19TH HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVER
FOOTPRINTS ON THE SANDS
Sirs:
Congratulations on the full-page shot of Oakmont's 5th hole in your U.S. Open preview (June 11).
I have framed it.
WILLIAM HEPTIG
New York City
Sirs:
Your cover on the Oakmont Ogre must have given nightmares to most of the golfers of the country. Even the footprints in the sand make you shudder (see right).
The player entering at the lower left apparently has already shot but blithely walks across to the far side to get out. The one from the center bottom angles to his ball and then meanders across future lines of flight to the exit most convenient to the green. The other unfortunate entering at the bottom did not take the shortest way out, but at least he left a few less tracks.
Joe Duffer, who entered at the right, close to his ball, took too much sand, walked straight to his second chance and then out the nearest way. The magician who hit from the center apparently got, out at the first scalable level, but how did he get in? If he landed by helicopter why didn't he leave the same way?
How many following players who joined these clowns at the 19th hole later cursed their luck at having had to play a bad lie left by walkers who had added to the nightmare?
GLENN GULLERY
New York City
MORE BRUSHES WITH PEPSODENT
Sirs:
I should have liked to forget the Paul Dietzel affair altogether, but I realized that sooner or later truth would out (Pepsodent Paul at the Point, May 28; 19TH HOLE, June 11, 18). As a member of the Board of Supervisors (Regents) of Louisiana State University for the past 22 years, I want now to dispel once and for all the idea that we wanted to keep Dietzel as a coach at LSU. As an object lesson, I was in favor of paying him off for the remainder of his contract and not allowing him to come on the field. I was opposed to retaining him under any circumstances.
What I objected to was the cavalier manner in which he and West Point treated LSU. His untruths and half-truths are showing up, and I predict that West Point will find that expediency, in an all-out effort to beat Navy, is a rather poor policy. Nobody "trapped" Dietzel into making his famous statement about never leaving LSU. He admitted that he was in touch with West Point even before he made this statement.
Mr. Dietzel's recent brush with two very fine coaches, Messrs. Marvin Bass and Frank Howard, over causing some young men to jump their letters of intent, shows that the great Paul has little regard for the sanctity of agreement or the influence such action would have on the boy himself. He says he acted within the law, but that is beside the point. His published statement that athletics at the Point are supported by gate receipts I believe an investigation will prove to be untrue. It is absolutely true at LSU. Furthermore, I believe there is a fine group of officers at the Point who want to win, but who do not approve of winning at any price. I believe that Dietzel will collide head-on with this group sooner or later. More power to them!
TOM W. DUTTON
New Orleans
Sirs:
I was disturbed by your article concerning Paul Dietzel and Army football because it again brought to light the emphasis put on football at West Point, which is a government-supported school whose primary purpose is to train officers.
What has prompted this letter are charges made by Marvin Bass of South Carolina and Frank Howard of Clemson of unfair recruiting tactics employed by Dietzel in South Carolina. You can be sure that he wasn't looking for candidates for OCS.
Army officials must temper the extreme emphasis now put on football.
DAVID M. EPSTEIN
Drexel Hill, Pa.
BIG BAD BO
Sirs:
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED certainly deserves the Onion of the Year award for that garbage recently printed about Bo Belinsky (SCORECARD, June 11). As if most teenagers aren't difficult enough now, you idiots have to give acclaim to a big-mouthed child who never grew up. He acts like a busher, and time will prove that he is.
ARTHUR A. KAPLOW
East Orange, N.J.
Sirs:
I agree with you. Bo Belinsky is a refreshing individual who isn't afraid of doing what he wants and saying what he thinks.
CARROLL H. COOK
Pittsburgh
Sirs:
Your condescending slap at The Spoiling News for its criticism of Bo Belinsky indicates a total lack of understanding on your part of what makes baseball so popular with the fans. Believe it or not, there are still many people in this fine land who believe in the glamour and tradition of major league baseball. These are the fans who make baseball the big commercial money-maker that it continues to be. So you must see that Belinsky has an obligation to the sport and to its fans to uphold the traditions of a game which can bring him untold rewards that he might realize nowhere else.
ABBOT M. FRIEDLAND
New York City
Sirs:
It seems to me that those "good gray editorial writers" of The Spoiling Mews are more qualified and more efficient at reporting facts that the fans want to read than your complete unknowns who probably lack gray hair.
Colorful ballplayers, in my estimation, are those who have perfected themselves in every phase of the game and can hit, field and run spectacularly. So where does Bo Belinsky fit in? He's a rookie with six victories out of eight decisions, admittedly an enviable record, but how about waiting until the end of the season before you go overboard on him?
CRAIG C. GARNER
Media, Pa.
Sirs:
Hurrah for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED! It is about time someone took a stand for the few colorful players still in baseball. Belinsky has shown himself to be a fine hurler, as well as a personality.
ALLEN POTTER
Arcadia, Calif.
TWO FOR TWO
Sirs:
Now I've seen everything. At this writing, the Minnesota Twins happen to be on top of the American League, but your obstinately eastern baseball writer, Herman Weiskopf, devoted exactly two lines to Minnesota (BASEBALL'S WEEK, June 11).
AL FOSTER
Duluth, Minn.
Sirs:
Congratulations on the thorough, literate coverage you gave to the return to New York of the Los Angeles (nee Brooklyn) Dodgers and the San Francisco (nee New York) Giants three weeks ago. Whereas many lesser magazines would have sent a covey of reporters and photographers to the Polo Grounds to cover the excitement, the color, the "World Series" atmosphere, even, perhaps, the baseball, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED wisely devoted only two lines to the event. I suggest a special prize for your editorial staff: a supply of subway tokens and directions on how to reach the Polo Grounds.
PIERRE A. LEHMULLFR
The Bronx, N.Y.
ON ACIDOSIS
Sirs:
Mr. Ward Rosen says in your 19TH HOLE (June 11) that he wants to regurgitate when he sees pictures of boxers on the cover of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. His chief beef is that heavyweight title fights are not beamed into his home free of charge.
Mr. Rosen may be interested to know I for one want to regurgitate when I read complaints like his. This viewpoint is one reason home-front spectator sports like high school football and basketball in some areas, and minor league baseball in general, are fading from the sports scene.
I, like Mr. Rosen, cannot afford to pay $100 to see Floyd Patterson box in the flesh. But I can hie to the nearest theater carrying the telecast and get a big kick out of watching for $3 or thereabouts.
And as for all that money the fighters are making—well, when SPORTS ILLUSTRATED publishes those beautiful pictorial layouts of lavish hunting estates, millionaire sportsmen sailing their yachts, etc.,—I feel a touch of envy but certainly no desire whatever to regurgitate.
FRANK HYDE
Jamestown, N.Y.
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