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The men behind the scenes of the extensive Holy Cross Athletic program:

Left to right, William J. O'Connell, Assistant Director of Athletics; Eugene F. Flynn, Director of Athletics; Rev. John M. Tiernan, S.J., Faculty Moderator of Athletics. VaAMtu Coack&i

JACK BARRY Coach of Baseball

JOHN DaGROSA, Coach of Football

ALVIN "Doggie" JULIAN

Coach of Basketball

BART SULLIVAN

Coach of Track moved the ball practically at will but lacked the polish

and finish to produce a score and a victory. Early in

the third period Hank Beaulieu scooped up an errant jba/itmautti Qame Dartmouth fumble on the Green 30 and the Cross set sail. Just as last year Bobby Sullivan and vigorous Veto

Kissell took over the heavy duty ball carrying and blast- The New Hampshire Aborigines from Dartmouth ed the middle of the Dartmouth frontier all the way whooped into Worcester to pry the lid off the 1947 down to the l"/2 yd. stripe. But there two Dartmouth Fitton Field gridiron program. Some 22,000 partisan tackles and a pair of bustling backers-up named Schreck

addicts of the annual Autumnal madhouse, conceded and Truncellito called a halt. Twice more brief Dart-

that it was nice of the Indians to put in an appearance, mouth kicks allowed the Purple to come roaring back

so that the contest might be held, but few of them ex- but a fumble and an incomplete fourth-down pass frus-

pected it 10 be much more than a contest in name only. trated our well meaning operatives.

The unknown quantity of Tuss McLaughry's sophomoric The double horse-collar verdict was disappointing, Tribe was hardly figured to be a match for the massive but there were bright spots in it. Bobby Sullivan turned and mobile charges of Ox DaGrosa. in the first of ten stellar performances that were to go

Consider then, the extreme amazement of one and down in Holy Cross football history. Tom Kelleher re-

all, when the spirited Green thrice rose up and re- fused to have his terminal turned by the fleet Dartmouth

pulsed the Crusaders after Purple penetrations inside backs and speared a DeFelippo toss beautifully to all

the Dartmouth five yard ribbon. With little in the way but score for the Cross. Hannigan, Jenkins, Truncellito,

of an effective offense to hurl against our own rugged and Schreck for Dartmouth made few friends in the

defenses, the only possible verdict was returned: Dart- H. C. stands.

mouth —Holy Cross 0. An opening game tie was tough, but it was three

Experimenting for the first time with the T-Formation, points better than last year, so we cheered up and the Purple displayed a simple but powerful attack that looked toward Temple.

53 ^V'*4 :3Hr>

First Row, left tc right: Bobby Farrell, Veto Kissell, Frank Parker, John Fontana, Phil Nolan, Co-Captain Ray Ball, Co-Captain Bobby Sullivan, Tom Costello. Bob Barton, Jim Reilly. Tom Kelleher, Wally Brennan. Second Row, left to right: Head Coach John "Ox" DaGrosa, Backfield Coach Howie Smith Freshman Coach Albert "Hop" Riopel, End Coach Ed Kosky, Angelo Maglio, Jim Dieckelman, Frank Burke, Walter Haas, Hank Beaulieu, Ray Sullivan, Line Coach John Law, Manager Jack Whalen. Third Row, left to right: Manager Ed Brawley, Bill Goepfrich, John McDermott. Mike Boyle, John Reader, Dirk Durand, Gene Moran, Chuck Binder, Bill Keville, Leo Troy, Manager Ted O Rourke. Fourth Row, left to right: Jack Connolly, Ralph Diverio. Dick Wallace, Bill Stetter, Tony Palmer, Ed Jurgielewicz, Bill Petroski, Jack Falvey, Jim Murphy, Whip Halliday, George Kelley. Missing from picture: Frank Guaciaro, Wally Sheridan, Gene DeFilippo, Clem LaBossiere, Dick O'Keefe, Gene Spinelli, Jim Deffley, John DiGangi. Veto Kissell gets that extra yard as he drives into two Temple defenders in the game with the Owls at Fitton Field. Huge Fran Parker hovers over the play. The Crusaders prevailed over the Owls by a 19-13 count.

inner defenses of the Owls to move the leather up to the 18 and Bobbie Farrell crossed them up by going 14

yards outside for a first down on the four. Two plays

later Bobby Sull steamed inside tackle and it was H. C. The Temple Owls brought a flock of light, fast, and 13—Temple 0. Late in the second period Temple start- pass-conscious backs to Worcester for the second act of ed throwing. They passed their way all the way down the Fitton Follies, but this time Holy Cross made the to our people's 4, where Sutton ran over for the score. experts look good as they powered their way to three In the third period Ray Sullivan initiated another touchdowns and then outlasted a furious fourth period drive for the Temple end zone. Both Sullivans along Temple aerial assault to prevail 19-13 . This was a Holy with Kissell featured this march which culminated with Cross victory born of a furiously charging Purple for- vigorous Veto smacking over from five paces out. Now ward wall that limited the Owls to the insignificant to- the harried Temple quarterback decided he had seen tal of 47 yards of overland progress. In addition the enough of Parker, DiGangi, and Reilly, so he scrapped line, led by Fran Parker, Abe Reilly, and John DiGangi his T-Formation and went into a deep punt formation tore yawning apertures in the Temple defensive align- whence a substitute fullback named Dubenetzky filled ments through which Sully and Kissell rolled for im- the air with passes. A fifteen yard flip to end, Joe Lee pressive yardage and a touchdown each. clicked for six Temple points to wind up the scoring / Philadelphia Tom Kelleher, after having missed the for the day. trolley against Dartmouth, was not to be denied again Once again the Holy Cross punting average was tre- when early in the first period he made connections with mendous with Slim Sheridan and Bobby Sullivan averag- a 28 yd. Wally Brennan shot and loped across with the ing 44.7 per try. line was outstanding offensively first six Crusader digits of the year. Kissell kicked off The

but the Owls could get no where and Bobbie Farrell and defensively. Kissell and Sully again were big gain-

took the ensuing fourth-down punt and danced it back ers and Farrell was most impressive burning the Temple

some twenty yards to the Temple 46 to start the second flanks. So we had good reason to look ahead to Villanova

Crusader scoring drive. Sully and Kissell assailed the with a degree of optimism, we thought! VOLan&ua

Saturday came up hot again for the Villanova game,

and Villanova came up hot for Holy Cross. In brief they were hot enough to outscore the Crusaders, two touchdowns and an extra point to a single Purple T. D. The wildcats brought with them a thundering fullback named Ralph Pasquariello from Everett, Mass., if you

please, who all by himself produced a total overland progress that exceeded the combined output of Ox Da- Grosa's entire offensive force.

The Crusaders were by no means stifled on the ground themselves, but time and again promising looking pene- trations into Villanova territory were frustrated by un-

timely Holy Cross fumbles. In fact the very first time

the Cross had its hooks on the ball, on the opening kick- off, they lost the ball on an unfortunate bobble. Bobby Sullivan had grabbed the opening kick-off and careened back to his own 45 yard stripe, but the melon was jarred

loose as he was hit, the first of many vicious tackles that

afternoon, and Villanova had the ball 45 yards from pay

dirt.

Six plays later they were on our 4, with four tries

to make it. The Cross packed its defences to stop Pas- quariello which they did three times. The fourth time however, QB Bill Doherty crossed them up when he faked another inside handoff, and then pitched out

wide to Bob Palidor who frolicked unmolested around

his own right flank for the score. Doherty converted to

put us seven points out in the first quarter.

Center, DICK O'KEEFE The Crusaders came roaring back with a little pow-

ering of their own in the persons of Bobby Sullivan and

Veto Kissell. 64 yds. they came with Kissell and Sully

doing the lions share of the coming. At the twenty, Wal-

ter Brennan dropped back, and getting nice protection,

hung one on Bob Barton's ear in the end zone for six

aerial points to put the Cross back in the ball game. Be- fore the half was over that man Pasquariello threw an-

other violent scare into the Purple adherents when he

burst through the line, cut to his left and with an awe-

some show of speed for a big fellow, streaked all the way

only to have the thing called back for clipping on Sully. The Cross put together three more potential scoring

marches in the second half, but each time it fizzled out

either on a fumble or an aroused Villanova line. Holy

Cross seemed to be able to gain at will between the

twenties, but still lacked the scoring punch needed for

victories. The second Villanova score in the second half only put the game out of reach for our people. It

was the first defeat of the season and didn't sit too well

because one and all realized that H. C. had been vastly

outplayed. Bobby Sullivan gave all that could be given

in a losing cause, which is to say some twenty pounds

of weight yielded up to the broiling sun and the rugged

Villanova tacklers. The defeat hurt but the thought of Harvard only one week away put thoughts of the past

out of the way and all eyes turned to Harvard Stad-

ium . . . Guard, JOHN KELLY Bob Sullivan had set Harvard deep in their own

territory by angling a 34 yard punt out of bounds

on their 25. A momentary lapse in the usually stout Holy Cross defense saw two crimson-jersied backs, Gannon and Lazzaro, speed 45 yards on two successive

plays. Only Walter Sheridan's desperate from-behind tackles prevented them from scooting the distance.

Harvard passed to the 13. Then Tom Gannon let fly a wobbly, running aerial into the end zone. Johnny The 1947 edition of the sons of John Harvard spread Fiorentino, the Crimson end, leaped high into the air forth their ivy welcome mat in the sweltering mid-Octo- to snare the pigskin from the hands of two Purple de- ber 80 degree heat to welcome the Crusaders back to the fenders and climax the game's only touchdown drive. Harvard Stadium for the twenty-seventh meeting of a Five fumbles and four intercepted passes spelled rivalry that began in 1904. Spirit ran high on Paka- doom for the Purple offense which had more than a

choag . . . the Crimson had just been soundly trounced little trouble fathoming the intricate defenses of the

by Virginia . . . the Crusaders were expected to find Crimson mentor, Dick Harlow. Veto Kissell was his

themselves offensively . . . and the Worcester lads usual unstoppable self when given the least opportunity- were favored to avenge last year's defeat. while Jim Dieckleman walked off with honors for line But once again the royal Purple rooter was to be play. The Albany end making his first appearance of denied a victory. It was the same familiar story as the season turned in a performance that made the knee DaGrosa's charges continued to assert their superiority injury which had laid him up so long seem all the in the statistical sheet but failed in the all important more tragic. scoring column. The Johnnies reached the Holy Cross We were defeated, yes, and disappointed, too. But the 45 yard line only once. This one sustained offensive team's spirit faltered not a bit. The low point of the drive, however, was not to be stopped until the Crimson season had passed. Watch out Syracuse! boasted a 7-0 lead.

Co-Captain Ray Ball and Hank Beaulieu collaborate to stop Columbia's Nork in the 10-0 defeat at the hands of the Lions at Baker Field, New York. Other identifiable Crusaders are Sheridan (15), Parker (29), and Halliday (60). The Thursday before the Syracuse game, the Holy

Cross student body to a man, turned out and escorted

their football team on foot from Linden Lane to Union

Station in an unprecedented display of support. They

were telling their team that they had forgotten about

Harvard and wanted a victory over Syracuse in the

worst way. The football team responded by scrapping

their inept T-Formation, stepping back into their old

single wing shoes, and belaboring the Orangemen from the Onendaga Valley by four touchdowns.

Veto Kissell back at his old spin-buck slot looked

like something good to eat. Ray Sullivan who had been

having handle trouble with the football in the T,

started at wing back, and had all kinds of fun on Ray

Ball's well directed weak side reverses. Bobby Sullivan,

who it seemed could and would produce anywhere, any-

time, was also a big gainer.

It took the Cross just five minutes and ten plays

to move from the opening kick-off to their first score.

Kissell and the Sullivan brothers went 73 yards on

straight power plays with vigorous Veto going over

from the one. Philly Nolan was automatic with the Quarterback, Co-Capt. RAY BALL conversion and the Cross led 7-0. The next time H. C. took possession, Ray Sullivan went 47 yards on two

plays. The Oranage rose up and held this time, but

after an abbreviated kick-out Holy Cross who was

not to be denied this day, drove right back to score.

Ray Sullivan capped this drive with a sixteen yard sprint

to score on which Parker and Ball murderously assailed

the last two Syracuse defenders. The last two second

half H. C. scores came on passes. The first climaxed a

third period overland drive, was a brief five yard chuck

from Bobby Sullivan to Tom Costello. The last Tee Dee

was most satisfying as it was registered by the

"all work and no play" squad of Whales. The long 33 \ yard shot from Gene DeFilippo to Gene Moran came in the last few seconds of play and with Kissell's con-

version made the score a very satisfying 26-0.

Kissell was the leading gainer for the day with 106

yards. Parker and Petroski played some tremendous

tackle, and Cookie Ball with his return to the throttle

of the familiar single wing, blocked well and ran the club most efficiently. As usual no one noticed Abe

Reilly but the Syracuse linemen and they would be

happy if they never saw him again. to It was a great victory. The Crusaders seemed have arrived. The injury to Jim Deffley's cranky knee was the only drawback. Spirits were high, so that on that the following Saturday, it was a confident Crusader rode into Providence to engage Brown.

End, BOB BARTON It was sweet revenge for the Bruins when the Cru- saders journeyed to Providence. Last season in hopes of annexing a much-needed victory, the Purple Knights had just managed to humble Brown to the tune of

21-19 in one of those games any team hates to lose.

But the Brownies were up for this one as the Crusaders were soon to find out.

Three times the Bruins seemed to be crushed by the Purple tide, but three times they came back to assert their supremacy. They seemed to become more dangerous after each succeeding Cross score, striking back more quickly each time. The result was that al- though most of the spectators would have conceded the game to the Cross after the first period, the Bear seemed to have different ideas.

Bobby Sullivan was the first to tally and give the Cross a 6 point advantage with Phil Nolan failing to convert.

Fred Kozak retaliated for the Brownies a few minutes Tackle, JOHN DiGANGI later and Condon split the uprights and the fans began to sense that those extra points might be very important.

It was Bobby Farrell who smashed across for the second H. C. tally, but the Cross again failed to con- vert and when Finn hit Campbell of the Bruins in the end zone, they led 13-12 in spite of their failure to con- vert.

The Cross was still determined, however, and when

Veto Kissell's 53 yard touchdown sprint in the final period was topped off by Nolan's conversion, the Cru- saders looked like a pretty good bet. But the Brownies were even more determined that day, and not long after Arnold Green crashed across to tie the score and

Joe Condon became the man of the hour as his magic

toe supplied the margin of victory. That was the final

score, Brown 20, Holy Cross 19.

From the spectators point of view, especially Brown

rooters, the game was one of the most exciting contests

of the year. There was a thrill a minute, and it was

anybody's ball game right down to the wire. It was

a tough one to lose, but the Cross could take heart in

having played a heads-up ball game paced by the brilliant play of Wally Sheridan and Whip Halliday. Things

hadn't turned out too well that afternoon, but all hands

were looking forward to better things against Colgate at Fitton Field on the following Saturday.

Tackle, GENE SPINELLI Bobby Sullivan off on a short jaunt against Brown as Veto Kissell lunges at an unidentified Bruin defender. Regine (55) and Iacuele (69) of the Bruins eventually stopped the Crusader Co-Captain in the game which saw the Purple nosed out 20-19.

Wally Sheridan leaps high to break up an overthrown Villanova forward as Ball of Holy Cross and Palidor of the Wildcats watch the play. Villanova handed the Cross its first setback of the year. Qoicfote Qcune

A cold, piercing rain, approaching at times the

appearance of a deluge, greeted the Crusaders on their

return to familiar Fitton Field to encounter an under-

dog Colgate eleven. Only the hardiest of pigskin fol-

lowers had braved the driving elements, in hopes of

viewing the first explosion of the Purple's latent power.

Those who came in expectation of witnessing a re-cap

of last year's 21-6 rout were disappointed. But those who craved only a hard fought, well-played game had

every whim of their appetite satisfied despite the ad-

verse conditions. In many ways the contest followed

the same pattern as the Dartmouth stalemate. Holy

Cross convincingly outplayed their opponents through-

out the sixty minutes, decisively outgained and out- first downed them, but couldn't seem to remain un- stoppable over that last ten yard stretch.

A Ray Ball pass interception set up the first scoring opportunity, allowing Walt Sheridan and V-for-Vitamins

Kissell to carry the attack as far as the Red Raider's nine. But here their offensive spark was snuffed. Col- gate punted out and this time Bobby Sullivan led the way to the one where the Red Raider's forward wall once again proved itself equal to the task of defending Tackle, FRAN PARKER that last white stripe. Three plays later the Purple was knocking again. This time on the fourteen, a fourth down pass interference penalty nullified a Tom Kelleher touchdown. Treichler, Muehlheuser and company took over and in their big offensive display of the afternoon, aided and abetted by some timely penalties, swept the length of the field on a touchdown drive that was cul- minated by a 21 yard Treichler-Kershaw aerial. The important try for the extra-point failed. This lightning thrust, however, seemed only to spur the Crusaders on.

Sheridan was the big gun in a deep penetration into

Raider territory but this time a fumble pulled the reins on the Purple advance.

The third period finally saw the Crusaders cash in on a scoring opportunity. Sheridan and Bob Farrell moved the ball up the field for a first down on the four.

Then Bob Sullivan proceeded to completely fool the tightly drawn opposition as he shot a touchdown pass to

Bob Barton in the end zone.

Although the tie was disappointing to the favored Crusaders, the team had displayed an obvious superiority between the twenties and had proven that they possessed an offensive power that was soon bound to show itself in the scoring column. On the personal side, Wally Sheridan's running and passing despite the mud-covered turf were as brilliant as they had been the week pre- vious. Kissell, Farrell, and Sullivan, too, had their moments of greatness. Perhaps Columbia might be sur- prised.

End, TOM COSTELLO Columbia Qame

It was a great day for the boys from Worcester. A fighting, spirited Crusader eleven displayed their best

form of the year, though in the process they dropped a

10-0 verdict to Columbia. The Lions, fresh from a 21-20 victory over Army, which snapped the "invincible"

Cadets' twenty-one game winning streak, were rated with

the nations' best. And no one need be told that the

Cross had thus far been disappointing.

Entering the fray a three touchdown underdog, the Crusaders quickly set out to prove just how wrong the tyosuUiam Qasne experts were. The first period saw Bobby Farrell feature

a Purple drive which carried all the way to the Colum- An already badly beat up Fordham Ram put in an bia 16. But Walt Sheridan's fourth down off-tackle appearance at Fitton Field for the Crusaders' penultimate slant missed a first down by the width of the pigskins' tussle of the season, and sad to relate, their physical lacing. presence was about all they had to offer in the way The entire half had a strictly Purple tinge. The of football. The Fitton Faithful accustomed to low Crusaders effectively muzzled the Lions to a paltry 36 scoring, single touchdown verdicts, sat in stunned yards over the turf, themselves pacing off 111. But the awe as their Purple Pets turned the thing into track final scoring spark was missing. meet to the horrendous tune of 48 to absolutely nothing. Just as Holy Cross held the upper hand in the To go over the complete scoring details would tax the initial half, however, so did the Lions roar to life with capacity of this book, but here's the way the summary the advent of the third period. Gene Rossides, Bruce runs: Bobby Sullivan, 32 yards around end; Veto Kissell, Gehrke, and Bill Swiacki began to display some of the off tackle from 20 yards out; Wally Brennan hit Leo greatness that was theirs. Rossides, as worthy a suc- Troy with a 43 yard chuck for six more; Brennan pitch- cessor to Governali and Luckman as a coach could ask ing again and this time it was Angie Maglio catching for, flooded Baker Field with aerials. The 166-pound for the fourth T. D.; Jack Connolly, 43 yards overland; Brooklynite completed eight in a row and 11 out of 14, Fleet Frank Burke, 62 yards with an intercepted pass: par for the course. Gehrke and ex-Crusader Bill Swiacki and Bud Binder, 55 yards to score on the last play of gobbled up everything sent their way including Swiacki's the ball game; to this add Philly Nolan, who after miss- touchdown clutch. Venton Yablonski completed the ing the first one, drilled six extra points in a row through scoring when he pumped a perfect field goal through the uprights for what must have been some kind of a the Baker Field uprights to ice away the verdict. Holy Cross record. Little's Lions were content to hold on defensively for Fordham, of course, in things football was only a the remainder of the fourth period, and the game. broken shell of its former self and was vastly overmatched For the Crusaders, Beaulieu, Parker, and Reilly were in this game. DaGrosa used his regulars sparingly and never better. Their defensive work was tops. Time it was the greatest day the subs have had since the and again they broke through to stymie the Lions' Bismarck Sea. Frank Burke the sprinter was all over ground attack. Bobby Farrell ran more effectively than the lot intercepting passes, four of them. Irish Mike he had all season long. Ray Ball hit a defensive peak Boyle was one of the biggest reasons why Fordham was that topped his season's play. held to a single yard of advance on the ground. Jim We had achieved a definite moral victory. Next week Murphy poured some nice looking T and Bill Keville we could say more. took the most advantage of it.

As weak as the Rams were, the ball game at least

indicated that this team could score, in great abundance. Next stop was Braves Field and Boston College, and

though this game was fast becoming little more than

a late November routine for the teams of John DaGrosa,

the team couldn't grow over confident because as usual

we were down to get our ears knocked off. Guard, JOHN FONTANA

Center, PHIL NOLAN

Abe Reilly puts a bear hug on Paul Dubenetsky of Temple to pull down the Owl halfback in second half action of the Holy Cross victory on Fitton Field. Kolibas (64) and Esterly (72) of Temple move up too late to protect their mate from the rugged Crusader guard. Bolton College Qame

As usual, Holy Cross was a prohibitive underdog as

she journeyed down the highway to do battle with the

vengeful Eagle. As usual this was to be the "next year" they are always talking about down at B. C. As usual

the revenge was going to be terrible, for, as usual the

Cross didn't have a chance, and also, as usual Holy

Cross won the ball game, this time by a score of 20-6,

and the score doesn't begin to tell the story.

The Crusaders in a startling reversal of seasonal form

hurled a barrage of power football at the Birds from

Boston that battered the foe to the soil with two first

period touchdowns and never left the issue in doubt

after that time. The skull rattling Crusader tackling

produced two early Bee Cee fumbles the second of which

the Purple cashed in for the first score of the game.

Bill Stetter, starting at center in place of the injured

Jim Deffley, gobbled up an Eagle bobble on their twelve

yard stripe and it only took two plays from there.

Bobby Farrell and Bobby Sullivan, both scintillating

stars all day long, collaborated for the score. First

Farrell reversing outside his own left end for six, and then Sully cracked through the flattened Boston College

weak side for the six points. Nolan missed the con-

version, but it made no difference, for it was all too apparent that the Eagle was on the run.

Three minutes later, with the Cross in possession again

and Kissell flim-flamming the B. C. defenses with his magnificent spinning and faking, Farrell was reversed

around left end for 22 yards and on the next play Sully went around the other flank for ten yards just

being pushed out of bounds at the lip of the Eagle

goal line. On the next play the starring Purple Co- Captain went over for his and his team's second touch-

down. This time Nolan converted to make it 13-0.

Farrell added a third in the third quarter when he

picked his way 20 yards to score behind a phalanx

of Holy Cross blockers who were chopping down eager

Eagles all day long in a truly destructive manner. A desperation Boston College pass connected for a touch-

down late in the ball game but even this failed to take

Halfback, Co-Capt. BOBBY SULLIVAN the edge off another of the great Crusader triumphs over

the Eagle who had tried and failed once again.

Holy Cross' starring Co-Captain Bobby Sullivan rockets into the Boston College end zone for his and the Crusaders' second touchdown of the day. Sully's stellar performance in this game led his mates to the fifth straight Holy Cross triumph over the Chestnut Hill Eagles. Bobby Sullivan, star halfback and Co-Captain of the 1947 Crusader eleven, is pictured above accepting the Bulger Lowe Trophy, emblematic of the outstanding football player in New England, in recognition of his out- standing play last fall. In addition to the Lowe award. Sully was presented with the O'Melia Trophy awarded annually to the outstanding player in the B.C.-H.C. game, and was chosen on the Eastern All-Star squad, scoring a touchdown in the New Year's Day Shrine classic in San Francisco.

It was not a whim of chance that saw Capt. Bobby so honored. For ten autumnal Saturdays he drove himself untiringly as he ran, passed, and kicked the football for Holy Cross. At no time in competition did he give anything less than all, and nothing short of his own sheer exhaustion ever slowed him down. Bobby Sullivan will go down in the annals of great foot- ball Crusaders and more than merits this small space in which the PURPLE PATCHER pays him tribute. BASKETBALl

ALVIN "Doggie" JULIAN ROBERT CURRAN FRANK DOOLEY

Coach Captain Manager PLAYERS

Captain Bob Curran, Forward

Joe Mullaney, Guard

George Kaftan, Center

Dennis O'Shea, Forward

Dermie O'Connell, Forward

Charlie Bollinger, Center

Bob Cousy, Forward

Andy Laska, Guard

Frank Oftring, Guard

Bob McMullan, Forward

Charlie Graver, Guard

Matty Forman, Center

Burt Dolan, Forward SEASON'S RECORD

OPPONENT H.C. OPP. OPPONENT H.C. OPP.

Tufts 65 36 Trinity 74 44 Valparaiso 80 45 Temple 71 44 Willimantic State Teachers 104 43 Becker 66 37 Columbia 53 60 Boston College 45 34 Dartmouth 75 61 Boston University 62 36 State 56 51 North Carolina Loyola of Chicago 62 46 St. Louis University 46 61 Dartmouth 67 56 DePaul 40 47 Boston College 56 41 American International 76 49 Brown 90 35 St. Anselm's 107 61 New York A. C. 80 37 Harvard 48 42 Colgate 65 62 Brown 67 41 Tufts 72 42 Rhode Island State 76 49 Yale 56 44 Michigan 63 45 Assumption 75 22 Kentucky 52 60 Georgetown 70 51 Kansas State 60 54 H. C. 65 — Tufts 36 H. C. 104 — Willimantic S. T. 43

Making their first apparance as NCAA champions, the In a hastily arranged warmup for the impending

all-veteran Holy Cross Crusaders extended their 2 Columbia contest, the Crusaders journeyed to Williman-

season winning streak to 24 straight as they out- tic, Connecticut, and improved their shooting eyes to the

classed a game Tufts quintet in the season's inaugural tune of 104 points while their hapless State Teachers

at Medford on December 4. Leading the Purple to rivals netted but 43. Heading the HC point parade were

its opening triumph was big, All-American, George last years top scorers, George Kaftan and Dermie O'Con-

Kaftan who hooped 19 points in slightly less than nell who hit for 24 and 19 respectively as Joe Mullaney

twenty-five minutes of play. Bob Cousy was the other and Bert Dolan also reached double figures.

HC double figure man, chipping in with 11 counters. Any ideas of a "contest" were quickly dispelled at

The defending champs displayed good ball-handling the six-minute mark when the visiting Purple, down 10-9,

and shooting form in the first period as their give-and- zoomed away on a fifteen point scoring spree which

go tactics set up easy underneath baskets and they ran saw them holding a 26-12 advantage with eight min-

up close to a 10 point lead which was increased to 16 utes gone. At this point, Julian removed his starters

at halftime. and the half time score was a fairly respectable 39-16.

The starting Purple quintet of Kaftan, O'Connell, The Purple regulars appeared for the beginning of the

Mullaney, Curran and Oftring appeared intact for the second stanza but when they rocketed the advantage to

second half, but had difficulty getting their attack going. 40 points, they were retired, presumably for the re- Meanwhile the Jumbo outside shooters waxed hot and mainder of the evening. However, the Crusader reserves had the partisan house roaring as they narrowed the seemed to have caught the scoring bug, and their en-

gap to seven points. At this point, Coach Julian in- trance caused no appreciable letup in the flood of basket-

serted Bob McMullan and Bob Cousy into the lineup, balls that poured through the Willimantic hoop. Two

and led by the two sophomore flashes, HC took off on minutes before the buzzer, with the century mark, and

a lengthy scoring sortie to wrap up the ball game. The new school scoring records in sight, several of the reg-

shooting of Cousy was particularly impressive, while ulars were reinserted in the lineup and moments later,

the clever McMullan had the fans in an uproar with the 99th and 100th points mounted the scoreboard via his spectacular ball-hawking antics. Bert Dolan's bunny shot from underneath.

H. C. 80 — Valparaiso 45 Columbia 60 — H. C. 53

Meeting the perennially tall-timber of Valparaiso Univ. Having achieved nation-wide distinction as streak for the third consecutive year, Holy Cross proved the breakers by virtue of their football triumph over Army, midwesterners were no match for them and cakewalked the Light Blue Lions of Columbia carried this handy to an easy 80-45 victory. Joe Mullaney brought back propensity onto the basketball floor as they ambushed memories of last season's Navy game as he connected the unwary Crusaders, 60-53 in the Morningside Heighs with nine one-handed push shots and two foul tries to Gym on December 17. It was the first loss for the Cru- lead the scorers with 20 points. Cousy again was run- saders in 26 games dating from January 3rd, 1947. The ner-up, increasing his tempo to fifteen while Kaftan ac- only glory salvaged by the Crusaders from the hot- counted for 14 markers. shooting, close-guarding Lions, was the spectacular 27

Experiencing a little early trouble with their play set- point scoring performance of Bob Cousy whose exploits ups, the Julianmen found the Mullaney right arm the had the press row dizzy with superlatives. Walt Budko solution to a packed Valpo defense, and as the western- and Sherry Marshall were the big, bad men for Gordon ers moved out to stop Joe, his mates moved easily past Ridings, the former tallying 19 points from his pivot them for cinch layups. Leading at one point by 16-3, spot and the latter setting up as many for his mates the Crusaders were content to maintain this margin for in addition to dropping 12 of his own. the remainder of the first half and left on the long end The contest was hard-fought throughout and it was of a 35-21 count. evident from the start that the Lions were "up" for the A mild Valparaiso threat in the opening minutes of game. They successfully stymied the Purple give-and- the second stanza was countered by the entrance of go tactics and assumed an early lead which they main- Cousy who hit with a one hander and then broke the tained through the first stanza, leaving at halftime with Valpo back as he took three clever passoffs from his a 7 point bulge. The Crusaders shooting was all off in mates and dunked them all in the short space of a min-

the second half and it was ute and a half. As the score mounted, Coach Julian let only the sterling efforts of the house see his reserve strength and such stalwarts as Cousy that kept them close. The flashy sophomore in-

Formon, Bollinger, Dolan and Laska permitted no let- stigated a small Purple uprising midway through the down in the scoring pace. Six seconds before the final second half that saw the visitors take a momentary 38- buzzer, Dolan grabbed off a free ball to complete the 37 lead, but Columbia refused to be panicked and took Purple scoring for the evening. charge for good on their next down court sally. H. C. 75 — Dartmouth 61 St. Louis 61 — H. C. 46

Neither the 11,000 fans who jammed Kiel Auditor- Rebounding successfully from the Columbia defeat, ium in St. Louis, or the hot-shooting Billikens of St. the Crusaders made their last Boston showing of 1947 Louis U. had much respect for the Crusader's NCAA a successful one, as they snowed under a game, but out- championship, or their recent Sugar Bowl triumph, and manned Dartmouth quintet before 10,000 Garden the second night of a new year found the Julianmen fans on Dec. 21. Bob Cousy continued his prolific point licking the open wounds of a resounding 15 point shel- making by tossing 22 points to lead all scorers, while lacking. With their shooters hitting for a phenomenal Kaftan added 1 1 to the Crusaders total. Coleman and .400 average and 6' 8" center Ed McCauley controlling Leede tallied 18 and 17 respectively for the Indians. both boards, the smooth-working Billikens were always Hampered by the close guarding Hanover defense, in the driver's seat, leading at halftime by 13 and in- the Purple found itself tied up at 19 all with 12 min- creasing their margin to 23 at one stage of the last half. utes of the first half gone, but moments later rewarded Cousy for the fourth successive game, was the Purple the crowd who had braved wintry temperatures to see standout as he caged 16 points and impressed continual- them perform, with an eye popping show of ball-hand- ly with his floor work. Frank Oftring waged a game ling and shooting. With Cousy showing the scoring way, but losing battle with the giant McCauley for backboard the Julianmen tallied 22 points to Dartmouth's 7 in control. the next eight minutes and left with a comfortable half- From the very beginning, it was apparent that this time advantage of 42-26. wasn't the Crusaders' night. Their well executed set- After the Crusaders had rocketed their lead to over ups broke men clear on at least five occasions only 20 points in the opening minutes of the second half, the to have the resulting layup slither off the rim or contest degenerated into a melee of excessive fouling glance off the boards into the hungry hands of McCau- and sloppy ball handling. The Indians managed a minor ley. Meanwhile, the Billikens went methodically about uprising at one point, to come within ten of the Purple, their point making business and had matters about iced but Coach Julian's quick insertion of 3 regulars insured with the first half scarcely three quarters gone. The the final verdict of 14 points. home club's outside shooters just couldn't miss, and when the Crusaders went out to get them, a clever pass broke someone through the visitor defense for another

score.

Once, in the early stages of the second half, the Pur-

ple narrowed the margin to nine points, but just when might be taking hold, the opportunity H. C. 56 — North Carolina State 51 it appeared they was wrecked by hurried and inaccurate long shots.

Revenge is still sweet, even though it comes a year late and the fact that the Crusaders spine-tingling tri- DePaul 47 — H. C. 40 umph over the red-jersied Wolfpack of N. C. State won The Crusaders' horrible shooting luck rode with them them the Sugar Bowl Championship, made it all the on the train from St. Louis to Chicago, and their second tastier. Sparking the Crusaders to an impressive half- annual Western Swing ended on a sour note as 15,000 time lead and eventual triumph in the overtime per- fans appreciated their sleight-of-hand floor-work, but iod, was the same Bob Cousy who shone so brilliantly in cheered the 47-40 DePaul triumph in Chicago Stadium.

the Columbia game. Pitching 21 points amidst a series A late second half rally, sparked by high scorer (14 of little-seen court maneuvers, the clever "Cous" drew points) Bob McMullan, brought the Purple to within the unreserved plaudits of a partisan Southern crowd. four points of the Mid-westerners with 3 minutes to

Working with a precision pleasantly reminiscent of play, but they were unable to maintain the pace and

their tournament performances, the Crusaders opened up yielded a basket and a foul in the final 90 seconds to an early lead, on the strength of steady hitting and lose by 7. nights earlier, the chief thorn in clever ball-handling by Kaftan and Cousy. Their half- As in St. Louis two the Purple side was a big, backboard-ranging center, who time margin of 10 points seemed to indicate a second picked off their many missed shots and sent the ball half-rout, but the Staters apparently received the right whizzing downcourt for enemy scores. This time it was locker room pep talk. Moving the ball smartly, they big Ed Mikan, brother of All-American George Mikan, set-up two quick baskets and then let the Purple dis- who stationed himself under the glass windows and cover a certain Bob Ranzino. All Ranzino had was an gobbled up everything that came down. Teaming with ordinary right hand, but every time he got the ball in the bespectacled Whitey Kachan, Mikan treated De- it, and let fly at the distant hoop, the twines snapped Paul to a halftime lead of 27-20, as he hit frequently and two more points appeared on the NCS side of the from the pivot and set up his shorter running mate with score. the Crusaders eight With points ahead and four nifty pass-offs. to play, he pitched four in a row to tie up the ball The Crusaders matched the Demons point for point game and ensuing baskets by Cousy for HC and Bartels in the final canto, but it wasn't in the cards for them for State brought up an overtime. HC had complete to come out on top, as Mikan garnered the rebound of control in the extra period and two baskets by Kaftan a shot which would have put HC only 2 points back,

and one by Cousy were more than enough. and sent it down the floor for a decisive DePaul basket. H. C. 76 — American International 49 H. C. 107 — St. Anselm's 61

Back home, and exceedingly glad of the fact, it took The Worcester folks got their first look at the Cru-

the Crusaders just fifty miles and forty minutes to end saders on January 8th, and the Purple cohorts made

the point draught that had plagued them out in the sure it was a good one as they ran, passed and shot a

hinterlands, as they took it out on a blameless AIC game St. Anselm's five dizzy, racking up a record-smash-

quint by 76-49. Bob Cousy and George Kaftan ac- ing 107-61 triumph. The boys from Mt. St. James were

counted for almost as many points between them as awesome to behold as they shuttled the leather, magic-

all the AIC scorers together, tallying 23 and 22 respec- like in and out of the befuddled Hawk defense, to set up

tively. Kaftan won particular praise for his sensational innumerable easy baskets to the accompanying gasps of

rebound work and scored the majority of his points via the highly-pleased crowd in South high gym. Cousy

the tap-in route. was unstoppable as he set a new HC individual record

The Aces outside shooters kept them in the ball game of fourteen field goals during a brief 24 minute stay.

for the first ten minutes of the opening half, but then Using the one-handed push shot as his main scoring

Cousy and Kaftan went to work in earnest scoring 13 weapon, the clever Sophomore, gilded his performance

successive points with the help of Bob Curran and Bob with a series of nifty bounce passes which allowed his

McMullan and the issue was never in doubt thereafter. mates to weave through the unsuspecting Hawks for

The Purple led by 20 points at the half, and kept up easy baskets. their point pouring pace in the second as Julian's subs The visitors made a battle of it for seven minutes, showed to good advantage for the greater part of this knotting the count at 13 all, but the Purple had been latter stanza. saving its shots for too long and were not to be denied.

They piled up a 51-33 halftime advantage, and though

the reserves predominated in the second half HC line-

up, the score kept mounting until the old record of 104

was tied with 70 seconds to play, and snapped moments

later on Dolan's pretty bucket from underneath.

H. C. 48 — Harvard 42

Back in the Boston Garden again, the revived Cru-

saders found an in and out Harvard quint having one

of their "in" nights and were forced to ward off a late

Cantab rally before triumphing by a 6 point margin. George Kaftan, who received the Varsity Magazine

Basketball award in halftime ceremonies, played in-

spired ball in the last half, scoring 16 points for a game

total of 22. Harvard's big gun was Rockwell, who pro-

fited from the close guarding of Haupfuhrer and Mc- Curdy by netting 18 counters.

Harvard opened with a tight defense, flooding the

middle to stymie the Purple give and go, and this stra-

tegy worked to the extent that with more than 12 min-

utes gone, the score was 12 all. Baskets by Cousy and

O'Connell plus Kaftan's successful free try gave HC

a short lead which Harvard cut to 2 points by halftime,

22-20.

The Crimson attack caught fire shortly after the mid-

way recess as Prior and Rockwell hit from outside for with Loose-jointed Bob Cousy pushed one up for a 27-25 lead. Kaftan put HC back in the van a two points in the record breaking 107-61 rout solo dribble and bucket, but Prior hooked again from of St. Anselm's. The flashy Sophomore hooped the pivot as Harvard fans screamed their approval. Mc- 28 points in only 24 minutes of play against Mullan tied it up more and the the Hawks. once Kaftan applied crusher as he spurted for five straight points and HC

preserved the narrow lead the rest of the way. H. C. 67 — Brown 41 H. C. 56 — Yale 44

Readying for their climax game with Rhode Island Meeting Yale on their home court for the third time State the Crusaders took a short hop to Providence and in as many years, the Crusaders were forced to over- in the process of sharpening their ball-handling and come a staunch Eli zone defense before merging with a setting their shooting eyes, snowed under a hapless Brown nonetheless conclusive, 56-44 victory. Bob Cousy again five by a 26 point margin. Dermie O'Connell showed topped all scorers with 20 points, as Capt. Bobby Cur- satisfying flashes of last year's form to lead the scorers ran applied the shackles to Tony Lavelli, Yale's one- with fourteen points. man scoring Gang. Although the Somerville flash net- The first three minutes of the ball game were nothing ted 16 points, many of these were on hook and push more than a ball-handling exhibition for the crowd, as shots from impossible angles, and it was to the astute the Crusaders passed up scoring chances in favor of Curran's credit that he held his man to less than the passing the leather to beat a Brown defensive switch twenty points which Lavelli had been registering per which would produce a cinch layup. Finally settling game. down to business, the Julianmen ripped off nineteen The first half was close all the way as, the Purple was points to Brown's two as all the starters contributed to unable to break through the tightly aligned defense the early total. The Bruin shooters got their eyes on the for layups, and were forced to resort to outside shoot- mark soon afterwards and made the halftime score ing for the majority of their points. The Eli stayed 31-15. stubbornly with their highly favored foe until the three- The Purple opened the second half with ten straight quarter point of the first half, when Kaftan and Cousy points and led by 26 as the Brown defenders tried vain- collaborated to move the Cross into a comfortable nine ly to halt their brilliantly clicking give and go stuff. Af- point lead just before the buzzer. ter O'Connell entered the game again and tossed four When Yale returned to the floor with zone defense field goals off the pretty feeding of Cousy and Kaftan, intact, despite the long Crusader lead, it was a tacit Eli Coach Julian called off his dogs, and gave the reserves admission of defeat, Lavelli kept them in the game for a workout. a short while with his marvelous shooting, but O'Connell

and Cousy soon sparked a Purple sortie which produced H. C. 76 — Rhode Island State 49 a 56-38 lead and the Crusaders sixth straight triumph

This was the game for which New England had been since their return from the West.

waiting two years, and as 36,000 disappointed fans re- tired to their radios, the Crusaders and the Rams took the court in a Boston Garden that had hardly enough H. C. 70 — Georgetown 51 space left for a Singer Midget. The anticipated high- scoring, closely fought duel between New England's A highly regarded, though oft-beaten Georgetown best, lasted exactly 7 minutes, just long enough for the quintet provided the opposition on February 3rd, and

brilliant Purple hoopsters to run up an 18-5 lead and although they displayed a smart first half offensive, the indicate that the Rams would have been better off never Hoyas did not have the staying power to weather the

to have left Kingston. The final was a historical and Purple stretch drive, succumbing, 70-51 before 9,000

horrendous 76-49, as the Crusaders methodically blasted Boston Garden fans. The Purple inside-outside duo of the Rams unbeaten streak of 8 straight and left no Kaftan and Cousy made major scoring noise of the even- doubts as to the top team in New England. Bob Cousy ing, George racking up 25, his highest total of the sea- and George Kaftan were at their scoring bests, tallying son, while Cousy was right behind him with 20. Dermie

25 and 23 points respectively. Frank Oftring grabbed O'Connell displayed his customary fire and aggressive- rebounds and fired passes in his customary unexcelled ness at crucial moments, tallying 12 points, and sparking and unnoticed fashion, but the "big" performance of the the Purple offense throughout. night was put on by redheaded Joe Mullaney. The singu- The Julianmen got off to an early 8-2 lead, but lar Long Islander with the artistic hands, made the the Hoyas surged back strongly as the first half pro- basketball he carried do everything but talk, as he gressed, eventually forging their way into 20-15 ad- passed, shot, dribbled and dared the Rams to come get vantage late in the period. Kaftan and Cousy narrowed him. Joe was a miracle of form as he inspired his mates the margin to a single point, but this, too, was neutra- to the deft deflation of the Rhode Island ambition lized by pop shots by Corley and Brown of the visitors. bubble. It was here that O'Connell's aggressiveness paid off, as

The 40 minutes of action were a story of Holy Cross the restless Derm sparked his mates into a flurry of precision and Rhode Island confusion. The Crusaders scoring which allowed them a comfortable halftime lead

would launch a series of successful scoring sorties and of 7 points.

then lay back holding out the ball from the pressing Georgetown reduced the Purple margin to three short-

Rams, who grew more desperate in their anxiety to ly after the inception of the second half as Brembs and

possess the leather. When they did get the ball, the Corley tossed in two quick baskets. However, the Hoya

pressure of the big Holy Cross lead was so heavy on them spirits wilted visibly as the Crusaders whirled away on a

that they shot wildly from the far reaches, allowing the 12 point spree, and the final gun found the substitutes

Purple almost complete backboard control. of both teams in action. H. C. 74 — Trinity 44 H. C. 71 — Temple 44

Stung by reports that the Hartford quintet was in- What many Boston cage fans had regarded as the tent on an upset and a subsequent claiming of the right severest threat to the Crusader's tourney aspirations, was to represent District One in the NCAA tournament, the brushed convincingly aside by a sizzling, last-half shoot-

Julianmen bent to their task early and with gusto, run- ing and scoring display, which gave the onrushing Pur- ning up a decisive 38-19 halftime lead, which they in- ple a 71-44 victory over potent Temple. The Owls creased to 74-44 by the end of forty minutes. A jam- fresh from conquests over Kentucky and LaSalle, and packed Hartford Armory audience applauded the fancy burning from a last second defeat by NYU, could cope ball-handling antics of the Crusaders, who settled the with the Julianmen for only three-quarters of the first contest end of things early, and devoted themselves to half, falling behind by 12 at intermission time, and see- giving the crowd a show for its money. The scoring for ing their upset hopes consumed in the licking flames of the Purple was evenly distributed, although Kaftan tossed the HC final stanza conflagration. For the fifth con- 17 to lead the pack, followed by Cousy and O'Connell secutive game, Bob Cousy and George Kaftan took scor- who had 12 apiece. ing honors for the Purple, tallying 20 and 18 respec-

The regulars saw action for the majority of the first tively, as the entire Crusader starting array contributed half in spite of the fact that they had run up an early to this satisfying triumph. lead which Trinity never seriously threatened. The deft Spotting the Owls early leads of 6-0, and 9-3, the passing and hand-offs of Cousy and Kaftan accounted Crusaders finally solved the tantalizing Templar defense for almost as many points as this duo accounted for at the ten minute mark, and from a 9-6 disadvantage, personally while O'Connell did yeoman floor work in they spurted 4 and then 10 points ahead on the shoot- relief of the injured Joe Mullaney. ing of O'Connell and Cousy. The Owls pulled up some-

The second half saw the Purple seconds doing most what in the following minutes, but were unable to con- of the work with such worthies as Andy Laska, Charley tain the Crusaders attack completely, trailing at half-

Graver and Jim Murphy tossing in some 20 HC points time by 12 points, 35-23. between them to conclude the rout of the aspiring home However, the exhibition put on by the magic-fingered team. Red Faber, the Trinity scoring luminary, was Crusaders in the second half, must have sent the amazed held in check until the waning moments of the contest, Templars back to Philadelphia wondering how a bas- when he tossed in the majority of his 19 points. ketball could be done so many things with. Besides the

phenomenal pass-offs of Kaftan, Cousy and Mullaney,

the Owls were treated to the right fair pop-shooting of

Bob McMullan who registered five of six last-half at- tempts.

Frank Oftring sweeps a rebound out of the clutches of a Brown antagonist in game which saw Holy Cross set a new Boston Garden high scoring record of 90 points. H. C. 66 — Becker 37 H. C. 62 — Boston University 36 Two nights later, the Although admittedly off their usual sparkling floor ambitious basketeers of Boston University were taught game, the Crusaders had more than enough guns for a severe and painful lesson by the Crusaders, who took only 7 minutes to Becker Jr. College on Feb. 14, making the Businessmen prove to the men of Russ Peterson that lightning their 10th consecutive victim by a score of 66-37. Dermie does not strike twice in the same manner or identical location. O'Connell responded to his second straight starting role, The Purple pacing the scorers with 19 points and coming through made short work of the Terrier version of the zone, blasting out a 62-36 with his patented bang-up floor game. Cousy and Kaf- triumph before an interested 6,000 tan trailed with 12 apiece. Arena audience, for their 12th victory in a row and seventeenth of the season against but losses. After the Purple starters had racked up an early 19-6 three Kaf- tan and Cousy increased their point productions to 18 lead, Coach Julian began to substitute liberally, a policy and 15, while Frank Oftring also moved into double which succeeded only in bogging down the HC offense figures with 10. and contributing to a general sloppiness in team play. Eager to prove that their close verdict over Becker, finding hope in the evident letdown of the Cru- BC was due not so much to the efficiency of the Eagle zone, saders, ran in eight quick points to cut the HC halftime margin to 10. as to their own below-par shooting, the Crusaders cut the Terrier defense methodically to shreds with accurate That Doggie gave his listless charges a good dose pop-shooting, and crisp, pin-point passing. After Kaftan of "what for" during the rest period, was borne out in the improved play of the Crusaders who immediately had run wild inside the zone, albeit the efforts of a gunned their advantage to 43-21 as Cousy and O'Connell BU floater to check him, the Purple resorted to short set which they dropped with satisfying accuracy found the hoop repeatedly in a six minute span of oper- shots ation. With the contest sewed up, the seconds were run until BU Coach Peterson waved his men out of the zone with the score 18-5 against them. The Julianmen back into action and atoned for their first half inept- ness, eased off visibly from here to the end of the first half- by preserving and adding to the lead left them by the regulars. time, but the Scarlet hoopsters were unable to take ad-

vantage of the situation and fell behind by 16 as the

half ended. H. C. 45 — Boston College 31 H. C. 62 — Loyola 46 The ostensibly clawless Eagles of Boston College came Sparked by the deadly set-shooting and floor-magic as close as they have in five years to erasing the stigma of Joe Mullaney, the Crusaders added a particularly of 55-12, when they manned virtually a impenetrable impressive foe to their string of victims, as they downed zone-defense for 27 Maroon and Gold-tinged minutes on a classy Loyola of Chicago quintet before a capacity February 17, before bowing to the relentless Crusaders, crowd in the Boston Arena on Feb. 24. The versatile on a note of doubtful sportsmanship. After the Purple Mullaney, who had ridden the one-handed route to shooters had finally solved the zone to take a late, 11 glory against Navy last year, added another hand on point lead, the 6,000 Boston Arena fans were treated to this occasion and the midwesterners had good cause to the rare spectacle of a basketball sit-down strike, some- regret the 18 important points he registered by this thing as unique to read about as to actually see. Al- method. Bob Cousy, who sat out the first 32 minutes of

though trailing by such a margin with less than five the game, added zest to the victory, as he dealt in five

minutes to play, the Eagles refused to leave the con- baskets out of six attempts and added a pair of fouls fines of their zone, and the Crusaders, just as stubbornly, for a total of 12 for the night. Jack Kerris, the visitors

declined to wear themselves out by passing the ball or rangy 6.6 center, led his team with 16 points.

running aimlessly around the outer perimeter of said Although the visitors came out in close man to man

zone. As Andy Laska held tightly to the leather, the defense, they were unable to halt the slick moving Cru- other four Crusaders took to chatting, and reclining on saders who jumped away to an eight point lead in the the floor. Finally the catcalls of a derisive audience opening minutes, as Mullaney and Oftring complemented

forced the BC's out of their zone and the ball game re- the tap-in work of Kaftan with accurate set-shooting.

sumed. Cousy and Kaftan, who with Curran were re- During the first half, the visitors were called many

sponsible for the eventual cracking of the spell cast by times for violation of the pick-off and pushing rules the BC defense, had 13 points apiece, while high honors which are more stringently interpreted by Eastern ref-

for the night went to the Eagle's southpaw ace, Dan erees than by the whistle tooters in midwest. Conse- Bricker, who hooped 19. quently, many of their play setups were foiled, and had

So tight was the BC zone and so ineffective was the it not been for the hook-shot artistry of Kerris, Loyola

Crusader outside shooting, that the Birds had only to would have trailed by more than the 27-20 halftime

wait until the Purple tossed one up, take it off the count.

boards and sally downcourt for a try of their own. In Mullaney treated the fans to a shooting exhibition in

this latter occupation, they were successful to the extent the second half hitting methodically with the long set-

that they led throughout the entire first half, and left shot on four successive occasions. However, this failed

at halftime with a 27-20 lead. to awe the Chicagoans and they chipped away at the

The Eagles maintained their superiority until five Crusaders lead, narrowing it to four points at the 14 minutes of the second half had elapsed, when the Cru- minute mark. Dermie O'Connell applied his peculiar saders finally responded to the pleas of their adherents floor tactics to the Crusader cause at this point, and af-

by surging over the tiring defenders for four consecutive ter he had set the visitors up with his aggressive play,

baskets and a 33-29 lead which they never relinquished. Cousy knocked them flat with his deadeye shooting. H. C. 67 — Dartmouth 56 H. C. 56 — Boston College 41

Playing their fourth game in nine days, the weary Having had such success with their zone defense in Crusaders found the tight Dartmouth court and a par- Boston against the Crusaders, the ever-trying Eagles tisan crowd, a tough combination on February 26th, and adopted the same tactics in Worcester's Municipal Au- were hard put to emerge with their second verdict over ditorium 10 days later. This time, however, the Bee- the Indians this season. Bob Cousy duplicated his pre- Cees tempted the hungry right hand of one Bob Cousy vious performance by dumping in 22 points, and gen- a bit too far, and the indefatigable Robert, blew the day- lights erally keeping the Crusader head above water in the out of both the Birds and their famed defense in only as much time as it took him to hurl four shots at first half. the BC hoop. When that occupation produced an eight The play was rough and close from the beginning, and point lead for Holy Cross, the Eagles deserted the zone saw the Aborigines take advantage of Purple defensive and played a respectable man to man for the remainder lapses to build up a 10 point lead at one stage of the of the evening. Cousy played hardly half the game yet first half. Cousy kept plugging away, however, and his led all scorers with a 16 point total. dogged efforts raised the spirits of his mates to the ex- After Cousy had given them an insurrmountable lead, tent that they overcame the long Dartmouth bulge and the rest of the Crusaders took up the scoring pace, tied the halftime count at 32 all. playing tag with the Eagles for the rest of the period Dartmouth again manuevered into the lead shortly and leaving at intermission with 31-18 lead. As a con- after intermission but it was short lived as Kaftan clusive proof that it was somewhat off in their first meet- and O'Connell led a Purple sortie which regained the ad- ing with the Birds, the Purple exploded an 11 point vantage 47-46. Then Curran, and O'Connell at Cousy scoring barrage to open the second half. After his charges tallied in rapid succession to pull the Crusaders away had run up a 25 point lead, Doggie retired his starters for good, although Dartmouth threatened once more be- for all but the final 90 seconds of the game, when they fore the end, narrowing the gap to two points with 2 were run back in to retrieve a decent portion of long to play. lead which the seconds had dissipated.

All-American George Kaftan skies up for a rebound in second Crusader victory over Boston College at the Worcester Auditorium. Curran and Cousy of the Purple may also be identified. H. C. 90 — Brown 35 H. C. 65 — Colgate 62

From a technical standpoint, this 16th straight vic- the sweep hand on the Garden clock swung past the 25 tory was perhaps the Crusaders most impressive of the second mark on its way home, the Purple was down by campaign. Hitting with almost fifty percent of their 2 points, 62-60, Colgate had the ball and the typewrit- shots and shuttling the ball about in precision passing ers on press row were already noisy with the upset news. patterns, the Julianmen ran the Brown Bear almost out The Purple Shirts were still waging a relentless battle of the Boston Garden with a record breaking 56 point for the ball, however, and somehow managed to force last half, and a final 90-35 trouncing. Four Holy Cross jump ball near the Colgate hoop. Curran jumped for the scorers reached double figures, with the redoubtable Cross, and Captain Bob's straining finger touched the Cousy again leading the way. The singular Frenchman falling leather an eyelash of time before those of his surpassed even his 3-day old BC performance as he suc- Maroon-bloused opponent's. The ball flew into the ceeded on 9 out of 13 shots, and a remarkable .700 shoot- waiting hands of Kaftan who pivoted and threw up a ing percentage. Dermie O'Connell followed with 15, shot which snapped the cords and the nerves of half mainly on long set shots, while George Kaftan, Joe Mul- the Garden fans. Fouled on the shot, Kaftan strode cooly laney had 13 and 11 respectively. to the line and dropped in a foul shot to put HC ahead The Brown team was delayed by weather trouble, 63-62. Colgate hurried the ball down the floor, but and the contest consequently started an hour late. As missed two erratic set shots. Joe Mullaney finally cor- far as the Bruins were concerned, it never should have nered the leather and whipped to Kaftan who had begun at all. After a slow start, the Crusaders worked stolen underneath the enemy hoop undetected, and the count up to 16 to 9, and then gave the ball to Cousy, George laid it in for the decisive points. who proceeded to put it through the hoop only five Up to the screaming climax, the game had been con- times in the next minute and 50 seconds. The halftime sistently hard fought, with the Raiders from Hamilton count was 34-11; midway through the final half it was having the better of it except for nine minutes of the 74-30 as Dermie O'Connell hit repeatedly with the second half when the Crusaders ran up a nine point lead long set, and 15 seconds before the buzzer Andy Laska and threatened to make off with the ball game right tossed a hook shot from midcourt which found the there. However, the amazing one-handed shooting of twines for the 89th and 90th points. Brett and Norris plus the fine off-the-boards work of Capt. Ernie Vandeweghe put the Maroon back on even

terms in short order. Up until the final seconds, the H. C. 80 — New York A. C. 37 Raiders repulsed every Purple threat, matching the Jul- Making a somewhat clandestine pre-tourney appear- ianmen basket for basket and apparently had matters ance in New York, the Crusaders reopened a few hoop iced until Kaftan went into action. wise eyes on the 5th of February, as they put on the

Fancy-pants act to mystify the New York Athletic Club

quintet 80-37 at the club's midtown gym. Although us-

ing his reserves extensively, Coach Julian failed in his H. C. 72 — Tufts 42 purpose of keeping the score down, as O'Connell, Laska,

et al, eager to impress the McMullan, Graver Gotham Getting in their last practice licks before the mo- audience, put on a late scoring sally which all but mentous tournament business began, the Crusaders fin- snowed under the already baffled Clubsters. The Pur- ished the regular campaign as they began it, with a scoring twins, less than ple Kaftan and Cousy, played victory over a game Tufts quintet, this time by 72-42. half the game, but held their customary position at the Never seriously threatened by the hard-working home head of the point list, tallying 15 and 13 respectively. club, the Purple concentrated on polishing its defen- five with the the The home stayed Crusaders during sive and offensive manuevers for the Tourney, and in opening minutes the first half, of but once such Purple the process gave their customary capacity audience sat- sharpshooters as Mullaney, Curran and Cousy began isfying glimpses of the ball handling magic which makes to hit from outside, the contest was over. their give-and-go offense tick. Bullet Bob Cousy reeled

The starters made a token appearance as the second off three consecutive one-handers midway through the stanza opened and then turned the job over to Dermie third period to raise his evening total to 15 before Dog-

O'Connell and Andy Laska who proceeded to amuse the gie pulled him and the rest of the starters with a little crowd with their shot repertoires. Andy had a fine bead less than ten minutes to go in the game. Joe Mullaney on the NYCA basket throughout and his right-alley and George Kaftan accounted for 10 apiece, with nine hooker was good for an even dozen points. Dermie was of Mullaney's points coming in the first five minutes of equally successful with his set-shot, tossing 10 in a com- the contest. paratively brief sojourn. With the Crusaders ahead by 18-12 Tufts rallied with As the Crusaders 17 game win streak and 2 year un- a seven point splurge, and after the Julianmen had again pulled away on baskets by O'Connell and Kaftan, beaten Boston Garden string stood within 20 seconds of the Jumbos climbed to within 4 points of their favored destruction, George Kaftan made good his "blue chip" foe. However, the fine shooting of Shapiro and Kolan- reputation by pulling his team even and ahead of a kiewicz was immediately neutralized by a Purple surge which effected a 15 point halftime advantage and ap- doughty Colgate quintet with a five point splurge, which parently crushed the Jumbo spirit as the final half be- transformed a 2 point loss into a welcome 5 digit win. As came a scoring party for the HC seconds. THE N.C.A.A. TDUMEY MICHIGAN GAME

Holy Cross opened the defense of its NCAA stage late in the first half when the Cross was struggling Championship pretty much as expected by mauling to draw even with the scrappy Wolverines. Michigan 63-45 in the semi-final round of the Eastern But as great as the Cross was this night, they had a playoffs. The Crusaders gave away a decided height ball game on their hands and then some. Michigan advantage to the rangy Wolverines but more than off- brought height with them in 6' 7" Bill Roberts, scor- set this handicap with their customary display of ing punch in the deadly Mack Suprunowicz, and a flashy floor tactics to take this important tilt handily. dogged defensive ball player in Little Pete Elliot, even In racking up their 20th consecutive victory of the though he found Cousy just a bit too much to handle. season and preserving their spotless string of Madison After the Purple had taken brief early leads, Mich-

Square Garden triumphs, the Crusaders had to fight up igan took over command for much of the first the hill for nearly half the game. Bob Cousy, the ex- half and at various times led by scores of 15-14, 17-14,

pressionless sophomore phenom, was the heavy hitter and stretched it at one point to five points at 21-16. for the Worcester cause as he whipped 23 digits through However, here was where Cousy and Oftring began

the seines and in addition did an admirable defensive to be felt. Couz began to hit in spite of the pressing job by throttling Michigan's scoring ace Bob Harrison Mr. Elliot, and finally whipped in a one-hander to and holding the star to an insignificant 7 points. push the Cross out in front by a point. Michigan tied

Kaftan, in his first return to the Arena where he won it up again briefly with a foul shot, but Cousy prompt- such wide acclaim last year, ran second to Couz offen- ly hit again to put the Cross ahead again, this time sively with 15 markers after being held to five in the for keeps. Three deuces by Oftring and a hoop in be- first half. Frank Oftring was the third Crusader to tween by Bobby McMullan shot the Crusaders into hit double figures, but his ten points don't begin to their 34-27 halftime lead. tell the story of the Silent String's value to the team To their credit, Michigan gave it the old college try in this game. He was a demon around the boards and in the second half, but now Kaftan picked up and it time and again went up to clear rebounds from the was too much for the game Big Nine Champs. It was big Garden windows. Oftring's scoring efforts were the reaching the proportion of a gay romp for the Wor- important ones too, because they came at that critical cesterites when the clock finally ended it at 63-45.

Captain Bobby Curran races after a loose ball in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Michigan. The defending Champs eliminated the Wolverines by 63-45. KENTUCKY GAME

The end of the long road was reached in the Eastern one half minutes. But with Beard and Groza, the final when the Crusaders met with defeat at the hands heavy gunners, Kentucky rolled to a 12-7 margin and of the gigantic Kentucky Wildcats in a 60-52 thriller were never again to be headed. Kaftan, a fierce fighter

at the Garden. That this defeat was to be the fate of all night long kept the Cross in the running and helped Holy Cross' second National Title quest can not be close it up to four points at 20-16. But the 'Cats denied, for they were beaten by a superior ball team. promptly went on another wild scoring orgy and pulled But the additional fact that this was a defeat with away out in front by 14 points with five minutes to play honor and wholly without disgrace can not be stressed in the half. However, this Holy Cross team was not enough. going to be routed by anyone, even Kaintuck, and our This was a desperately fighting Holy Cross team that lads kept hope burning in the breasts of their countless so reluctantly yielded up their hard won championship followers by rallying to close it up to 36-28 at half time. of last year. But this was truly a magnificent Kentucky As the second half opened Kaftan and Bobby Curran team and the Crusaders' dogged spirit could not pre- hit in succession and just like that the Cross was four

vail this night over the Wildcat who refused to give points out and roaring back. But whether it was

an inch. Without detracting from the performance of Groza hooking from the pivot, Beard setting or driv-

the Blue Grass aggregation who were more than worthy ing, Jones setting from the right hand side, or one-

of the title they went on to win, it must be said that handers by Line and Rollins, Kentucky always struck

this was not one of the Purple's best performances. back, so that while the defending champs were never Outmanned physically and numerically, the Cross was out of the game, they could never get back into it having trouble finding the Madison Square Garden either.

strings, and the combination proved too much. If the greatest of a great band of battlers had to be

Old man percentage finally caught up with Bob singled out, it would have to be Frank Oftring. Steady

Cousy who hadn't known the meaning of "off night," all year long, the "String" was positively brilliant in and the Couz couldn't buy one. George Kaftan who this one. He grabbed as many rebounds as could be

poured in 15 points for the Purple lacked the height had from the likes of these giants and contributed an

to cope with the 6' 7", and deadly Alex Groza, who even dozen points to the Purple cause. If Holy Cross

personally ruined the H. C. cause with 23 telling had to lose, they lost to the very best in Kentucky, and

points. But in spite of the insurmountable odds the though their spirits might have been low, their heads

Purple gave the 'Cats the toughest time they were to could and should have been held erect for the tre-

experience in the Tourney. Early hoops by Oftring mendous fight these players offered in defense of their and Kaftan gave the Purple a 7-5 lead after two and championship.

Ralph Beard, Kentucky's Ail-American speed demon tries to steal the ball from the Crusaders' Dermie O'Connell in the Eastern regional finals at Madison Square Gar- den. The towering Wildcats eliminated the Purple 60-52 and went on to capture the NCCA title. KANSAS STATE GAME

This one was strictly anti-climax for both sides and

the ball game looked every bit the part as the Crusaders

ho-humed ther way to a long first half lead, saw it dis-

appear before a strong Kansas State rush, and then

outlasted the Wildcats to cop the consolation, such as there was, 60-54.

At various stages of the game, both teams looked as

though they would have preferred to be home in bed

and it was hard to blame either of them. Holy Cross

had had their hearts broken when they bowed out to

Kentucky and plainly had had all the basketball it

wanted for one season. Kansas State, also beaten in

the semi-finals, were forced to come half way across

the country for "consolation," and then played as

though they needed it.

For the first half the Cross seemed to mystify the

mid-westerners, and even though they were far from

the top of their game, they romped out to a long

twelve point lead and played shoddy ball doing it.

Of course they were slick as a whistle in spots, they had

George Kaftan tries desperately to elude to be. But there was altogether too much bad basket- Kentucky's Alex Grosa and get his shot ball thrown in with it. It was so easy for the Crusaders away in Kentucky game action. that they lapsed into gross carelessness in the second

half and the Kansas outfit, fired up by something or

other, came very close to taking the ball game right out of their grasp. While the Purple was only able

to hoop two buckets, the Wildcats ran in 16 points

on them in the same period of time to knot the thing

up at 40-40.

Here it was that Kaftan, Oftring (for the third

straight night) and Dermie O'Connell combined to pull

the Cross up by its bootstraps and rally the team home

to its 60-54 win. TRACK

VARSITY SCHEDULE

April 24 Harvard and Boston University May 7 Dartmouth and Colgate

at Cambridge at Hanover, N. H.

May 14 Fort Devens

at Ayer, Mass. May 1 Brown

at Providence May 21-22 New England Intercollegiates

at Providence

May 5 Boston College May 28-29 I. C. 4A. Championships

at Worcester at Randall's Island, N. Y.

Tom O'Donnell (right), breaks the tape inches ahead of Jim "Mouse" O'Leary (left) as the Crusader duo swept the first two positions in the mile run against the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. CROSS-COUNTRY

The Holy Cross harriers opened their 1947 cross-country

season in a triangular meet with M.I.T. and Harvard at

Franklin Park, Boston. The Engineers copped the first six places to makes a clean sweep of the day's efforts while Harv-

ard and Holy Cross trailed in that order. Jim O'Leary of the Crusaders notched a 7th place to lead home the Crimson and Purple tracksters.

With that one loss under their belts, however, the team re- bounded to gain an 18-37 victory over Fort Devens. Capt.

Jim O'Leary chalked up an impressive record-breaking per- formance over the 3.8 mile course to romp home 75 yards ahead of teammate Tom O'Donnell.

These two meets completed an abbreviated fall season for the harriers.

INDOOR SEASON

January 24th saw the opening of the indoor season and the corresponding appearance of the relay teams in the four major

Eastern indoor games. The Knights of Columbus Meet at

the Boston Garden proved to be the first test for the Sullivan coached runners. The Holy Cross varsity mile quartet com- posed of holdovers Barry Reed and Gerry McDavitt and new- comers Bill Gould and George Finn trailed Harvard by seven

yards but nosed out Brown in a triangular contest. Reed and

Finn turned in very creditable performances but it was not

enough to alter the verdict.

Also running in the K. of C. Meet were the Freshman mile and Varsity two-mile foursomes. The two milers—Ray Arm- strong, Tom O'Donnell, Captain Jim O'Leary, and Bill Feeney —trailed M.I.T. and B.C. but, thanks to a grand third leg by Jim O'Leary defeated Maine, Tufts, and Northeastern. The

Freshman, participating in the first competitive performance of

their collegiate careers, were five yards off the pace set by the

victorious B.U. foursome and were just nosed out of second Sophomore Dick Egan drives into the tape place by Rhode Island State. Brown trailed in last place. to cop the 35 yard low hurdle event in the A week later in Madison Square Garden, at the forty-first Meet with the University of Massachusetts, annual Millrose Games, Bart Sullivan offered a revised quartet won by the Cross, 65-39 in hopes of better results. Fran Murphy, Reed, Finn, and

McDavitt were the standard bearers for the night's contest.

But victory still eluded the Crusaders as Georgetown triumphed The indoor season's finale came February twenty-first at by a slim margin in a five team field. The Purple finished sec- Amherst. The Crusader spikesters rolled to an impressive ond ahead of Pen State, Colgate, and Boston College. 65-39 verdict over the University of Massachusetts. Leaving Returning to Boston for the B.A.A. Meet, the Crusader no doubt of their superiority the men of Mt. St. James snared mile quartet posted their fastest time of the year but finished seven first places in twelve events and tied for a first in another. third behind MIT and Georgetown. Colgate followed the Crusader Dick Eagan sprinted off with top scoring honors and Purple. The freshman and two-milers proved disappointing, was the afternoon's only double winner. He captured both however, as they trailed their respective fields. hurdle events as well as a third place in the dash to tally 11 Colgate proved the nemesis in the final New York appear- points. Three track records fell by the wayside as the Purple ance at the New York Athletic Club Meet. The same quartet set new marks in the 440, two-mile, and one-lap relay. Barry which had bowed to the Crusaders on two successive Satur- Reed and George Finn shattered the 440 and two-mile stand- days, came from behind to triumph by inches. Boston College's ards, respectively, while Bill Gould, Bob Farrell, Barry Reed, Eagles finished a poor third. Again it was Reed and Finn and Tom Berry contributed to the new relay mark. Other who paced the relayists but an opening lap pile-up which winners included Bill Gould in the dash and Tom O'Donnell caused a recall of the race and injured anchor-man Bill Gould's in the mile, while Ed Dunne and Barry Reed tied for first in leg spelled doom for the Purple. the high jump. HOCKEY

Individual

Team Records '.

G. A. Pts. Morgan 12 11 23 O'Neil 9 10 19

Johnson 3 6 9

Riley 10 7 17 Cunnane 12 9 21 McNamara 3 3 6

Igo 3 5 8

Sheehan 2 5 7

Bussiere 2 4 6 Tierney 2 3 5 Donovan 5 10 15 Troy 9 4 13

Sullivan 2 6 8 Whitney 4 4

First Row, left In right: Tom Donovan, Leo Troy, Joe Tierney, Jim Riley, Jack Sheehan. Second Row, left to right: Joe Cunnane, Dave O'Neil, Dave Bussiere Tom Whitney, Bill Sullivan, Frank Igo, Ed Hopkins, Manager.

Without the benefit of a coach the aptly-called "informal" group was co-ordinated into a good fighting outfit, an outfit team representing Holy Cross completed a reasonably success- that is looking forward to a more fruitful season next year. ful campaign winning seven of their contests as against four The results of the eleven games that were played seem to in- setbacks. The objective critic can have justifiable cause for dicate a group of athletes, who, although easily discernible as qualified for candidacy for wondering why the final record should not be the converse of any college team, were sorely what has been stated, for almost insurmountable odds were handicapped by the lack of practicing facilities. The game with University the encountered all season. Boston was best example of that when the just didn't Most of this year's team was a veteran contingent, with a Crusaders have the practice-developed stamina necessary to win. season with sprinkling of new faces, filling up the gaps left by such erst- The opened Tufts who sur- reptitiously submitted results while stars as Don Bussiere, Jim Doherty, Paul Whitney and the of an actual practice scrim-

mage to the newspapers, calling it a 4-3 victory. Then followed Jim Ronayne. The honor of being called the first line this the fray with B.U. with the Crusaders the short year was vied for by the two capable trios of Joe Cunnane, on end of a 13-5 Suffolk University felt Paul McNamara, and Jim Riley, and Bob Morgan, Dave score. the pent-up wrath of the Purple when Suffolk bowed under the weight of 15-2 de- O'Neil and Ed Johnson. The Cunnane triplets led the scor- a cision. next win over the powerful ing, closely pressed by the Morgan line, who incidentally are The Westford Hockey tune of 8-4 the of six a Freshman line with the exception of Johnson, and augur Club to the was vanguard a game winning following the superior very well for next year's prospective team. The forward lines streak, in which the teams bowed to rinkless Purple. University Massachusetts, are completed by such promising first-timers as Jack Sheehan, prowess of the of 7-5, Fitchburg Club, 9-6, Worcester Club, Dave Bussiere, and Joe Tierney, and the underrated Frank Hockey Hockey 7-4, Assumption College, 8-1 and the Igo, a hockey perennial, who did a marvelous job as utility Hudson Town Team, 6-5. The second meeting with Westford was unsuccessful as far man on all lines and positions. The rear guard was a non- concerned as they lost 4-2. season porous aggregation headed by Leo Troy, and veterans Bill as the Purple was The was terminated with a contest with a redoubtable Brown sextet Sullivan and Tom Donovan, with Tom Whitney ready for beginning to find themselves at the close of the sub duty. The net-minding duties were ably executed by the who were just season and they vanquished Holy Cross by a 7-4 count. This agile Jim O'Brien until his graduation in February, but he was very adequately succeeded by a sterling discovery in the game was played with an absence from the ice of three long person of Ed Chandler, former Norwood High School goalie. weeks, and hockey teams are seldom on top after such a pro-

Through the untiring efforts of Manager Ed Hopkins, this longed interim between games. Coach John J. "Jack" Barry could afford to smile a three college victories while losing none. This big right- bit after the first two games of the 1948 baseball season. hander, a graduate of Boston College High and son of

While the Crusaders were not particularly potent at the a former Major League pitcher, is expected to see more plate, the veteran mentor sent his two top hurlers to the than a little service in the Crusaders lengthy season. mound and both came through in mid-season style to The hurlers were well backed up with two veteran extend the eleven game winning streak held over from catchers, Ed Polak and Bill Stetter. Polak is completing the 1947 season. Sophomores Al McEvoy and Joe Reedy, his third season as the varsity receiver with the team. both lefthanders, were the lads responsible for the first But his catching savvy was not his lone contribution. two wins, and on their shoulders fell much of the re- He hit well over .300 each season. Stetter, a Sophomore sponsibility the rest of the way. McEvoy, a 6' 4" Brook- football center, has not had chance to show his cap- lyn native, set down Brown 3-1 in the curtain-raiser as abilities as yet. On occasion he has come through as a he limited the Bruins to three scattered hits and one pinch hitter and he is quite ready to take over the unearned run. In his Freshman year Al had compiled catcher's slot when Polak departs. a 7 and record and his eighth successive college win Tom Donovan, basketballer Matt Forman, and Bill gave indication that he was even in better form than Doyle round out the rest of the Crusaders' Sophomore he had been as a fledgling. Although his teammates pitching staff. All wore Crusader uniforms last year and were none too brilliant at the plate, garnering only four for that matter, the entire squad with the exception of hits in all, they managed to scrape up a few runs which one man, were holdovers, for the 1947 team which won was all McEvoy needed in his 1948 debut. Incidentally, 15 games while losing only two. Al's victory over the Providence school was his third Frank "Lefty" Galvin, the long-hitting first baseman in a row, having beaten them twice as a Freshman. was back for his third year at the initial sack and was Joe Reedy went into action in the next game and he, expected to give the Crusader hitting a lift. Galvin too, was out to lengthen a win streak, this one over Har- came along slowly last year but his hitting was a major vard. Joe had registered a win over the Cantabs in factor as the Crusaders closed out the season with eleven 1947 and on April 24th he pitched his way to a one-hit straight victories. John "Red" Coyle moved into the win as the Cross came out on top, 3-2. The Reading, second base spot vacated by the graduation of Jack Pennsylvania, portsider defeated John "Red" Connelly, Whalen and in his first two appearances in a Crusader a former Crusader, in a brilliant pitching duel. Reedy uniform sparkled brilliantly. Billy Porter, another Soph- went six and two-thirds innings before allowing a hit, omore, was great at shortstop while Joe Cunnane re- but the blow, a long line-drive triple to right field by turned for another year at the hot corner. Ed Connor Harvard's "Chip" Gannon was particularly dangerous and Joe Mannix were two capable utility infielders. as it drove in two of the Crimson who had reached via In the outer garden, Co-captain Bobby Sullivan, more a walk and an error. This was the second time Reedy renowned for his gridiron performances dazzled with his had come within a few put-outs of hurling a no-hitter. defensive play and came through with some timely hits, Last year against Dartmouth, as the Crusaders chalked while his fellow Co-captain Bob Curran, basketball cap- up a 13-0 win, Joe allowed but one hit, that coming in tain this past winter, took care of center field and con- the eighth inning. Along with these two pitchers Coach tributed some long hitting, including a triple in the Barry had a capable group in reserve including Dick Harvard game. Bob Lavery, another good sticker, held Shellenbach, who had defeated the Braves in '47. Along down the duties in right field, while Bob Massa, reserve with this exhibition win, Shellenbach had also hung up outfielder saw plenty of service.

B A B A

With the return of Bill Blackham, Paul Duff and Tracy Mehr Tracy Mehr, key man of the golf team comes from Milwaukee, from last year's golf team, tryouts were held on April 13th over Wisconsin, where he was the Wisconsin Junior State champ in the tough, well-trapped Wachusett Golf Club course. Fourteen 1946, and is now currently kingpin of Wisconsin's 18-21 age players were on hand to vie for a place the on six-man squad. bracket. He also represented Wisconsin in the Hearst National Bill Blackham, Jack Garrity, Jim Connolly, John Nagle, Bert Championships held in California last summer. Bill Blackham is Dolon and Tracy Mehr were named by Coach Charlie Donnelly a five-handicap player at the Winchester Country Club. Jim Con- to face Babson Institute on April 22nd at the Wachusett Coun- nolly was a finalist in the Fall Holy Cross Golf Tournament. John try Club. However, the Crusaders went down to a 7 to 2 de- Nagle is a nine-handicap player from Spring Lake, N.J., and has feat with Jim Connolly and Tracy Mehr garnering the only Holy played in four pro-member golf tournaments. Paul Duff, long- Cross points. est hitter on the team, is a seven-handicap player from New York, In a special nine-man match against the Wachusett Country a member of last year's squad. Jack Furey is a ten- Club golf team the Cross suffered its second straight setback, 9-4. and was Holy Cross coach, Charlie Donnelly, playing with the Wachusett handicap player from the Wethersfield Country Club in Con- team, was low man for the day. Tracy Mehr, Paul Duff and necticut. Manager John Nagle picked up three points for Holy Cross and Nagle and Duff teamed to win the fourth point in a four-ball match. THE SCHEDULE Highlight of the schedule this year is the annual Round-robin H.C. OPP. Eastern Inter-collegiate matches at Providence, R. I., on May 7 April 22 Babson Institute at Wachusett C. C. 2 9 7th and 8th between Dartmouth, Brown, M. I. T., and Holy April 29 Wachusett Golf Team at Wachusett C. C. 4 May 6 American International College at Wachusett C. C. Cross. Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Army, Cornell, Penn May 7-8 Eastern Intercollegiate Matches at Providence, R. I. State, Pittsburg, Georgetown, Navy, Penn, and Virginia will also May 13 Massachusetts University at Wachusett C. C. May 14-15-16 ' will at May 15 be competing throughout the East. The finals be held England Intercollegiate Golf New If wjnner of May 7th and 8th matches Tour nt Atlantic City on May 15th. The players that will take part in "?™ at Pr°vide "ce R l r C. . at Oakley C. Eastern Intercollegiate Champ- the round-robin matches are Tracy Mehr, Bill Blackham, Jack or pionship Matches. Furey, John Nagle, Jim Connolly, and Paul Duff. at Atlantic City, New Jersey,

jensUi

In tune with a policy which in the last two years has become in the tennis outlook are a pair of New Yorkers, left-handed Jack singles quite widespread, this spring saw the return of the tennis team to Walsh in the singles and Ed Furguson, who not only plays is a the ranks of the varsity sports at Holy Cross. The resurrection of but makes up a third doubles team with Bob Mann. Bob his speed the netmen, however, was more than the return of a mere war- former member of Bart Sullivan's track squad and puts himself, time casualty of the Holy Cross family, for not since 1935 had to good use in covering the clay courts. Manager Kierce the number slot a formal tennis team had a place in the Pakachoag athletic pro- is a singles man and is currently holding down 6 gram. in that division. to open Although no formal coach could be had, the tennis team re- Withthe lineup set, the boys journeyed to Cambridge a strong organized under the direction of Gerald Kierce, '49, and work the season with M. I. T. As always the Technicians had of a 7-2 was immediately started on the arrangement of a satisfactory squad and the Crusaders went down on the short end back schedule for the spring of 1948. As the Freshman rule was now score. However, not to be discouraged, the boys bounced to win in effect, the selection of the squad was based on the personnel and frustrated the efforts of the Boston College netmen holding over from last year's informal squad and was compara- some sort of event from Holy Cross, as they whipped the Eagles tively easy. handily, 7-2. Then came a match with the Brown University

Henry Heffernan, who hails from the American tennis incu- powerhouse with our lads out to avenge the defeat of last year's bator in and around Newport, R. I., was to be the number one informal team at the hands of the Bruins. However, this was man without question. Playing head and shoulders over the re- not the year and the well-coached Brown team prevailed, once maining candidates as a singles man, he was also selected to again by the 7-2 score. To add a little local color to the sched- team with Frank Reim on the number one doubles pair. Reim ule a match was arranged with Clark, and our lads, anxious to hails from Palmer, Mass., and brought a bagful of strokes with establish their supremacy in City competition, made short work him when he came to the Cross. He should also see plenty of ac- of the cross-town school by a 6-0 score. tion in singles competition. A pair of Worcester day students, The complete schedule: M. I. T., Boston College, Brown, Clark, Bill Luby and Pete Harrity will form a second doubles team and Tufts, R. I. State, Springfield, Assumption, Boston University, in addition both should see singles service with the new team. University of Massachusetts at Fort Devens, University of Massa- These lads are both well known in Worcester tournament circles and are members of the Worcester Tennis Club. Also prominent chusetts at Amherst. The Rev. Francis J. Hart completed his seventh year as Intramural Director during this 1947-1948 Intramural Cam- paign. It was a year that marked the return to normal, with pre-war years as the norm, of the college's intramural program. The "vets" were settled and the steady flow of high school graduates into the hallowed halls of Mt. St. James had started again. The program for the year started with Intramural Football. Some five hundred gridsters divided their talents into forty teams. The forty teams seg- regated into four leagues of ten teams each. From the beginning of October until early December the clubs battled. The four league champions, Wheeler la, Wheeler Illb, Carlin IIIc, and Alumni lid met in the December playoffs with the third Carlin club taking the crown. The championship team was composed of Ed "Monk" Daly, Ray Carey, Joe Maurice, Al Monaco, Jim Connolly, if- ;»•?* Charley McDermott, Bob Lambert, Ed Lynch, Ed Rowe, Jim "Jigger" Curtin, and Bob Manogue. tive champions. Leo Troy was the ping- December saw the start of the Intra- pong champion, usually drawing Gerry mural Basketball season. Two leagues Martel as his opponent in the finals. of twenty teams each were formed. One Henry Heffernan won the tennis crown; hundred and sixty games were played. Bob Phelan was king of the fairways Third Carlin continued its domination of with Jim Connolly as runner-up; Ed the intramural scene by winning both Piane and Tom Mullane paired up to leagues. Carlin Ilia, coached by Bob beat back all challengers for their hand- Mulcahy and made up of Jim Martin, ball crown. Bill Brosmith and Tom Car- Ted Ferguson, Bob Manogue, Frank ter won the New England Bridge Tourn- Charlton, Johnny Callahan, and Bill ament and went to Chicago in April to MacDonald, won the League A title. represent us in the National Collegiate Carlin Illb, coached by Gerry Twohig Tournament. and composed of Larry Cantwell, Gene DeFilippo, Joe Maurice, Paul Duff, Monk Daly, Ed Lynch, Jigger Curtin and Ed Rowe, won the League B cham- pionship. Arnie Hamel of Wheeler Ilia won the individual scoring honors av- eraeiner sixteen points per game. Mid-February opened the new field house on the hill and a few of the af- ternoon games took place up there, but most of the lads still went over to the old gym behind the chapel when they wanted a workout. Interspersed among the big three of football, basketball, and Softball, which started in mid-April, were various tourn- aments. Ping-pong, bridge, bowling, ten- nis, golf, handball, chess, and swimming charms were passed out to the respec-