The Question: Should there be a height limit on basketball players?

HARRY E. HUMPHREYS JR.
President
U.S. Rubber Co.
No. How could a basketball coach justify barring a student merely because of his height? Any competitive game should be played by those who can play it best. Why not move the baskets higher? How much higher would depend on the experts. The present height isn't mandatory.

JOHNNY JORDAN
Basketball coach
Notre Dame
Yes, and I mean yes. I'm not like some others who say limit the size until they get a big man. There can't be more than 30 top-notch players 6 feet 8 inches or over. They're putting a million kids under 6 feet out of action because basketball is one game where one man can win for you.

W. H. SHUPERT
Philadelphia
Investment counsel
It's unfair to bar anyone, but height has gone to a ridiculous extreme. Many fans have lost interest. The game should be changed to take away the tall man's advantage by raising the basket and eliminating the backboard. Also by establishing a zone from which shots can't be made.

HOWARD CANN
Basketball coach
New York University
No, but I'd go for raising the basket to 12 or 13 feet. The present height of 10 feet was only a convenience when the game was invented at Springfield College by Dr. James Naismith. A higher basket wouldn't hurt the smaller men, but it would lessen the value of the seven-footers.

FRANK McGUIRE
Basketball coach
University of North Carolina
No. It's true that we've gone overboard for big men, but every coach realizes that he can have a better team with a six-footer that I like to call a quarterback. The ideal team is three big men for the rebounds and two smaller players. The St. Louis Hawks proved that when they got Slater Martin.

EDMUND L. ZALINSKI
Vice-president
Sales Administration
John Hancock Mutual
We'd have a better and more interesting game with a height limit. Basketball then would become a much greater test of individual skill and teamwork. Now, a team of smaller men playing against a team with three or four big fellows can't possibly show to advantage.

TAPS GALLAGHER
Basketball coach
Niagara University
It's as unfair to discriminate against the big man as it is not using the small man. However, some of the big fellows can't get out of their own way, while smaller men have speed and drive. Putting the basket out six inches farther to stop tap-ins would lessen the big man's advantage.

NED IRISH
Executive vice-president, Madison Square Garden Corp.
No. Basketball is the only sport where these very tall players can compete freely with players less than 6 feet 5 inches. Smaller men are not really discriminated against because they can compete in sports that are not suitable for these basketball giants. No limit should be set.

ARTHUR WILKINS
Assistant basketball coach, Iona College
Certainly. The tall players are taking the game away from smaller men. It's all right to say that you shouldn't discriminate against the big fellows, but how about discriminating against small men? For every tall man who makes a team, many smaller men are barred from competition.

TEN PHOTOS

NEXT WEEK:

If the Caribbean countries had a team in the major leagues, how would it do?