News Scrapbook 1958-1961

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO THE

LONG LIVE THE COACH Only Lloyd's of London Is foolish Enough lo Insure His Contract By LEO HIRSCHFIELD, Pre11ident, Athletic Publications, Inc.

"Actually It might even be deemed an honor to be hung in effigy. A!ter all, It has been quite a distinguished circle of coaches whose facsimile has dangled from a llght post. ··Notmuch Is said when a group of farui go wild after a win and tear down the goal posts and do other damage. Why then worry, when the shoe Is on the other foot, If they perform a similarly rash act? "So, I think that, like most student and alumni actions, the hanging of a coach In effigy should be taken with a grain of salt. "But I'm not a coach." * ( From 10h11 Curley, Sport11 Assiatant, Lafayette Coll ge) "My opinion on the matter Is that there Is no need for such occurr nces. A school should recognize a need for change before any such hangings take place. Such acts on the part of students or alumni reflect poorly on the Institu- tion•s pollcles." * ( From Don E. Uebendorf r, Sports Pub- licity l)irector, Stanford University) "I have only one observation to make regarding hanging In effigy. Anyon who participates in this ruilnlne business Is a moron, and I hope no moron sues me." ( From Bob Womack, Auistant Publicity Director, Fresno State College) "We have not harl a losing season (knock wood) since 1950. In spite of this, I regret to report that in 1957 our foot- ball coach wrui hung in effigy on two dif- ferent occasions. However, I feel these incidents reflected the sentiments of only an extremely small minority ot our sup- porters." • ( From Mick Holmes, Sports News Direc- tor, Grinnell College) "As for a personal opinion of students or alumni who hang coaches in fflgy, I will make my comment brief. These per- sons, if they can be called any part of the human race, are just children yet. They haven't grown up and probably never will. It doesn't take a brave per- "°" to hang another in effigy - only a stupid one." (From James L. Telfer, Assistant in Pub- lic Relations and Publicity, Wittenberg University) "The hanging of a coach Is to me an extremely immature act. People who participate In such disgusting displays leave me with the impression that they have little or nothing to do and that they have no concept of the coach's task. They a re always quick to blame the coach without considering the fact that his material might be the major reason be- hind the lack of victories." • ( From Frank Weedon, Sports Publicity Director, North Carolina State College) "Students and friends have not at- tempted to hang Coach Earle Edwards, who is starting his seventh year at State College. Our quarterback, Roman Ga- briel, should prevent any such happen- ings this year. Gabriel could be the best quarterback in the country this year. Many pro scouts and college football people are tremendously high on Gabriel as a passer and pro prospect." • ( From Bill Thomas, Athletic Publicist, San Diego University) "We don't plan to hang any coach here at our college you don't have suc_h

the Bearcat encounter a dummy of Coach Myers was found hanging on the campus. Pacific finally ended the season with a 6-4 record and two more "hangings" of Myers. Myers was hanged twice last year de- spite a 5-4 mark on the year and despite the fact that Pacific lost four games by less than a touchdown per game. Following the second hanging last s a- son, Pacific President Robert Burns, In an effort to beat back the adverse pub- licity created by the actions of theee ex- tremely sick individuals, publicly offered Myers a five-year contract.

J1)NE Sunday during the 1959 foot- U ball season, our local paper ran stories about three football coaches that hod been hung in effigy the day before. I felt that this foolishness hod gone for enough, and that it was about time that some publication with notion-wide circulation speak to these misguided juveniles and their adult accomplices in u-ncertain terms. I undertook a survey to determine how many coaches hod been hung in effigy and how many others had been forced to resign because of undue pres- sure from studenh, alumni or sports writers, or all three groups. The survey has not turned up too much positive information on the sub- ject. There ore two possible explana- tions: 1. The situation was not as bad as I had thought it to be, ofter reading about the three coaches being hung in one day. 2. Possibly the more plausible explanation is the one against which I was warned by C. Robert Paul, Jr., Director of Sports lnfor• motion at Pennsylvania University. He warned me that most schools, whose coaches had been fired as a result of pressure, would not ad• mil it. Whatever the reason, the survey seems to me to be insufficiently com- plete to warrant running it as a feature story, as it would place me in the posi- tion of appearing to make a mountain out of a molehill. The survey did elicit some interesting explanations of the reasons why people hang coaches in effigy. Some of the most interesting of these are being set up in this supplement, which is being mailed only to those people in our mailing li-51 wh-o actually ore associated w it h the colleges and universities. If any of you wish to release any portions of this to your local news- papermen for publicity, you are free to do so. Before dismissing the subject of the actual hangings, there is one situation worth noting. This letter from Bill Tunnell, Athletic News Director of College of the Pacific, tells an interesting story : In answer to the four questions posed on our football coach, I can answer a ready NO to the first three. However, the answer to number four will take a little longer. Our head football coach, J ack ··Moose" Myers, has harl rather a long string of "hangings" and all the more peculiar because In the seven seasons that he has coached at Pacific he has had only one I ng season. Myers has been hanged more than a half dozen times in the past five years despite the fact that he hasn't (or rather the club hasn't) had a losing season since 1954 when he slipped to a 4-5 record. The most frightening hanging occurred during the 1958 season. Pacific got off fast, whipping California (which later played in the Rose Bowl), Arizona State ·breaking an 18-game winning streak held by Arizona State), then beat back Brigham Young before losing a narrow 12-6 decision to Cincinnati. Following

est, Plan Battle

Pioneers

or Azusa

Out" you women P.E. instructors in junior high school lf your gang doesn't win the volleyball title.

Here ore some of the reasons and explanations given by various contrib- f l ( From Ru1111 Herron, Sporl11 Publicity Director, Central Michigan) "In my own opinion, these effigy hang- ings fall Into two basic categories: "( 2 ) The students and/ or alumni who know that "the" thing to do when a coach Is losing - like eating goldfish or cramming phone booths - is to hang the coach. It's more of a college boy's game than anything else. "And from what I have seen of this practice, the more hangings a coach can rack up, the more he gets his athletic depa rtment and administration behind him. If they aren't behind him after the hangings, then chances are they weren't there before them." • ( l<'rom Eric Engellenner, Athletic Direc- tor, Sacramento State College) "I'm afraid I don't attach the same significance to hanging a coach in effigy as you do, and I certainly wouldn't place it in the same category as juvenile delin- quency. In fact - and this may be a lit- tle hard for some coaches to take - I think hanging a coach in effigy is a part of the color and tradition of the game of football , much the same as booing the umpire and calling him blind in baseball. utors :

problems when you keep the athletlc "( 1) The students and/or alwnni who ~ p.rogram in line wit~. the academic objec- are truly dissatisfied with the present tives of th e college. coach, but who have directed their efforts • in the wrong direction.

IJJ5DAY, OCT011~ 13, 1960

to Tackle

onal

pro1