Evening star. [volume], May 18, 1948, Page A-15, Image 15

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Zahn Pressed Into Coach's Job, Finds It's Great
'Accidental' Athlete at Eastern High, Otts Makes G. W. Teams Champs .
By Lewis F. Atchison
"No, I didn’t particularly set
my cap to be a coach,” confessed
Arthur David (Otts) Zahn, the
accidental athlete. “Circumstan
ces led me into it, but now that j
I'm here I’m enjoying it im
mensely.”
George Washington U.’s youth
ful baseball and basketball coach
can afford to smile, what with
his diamond squad being consid
ered for one of four berths in a
round-robin tournament to de
cide the Third District’s repre
sentative in the NCAA college
world series. This is Ott’s first
year at the baseball helm and
when a coach wins praise from j
the alumni as well as baseball |
games, he may be considered i
Buccessiui.
We call him an accidental ath
lete because few suspected the
role Zahn was destined to play
in sports when he reported for
basket ball in his senior year at
Eastern High School, including
Otts. He’d been too small before,
but at 6 feet, and weighing a ro
bust 130 with his shoes on, he de
cided to give it a whirl. He was
graduating soon, anyway.
He made the squad in basket
ball, a rather ordinary squad,
much to his surprise. But in
baseball it was different. He still
was a sub, but a reserve on a dia
mond team that ruled the local
high school world with a stout
hickory stick. And he was a
better player than even he
thought. Two games before the
series ended, "Theo” Edwards,
regular shortstop, neglected to
parse a sentence properly or
something, and was ruled off by
the athletic board.
“Chief Guyon put me in his
place and in those two games I
did well enough to win a place on
OTTS ZAHN.
the all-high teams picked by The
Star and one of the other papers,”
Zahn recalled. "That was a big
thrill because we had some real
good players like Willis Fisher,
Cody Shapiro. Ted Capelli, Bud
Hanna and Archie Ware on that
team. They were tops and being
selected with them was a great
honor for me.”
At George Washington, Zahn
plunged into the business of be
ing an athlete in his freshman
year and when he graduated in
1934 had won his spurs as a top
flight college player. The follow
ing winter, when Bill Reinhart
took over as varsity basket ball
coach, he picked Otts for his
part-time freshman mentor. Zahn
welcomed the opportunity of
keeping his hand in, even though
it meant taking annual leave
from his Government position
piecemeal to handle the job.
In 1942, when Reinhart entered
military service, uuu
as varsity coach, but again on a
part-time basis. The following
season, with a team featuring
Joe Gallagher, Jim Rausch, John
Koniszewski, Bob Groetzinger
and Esel Gustafson, all players
he had coached as freshmen, Otts
led the Colonials to the Southern
Conference championship. And
that was only the beglnhing. In
three full years, not counting an
informal season immediately after
the war, Zahn piloted the down
town dribblers to 58 victories
against 18 losses—a good record
In any league.
Conditions at L>. w. may nui ue
ideal for sports, but Zahn pre
fers to look at the brighter side.
"We only have to walk a couple
of blocks to the Ellipse to prac
tice baseball,” he explains, "but
we have a* good field and all the
equipment we need. Better than
that, we’ve got a pretty good
bunch of boys. A couple of big
league scouts are interested in
Joe Wapinsky, a catcher, and
Chet Pietras, a better-than
average second baseman.”
As for basket ball, it wasn’t
so long ago the Colonials were
playing in the ‘‘tin tabernacle”
on G street.
“But we always played to ca
pacity crowds there,” Otts re
minded us. “The doors had to be
closed a couple of hours before
the game started.”
They were capacity crowds, in
a gymnasium with a 500 seating,
standing and shoving capacity.
But if Zahn can only hold the
alumni’s interest long enough he
thinks they may kick in and help
build that long-awaited field
house for his boys.
"And when we get it, I promise
we’ll give ’em a championship
team to help celebrate,” he con
cluded. _
Chief Boston Appointed
To Army Coaching Staff
By th« Associated Press
WEST POINT, N. Y„ May 18 —
• Clarence (Chief) Boston, a Harvard
man, is the newest addition to
Coach Red Blaik's football board
of strategy at West Point.
Boston was named to the Army
coaching staff yesterday, helping
fill the vacancies created by the
loss of two Army aides to head
Jobs—Herman Hickman to Yale and
Andy Gustafson to the University
of Miami in Florida.
Boston played in the backfield on
the 1936-7-8 Harvard teams and
later joined the Crimson staff. He
has been serving as Harvard fresh
man and junior Varsity coach and
also a wrestling mentor.
Cards Option Bucha
6T. LOUIS. May 18 (/P).—The St.
Louis Cardinals have announced the
option of Catcher John Bucha to
the Houston club in the Texas
League. Bucha played with Omaha
in the Western League last year,
batting .361. He trained with St.
Louis this spring.
Maryland Tracks'
Betting Declines
By the Associated Press
BALTIMORE, May 18.—Betting
at Maryland's three major race
tracks—Bowie, Havre De Grace,
and pimlico—declined 14 per
cent this spring from the $34,
670,231 wagered during the cor
responding 36 days last year.
Havre De Grace and Pimlico,
the two hardest hit, declined 29
and 22 per cent, respectively.
The former had a daily mutuel
pool of $658,555, and the latter
894.198.
Bowie suffered only a slight
drop. The 'Graw and Pimlico
had an unusual number of rainy
and cold days and the Susque
hanna course suffered in addition
from Garden State (Camden,
N. J.) competition.
Andrews Field Boxer Wins
SALINA, Kans., May 18 CP).—Fly
weight George Abaraca of Andrews
Field, Md., outpointed Arthur
Adams of Long Beach, Calif., in
one of the first-round fights in the
Air Forces boxing tournament last
night.
Penn Grid Coach Munger
Alumni Club Speaker
George Munger, Penn" football
coach, will be guest speaker at to
night's dinner meeting of the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania’s District
Club at the Metropolitan Club,
starting at 6:30.
Munger will show movies of
Penn's outstanding football games
of last season.
Today a year ago—Hal Chase,
one of baseball’s greatest first
basemen, died at 61, in Colusa,
Calif.
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Landis Trophy
To Be Given to
Elliott Tonight
BOB ELLIOTT.
—AP Photo.
ly ths Associated Pres*
BOSTON, May 18.—Bob Elliott
—"Mr. Team”—will be given the
Kenesaw' Mountain Landis Me
morial Trophy by National,
League President Pord C. Prick
when the Boston Braves play
Pittsburgh here tonight.
The award, named lor the late
basebalL commissioner, will be
given Third-Sacker Elliott lor
being the most valuable player in
the league in 1947.
Coaltown Is Expected
To Run Tomorrow in
Race at Belmont
•y the Auociattd Prtu
NEW YORK, May 18.—Metropolis
tan race fans probably will get their
first look this week at the second
half of Calumet Farm’s terrific
twosome—happy-footed coaltown.
Coaltown, who ran second to sta-,
blemate Citation in the Kentucky
Derby, is expected to run in the
115,000-added Swift Stakes at Bel
mont Park tomorrow.
If so, he’ll have distinguished
company. Ben F. Whitaker’s My
Reguest, the show horse in the Der
by/is another probable entry, along
with William Helis’ Salmagundi,
Maine Chance's Ace Admiral and
Mrs. John Payson Adams’ Grand
pere.
It’s a 7-furlong race.
A crowd of 29,340 saw the pic
turesque Belmont open its 25-day
meeting yesterday.
William G. Helis’ 5-year-old bay,
Rippey, won the featured Toboggan
Handicap under dreary skies. The
son of Pompey finished a length
ahead of Mrs. John D. Hertz’s Own
ers Choice, with Mose Rauzin’s Buz
fuz running third.
Rippey paid $5.50, $3.70 and $2.80.
His time was 1:09% for the 6 fur
longs. _
G. W. Net Date Set
The George Washington-William
and Mary tennis match postponed
from last week because of weather
will be held on Saturday at Wil
liamsburg. The Indian netmen have
already clinched the Southern Con
ference title.
Patton's 93 'W
Undertimed, Vet
Coach Believes
By Mm Auoc'wtad han
SAN FRANCISCO, May 18.—
Dink Templeton, veteran track
coach, says Mel Patton’s 9.3 100
yard dash looked just a 9.5 sec
onds effort to him.
"My own watch was stopped at
9.5. I was sitting right on the
finish line” when Patton of the
University of Southern California,
bettered the 9.4 world record at
the Fresno relays Saturday,
Templeton said today.
“I’ll have to agree with Patton
himself, who was quoted as say
ing he didn’t think he ran that
fast Neither did I.”
Templeton, who has coached
many nationally known athletes
at Stanford University and cur
rently at San Francisco’s Olym
pic Club, added:
"I believe that all the hulla
baloo in advance about possible
world records makes the timers
eager to keep from iseing late
and as a result perhaps they are
too early.”
He said he favored having each
official drop his watch into a
sack after timing a race. The
referee then would take "each
anonymous watch* and deter
mine the average time.
Softball Loop Meeting
A meeting to form an adult
colored softball league, under aus
pices of the District Recreation De
partment, will be held at 8:15 pm.
Friday at Gamet-Patterson Junior
High School.
On Trust Is Favored
As Hollywood Opens
By the Associated Press
INGLEWOOD. Calif., May 15 —
Hollywood Park today opens its
eighth season of thoroughbred rac
ing with California’s money win
ning champion, On Trust, favored
to take the $25,000 Inaugural, the
Inglewood Purse at six furlongs.
Eleven starters have been named.
Among them are With Pleasure,
the Brolite Farms’ speedster who
beat Armed three times last year;
Mafosta, a sensation at Bay Mead
ows where he won five straight, and
Pair Truckle, the world record hold
er (1:08.2) at six furlongs.
College Baseball
By the Associated Press
Evansville. 8; Eastern Kentucky. 4.
Illinois Wesleyan, 3; Autustana (Rock
Island). 2.
Central. 4; Taylor. 3.
Washington. IS: Idaho. 3.
Gonsaga, 10: Farragut. 3.
Georgia Tech. 13: Auburn. 8.
Kansas State. 4; Missouri. 1.
Virginia Tech. 8: Roanoke College. 2.
Nebraska, 7; Kansas. 1.
Lafayette. 7; East Stroudsburg Teach*
ers, 3.
St. John’s. 3: Kings Point. 0.
Adelphl. 1: Iona. 0.
St. Peter’s. 3: Fordham. 2.
Rutgers. 2: Navy, 0, _ h _
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