19TH HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVER

ONLY IN THE ACC
Sir:
Congratulations on a fabulous article on the ACC tournament (Run Down by a Ford, March 17). Those of us who are Carolina fans have been waiting for three years for a story like this. Barry McDermott should be given a life membership in the ACC Tournament Cardiac Arrest Ward.

After reading wire-service accounts of the final game I was glad to find the whole story in your magazine. The papers told about the inability of Superman (alias David Thompson of North Carolina State) to play 100% in the finals. While it is true that he played below par, we Carolina fans would like to think it was Walter Davis' defense that did the job.

And speaking of injuries, let it be known that Mitch Kupchak played the entire tournament and most of the last half of the regular season with a sore back. Ed Stahl, the sixth man, had a foot so sore that he was not even expected to play in the first two games of the tournament. And when you hear that Thompson was exhausted, you tend to wonder what Phil Ford was. After all, Ford handled the ball for almost all of the last halves of the final two games, and time after time went to the free-throw line and hit pressure foul shot after pressure foul shot. I think it can be said that, for a freshman, Phil Ford did a pretty good job.
DAVID POOLE
Gastonia, N.C.

Sir:
Some of college basketball's finest players have butted heads in the ACC tournament—Charlie Scott, John Roche, Bob McAdoo, Tom McMillen—but the greatest of all is the man out of the foothills of Shelby, N.C, David Thompson. He is the kind of player who generates excitement even in warmup drills. No one could forget his seemingly effortless style—soaring above the basket, cradling a pass from one of his teammates and dropping the ball gently through the hoop. Your article quoted David as saying, "It's an empty feeling to go out a loser." He should be reassured that no one considers him to be anything but a winner.
WARREN K. ANDERSON JR.
Gainesville, Fla.

Sir:
Mo Rivers' comment about how fired up other teams have been against the Wolfpack this year and the fact that N.C. State did not make the NCAA tournament point up one thing: UCLA's accomplishment of the last decade is one of those rare sporting feats that become more incredible with the passage of time.
LEIF JOHNSON
Garden Grove, Calif.

MID-AMERICANS
Sir:
In regard to the article Atop the Pack in the MAC (March 17), we feel that Dan Levin has a lot of gall to suggest that Central Michigan University should dedicate its Mid-American Conference title to Bowling Green's Jeff Montgomery.

Do you realize that you mentioned Montgomery more than 20 times in an article about Central Michigan without giving fair recognition to Central's Dan Roundfield? Roundfield happens to be in the company of Wayne Embry and Nate Thurmond in that he has 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 points and is only the fourth person in the MAC to have done so.

You also barely mentioned other outstanding CMU cagers such as James McElroy, twice MAC Player of the Week, who is at least as talented as Montgomery, and Russ Davis, who missed practice the week before the game as a result of the flu, yet still managed some exceptional play.
JON ERICKSON
STEVE HOWARD
BOB HOBOHN
ALLAN M. SCHULTZ
Mt. Pleasant, Mich.

Sir:
What about the fact that three of the top eight scorers in the MAC (Jim Helmink, Jim McElroy and Danny Roundfield) play for Central Michigan? What about the 140-odd assists this season for Jim McElroy? What about the countless blocked shots by Danny Roundfield?

Dedicate the MAC crown to Jeff Montgomery? I'd like to dedicate it to hard work, good basketball and the Central Michigan University basketball team. Congratulations, CMU.
KEITH PETERSON
Kalkaska, Mich.

Sir:
Thanks for the recognition of MAC basketball and especially Bowling Green. Your description of Montgomery was especially amusing and long-awaited.
WARD COFFMAN
Bowling Green, Ohio

SEA POWER
Sir:
As a regular reader of your magazine, I was very much impressed with Carleton Mitchell's article Float Like a Butterfly (March 10). It presents an exciting picture of ocean racing, which too few of us are able to experience.
ROBERT D. WHITFORD
Ada, Ohio

Sir:
Regarding Carleton Mitchell's article on the Southern Ocean Racing Conference, both Stinger and Inflation were built in the last six months by our company. Both boats were designed by Doug Peterson. It has been a while since the same yard and the same designer have designed and built the first-and second-place finishers. This is quite an accomplishment.
WILLIAM R. MUNSTER
Representative
Eichenlaub Yachts, Inc.
San Diego

AWESOME AUSSIES
Sir:
Thank you for two good articles on the Australians and World Cup tennis. Arthur Ashe (A Shout for Those Aussies, March 10) showed that he is a gentleman and that he has a great affection for the Aussies. They returned the favor in Hartford by beating Arthur twice in cup play (Another Aussie Blowout, March 17).

Having run in Trinity College-Amherst cross-country meets many years ago, I think Hartford must have been blasé. I don't recall the fans trembling with excitement as Joe Jares suggests. After all these years it is nice to know that we were appreciated.
BOB ELRICK
Trinity '42
Wethersfield, Conn.

Sir:
The Arthur Ashe article gave us an insight into the beautiful Aussie tennis fanaticism that has raised the level of world tennis for so many years.
GENE A. GERBER, D.D.S.
Annapolis, Md.

PRODUCTS OF MOUNT VERNON
Sir:
Some weeks ago you had a SCORECARD item ("Their Town," Jan. 20) about three college basketball players who played on the same 1971 East Chicago, Ind. high school team. Four players on the 1971 Mount Vernon (N.Y.) High School team started for major college teams that all went to postseason tournaments in 1974. One of them, Gus Williams of USC, has been named one of the 10 best U.S. players. Rudy Hackett of Syracuse will certainly be a high draft choice and Earl Tatum, a junior at Marquette, has played a major role in the Warriors' success. The fourth Mount Vernon starter, Mike Young, has been a steady performer for Manhattan College.

In the annals of high school basketball there have been several exceptional teams that have had two players who went on to highly acclaimed college careers. But rarely have four players from the same high school team ever starred as collegians.
MAL GISSEN
Richland Center, Wis.

BEWARE THE COLD (CONT.)
Sir:
I hope that the pertinent article on hypothermia (Growing Weak by Degrees, March 10) drew the attention of many outdoor life devotees. A word of caution, however, regarding the suggested treatment of external rewarming in hot water. In the physiological adjustment to a cold environment the circulatory changes include constriction of blood vessels near the body surface to preserve core body heat vital to heart function at the progressive expense of the skin and the extremities. If the victim of hypothermia is submerged in hot water, the skin capillaries quickly reopen, allowing blood to flow back to the cooled outer parts of the body. The immediate result is a substantial loss of heat from the blood pool to the tissues. Upon return to the heart the blood, if cooled to a critical point, may trigger fibrillation and sudden death. This potential danger can be averted by a very gradual external warmup starting with water of below-normal body temperature, preferably under competent medical supervision.
JAN DAHLIN, M.D.
Stockholm

Sir:
I was fascinated by the article as I was in a disaster where the water temperature was the same as it was at the sinking of the Greek liner Lakonia, 65°. The article gave very good advice: if you have to go into the water, keep your clothes on.

I was aboard the escort carrier U.S.S. Bismarck Sea, CVE 95, when we took two Kamikaze hits at Iwo Jima. The ship blew away aft of the forward elevator, taking most of our life rafts, so we found ourselves in the water, at night, with nothing but life belts and a handful of small rafts from the airplanes. I had been a runner and was in good shape, but in spite of the fact that I was wearing a T shirt, a khaki shirt, a sweat shirt and a fur-lined jacket, after three hours I had about had it. Sixty-five degrees doesn't sound very cold, but after that amount of time we were nearly frozen. Anybody who had taken off his clothes was long gone.

Hypothermia explains why we lost so many good athletes, such as my boss, Lieut. Commander Mack Tharpe, the assistant air officer who had been line coach at Georgia Tech.

I still have my jacket, flight-deck shoes and life belt in my closet and am thankful I had been to a good Navy survival course. For those of us who got through that mess, the rest of life has been a lovely bonus.
WARD H. PATTON JR.
Publisher
Mobile Living
Sarasota, Fla.

Sir:
Your article left out the most important caveat. If stranded in freezing weather, never drink cold water or melt snow in your mouth to obtain water.

I forget the exact formula, but the energy used to melt the snow rapidly contributes to the lowering of the body temperature. A short time ago in Oregon a couple and their young baby were stranded in the snow in the forest service region a short distance from Portland. The mother melted snow in her mouth and drank the cold water so that she could continue to nurse the baby. As a result she was dead by the time rescuers arrived. The husband and the baby, however, had not melted snow in their mouths and survived.
THOMAS F. LEVAK
Portland, Ore.

IN CHARLIE'S CORNER
Sir:
It is quite true that Charlie Goldman was very proud of Rocky Marciano, but that was not, as Mark Kram stated (The One-Minute Angels, Feb. 17), "all he had left" at the time of his death. There was a very marvelous part of Charlie Goldman that not everybody was cognizant of. Charlie was a family man. True, he never did marry, but he gave and received love from his sister and her spouse, his brother and his spouse, his nieces and nephews and numerous grandnieces and grandnephews.

It can be said of Charlie Goldman, "Greater love hath no trainer." It can also be said, greater love hath no relative.
CYNTHIA GOLDMAN BAUM
Clayton, Mo.

TOSS-UP
Sir:
Finally, Frisbee is getting long overdue recognition as a demanding sport ("They Are My Life and My Wife", Feb. 24). I have been a devotee since my mother found one of the disks on a clearance table at Wool-worth's nearly 20 years ago.

Although I was fascinated by the entire article on John Kirkland and Victor Malafronte, I must question your classifying them as the first professional players. In 1964 I demonstrated Frisbees 72 hours a week at the New York World's Fair with a family from California. We had tremendous audiences in The Better Living Center and one day sold more than 1,200 Frisbees. In 1965 I managed a group of college students doing the same thing. Many people called our act the best at the fair. I also believe that Picaso of Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey Circus should be considered a professional player. I have never seen anyone better.

Speaking of records, I wonder if anyone has surpassed my 105 consecutive finger catches?
DAVID J. COWEN
Associate Professor of Geography
University of South Carolina
Columbia, S.C.

Sir:
I feel obligated to point out that you failed to mention the most popular version of the game, Ultimate Frisbee, which is played at nearly 40 major colleges (mostly in the East) and is growing at an unbelievable rate. Ultimate Frisbee is a field sport played by two teams of seven men and /or women. It combines aspects of hockey, soccer and football. A goal is scored by completing a pass into the offensive end zone, a player cannot run with the Frisbee and turnovers occur whenever there is an incomplete pass.
IRV KALB
Captain
Rutgers Frisbee Team
New Brunswick, N.J.

Sir:
I have never in my life been so insulted by one article. The word sport has been abused. I play football, baseball and basketball in high school. My buddies and I work hard from August till June playing real sports. We thought we were accomplishing something. But when we are put in the same category as Frisbee players, I get nauseated.

People who can't succeed in real sports have to resort to the easiest, least physically draining joke they can find and try to pass it off as a sport. If Frisbee throwing is going to be considered a sport, then why not include skimming stones across a lake? Or make banana peeling a sport? Thank you for insulting my intelligence.
PAT O'MALLEY
Pittsburgh

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