Sport: Football Artist

Few first-rate football coaches stay in one place long enough to become an institution. Even fewer paint desert scenes in the Southwest. Robert Carl Zuppke of the University of Illinois does not claim to be a great painter though critics filled their reviews of his one-man show of landscapes last spring in Chicago’s Palmer House with awed quotations from his rugged views on Art (“Art and football are very much alike”). More important to Robert Zuppke and a majority of the inhabitants of central Illinois is the fact that in the last 24 years Illinois teams have won twice as many football games as they have lost.

Seven Zuppke teams have topped the Big Ten. Two were undefeated anduntied. But since 1930 there has been no star like Harold (“Red”) Grange playing for Coach Zuppke and Illinois teams have been far from spectacular. Many an Illinois alumnus has lately grumbled that in football there is no place for sentiment. But that Illinois’ attachment for Robert Zuppke was not entirely sentimental was shown by what happened last week when Illinois played Notre Dame for the first time since 1898.

Last week Robert Zuppke’s finger—on which he superstitiously changes rings if his team loses—twitched. A highly touted Notre Dame team which Coach Elmer Layden thought was the best he had yet assembled, scored twice as many first downs as Illinois, and twice as many yards from scrimmage. But at the end of the game Zuppke’s rings were still in order. Zuppke’s 25th anniversary year had begun with a small triumph. Score: 0-to-0.

Most annoying play in football is when a winning touchdown is canceled by a penalty. Tennessee’s Wood last week threw a pass to Duncan for a touchdown against Duke in the first quarter, but someone was offside. Therefore when the final whistle blew, Coach Wallace Wade had succeeded in preserving unblemished his record of never having a team defeated on Duke’s “Homecoming Day.” Score: 0-to-0.

For two years the football activities of Yale’s Clinton Frank were dimmed by the presence of Yale’s Larry Kelley (now graduated) on the same field. Against Pennsylvania last week Frank scored one touchdown, passed to Al Wilson for another, played a brilliant defense, helped a creaking Yale machine defeat Pennsylvania for the fourth year in a row. Score: 27-to-7.

Northwestern won last year’s Big Ten title mostly by hard running. Last week Michigan, which once won Big Ten titles with embarrassing regularity, stopped Northwestern’s runners but was unable to keep Don Heap from passing to Cleo Diehl for one touchdown. Score: 7-to-0.

Columbia and Army scored three touchdowns apiece. In such a situation to miss one kick for extra point may mean defeat. Columbia missed three. Only satisfaction for Columbia was possession of the country’s Player-of-the-Week, Sid Luckman, who completed 18 passes, two for touchdowns, ran back a kickoff for a third. Score: 21-to-18.

Ohio State’s chances for an undefeated season seemed very good fortnight ago after victories over Texas Christian and Purdue. But all hope was blasted last week because they missed a try for extra point. Southern California scored two touchdowns and Ohio State scored two touchdowns, but Southern California got one conversion and Ohio State got none. Score: 13-to-12.