30 Sept. 1951 PATROLLING THE Sports Highway WITH AL WARDEN Chicago Realtor Loses Casaba Wager Just a little over a month ago at a swanky Chicago club this corner, Rube Samuelson of the Pasadena Star-News, Charles Johnson of the Minneapolis Tribune and Charles Schooff ofk the Chicago Real Estate News were guests of a prominent Chicago Realtor, Leslie Price, at dinner. In the course of the conversation the Utah University- Illinois A. C. basketball game of 1916 at Chicago became the topic of discussion. Price said he was a spectator at the series and retold the break that gave Utah a last second vic¬tory and the National A. A. U. -crown. Price said the total score was below 20 for each team. This corner disagreed. A single dollar was wagered, this corner contending that Utah won 28 to 27. Saturday's mail bag brought a most interesting letter from Leslie Price, and of all things a brand-new one dollar bill. The dollar wager will be turned over to MrsClyde T. Greenwell, in charge of the Ogden division of the American Red Cross. Price's letter follows: "With head bowed, I am enclosing $1.00, being the bet I lost to you in connection with the famous basketball game score. I wrote the Chicago Tribune, Question Box, but they were unable to help me so I sent a letter to the Amateur Athletic Union and this morning I received a reply stating that the game in the 1916 A. A. U. basketball championship was contested at the Illinois Athletic club on March 15 and at the First Regiment Armory, March 16-17. Lester Price E. L. Romney "Utah university won the championship from Illinois A. C. 28 to 27. Thirteen teams were entered in the tourna¬ment. It is too bad I did not win because in Chicago we are having a Heart Drive and I would have deposited the $1 for you so please contribute this dollar to an Ogden charity. I don't mind losing the dollar but I was positive the score was less than 20 for each team. It shows in my old age my memory is beginning to slip. Unusual Sports Coincidence "It is coincidental but last Tuesday Leo Fischer of the Chicago Herald-American had an article regarding this very game. I am enclosing a copy of the manuscript written by Leo. I am also enclosing an article, a second one, which ap¬peared in yesterday's paper." Now to quote friend Leo Fischer: "Biggest upset sustained by the famous Illinois A. C. team was in the finals of the 1916 National A. A. U. cham¬pionship tournament played at the First Regiment Armory on West Madison street.' Those were the days when armories were still being used, for sports events. . . They lost a last second, one point decision to the University of Utah, coached by Nels Norgren, who had been one of the greatest all-time athletes at University of Chicago. Norgren returned to the Midway a few years later as basketball coach and assist¬ant to A. A. Stagg, and he's still out there doing a fine job in his same quiet way." Utah's Basketball Roster E. L, "Dick" Romney, new commissioner of the Skyline Eight, was one of the regular guards of the Utah champion¬ship team. Bill Goodrich, now a famous mining engineer, was the other first string guard. Happy Van Pelt was the center and the first string for¬wards were Rulon Clark and Clyde Packer. Clark is now a judge in Salt Lake and Packer is a retired athletic coach and farmer of Rexburg, Idaho. Van Pelt is a school execu¬tive in Southern California. Other members of the Utah team were: E. G. "Blondie" Thorum, Homer Warner, Clyde Dorton, Johnny Bracken and James S. Smith. Dick Romney relates the waning seconds of the title game as follows: "Clyde Packer wobbled over to guard one of the Illinois A. C. players. The I. A. C. performer threw the ball but Clyde batted it down, recovered, shot and as the gun went off the ball was in the air. The ball sailed through the hoop and Utah had won her first national basketball title, 28-27." "Everyone went wild," said Romney. "We had a lot of Mormon missionaries at the game and they gave us a lot of faith. One of the ladies in attendance jumped up and down with happiness. When informed the I. A. C. lost the game she fainted." First Attempted Court Fix The Illinois A. C. team had its first experience with an attempted "fixer" on a cross country tour in 1916, perhaps the first attempted fix in sports history ... at least in basketball history. They were approached before a game at Muscatine, Iowa, by one of the local sports, who offered them $1,000 if they'd lose the game . . . They gave him the bum's rush and vowed they'd show him. . . Leo Fischer reports that justice triumphed, but that they were beaten anyway that night. . . . Most of the I. A. C. games were played in the old I. A. C. gym. Bill Johnson, A1 Pressler, Bill Feeney, Jules Klawans, Bill Finn and Harry Frieling were members of that famous and colorful I. A. C. aggregation. Tid-Bits from the Sports World Calgary and Edmonton, Canada, want franchises in the Pioneer baseball league this corner learned from a reliable source Saturday. The Canadian cities are splendid baseball communities and draw splendid attendance. . . The problem here, how¬ever, is the travel headache. Regardless of what happens Calgary and Edmonton want to replace Pocatello and Twin Falls. Johnny Sarlo, business manager of the Ogden Reds, predicts that the lineup of team for 1952 in the Pioneer league will be the same as in the past. "Pocatello and Twin Falls will iron out their troubles and remain in the circuit," said Sarlo Saturday. Notre Dame's football coaching staff hails from seven different states. John Druze is from Newark, N. J., Joe McArdle from Lowell, Mass. Wally Ziemba, center coach, was born in nearby Hammond, Indiana, while Bill Earley comes from Parkersburg, W. Virginia. Bob McBride calls Logan, Ohio, his home. Bernie Crimmins is from Louisville, Ky., and head coach Frank Leahy from Winner, South Da¬kota. Feminine golfers of the Ogden golf and country club wind up play for the season Wednesday with the staging of the Reds vs. Blues tournament. More than 80 will compete.