19TH HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVER

STILL READY
Sirs:
Thank you for your editorial Freedom to Kill (Sept. 19). We career Coast Guard families can vouch firsthand for lax marine laws, poor enforcement and rock-bottom appropriations for the Coast Guard.

I used to think that the Coast Guard's translation of Semper Paratus as "simply forgotten" was about 99% true; however, now I know SPORTS ILLUSTRATED cares.
R. J. M. KORLIS
New London, Conn.

ALL-WHITE MISS
Sirs:
The one thing that stops most University of Mississippi students and fellow Mississippians from wholeheartedly applauding your article (Babes, Brutes and Ole Miss, Sept. 19) was the paragraph on segregation: "One thing the university has no reason to be proud about is the fact that it is all white." Ole Miss students are very proud of their football teams, two Miss Americas, high scholastic standards and campus life. But they also hold the highest regard for their southern heritage. We are indeed very much proud of being "all white."
HERB PHILLIPS
University, Miss.

Sirs:
The students of the University of Mississippi are not only proud to be called all white, they are determined to remain all white.
MALCOLM S. DALE
Editor, The Mississippian
University, Miss.

Sirs:
I myself do not attend Ole Miss but I do attend one of the larger southern universities and I'd like to say, "We are proud...."
DAVID YOUNCE
Auburn, Ala.

RAIN CHECK
Sirs:
As Tacoma wound up its first Pacific Coast League season in 78° sunshine (and in second place), many of us recalled a four-paragraph piece you published May 2. Noting that rain had affected the opening-week schedule of our heroes, your writer concluded: "Apparently forgotten in the excitement of the plans for revival was the reason that Taco-ma's last Pacific Coast League team left town in 1905: The weather wasn't fit for baseball."

For the record, the Tacoma Giants drew 270,024 paid customers during the season to lead the league in this department and to place second nationally in minor league attendance—just behind Buffalo, a city more than three times Tacoma's population.
BEN HANSON
Mayor
Tacoma, Wash.

POWER PROFILE
Sirs:
In an attempt to analyze Armin Hary's fast start (The Thief of Starts, Sept. 12) could one contributing factor be his bent elbows? (The shorter the pendulum—the faster the action.) All the other sprinters pictured had nearly extended elbows. Has anyone else noticed this?
JAMES SAWYERS
Philadelphia

•They have indeed. Abilene Christian Coach Oliver Jackson, for one, instructs his runners (Morrow, Young and Woodhouse among others) to keep their arms bent at about 90°. Says Jackson, "The shorter the radius of the arm's circular motion the faster and more immediate the action. By natural reflex, the legs also react this way. Hary's accentuated forward lean is another speed factor that permits the direction of the push by the feet to be as much forward (rather than up) as possible."—ED.

RATS TO RATINGS
Sirs:
After last year's Special Football Issue, it seemed you could never come up with another like it, but this one is even better! However—why not a higher rating for Arkansas?
PAUL ADAMS
Southwest City, Mo.

Sirs:
Have your so-called football experts gone out of their everlovin' minds? You reviewed Heidelberg College and did not even mention the team that most local and Ohio experts pick to beat Heidelberg for the Ohio Conference title—Muskingum.
CHUCK HARNER
New Concord, Ohio

Sirs:
Haven't you heard that they play football in North and South Dakota?
JAY M. ALLEN
Columbus, Ohio

Sirs:
You apparently deny the very existence of the Missouri Valley Conference!
EDWARD J. KOENIG
Cincinnati

Sirs:
My eyes still ache from searching for something about Lenoir Rhyne College, Hickory, N.C., the NAIA's No. 1 team in the nation last year.
N. S. HAYDEN
Greenville, S.C.

Sirs:
I have come to the conclusion that you don't know a good football team when you see one.
DAN STEIN
Huntington Woods, Mich.

SIGNALS OVER
RE SAN JOSE STATE QUARTERBACK CHON GALLEGOS AND LISTED NINE INTERCEPTIONS IN 1959, WE BLUSH FOR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERROR. SHOULD HAVE BEEN ZERO INTERCEPTIONS. GALLEGOS GOOD PLAYER, FINE PASSER. PLEASE PRINT THIS CORRECTION OR I'LL BE HOMICIDE VICTIM AT HANDS OF GALLEGOS.
ART JOHNSON
ATHLETIC NEWS DIRECTOR
SAN JOSE STATE COLLEGE

•SPORTS ILLUSTRATED regrets compounding Art Johnson's misdemeanor into a felony, and we're happy to put him right with his quarterback.—ED.

FRONT SEAT
Sirs:
In Europe, gymnastics is not a "minor" sport but the major sport (EDITORIALS, Sept. 19). It is the original form of athletic competition in the world. This alone is evidence enough that gymnastics should not take a back seat in this country.
KIT BURTON
Altadena, Calif.

Sirs:
Let's give greater emphasis to gymnastics. It should be regarded as the foundation of practically all other sports. And it could be taught in all schools without any difficulty—and with infinitely more benefit than many of the subjects passing as education in the schools today.
ROBERT M. SNYDER
Clearwater, Fla.

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