19th HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVER
SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR: NOMINATIONS OPEN (CONT.)
Sirs:
Since nominations for SPORTS ILLUS-TRATED'S Sportsman of the Year are now opened (19TH HOLE, Oct. 7) I would like to cite my choice for that distinction. It is Stirling Moss.
Race driving demands great courage; thoughtful courage as opposed to brute bravery. Apart from mountaineering, no other sport courts death or affords the vision of your friends and rivals mangled, burned or dead.
Moss is intelligent and articulate, he writes readably about his cars and races. He has seen and weighed the risks, but nonetheless has expressed his private optimism by becoming engaged to be married to a woman who understands his unquenchable fire for racing. It is the flame, the passion and the dedication, allied to humour and understanding, that distinguishes for me the true sportsman in Stirling Moss.
ROGER BANNISTER
London
•Roger Bannister, SPORTS ILLUSTRAT-ED'S first Sportsman of the Year, bears as his distinction those same qualities.—ED.
SPECIAL FOOTBALL ISSUE: GREAT WORK, GUYS
Sirs:
The 1957 Football Issue (SI, Sept. 23) is the greatest football issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED or any other magazine covering football I've ever read. It's so amazingly comprehensive, it's hard to imagine all the great work you put into it.
Great work, guys—SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is just fantabulous!
HOWIE SCHWARTZ
Brooklyn
Sirs:
The edition issued earlier on baseball (Special Baseball Issue, April 15), together with the Football Issue make SPORTS ILLUSTRATED worth the price of subscription alone.
F. GLENN OTIS
Washington, D.C.
Sirs:
Your 128-page Football Issue was a solid hit—chiefly because of the picture and 15-line story of Gabby Hartnett and his epic 1938 home run. Apologies, but in these parts most of us are victims of an uncontrollable and incurable devotion to Gabby, the greatest catcher since, and including, Adam.
JIM MURPHY
Pawtucket, R.I.
EVASHEVSKI: MORE LIKE HIM
Sirs:
Iconoclast Evashevski has done this loyal heart proud (A Heretic Speaks his Mind, Special Football Issue, Sept. 23). How relieved could one person be to finally hear, openly and boldly, that there is one prominent coach who believes there is more to football than helping the hated enemy wipe off his uniform after a grinding, muddy tackle. Certainly, Evashevski will be snarled at, despised and completely ridiculed for his honest stand, but let me say here that he has earned my undying respect for putting football where it should always have been: pictured as the greatest of do-or-die sports.
I firmly believe that there should be no punishment for losing, as long as the loser has done everything within his mortal power to win and can truthfully vow that he could have done no better; but let's teach them not to lose.
The good-sport mama's boys may be sensitive and well-rounded in character in the opinion of some; nevertheless, I'll take the guy who fights to get ahead. I'll promise you that when the chips are down, the one whose desire to win is second nature to him will be the one who hauls them in, and is much the better man for it.
JEAN D. HANSFORD, USAF
Wilmington, Ohio
Sirs:
This story was probably the most terrific "knock-the-man-down" article ever published regarding college football ethics.
Coach Forest Evashevski unveils his inner nature and seems to have captured the true spirit of football. Perhaps the reason for Iowa having such a successful team....
CHARLES F. KILLEBREW
Galveston, Texas
Sirs:
Your recent article, A Heretic Speaks his Mind, purported to be the expression of Coach Forest Evashevski, football coach at the University of Iowa, borders on insane journalism. Just how far can an ambitious, but irrational, writer go in his effort to create sensational journalism?
For any coach to express himself as the article implied would mean professional suicide. I have known Coach Evashevski for some time, his coaching philosophies and all-round general standards in his association with young manhood are above reproach. There may be other coaches, not of Big Ten and Rose Bowl championship caliber, who might go along with the attitudes expressed in the warped article....
TOM E. KARPAN
West Des Moines, Iowa
Sirs:
Why do you detest the University of Iowa? SPORTS ILLUSTRATED always refers to the University of Iowa, its teams, and its personnel in a slurring manner.
The snide article after the Rose Bowl game attempted to give the impression that Iowa had won by spurious means and dubious ability.
Now comes the article concerning the coach of the University of Iowa. Evashevski has a television program during the season, so that the people of Iowa know that he has poise, a sense of humor and a surprising command of the English language. Your article does not give that same impression.
It is just as well that your readers do not know the true personality of Evashevski or they would get the impression that the integrity of your writers is open to question. Here is a young, capable coach with sincere intentions and you are trying to picture him as a despicable, profane demagogue....
CHARLES W. MAPLETHORPE JR., M.D.
Toledo, Iowa
AND WHERE ARE WE?
Sirs:
I imagine that you will receive several hundred letters from indignant alumni, from Fishkill State Teachers to Petrified Forest Tech. And you deserve the criticism.
My old school is Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, enrollment in excess of 6,000. It is a member of the NCAA-recognized Mid-America Conference, which ranks at least with the Yankee and the Skyline. It is guided by a "coach of the year," Carroll Widdoes. It has had only a handful of losing seasons in the last 35. In its gridiron history it boasts of victories over the likes of Navy, Illinois and West Virginia, to mention a few. It fields a representative team garnered through a minimum of interstate recruiting. It will handle itself well in the conference, of which Miami of Ohio, which you listed as an independent, is a member. In short, we should have been in if some of those others were.
No, you don't have to cancel my subscription. But in the future your editorial judgment should cause you to be either very exclusive or all-inclusive. If Maine and Vermont get in, Ohio and a number of others are going to want in, too.
MARTIN BLAU
White Plains, N.Y.
Sirs:
...The defending Mid-America Conference champion Bowling Green, with a very strong returning team, received nary a word.
DAVE BONES
Toledo
Sirs:
Considering that Trinity went undefeated in 1954 and 1955, it surprised us that no preseason sketch appeared in your 1957 Football Issue.
J. B. NORRIS
Hartford, Conn.
Sirs:
I'm flabbergasted that your usually competent staff omitted Lenoir Rhyne College, Hickory, N.C
Lenoir Rhyne College posted undefeated records in 1955 and 1956, including wins over Emory & Henry-one of your featured schools—by a 20-9 score in 1955 and 25-6 in 1956.
LESLIE CONRAD JR.
Philadelphia
Sirs:
We were very disappointed that our college, Westminster College, was excluded. We feel that we should have been recognized for our achievement over the past three years. We have been undefeated in our past 21 games. Last season we were rated 15th in the East in Dick Dunkel's Power Index Rating over such notable teams as Boston University, Pennsylvania, Gettysburg, Dartmouth, Columbia and Rutgers. For a nonconference college of 1,200 students we consider this an exceptionally fine record.
RICHARD H. WALKER
New Wilmington, Pa.
Sirs:
Howling with the many, "You left my alma mater out," how could you overlook Harvey C. Chrouser's 12-year record at Wheaton College (Ill.) of 72 wins, 17 losses, 2 ties and seven College Conference of Illinois championships?
RAY H. SMITH
Arlington, Va.
•There are on our staff five men whose colleges (Rochester, St. Louis' Washington University, Bowdoin, Marietta College and Texas A & I) were not mentioned. We hear from them, too, every morning in the elevator.—ED.
BRIDGE: INTRAMURAL COMPETITION
Sirs:
I was very pleased to see that Charlie Goren had become a regular contributor to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (Sept. 16). This will add immeasurably to my enjoyment of the magazine. The only trouble is, I will now have to be more alert in order to get it before my wife does.
ROBERT T. JONES JR.
Atlanta
•For golf immortal Bob Jones's peace of mind we are giving Mrs. Jones her very own subscription.—ED.
Sirs:
Congratulations on your opening lead in the very first deal of your venture into the bridge world.
May I suggest, both to you and Mr. Goren, that he might call his bridge articles Trick from the Top.
ALVIN A. SCHAYE, M.D.
New York City
Sirs:
Just a note to tell you that the Goren article on bridge was terrific. My rubber-bridge playing friends gave it a good mark and are waiting for more.
A lot of your subscribers have waited patiently for some good bridge articles. Keep up the high standards set in your first article.
J.L. HERLIHY
Rear Admiral, USN
Norfolk, Va.
Sirs:
It was with deep interest and great pleasure that I read your article by Charles H. Goren. It was simply wonderful.
I have known and played bridge with Charlie for the past 15 years. He was, and still is, my favorite partner.
I believe he will go down in posterity with the immortals, being to bridge what Tilden was to tennis, Hoppe to billiards, Jones to golf, Ruth to baseball, etc. Keep the articles going!
I am happier now than ever that I just renewed my subscription.
EDWARD COHN
Philadelphia
