The Question: Will the western colleges follow the lead of the Ivy group and de-emphasize athletics? (asked at Pasadena, Calif.)
GEN. MARK CLARK, Charleston, S.C.
President, The Citadel
"Not in the near future. Football has too strong a hold on the West and some other sections. We at Citadel have our problems. We won't accept boys who can't do high-grade classroom work. So we lose athletes who either dislike military life or who would rather loaf through college."
LONE STAR DIETZ, Reading, Pa.
Former Washington State football coach
"No. There's a different feeling in the West. The loyalty of the fans is almost fanatic. Yale, Harvard and Princeton each think they're the best in the East. They influence policy. In the West colleges follow the spirit of the sports fans, the spirit that made the West great."
C. DIGGER BOONE, Chehalis, Wash.
Automobile dealer
"Yes. Football in particular is getting to be the biggest thing in the Far West. Even now it's entirely too big in the educational picture. And it's getting bigger. Like every other good sports fan, Em rooting for bigger and better teams. That's wrong. It interferes with education."
DR. D. B. VARNER, East Lansing, Mich.
Official, Michigan State University
"I see little evidence in that direction. The Western Conference would not like to see a greater emphasis placed on football. We can live with it at its present level. Football is good. It's a great American institution. If it remains as it is, fine. But it can be overdone."
RAY WARD, El Paso, Texas
General contractor
"No. The fans in the West are still boys at heart. They have the enthusiasm the East had when I played football at Brown University. I predict the East will regain this enthusiasm. Each college in the Ivy League wants to win the Ivy League championship because of the nationwide prestige."
C. CLEMENT FRENCH, Pullman, Wash.
President, Washington State College
"Lack of similar background makes an answer for 'all western colleges' impossible. Big-time-football pressure probably centers in southern California. I expect it to continue so for the near future. In the Pacific Northwest there is an attitude of moderation in intercollegiate athletics."
RAY LOOMIS, Palo Alto, Calif.
Manager, Houghton-Mifflin Publishing Co. branch office
"No. There is a definite desire to equalize athletics among western colleges, not to de-emphasize them. We have more drive than you have in the East. Ivy League type of de-emphasis would be frowned on by our sports fans. We believe equalization is better than de-emphasis."
DR. RAYMOND B. ALLEN, Los Angeles
Chancellor, UCLA
"The problem is different in the West, particularly for state schools. We are giving it considerable study. Our conference is administered by sincere men who want to preserve the great value of sports. We are not as closely knit as the Ivy League, but, in time, overemphasis will disappear."
BERT BROOKS, San Marino, Calif.
Psychologist
"I hope not. We need the money big-time athletics gives us for all intercollegiate athletics. In the West we are not as rich as Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Cornell. Those colleges can afford to appropriate a half million dollars for athletics regardless of the caliber of their teams. We can't."
C. DEKE HOULGATE Sr., Los Angeles
Publisher
"No. Western colleges are building to the days of Andy Smith, Howard Jones and Pop Warner, when western football was supreme. I don't think the Ivy League has de-emphasized either. Dartmouth has Bob Blackman. Yale has a great coach. Why? And just watch Penn come back."
BOB MATHIAS, Tulare, Calif.
Decathlon champion
"Yes. The Ivy League I has taken a bold step. It was formed by men of integrity and sincerity. Its example will eventually be followed by all good universities because it's a sound idea. Football and other intercollegiate sports can get out of hand and lose public support if not watched closely."
ILLUSTRATION
ELEVEN PHOTOS
NEXT WEEK:
Have sports influenced fashions? If so, in what way?