- Publish date:
LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER
Twelve of the busiest and most distinguished men in America are named
Earl H. Blaik
W. L. Lyons Brown
Austin T. Cushman
E. Roland Harriman
Leland J. Haworth
Lee A. Iacocca
Mills B. Lane Jr.
David Packard
William W. Scranton
Gardiner Symonds
Henry Pitney Van Dusen
Leslie B. Worthington
Taken together, the companies, the commonwealths and the human and divine concerns that occupy these men's thoughts (see page 66) reach into every corner of U.S. life. It is a matter of pride to me, as the Publisher of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, that each of these men has found time in recent days to perform an assignment for this magazine: judging the candidates for this year's Silver Anniversary All-America.
Sports Illustrated enjoys as much as anybody the traditional All-America, popularized two generations ago by Walter Camp, that discovers and lauds each season's finest young college players. But it is part of this magazine's conception of purpose, also, to undertake something extra—to ask the question: How do young men who play the game of football distinguish themselves in later life? And in the course of the answer to discover and honor some summa cum laude Americans.
This year, for the eighth time, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED shared its question with the presidents of scores of U.S. colleges and universities. In reply from them came 71 letters of citation in behalf of 71 senior lettermen of 25 seasons ago—one to a college—describing in detail each man's subsequent career. Verbatim copies of these citations were fitted into red-bound volumes, 12 of them, weighing 3½ pounds each.
Then began the indispensable work of Colonel Blaik, Lyons Brown, Austin Cushman, Roland Harriman and their fellow judges: to ponder every citation and make up their minds from the evidence which men were the outstanding of the outstanding.
A far from easy matter. Our judges were not invited to be our judges because of their special knowledge of football, or necessarily because of their long memories of past football seasons. (Parenthetically, some of our judges can qualify on that basis. Colonel Blaik was a Walter Camp All-America discovery at the Military Academy before coaching for 25 years at Dartmouth and West Point. David Packard was a Stanford letterman before he started an electronics business and eventually, also, became president of his alma mater's board of trustees. Theologian Henry Pitney Van Dusen earned his prep school letter in football—and, as it happened, in cricket too.) But what we and you can confidently accept is that our judges are judges of achievement in the American environment of the past 25 years. That is what they were asked to be.
With their help, and with the pride I mentioned before, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED publishes on page 64—as just one of its matters of agreeable report this week—the names of the Silver Anniversary All-Americas of 1938-63.
This week's report is the first of two on the subject. In an early December issue we will return with opinions from this year's career All-Americas on the condition of college football today—and what might be done about it.
