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mrr --mi SPORTS CLOSE-UPS By Ira Seebacher NEW YORK, May 4.— "Intercollegiate football," says Dr. Louis B. Wright, educator and librarian, "is as obsolete as the tail of a dinosaur." Hardly a scintillating smile nor yet a very startling observation. It is one more round in the ever- continuing war between the pros and the antis where college football is concerned. These remarks were at Spartanburg, S. C, at the inauguration of Dr. Charles Franklin Marsh, new president of Wofford College. Wofford, incidentally, is no Michigan or Alabama in the football scheme of things but let us not be deceived by the infrequency of its name in the headlines. It does play football and in its own league has more than indifferent success at the game. There were no particular new strings on Dr. Wrights zither and he strummed out the same time, to wit that the game is carried on under existing conditions at the expense of the ethics of many educators who lie and deviate from their moral duties under the pressures of producing a football team at their institution. All this, of course, has been hashed and rehashed a myriad of times by anyone strong enough to poke a typewriter key. There are a great many arguments to be made for and against intercollegiate football, and . we might add, theyve been made. Just why and what new were the underlying promptings to the latest attack werent evident. Dr. Wright happens to be director of the. famed Folger Library in Washington. We assume from this, he is far more an authority on Shakespeare than on the winged T. It would be about as fitting if the tired and equally battered subject of whether or not the Bard wrote the plays attributed to him were to be argued at a coaching clinic with, perhaps, Jim Lee Howell or some equally intense Shakespearean dabbler expounding his views on the matter. AAA In a few more weeks, the Olympic fathers will gather to decide where the worlds athletes will convene in 1964 for the Olympic Games. It is common knowledge that there is a strong desire on the part of American officials to sponsor the bid of the City of Detroit. However, the American desires in this are likely to be thwarted since most countries will look with a dim view on coming here. In fact, most countries, lets realize, would prefer that all future Olympic Games be held in Europe. There is a sort of understanding that three of every four games are held in Europe and in the past this has been true. In 1904, 1932 and 1956 the Games were not held in Europe. The other 10 were in Europe with the upcoming Games in I 60 scheduled for Rome. All of which means that when considering the venue for 64, it will be on the basis of 11 Olympics in Europe. To maintain this one-in-four ratio, it would be entirely too soon to consider Detroit for 64 and on that basis American hopes for 64 are not considered very bright. Even our own officials concede this. Strangely, there is a strong clique ready and willing to forego European considerations for 64 in favor of a bid from Tokyo. TbJa is strange, we repeat, because, for one , thing, Tokyo is not exactly around the I Continued on Page Fifty-One SPORTS CLOSE-UPS By IRA SEEBACHER Continued from Page Two corner either and its selection will entail great expense to competing nations. For another, memories of some are longer than ■ others. There are those who have forgotten that the 1940 Games had been awarded to Tokyo and had been blithly passed up by the Japanese warlords who were much I too preoccupied with making mincemeat I out of Manuchuria and the rest of the Chinese mainland. You will recall that : when Japan gave up the 1940 Games, they i were hastily re-awarded to Helsinki, only to have the Finns unable to fulfill their host roles when the Russians attempted to spread the Communist gospel by force of arms among the gallant and resisting Finns. AAA Finland, of course, finally did get the Olympics when the world returned to what we lauughingly call normal. That was in 1952. Also paid off was one of the Axis nations, Italy, by giving the 1960 Games to Rome. This paid off for the 1944 Games which Rome had been promised, but which, of course, never came off because Mussolini was busy aiding Adolf, a somewhat tougher assignment than strafing spear-carrying Ethiopians. All of which, you may argue, is water under the bridge but it does seem that the I.O.C. has a strange way of picking sites for an athletic convention of nations, most of . whom would be peace-loving if given a chance.
