will terminate progress...15 YARDS FOR CLIPPING: Illegal use of hands follows the college rule, and the clipping penalty will be 215 yards. The second forward pass by an offensive team (generally the result of an attempted lateral) will follow the college code. The defense cannot run with a recovered fumble, except when it is recovered before striking the ground, and the kicking team may run with a blocked kick which does not cross the line of scrimmage. The word "foul" on a ball grounded by a kicking team will be waived, voiding the possibility of fouls offsetting as in the present college rules. Goal posts will be on the goal line, and there will be an intermission of at least 20 minutes to give time for band maneuvers and the presentation of most valuable player trophies. Those are the rules, where conflict between college and professional rules are involved, and they will be followed at Soldier field Thursday night...MUCH GAME CHATTER: Lambeau reported that All-Star talk is running high in Chicago, and that a crowd of 85,000 is expected confidently. He returned to find no change in his casualty list, and as no more scrimmages will be conducted, the list is unlikely to expand between now and Thursday. Joe Laws, right halfback, apparently will be able to play and may draw a starting assignment. The same holds for Charley Brock, center, but center George Svendsen remains on the shelf, and the Packers will be lucky to have him back for the game with the Washington Redskins at Milwaukee next Monday.
LOOKING UP IN THE REALM OF SPORTS
AUG 27 (Green Bay) - The brilliant personalities which surround the pregame buildup of the seventh annual All-Star affair at Chicago next Thursday night may be discarded as offering nothing conclusive in the nature of a clew to the eventual outcome. Of much more importance will be the thoughts which runs through the minds of the participants for the period of several hours prior to the opening kickoff. The comparison of individual abilities and capabilities - the stock means of evaluating gridiron teams in advance of their performances - can lead the sports fan far astray, as all of us have discovered in attempting to determine the final score in advance of the actual event. A fan of the Green Bay Packers can sit down with pencil and paper, or only with the memories of the team's past magnificent achievements, and can tabulate several great and logical reasons why the National league champions should defeat the All-Americans at Chicago, without raining too much perspiration in the process. With equal facility, a booster of the Collegians can point out the cogs of the 1940 team which should lead to a conquest over the professional champions. Arnold Herber to Donald Hutson, Cecil Isbell to Carl Mulleneaux, Kenny Washington to Kenny Kavanaugh - all with the possible assistance of almost anyone else on either squad - it all adds to the same thing. Given the favor of the gridiron gods, the Packers are capable of scoring on the All-Stars on any play of the ball game, and granted the same fortuitous assistance, the All-Americans are capable of equaling the count. No, you'll do better to dig into the mental conditions of the teams on the eve of conflict, and no one can evaluate correctly just what the boys will be thinking about - not even the players themselves. Will the Packers enter the game supremely confident of victory, ignoring the latent threats which the All-Americans have developed in this month of practice? Or will they take the field in a vicious humor, some fourth of its players bitterly nursing the memory of a humiliating defeat from a similar squad three years back? Will the All-Stars start that game in the frame of mind of a group of spoiled campus darlings, imported to Chicago for the purpose of attracting a large throng, and participating in the classic only for the ride it gives them? Or have they taken their assignments seriously, and worked diligently in the new hope of adding a great new chapter to American football history? Well, we won't know until a few plays from scrimmage have been run off before the 80,000 spectators plus at Soldier field Thursday. That mental attitude will win the day, and between now and game time it can't be built. It just has to happen, and then grow and grow on the players until the most important thing in their lives become the necessity of overpowering a strong defense, and hurling backs and ends across an enemy goal line for touchdowns. The team which feels that way about if in a greater degree than its opponent will win the game, for both squads are loaded with talent, the ability and the training to achieve a victory. Which one will do it? Your guess is as good as anyone's. No one knows in advance, and that's why more than 80,000 tickets will have been sold at Soldier field on the night of Aug. 29.
MILWAUKEE CHIEFS GO THROUGH ROUGH DRILLS
AUG 27 (Weyauwega) - Coach Tiny Cahoon of the Milwaukee Chiefs sent his men through a long scrimmage today in an effort to improve timing and line blocking, departments of play in which the Chiefs showed weakness in their 29-0 victory over the Flying Dutchmen of Little Chute Sunday. The Chiefs worked out in the rain yesterday. They will remain here for 10 more days before returning to Milwaukee, their headquarters in the American league football campaign.
PACKERS LEAVE TOMORROW FOR ALL-STAR ENGAGEMENT
AUG 27 (Chicago) - Under gray, threatening skies, the All-Stars raced through two practice sessions yesterday in Dyche stadium in the next to final double workout for the battle, with the Green Bay Packers in Soldier field Thursday evening. The squad practiced in Evanston again this morning. In the evening, the players will report to Soldier field for a secret drill under the towering lights. They will receive their game uniforms at this time. The concluding practice is scheduled tomorrow and the players will come to the loop late Thursday. With the approach of the All-Stars' date with Green Bay, the boys who will carry the burden of the attack are beginning to rise to the occasion. There was a more serious spirit to yesterday's practice, as if they all realized that in three days they'll be tested on the information gleaned from lecture and gridiron...SCRIMMAGES ARE CONCLUDED: Coach Eddie Anderson of Iowa now is concerned primarily with preparing his players mentally for the game with Green Bay. No more scrimmage will be held although dummy blocking and tackling is the order during the presentation of Green Bay's offense by the All-Stars, who were detailed to this task a week ago. This program of showing the Packers' plays which were used in the pro championship game last fall in Milwaukee against the New York Giants has been invaluable. It is an innovation in All-Star training. The spirit of the Stars is matched, according to reports from Green Bay, by that of the Packers. All signs point to the best game in the series. The team standings are tied; the Packers were beaten in 1937, and now seek to prove that the earlier licking was due to other factors than comparative ability, and this game also may break all attendance records...LAST OF $2.20 SEATS SOLD: More than 85,000 spectators will jam Soldier field Thursday night. The advance sale already is far beyond that of any other All-Star game. The higher priced sections, $4.40 and $3.30, were sold weeks ago and the last of the $2.20 seats were snapped up yesterday. Several thousand of the $1.10 seats remain, however, and these are football's greatest bargain. These tickets, in the horseshoe at the south end of the stadium and to the north, sold for three times as much during the halcyon days of college football when Notre Dame and Southern California and the Army and Navy packed the stadium. Under the improved lighting system, all patrons in
Curly Lambeau diagrams a play for Don Hutson and Cecil Isbell
these sections will have a clear, unobstructed view of the game. Taller poles have been purchased for this year's game and the lighting power also has been increased. If all tickets are sold before the kickoff shortly after 8:20 o'clock Thursday night, general admission tickets will be placed on sale. These tickets will be sold at $1 each...EACH WINNER OF 2 GAMES: The all-time score of this rivalry between the collegians and the professionals is tied. Each has won two games and there have been two ties. In 1934, when the game was inaugurated, the Chicago Bears were held to a scoreless tie by the All-Stars. The following year, the Bears gained some consolation by winning, 5 to 0, although the field goal and safety - the latter the result of the second half storm - fell far short of the Bears' hopes. In 1936, the All-Stars, under the coaching of Bernie Bierman of Minnesota, tied the Detroit Lions, 7 to 7. Then came the college boys' initial victory. They whipped Green Bay, 6 to 0, in 1937, when Sammy Baugh threw a short pass to Gaynell Tinsley of Louisiana State and the fleet southerner escaped the tackles of two Packers. Joe Laws, a member of the first All-Star team and still playing with Green Bay, was the last of the defenders to fail to stop the sprinting Tinsley. The 1938 All-Star team trounced the Washington Redskins and Sammy Baugh, 28 to 16, although at the intermission Washington led, 10 to 3. Last year, the professionals evened the series when the New York Giants won, 9 to 0, on three field goals. It is interesting that the professionals never have scored a touchdown in a game they have won. The attraction of this game is easily understood. Not only is Green Bay seeking to regain prestige, but all Iowa carried over the enthusiasm engendered last fall. Anderson became head coach because Iowa sought to honor him for his work in bringing the Hawkeyes back to prominence. Iowa was beaten only by Michigan and was tied by Northwestern. This gave Iowa second place in the Western conference, and the victory ledger also recorded triumphs over Notre Dame and Minnesota...DEAN GRANTED FURLOUGH: Iowa elected Anderson head coach and with him four of the Iron Men of 1939, Nile Kinnick, Edwin Prasse, Dick Evans and Buzz Dean. Prasse, now playing professional baseball, was unable to report. Dean nearly missed the game when he was ordered to report to Randolph Field, Tex., tomorrow, but he obtained a furlough yesterday and now will report Sept. 4. Dean was a member of the Reserve Officers' Training corps and taught infantry drill earlier this summer at Fort Des Moines, Ia. More than 300 press reservations have been made for the game. From New York to San Francisco and from Minneapolis to Dallas and Fort Worth, the nation's sportswriters will come to detail the thrills of the air battle between the Packers and All-Stars. Bill Leiser of the San Francisco Chronicle and Bert McGrane of the Des Moines Register and Tribune already are at the All-Star camp...MBS TO BROADCAST GAME: The game will be reported over WGN and the Mutual Broadcasting system. WTMJ of Milwaukee also has been granted permission to report the game for Wisconsin followers of the Packers. Game ceremonies will start promptly at 8:20 o'clock Thursday night. For an hour before that, however, Armand Hand's band and the Frank Bennett male chorus of 16 voices will entertain early arrivals. After the introduction of the All-Stars and the Packers, the kickoff is scheduled for 8:30 o'clock. Between the halves, the college band of 175 musicians under the direction of Glenn Cliffe Bainum will parade. The professional league will present its trophy to the outstanding first year player, and Arch Ward, sports editor of the Tribune, will present a silver trophy to Bill Osmanski, who was voted the most valuable player to the 1939 All-Stars in their game with the Giants. Cecil Isbell of Purdue and a member of the Packers won the first award in 1938. Curly Lambeau, Packer coach, and Anderson met last night to discuss the rules. There were no major changes in the code under which the game was played last year. Both now will instruct the officials at a luncheon Thursday noon.
FIERY SPIRIT SHOWN BY PACKERS ON EVE OF BATTLE
AUG 28 (Green Bay) - A blazing spirit unequaled since the days of the 1939 championship squad of the Green Bay Packers last night at the players roared through their final home workout in anticipation of their appearance in the seventh annual All-Star football game at Chicago tomorrow night. The long-delayed mental edge of the Packers, so vital in victory, appeared to be reached at the crucial time to aid the team most, and while Curly Lambeau didn't step out on the limb and predict a flat decision for his team, he expressed keen satisfaction at the performance. Big George Svendsen, who has been a hospital case since he injured his leg in scrimmage last week, turned up at the drill, was waved away as a casualty and insisted upon donning a brace and taking his place in the lineup. Furthermore, he went through with it, expressing a determination to play which was all out of keeping with the condition of his leg. Lambeau had no reason to change his mind about Svendsen's availability for Thursday night. The other two cripples will be able to play, although center Charley Brock was favoring his injured shoulder last night and right halfback Joe Laws limped during the signal drill. The rest of the squad, including end Larry Craig, who caused some concern a while back, is in splendid condition. Lambeau followed tradition by refusing to name a starting lineup, and anyone's guess is good. Probably the fans won't be far wrong if they decide upon Harry Jacunski or Don Hutson at left end, Baby Ray or Ernie Smith at left tackle, Russ Letlow at left guard, Bud Svendsen at center, Buckets Goldenberg at right guard, Bill Lee at right tackle, Carl Mulleneaux or Milt Gantenbein at right end, Craig or Herman Schneidman at blocking quarter, Cecil Isbell or Beattie Feathers at left half, Laws or Arnold Herber at right half, and Larry Buhler or Clarke Hinkle at fullback...SHOW HIGH ENTHUSIASM: The team's fire last night was a heartening angle to the conclusion of its pre-game training period. The men started slowly, as certain explanatory work was necessary, but once they drove into the drill they pounded along with an enthusiasm new for this young season. They threw passes, tore off line plays and whooped through their routine of their many plays with a savageness that indicated no good to the All-Americans. And this morning at 9 o'clock they climbed aboard a Milwaukee Road special train, headed for Chicago and the goal they have awaited since the evening in 1937 when Sammy Baugh and Gaynell Tinsley put together that heart-breaker in Soldier field. Tonight they will take to the turf in that lakeside sport, running through plays for the last time before the game and getting used to the lights. The workout will be conducted in the strictest of secrecy, and when not on the practice field the squad will kept at the Edgewater Beach hotel. The pile of preseason games has Coach Lambeau thinking hard. Once the All-Stars are met and dealt with, the Packers will brace for an invasion of the Washington Redskins at
State fair park, Milwaukee, Monday afternoon, and the following Saturday they will appear at City stadium against the Kenosha Cardinals of the Midwest league. But right now, all thoughts and energies are turned