PAT ON THE BACK
Miss Ellen Lynch was a prim, slender woman of 37 in 1907 when she became mathematics teacher at San Francisco's Laguna Honda Grammar School. Miss Ellen soon turned to coaching to occupy some of her spare time. Today at 84 (left), she can't remember how many championship teams she produced, but records show there were at least 25. Her track teams (below, Miss Ellen and her 1916 squad) were her big winners, but she was proudest of her baseball players, three of whom went to the big leagues. One was a skinny, 90-pound city hop-step-and-jump champion—Mark Anthony Koenig—who played shortstop with the 1927 World Champion Yankees. Others were famed pitchers Dutch Reuther of Cincinnati and Bert Cole of Detroit. Miss Ellen retired into obscurity in 1935, was rediscovered this fall by one of her pupils. Last month, her old students (including Koenig) had a party, gave Miss Ellen a trophy and television set to show they hadn't forgotten her.
Rocky Marciano currently is better known for battering opponents in the prize ring than for walloping a golf ball, but Jack Berweiler (right), golf professional at the Arrowhead Country Club in San Bernardino, Calif., says the world's heavyweight champion may be a scratch golfer in two or three years. Berweiler is giving The Rock lessons, admits the champ is still pretty erratic with a golf club, but claims that Marciano's power and superior coordination make him a top prospect. Rocky has promised to keep at his lessons, loves to play, is convinced he can master the game, but admits there's a lot of hard work ahead. He is already down to about 110 for 18 holes.
George (Specs) Toporcer became blind in 1951 after a long baseball career as big league player (St. Louis Cardinals), minor league manager (Albany, Rochester, Buffalo) and farm director (Boston Red Sox). But baseball is still his work. Specs now lectures on it in schools, has written an instructive book for kids and coaches, Baseball from Backyards to Big Leagues.
Theodore Mc Keldin, Maryland's governor, has never hunted much, but decided two weeks ago to tackle deer hunting for the first time near Hancock, Md. Stationed back of a blind with a 30-30, he dropped an eight-point, 160-pound buck, plans to have the head mounted in the executive mansion at Annapolis.
Nancy Reid of Providence, R.I., is a most versatile athlete at 19. A freshman at the University of Bridgeport, she stars in basketball, field hockey, bowling and golf, plays tennis well. But track is her first love. Nancy excels in hurdles, dashes, all field events, hopes to make the 1955 Pan American Games and 1956 Olympics in the discus.
SIX PHOTOS