CHI-PITT SCOUT SAYS PACKERS IN FOR BEATING AT NASHVILLE

OCT 1 (Nashville) - The Green Bay Packers are in for a beating when they meet the Philadelphia Eagles on Dudley Field Saturday week. That's the prediction of Buddy Parker, assistant coach of the Chicago-Pittsburgh combine in the National league. "The Eagles have too many fine backs for the Packers," Buddy said this afternoon as he scouted the Packers, who will meet the Card-Pitt club in Green Bay next Sunday. "Look at that list - Hinkle, Banta, Steele, Kish, Zimmerman, Bleeker, Van Buren and a boy whose name begins with an M. I can't pronounce it for it has about a dozen letters mixed with several x's and z's. We were fortunate that they didn't beat us more than 22-0 when we played them in an exhibition game recently. I think the Eagles are the class of the league."...EAGLES' LINE ONE OF PRO LOOP'S BEST: "I'm not trying to sell the Packers short. They'll probably beat us next Sunday. We haven't enough good backs for them. We've got about as good a line as there is in the league. The Eagles might have a little better." Pete Cawthon, Brooklyn Tiger coach and former Alabama assistant, was another who scouted from the press box today. Pete plays the Lions next week. "I haven't seen the Eagles," Cawthon said, "but from what everybody tells me they have got it. I think they'll take Washington next Sunday. We don't play them until late in the season and I'm hoping to have our club a little more coordinated by that time. We've got a good team but lack sufficient reserves. A squad of 28 players is awfully small the way they play football these days." The Packers believe they can take the Eagles but everyone admits that it is going to be pretty tough. All of which indicates that fans in and around Nashville are going to see one great battle when the Packers and Eagles stage the first midseason National league game in the South October 14. It will be their only meeting this season.

​EARLY BIRDS GET WORM; PACKERS START OUT LATE TO MOP UP GRAVY

OCT 2 (Milwaukee) - NFL games begin at 2 p.m., under the league rules, and the Detroit Lions obeyed that edict and started at that time Sunday afternoon, but for all practical purposes the Packers began the game fairly late - near the end of the first quarter. Things had reached the point where the Lions were leading, 6-0, and seemed certain of collecting a second touchdown with first down inside the five-yard line. But at this stage the alarm clock went off, the lads from Green Bay decided to play football, and the aroused team held the Detroiters for downs, and took over the ball out in the vicinity where the Lions began the series of four plays. They took over not only the ball, but the initiative, and by the time the half ended with the Bays holding a slim 7-6 advantage, it looked certain that they would roar through the second half and take the ball game. This they did, and the third Green Bay league contest went into the record books as a victory. This diagnosis of the Sunday afternoon encounter was shared by some 18,000-odd people who saw the game and Mr. Charles (Gus) Dorais, coach of the ill-fated Lions. In the long walk across the field and through the stands just after the final gun, he said: "If we'd gotten that second touchdown, things might have been different. We weren't the same ball club after that, and your line outfought and outplayed us all the way. But if we'd gotten that second touchdown..." Dorais, who began life at Chippewa Falls, rose to fame catching passes from Knute Rockne at Notre Dame, and made his coaching reputation with the Lions last season, bore the weight of a great disappointment but declared: "Make no mistake about it - the Packers have got a team this year. They came from behind to beat us, and we never had a chance after the half." But the wistful thought about the touchdown his team never got persisted, and he would talk of nothing except the goal line stand the Packers made...Mr. Lambeau agrees that the Packers have a team this year - but with reservations. "We're still making a lot of mistakes," he said on the Milwaukee road train en route home. "We're nowhere near our peak of efficiency. The team was operating as a unit in that second half - but they're still not turning in the game they're capable of. Every week we forget Sunday's score and begin working on those mistakes. They're all tough in this league, and we can't take any chances." Curly had a word of praise for Lou Brock and Ted Fritsch, who were fighting for yardage all afternoon. He cited Buckets Goldenberg for getting out of a sickbed - he had a high fever Saturday morning - to turn in a good game Sunday. Charley Brock's defensive play was outstanding, but the other Brock was a workhorse out there, carrying the ball even more than he has on other active Sunday afternoons because Irv Comp's injury limited him pretty much to passing. But the veteran Green Bay coach was gratified not by individual performances but by the team's function as a team - with definite qualifications that they can do better...LINE ALWAYS DELIVERS: Chiefly notable about this year's Packer team, Lambeau will tell you, is this: "Every time the line has gotten into a tight spot, they've delivered. In every game, we've had a stand like that one today - and that's something we haven't had in at least five years. When they dig in, they can play football." This is really notable when you recall that these performances were turned in against (1) Washington, which beat the Packers and would probably be heavy favorites in the Eastern division if Sammy Baugh hadn't hit draft difficulties; (2) Brooklyn, out to beat the Packers with no holds barred and now a serious contender for the Eastern crown; and (3) the Chicago Bears, who need no introduction. It was the line's propensity for digging in which halted the vaunted Bruins short of a first down on their own 25-yard line, fourth down and a yard and a half to go, and led directly to a Packer touchdown...TRAFTON'S SLANT: And what did George Trafton, who spends seven days a week with the unsung heroes of the forward wall, think about during the crucial series of four downs? "You hope, of course, that the linemen will be carrying out their assignments. You get to a spot like that and you wonder whether you've been wasting your time in Green Bay, or whether your stuff has been getting across to the players." Along with a lot of other people, Trafton pointed out that the Detroit quarterbacking could have been a lot better on that series of four plays which failed to score. "They're using this tricky shift and making us guess on every play where the ball is going," he said, "and then when they get down in scoring territory they run two of the plays off the T - without the shift - and send Westfall out on a naked reverse on the fourth try. When Don Hutson got his hands on Westfall out on the end, I though, 'Oh, brother.' "...ON CHANGING SIDES: If you've ever watched the referee going through the mechanics of changing sides at the quarter - using line sticks and pacing off ground to place the ball at the opposite end of the field when the teams change goals, you'll appreciate this: When the gun marked the end of the first quarter, referee Tom Dowd walked up to the goal. He put his heel exactly on the goal line, and marked the position of the ball on his instep. He carried the ball to the other end of the field, put his heel on the goal line, and placed the ball in position there by putting the point of it at the same place on his foot. And the next Lions play ended close to the five-yard line. Here's how that happened; The Lions, leading midway in the first quarter, took the ball on downs on their own 32-yard line. Frankie Sinkwich and Bob Westfall divided the chores about equally and collected two first downs in four ground plays. Then they shifted back to passes and went all the way to the five yards with first downs. Sinkwich collected 80 percent of the distance on the first play, through the left side of the line...BABY BOOMS THROUGH: Then the Georgia Fireball took the ball directly from center, off the T-formation, and Baby Ray - bad leg and all - came booming through his tackle position and nailed Frankie before he could get started. They called the same play on third down but Sinkwich fumbled momentarily and met a stone wall in the center of the line - there's a picture of that play in the paper. The quarter ended before the next play, and when the teams changed sides, Westfall tried left end all alone and Hutson tossed him for a four-yard loss. That naked reverse never did work after that. Later in the second quarter, Westfall tried it again and Harry Jacunski cut him down for an eight-yard setback. Early in third he tried it again and Ben Starrett caught the lonesome Michigan runner for a loss. And just before the end of that period, Elmer Hackney found himself in the company of the whole right side of the Packer defense on the play...LAMBEAU AND TRAFTON: While Curly Lambeau gets lonesome in the press box with his telephone, pleading for better football and urging the team on from the top of the stands, his counterpart, Trafton, performs the same job on the sidelines, exhorting the players by name to "get across that line." Those two fellows ever look alike, except that Trafton, in fine drizzle Sunday, was wearing a slicker instead of the trench coat familiar to Packer fans on Lambeau's person. Curly had a separate room in an unused broadcasting booth atop the State Fair park grandstand, and the motion picture men were in a booth between him and the sportswriters, but the writers could hear him through both partitions. The discussions which led to Trafton's Green Bay job began in an argument over a table in a dining room on the West coast. He and Lambeau met there and began ribbing each other about who was going to get a table, the talk settled down to a serious discussion of football, and the Packers' former archenemy wound up helping coach here. "I like to win," Trafton says flatly. "I never like to be on a losing football team. It's great to win," and that statement could have come from Curly himself. This philosophy helps to make them a swell coaching combination...BAND IS COLORFUL: The Packer Lumberjack band added a bright note to an otherwise gloomy day - the weather, we mean - by keeping things generally pepped up in the stands. They turned the field between halves over to a couple of kids' teams from Milwaukee for a miniature game. The Lumberjacks' drum majorettes performed on the race track during lapses of play in the second half, and got a nice hand...MANDEL IS ANXIOUS: Most anxious man in Milwaukee Saturday was Fred Mandel, Chicago owner of the Detroit Lions, who mislaid his football team that afternoon. He came in from Chicago about 2 p.m., expecting to meet the team there, but they hadn't gotten there yet. He spent an hour and a half wondering whether they knew the game was going to be played in Milwaukee, until they finally arrived at the Schroeder hotel. He was almost as relieved then as he was Sunday afternoon when he learned that the Browns had won the American league pennant, because a Detroit victory would have forced him to move the Lion-Brooklyn game, scheduled for next Sunday, to the University of Detroit stadium Saturday night, since Briggs field would have been occupied by the World Series...Most disappointed fan was an unfortunate Green Bay man, unidentified, who had started out in his car for Milwaukee Sunday morning to see the game. He got as far as Cedarburg, had a flat tire there and couldn't find a garage open to have it fixed. He repaired the tire with borrowed equipment and got to West Allis just in time to turn around and start home...Among the former Green Bay people on hand to greet the arriving Packers Saturday night in Milwaukee was Ray Zinkle, formerly with Postal Telegraph here. Now representing Western Union, he accompanied Gov. Dewey in that capacity though the midwest on his speaking tour recently, and will perform the same job this week when Gov. Bricker swings through Wisconsin...WEATHER IS TOPIC: The weather was the principal subject of conversation Sunday morning. A cold wave was supposed to arrive in Milwaukee just about the time the Packers got there, but it never did. Milwaukee had bright sunshine until mid-morning and then it clouded up. A fine drizzle fell through most of the game, but it hampered the photographers more than the players. The ball got slippery and the grass on the field was slippery, but there wasn't enough rain to soften the gridiron appreciably...TWO N.E.W. BOYS: Green Bay residents Sunday made much of the fact that two boys from this part of Wisconsin provided most of the fireworks in the Wisconsin-Northwestern game Saturday afternoon. Earl (Jug) Girard was the big gun in the Badger attack, which led to an upset 7-6 victory, and John Youngwirth from Fond du Lac, familiar to high school football followers, was Northwestern's triple threat artist. There was also a great deal of conversation about Cecil Isbell's high-scoring triumph over Marquette, as Purdue's head coach...Charles Tollefson made his first appearance in a Packer uniform in the second quarter Sunday. A guard, he nailed a Lion ball carrier a few plays later that made everyone look up his number in the program...CHARLEY, M'BOY: Charley Brock turned in a whale of a game Sunday, getting tackles all over the field as he usually does. He pulled his ball stealing act in the second quarter but the officials ruled that the whistle had blown. In the third quarter, Ted Fritsch's towering kickoffs - he got off a number of tremendous ones - hit the goal post and Brock, the ball hawk, playfully tackled the referee as he carried it out to the 20-yard line. Larry Craig, rushing the passer, just missed 162-pound Jack Lowther about eight yards behinid the line of scrimmage, Lowther couldn't find a receiver and tried to run, and Brock caught him for a loss just as Craig arrived to smack him down...ALEX WOJ-ETC.: Alex Wojciechowicz, the bane of linotype operators, and opposing football players alike, played 50 full minutes of football at center but finally was stretched on the ground in the fourth quarter. It looked like he might be badly hurt but he was walking under his own power, we noticed, when the game end. When Wojie was hurt the Lions sent in a dark-skinned tackle, who topped Tiny Croft in weight, a 300-pounder named Harry Bolton from Oklahoma A. and M. Bolton distinguished himself by aruding the wrath of Buckets Goldenberg, who got off the bench and walked to the sideline to threaten Bolton with dire consequences. Lou Gordon quelled Buckets' one-man uprising with an accusing finger and the news that it would cost the club $50 if Buckets didn't sit down. Gordon, well remembered here, was head linesman...TWO COACHES MEET: Just before the game, the soft-spoken Gus Dorais came walking across the field to the Packer bench, and up to Lambeau. This, we thought, will be momentous. Here will be conversation worth recording, we thought, edging closer. They shook hands, and Dorais spoke: "Say," he said, as we stood by in awe, " do you suppose I could get a program around here somewhere? I'd kind of like to know who's playing out there. He got ours, and the Lions owe us 15 cents.

NEW PRO FOOTBALL LOOPS PLAN START OF PLAY NEXT YEAR

OCT 2 (Chicago) - The recently organized United States Football League has adopted a constitution and by-laws preparatory to beginning operations from a headquarters in New York City in 1945. The league, which has plans for the most extensive program in football history, including games in Honolulu, adopted the constitution at a weekend meeting attended by representatives from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Honolulu, Baltimore, Akron, Cincinnati and Los Angeles. New Orleans, Houston and San Francisco also plan to join the league which will field professional grid teams sponsored by organizations boasting a total capitalization of more than $1,000,000. Franchise fees will be posted at the next meeting of the league which will be incorporated in Delaware.

PACKERS TO MEET PHILADELPHIA IN NASHVILLE BENEFIT OCT. 14

OCT 3 (Green Bay) - While the Packers, victors in three straight NFL starts, ran the kinks out of their muscles today, Coach Curly Lambeau announced that the team would meet the strong Philadelphia Eagles in an exhibition game Saturday afternoon, Oct. 14, in the University of Vanderbilt stadium at Nashville, Tenn. Arrangements for the contest were made through Silliman Evans, publisher of a Nashville newspaper. It will be a benefit for the 20th Ferrying group of the Army Air forces. The Packers and Eagles, considered by many to be the strongest team in the Eastern division this year, do not meet in a regular season game this season. Both have off-Sundays Oct. 15. Lt. Col. J.H. Smart, commander of the Ferrying group, expressed appreciation to Lambeau for his cooperation in agreeing to play the game. He said, "As beneficiaries of this game, the military personnel of this command will receive much needed help in the way of athletic and recreational material and equipment which is badly needed and which we have been unable to procure."...RAY'S HOMETOWN: The game will be without its hometown angle. Baby Ray, veteran tackle of the Green Bay club, is a resident of Nashville during the offseason. He played three years for Vanderbilt university and is generally regarded as one of their all-time great athletes. The game will mark the first time that he has played before Nashville fans since he left school, seven years ago. The two teams are currently leading their respective divisions. The Packers have walked through Brooklyn, the Chicago Bears and Detroit in succession. The Eagles, resuming their former status as a single team after a year's merger with Pittsburgh, have a single circuit victory over the Boston Yanks. The count was 28 to 7 as the Eagles poured through the Yanks on the ground to score once in each period. The Packers will attempt to make it four straight against the combined Chicago Cardinals-Pittsburgh Steelers eleven at City stadium next

Sunday, when the league will see its first full weekend of operation this season. All 10 teams are to be in action, including New York at Boston, Brooklyn at Detroit, Chicago Bears at Cleveland, and Washington at Philadelphia...USE T-FORMATION: The Card-Pitts are being handled by Co-Coaches Walt Kiesling, a former Packers, and Phil Handler, who was head mentor for the Cardinals during 1943 after several years as an assistant. They have adopted the tricky T-formation, which requires long usage before it begins to pay dividends. That apparently is what happened for the Card-Pitts, who have become progressively stronger since the start of the season. They opened their season in Philadelphia by dropping a 22-0 decision to the Eagles in an exhibition game. Their next time out they were nosed out by Washington, 3 to 0. In their first and only league game to date, they lost to the Cleveland Rams, 30 to 28. The payoff came last Sunday, when the Card-Pitts put on a two-touchdown rally in the last quarter against the New York Giants and won by a 17 to 16 margin. Handler and Kiesling were elated over the defeat of the Giants, and particularly so because their charges did it the hard way in coming from behind. They were especially excited over the showing of Johnny Grigas, the Holy Cross battering ram of two seasons back, who mixed in a couple of touchdowns with spectacular running. He had jaunts of 34, 37, 25 and 63 yards...IN FAIR SHAPE: The Packers came out of Sunday's scramble with Detroit in fair shape and all of them except Roy D. McKay, a left halfback who has been sidelines with injuries since an early season exhibition, will be ready to play. Guards Glen Sorenson and Charley Tollefson, and fullback Ted Fritsch, were hurt in the battle but none is seriously injured. Both veteran tackles, Baby Ray and Paul Berezney, did not aggravate leg injuries and should be in top form. One session is scheduled for Wednesday but two may be held depending on how things shape up in the morning workout, Lambeau said. He expressed pleasure with the work of the ball club against the Lions, especially in the second half when they rammed over three touchdowns and held the Lions to a whisper. "In the second half," the coach said, "everyone played good ball and we hope they continue." The Bays are still making some mistakes, the coach said, but they gradually are being ironed out and the overall play is considerably improved.

STEELERS OPEN DRILLS FOR PACKER GAME

OCT 3 (Pittsburgh) - Encouraged by their sensational last quarter comeback which brought a 17-16 victory over the New York Giants in an exhibition game at Forbes Field, the Pittsburgh Steelers will invade Green Bay determined to score their first triumph in history over Coach Curly Lambeau's Packers next Sunday. The Wisconsin eleven has swept all nine meetings with the locals, including a 38-28 win last season. The local pros enjoyed a holiday yesterday but Co-Coaches Walt Kiesling and Phil Handler will have them at Forbes Field this evening for a long drill against Packer plays. Assistant Coach Buddy Parker scouted the Green Bay eleven in its 27-6 victory over Detroit's Lions in Milwaukee last Sunday and brought back plenty of information on the veteran club now leading the western division with three straight successes. No serious casualties resulted from the Giant contest. Chet Bulgar is wearing a black eye and Walter Rankin is still a bit groggy from a head-on collision but both will be at practice today...THREE REGULARS TO RETURN: Three regulars are expected to leave the hospital list in time for the impending battle in Green Bay. Tackle Cliff Duggan, left halfback Johnny Butler and right halfback Roy Thuson all missed the New York game, although the latter two donned moleskins and sat on the bench part of the time. Their return to action should really improve chances of an upset over the favored Green Bay squad.

​PACKERS TO FACE TOUGH JOB IN BATTLE SUNDAY WITH STRONG CARD-PITT TEAM

OCT 4 (Green Bay) - Shortly before the 1944 football season opened, Coach Curly Lambeau predicted that the combined Chicago Cardinals-Pittsburgh Steelers team would be one of the strongest in the Western division of the NFL. He qualified it by saying that the Card-Pitts would become stronger as the season progressed. Today the Packer coach reiterated his previous stand as he peered ahead five days to the team's Sunday encounter with the combination at City stadium. The contest will mark the fourth time this year the Packers have sallied forth to meet an opponent while it will be the second circuit game for the merged eleven, losers of their first to the Cleveland Rams...AFTER FOURTH STRAIGHT: Green Bay has a great deal to gain by winning its fourth straight and they will have to put their best effort forth to roll over the hybrid team with a line averaging well over 200 pounds and a backfield that is sparked by fullback Johnny Grigas. They have just begun to get the feel of the T formation, and Lambeau is worried about a sudden explosion from the Sunday visitors. The Green Bay coach explains it thus: Co-Coaches Walt Kiesling and Phil Handler had to take the best men from the Steelers and Cardinals give them the fundamentals of the system popularized by the latter's crosstown rivals in Chicago, and then weld them into an efficient, smooth unit able to romp through rivals' defenses. At the start of the season, the Card-Pitts showed little in the way of offensive power and got kicked around considerably by the Philadelphia Eagles, 22-0. Their next time out, they dropped a heartbreaker to Washington, 3-0, the same team that a short while before had laid Green Bay low, 20 to 7. Then the T formation began to click and the combine was edged by Cleveland, 30-28. Last Sunday the team slapped the Giants, 17-16...SHOW GRADUAL GAIN: The scored indicated gradual improvement and Coach Lambeau's preseason prediction about the Card-Pitts' strength is being bolstered by the record. He doesn't stand alone in his contention that the team is getting stronger. The co-coaches themselves admit that the team has shown improvement with every game played. They figure that next Sunday may be their opportunity to do something that Brooklyn, the Chicago Bears and Detroit couldn't do - beat the Packers, now atop the division standings. Of course, the Packers have something to say about that too and they are in a fine frame of mind as they go through drills for the contest. But to get back to the Card-Pitts for a moment, here's the way their starting line looks (and weighs). At the end are Eddie Rucinski (196) and Walt Kichefski (212), at tackles Eberle Schultz (250) and Chet Bulger (235), at guard Conway Baker (230) and Clarence Booth (230), and at center Al Wukits (220). There's a pretty heft line, and to help out are such reserves as Clint Wagar (235), Clint Duggan (225), Ted Doyle (230) and Don Currivan, a little fellow comparatively. He weighs only 195. Operating the T formation behind this mountain of flesh are Grigas, who made 149 yards on four dashes late in the fourth quarter last Sunday. Johnny Butler, the Steelers' veteran from Tennessee, George Magulick, 150-pound speedster from St. Francis college, and Bernard Semes of Duquesne. In addition, Bobbie Thurbon and Johnny Butler, who didn't play against the Giants, will be available for action against the Bays. Concentrated action is due for the Packers in workouts today through Saturday. This morning they were to hold a long dummy scrimmage against Card-Pitt plays and use the remainder of the time to work out the mistakes in their offense. The squad is in fair physical condition and should be at full strength by game time, Lambeau said, adding that he is sticking by his previous observation that Sunday's game is going to be no Indian summer picnic. "Fans who saw the Brooklyn Tigers line go to work will be surprised when I say that the Card-Pitt line is even more rugged. But that's the fact and we'll have to be in top shape to get through them. Stopping Grigas will be our principal chore apparently on defense because he appears to be having his best year in the league. I'm satisfied that we have the right mental attitude, but we must continue polishing our attack," he said.

INJURIES SIDELINE SEMES

OCT 4 (Pittsburgh) - Tackling the undefeated Green Bay Packers in Wisconsin Sunday will be a tremendous task for the Steelers-Cardinals, but Co-Coaches Walt Kiesling and Phil Handler today had an even more perplexing problem on their hands. Probable loss of Bernie Semes, who turned in one of the greatest jobs of blocking seen at Forbes Field in many a year against the New York Giants last Sunday, poses the problem confronting the Pittsburgh-Chicago coaches. Semes came out of the game with sprains of the knee, back and hands, and the team physician reports it is doubtful if the former Duquesne University star will be in condition to see action against the Western leaders. Semes, who played all but a few minutes of the game Sunday, was a replacement for Bobby Thurbon, who was benched because of an appendicitis attack. Thurbon is not expected to be ready for the clash with the Packers, which occasions double trouble for Kiesling and Handler in their efforts to field a right halfback. Walt Rankin, former Texas Tech satellite, who has been understudying Johnny Grigas at fullback, is being given a crack at the vacated slot.