1945: Sports | As they saw it

With the approach of war?s end, sports in 1945 showed signs of returning to normal activity, both in professional and amateur categories.

The lifting of wartime restrictions imposed upon many forms of sports and athletics and the resumption of competitive meets and national tournaments, coupled with the return of servicemen, formerly important in their respective fields, brought renewed public interest in all types of sports, games, and contests.

ARCHERY

Like most other sports, archery felt the impact of the war although a considerable amount of local competition was held. The National Archery Association did not hold an official championship tournament, but in order to maintain interest sponsored a national event in which scores were exchanged by mail. The men?s division for 1945 was won by W. J. Eberman of New Carlisle, Ohio, while the women?s went to Mrs. Verna G. Leaman, Bird-In-Hand, Pa.

In New York?s metropolitan area, the sport of target shooting thrived in various clubs, partly because many of the members had the Westchester County deer season in mind. Weekly tournaments were held in the County Center, White Plains, while there were less frequent ones in Van Cortlandt Park and elsewhere.

BADMINTON

Although badminton felt the war?s effect during 1945 as it had since 1942 to the extent of having no national championship tournament in this country, an American Naval officer, Lieut. ?Ozzie? H. Hilton of San Francisco, distinguished himself by becoming the French national champion. The tournament was held in Neuilly, France, and Hilton won three events ? singles, doubles and mixed doubles. In singles he lost only 31 points in five matches, 12 of them to another American, Col. Christiansen of New York.

Among the leading United States events was the annual eastern doubles and mixed doubles championship in New York. The women?s doubles were outstanding. Two former national champions, Mrs. Mary Whittemore Schlemm, Boyce, Va., and Miss Helen Gibson, Westport, Conn., turned back the Misses Patsy Roberts and Virginia White of Baltimore in the final, 15-4, 18-16. The men?s doubles went to Frank Williamson, Fleetwood, N. Y., and Frank Jasensky, Greenwich, Conn. Dave Freeman of Pasadena, Calif., national champion since the 1942 tournament, was entered but Uncle Sam had other plans for him.

Dick Casey of St. Louis won his third mid-west singles championship at Evanston, Ill. George Harman, Tulsa, Okla., won the Texas championship. Barney McCay won in singles, doubles and mixed doubles in the Pacific southwest tournament at Hollywood, Calif.

BASEBALL

Attendance.

In 1945, although organized, majors and minors alike, was able to put only sub-par nines on the field, the nation?s fandom set records which will be difficult to match in a world restored to peace.

Upwards of 11,000,000 fans attended the regular season games of the two major circuits as the American League set its all-time high and the National League turnstile count was its heaviest since the 1930 season. For the first time in the history of major league baseball three teams in one league ? Chicago, Brooklyn and New York, of the National ? each had total attendances topping the 1,000,000-fan mark. Both leagues, of course, topped 5,000,000.

This interest in baseball was reflected on down through the minors as well. Although only twelve leagues operated under the aegis of Judge William G. Bramham?s National Association office, a total of 10,000,000 fans saw minor league baseball. With the termination of the war numerous minor leagues were being revived and there is every prospect of 40-odd active circuits during 1946.

Fittingly, the World Series of 1945 ? an exciting seven-game duel between the Detroit Tigers, of the American League, and the Chicago Cubs ? broke all attendance and gate receipt records. By the time the sixth game had been played and the two teams were left in a 3-all knot, the series had been established as the richest of all time. The seventh game brought about the new crowd record. The total paid attendance was 333,457 and the gross receipts, including a fee paid for radio rights, zoomed to $1,592,454. The previous highs in these two classifications were the 328,051 at the 1926 Yankees-Cardinals series and the $1,322,328 paid by the fans who saw the 1940 Tigers-Reds seven-game set.

New Commissioner.

During the year a new leader for major league baseball was selected. The Commissioner?s office, made vacant by the death of Kenesaw Mountain Landis late in 1944, was filled on April 24 at a special meeting in Cleveland. Senator Albert Benjamin Chandler, Kentucky Democrat and that state?s former governor, was installed.

Managerial Changes.

The year 1945 saw numerous front-office and dugout changes. The New York Yankees, which grew to fabulous baseball strength during the lifetime of Colonel Jacob Ruppert, was sold to a syndicate headed by Colonel Larry Mac-Phail, Dan Topping and Del Webb. The presidency of the St. Louis Browns was turned over by Donald L. Barnes to Richard C. Buckerman. Harry Grabiner resigned as general manager of the Chicago White Sox and his tasks were assumed by Leslie M. O?Connor, retiring from the office of the commissioner. John Quinn, son of Bob, became the youngest general manager in the game when he took over the executive leadership of the Boston Braves. After watching his Tigers beat the Cubs the in the World Series, Jack Zeller, general manager of the Detroit Club, announced his retirement and the post was filled by George Trautman, President of the American Association.

There were, too, several managerial changes during 1945. The most electrifying of these was the Billy Southworth shift from the leadership of the St. Louis Cardinals, National League champions of 1942, ?43 and ?44 and world champions in two of those seasons, to Boston. He was the third Boston manager of the year, taking over after the season had closed and following Bob Coleman and Del Bissonette. Eddie Dyer, long a vital cog in the Cardinals? farm system, assumed Southworth?s duties at Sportsmans Park. Ben Chapman, one-time infielder-outfielder turned pitcher, replaced Freddie Fitzsimmons as manager midway through the Philadelphia Phillies? season.

The Pennant Races.

The pennant races in both leagues were exciting, down-to-the-wire battles. The Cubs clinched the National League flag on the next-to-last day of the season by taking the first half of a doubleheader from the Pirates, thereby eliminating the St. Louis Cardinals. The American League race had an even more dramatic ? and bizarre ? conclusion. The Washington Senators finished their schedule a full week ahead of the rest of the league. One game behind the Tigers, Ossie Bluege?s players waited the results of Detroit?s games, waited and trained at the Bainbridge Naval Training Station for a possible play-off or World Series play.

But they waited in vain as the Tigers won the pennant on the last day of the season in the first half of a doubleheader with the St. Louis Browns. And the championship was gained in a most dramatic fashion, a ninth-inning home run by Hank Greenberg returned serviceman, with the bases loaded and his club trailing by 2 run, being the decisive blow.

The National League race was featured by an amazing getaway by the New York Giants as Mel Ott?s men won 25 of their first 32 games and established a 6? game lead over their nearest rival on May 26. Thereafter the New York veterans faded and the Cubs, Cardinals, Dodgers and Pirates came on to challenge for the championship. The Pirates held the lead for a brief mid-June spell but were ousted by the Dodgers who led on July 4, the date when tradition says champions are crowned.

Tradition didn?t stand up this time, however, for the Cubs, sprinting through a highly successful Eastern trip, took first place away from the Dodgers on July 8 and led thereafter. At one time the Cubs held a 7?-game lead over the Cardinals but in the closing weeks of the race the Redbirds had whittled this down to a mere 1? lengths. A double defeat for the Cardinals, registered by the Pirates on Labor Day, was a disastrous blow from which St. Louis, seeking a fourth straight pennant, never fully recovered.

The purchase of Hank Borowy, a star pitcher of the New York Yankees, late in July proved a master stroke by the Cubs? management. Not only did Hank lead the National League pitchers in the earned run averages and the won-and-lost percentage column, but he was the only Cub pitcher who could beat the Cardinals in the stretch run to the pennant. He took three key games from them and lost only one to the challengers, a 1-to-0 defeat suffered as the result of a shortstop?s error.

Detroit led in the American League from June 12 to the clinching. Before that June date several clubs had held the top perch, Chicago, Detroit and New York. As in the National League where the Cardinals never were in first place, the American League?s chief threat to Detroit, the Senators, likewise never had first place in their possession. Washington made its bid early in July. Later that month it was any team?s pennant with five clubs bracketed within five games.

Late in August, Bob Feller, strikeout king of the prewar era, came back from service with the Navy-and defeated Detroit, once again helping the Senators to move almost to the Tigers? heels. After the Labor Day games Detroit, stubbornly refusing to give ground, had a two-game margin but the Nats cut that down to a half-game once again and finally the two teams met in a five-game series, beginning Sept. 15, with the pennant on the line. Detroit took a double-header, split the next day and lost the finale. Still, three victories in five games were enough to stall the Senators again.

World Series.

The Tigers ability to hang on in the American League was evidenced once again when they met the National League champions, the Cubs, in the World Series. Trailing, 2 games to 1, after they left their home lot, the Briggs Stadium, to play the final four games at Chicago?s Wrigley Field, Steve O?Neill?s Bengals were very much the underdog of the World Series. But they squared the series in the fourth game, went ahead in the fifth, fell back into a tie in the sixth and then won in the seventh.

The first game was a rout. Borowy hurled a six-hitter, the Cubs had a merry time at the expense of Hal Newhouser and scored four runs in the first inning and Chicago won easily, 9 to 0. A triple by Bill Nicholson, scoring two runs, was the big blow of that get-away gallop. In all the Cubs made thirteen hits in the game, including doubles by Don Johnson and Andy Pafko, Nicholson?s triple and a home run by Phil Cavarretta. They stole two bases and took extra bases as the Tiger outfielders chased their long drives. They were a running ball club, like the Cardinals of 1942.

In the second game, the first inning, fleet Stan Hack tried to score from second on a clean single to left and was thrown out at the plate by Hank Greenberg?s perfect peg. It was to prove a vital throw for it caused the Cubs to stop running thereafter. They became cautious. Many saw this as a decisive factor in the World Series. At any rate the Tigers, behind the fireball pitching of Virgil Trucks, just out of the Navy, won 4 to 1 and a home run by Greenberg, with two mates aboard was the blow which beat Chicago?s leading winner of 1945, Hank Wyse. The Tigers scored all their runs in the fifth.

The greatest pitching exhibition of all World Series play was presented by Claude Passeau, of the Cubs, in the third game. He missed no-hit, no-run fame only because of a clean single by Rudy York in the second inning. Only twenty-eight men came to bat against Passeau as he walked only one who was quickly made part of a double play. Only once before in series history had a one-hitter been pitched but in his effort of 1906 Ed Ruelbach, a Cub hurler of another era, had walked six men, hit another ? indeed, had not pitched a shutout, winning from the Hitless Wonder White Sox, 7 to 1. So Passeau?s game was by all odds the best ever pitched in a World Series and stifled the Tigers, 3 to 0.

But the Cubs could not take advantage of that triumph. Paul (Dizzy) Trout held them to five hits in the first Chicago game, beating them 4 to 1. Once again the victorious Tigers put across all their runs in a single frame ? four in the fourth ? against the venerable Ray Prim. So the series was tied once again and in the fifth game, with Hal Newhouser pitching and the Tigers routing Borowy via a four-run onslaught in the sixth, Detroit took a one-game lead on the wings of a 8-4 victory.

The sixth game must be recorded as the most nightmarish in series history. Detroit could have won the series in that game if Chuck Hostetler had not fallen as he rounded third with a certain run in the seventh. Nineteen men played for both sides that afternoon as pinch runners, pinch hitters and relief pitchers paraded on to the field. Finally Bill Schuster, a substitute runner, scored all the way from first base on a double by Stan Hack, a routine line drive which took an unforgettable hop over Greenberg?s head in left and rolled to the wall as Schuster scooted home with the run which won, 8 to 7, with two out in the 12th.

As unfortunate as that break was for the Tigers, they had a decisive stroke of fortune earlier in the contest. That was when Passeau, coasting along on a good lead, was struck on his pitching hand by a line drive off Jimmy Outlaw?s bat in the sixth. A nail was torn loose from one of Passeau?s fingers and, when other relief pitchers failed, Borowy had to be called to save the game for the Cubs. He hurled four innings.

When Borowy started the seventh game, therefore, it was his third pitching effort in four days. He wasn?t up to that Iron Man stunt. The Tigers drove him to cover in the first inning, Paul Derringer could not stop them and the Bengals won behind Newhouser, in a lopsided finale, 9 to 3.

Most Valuable Players Award.

Newhouser was rewarded for his great season?s work when he was named the most valuable player in his league by the Baseball Writers? Association of America. It was the second successive award to the slim southpaw and his is the only name thus far on a Kenesaw Mountain Landis Memorial award. In the National League, the honor fell to Chicago?s captain and first baseman, Phil Cavarretta, the circuit?s batting champion. The first Landis award (1944 season) in the National had been voted earlier in the year to Martin (Slats) Marion, ?Mr. Shortstop? of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Hall of Fame.

Ten more names were added to the Hall of Fame by the permanent committee which selected Jimmy Collins, considered by many the flashiest third baseman of all time; Dan Brouthers and Ed Delahanty, two of the game?s greatest sluggers; James (Orator) O?Rourke, Roger Bresnahan, Wilbert (Uncle Robbie) Robinson, Fred Clark, Hughie Jennings, Hugh Duffy, whose .438 average has never been topped in any season, and Mike (King) Kelly.

Minor Leagues.

In the minors only four of the pennant-winning clubs also won the Shaughnessy play-off series. These were Lancaster, of the Inter-State League; Danville, of the Carolina League; Kingsport, of the Appalachian, and Batavia of the Pony League. Louisville, of the American Association, and Newark, of the International, clashed in the Little World Series and the former was returned the winner, 4 games to 2.

Players return from service.

In the final weeks of the 1945 season, numerous stars of prewar baseball were being discharged from the services and returning to their clubs. Clubs which have been getting along as best they could on the skimpy player supply during the war faced the task of distributing their returning players and sifting out the less able wartime players. From scarcity to over-abundance ? that?s baseball?s reconversion problem.

BASKETBALL

From the point of view of attendance, excitement and fan interest the 1945 basketball campaign throughout the nation had no equal since Dr. James Naismith tossed a ball through a couple of old fruit baskets in the Springfield ?Y? gymnasium fifty-three years ago. In addition American G.I.?s and Navymen played the game in various types of gymnasiums and on make-shift courts in Allied combat areas all over the globe.

Despite the steady flow of students from the college campus to the armed services the calibre of play among the nation?s college teams was as high as prewar seasons. Freshmen were used in most cases and often players were seen in action on as many as two and three different teams during the season by reason of service re-assignments.

Veterans of World War II appear destined to play an important role in collegiate basketball circles during the postwar period. The start was made about the middle of last season and several of the top-flight quintets included ex-servicemen among their players.

Madison Square Garden in New York City once again saw record crowds in attendance at the 26 college double-header court programs with 442,243 or an average of 17,011 per game.

The Oklahoma A. & M. outfit carried off the Red Cross Game laurels with a thrilling 52 to 44 triumph over Chicago?s De Paul University.

The Aggies annexed the National Collegiate A.A. court crown at Madison Square Garden by winning from the New York University 49 to 45. Oklahoma A. & M. took the Western title at Kansas City before a big crowd and came out on top in that regional tourney with Utah, Oregon and Arkansas. N.Y.U. was the Eastern N.C.A.A. champion after taking the Atlantic-seaboard crown from Kentucky, Tufts and Ohio State.

In the National Invitation Tournament on the Garden court De Paul was the winner.

The United States Military Academy at West Point had one of the country?s stellar teams winning all but one of its fifteen games. The University of Pennsylvania quintet captured the Eastern Intercollegiate League championship and turned the tables on the crack Army five. The University of Iowa took seventeen out of eighteen games and the Western Conference (Big Ten) tile. The University of Oregon won the Northern Division of the Pacific Coast Conference.

Vince Hanson of Washington State won the 1945 national collegiate high scoring race with 592 points in 37 games. George Mikan of De Paul who tallied 53 points in one game for a Madison Square Garden court record, was second in individual scoring with 558 points in 24 games. Rhode Island?s Ernie Calverly and Fred Lewis of Eastern Kentucky were deadlocked for third honors with 549 points and Fritz Nagy of Akron was fifth with 547.

Outstanding stars among the college teams who rated various All-American and sectional top ranking were George Mikan, De Paul; Bon Kurlan, Oklahoma A & M; Arnold Ferrin, Utah; Arnold Risen, Ohio State; Dale Hall, Army; Bill Henry, Rice; Sid Tanenbaum, N.Y.U.; Ernest Calverly, Rhode Island; Vince Hanson, Washington State; Dick Ives, Iowa; Al Grenert, N.Y.U.; Howard Dallmar, U. of P.; Bill Hassett, Notre Dame; Wyndol Gray, Bowling Green; Hy Gotkin, St. John?s University; and Walton Krik, Illinois.

The Phillips Oilers of Bartlesville, Ok., won the National A.A.U. championship for the third successive year. Playing through the star A.A.U. tournament at Denver the Oilers downed Ambrose & Co. of Denver, 47 to 46.

A new tournament scoring record of 104 points was established by Gale Bishop of Fort Lewis, Washington. Bishop made the ten-man All American A.A.U. squad selected by writers along with Jim McNatt, Phillips; Frank Lubin, Hollywood; and Dick Smith, Wichita; Paul Lindemann, Phillips; Ace Gruenig, Denver; Gordon Carpenter, Phillips; Frank Fullmer, Idaho Simplots; George Hamburg, Denver. Harold Allen, Hollywood shotmaker, was named ?Most promising.?

The Vultee-Convac Bomberettes took first honors in the women?s national A.A.U. basketball event staged at St. Joseph, Mo. They were the defending champions.

BILLIARDS

Cross-country Match.

Championship billiard activity in 1945 was confined to a cross-country match in the three cushion phase of the sport between Welker Cochran of San Francisco, defending champion, and Willie Hoppe of White Plains, N.Y., four times former champion in the angle game.

The transcontinental match opened in New York City in March and ended in San Francisco late in May. Cities visited included Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, San Diego, Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., and Seattle. Cochran successfully defended his title defeating Hoppe, 4819 to 4771, rallying in their West Coast appearances to erase Hoppe?s substantial lead and pass the challenger in the last few blocks.

Although Cochran won the match, Hoppe won more blocks, taking 48 games to Cochran?s 42. Willie also averaged slightly better than Cochran, scoring 1.12 points an inning to Cochran?s 1.112. Two records were established for challenge match play, but, since a new type of game was played, there is little for a basis of comparison between the new marks and records established in match play under old rules.

On the tour, Willie and Welker played optional cue ball ? that is, the player coming to the table for his turn had a choice of cue balls. This style of play was inaugurated in the 1944 world?s tournament in New York, which Cochran won.

In Boston, Hoppe ran twenty consecutive points, the highest run ever compiled in championship competition. This run matches a mark of 20 Willie established in league play in 1927 (under the old rules) and is exceeded only by Hoppe?s exhibition high run of 25 made in 1928 and a practice run of 23 set by Cochran last year.

In the Chicago blocks, Cochran scored 60 points in twenty innings, an average of three points an inning ? one of the most remarkable billiard achievements of all time. Earlier in the match both players scored 60 points in 23 innings. The new mark of 60 points in 20 innings may be considered better, perhaps, than old game marks of 50 points in 16 innings, established by Otto Reiselt in league play in 1925, and the world?s tournament record of 50 points in 23 innings, jointly held by Johnny Layton and Jay Bozeman.

Pocket Billiards.

Pocket billiard stars were idle from a championship standpoint in 1945, the tournament, scheduled for New York in March, being cancelled after the government ruled against ?conventions.? Meanwhile, Champion Willie Mosconi, originally from Philadelphia, spent his time in Uncle Sam?s army.

Tournaments in three-cushion and pocket billiards, scheduled for the winter of 1945-46, had to be deferred since Billiard Association of America officials could not rent suitable sites for the tourneys ? hotels and other places refusing to tie up facilities over a 10-day period in view of booming ?regular business.?

Amateur Tournament.

While the professional tournament players remained idle during 1945, except for the Cochran-Hoppe match, amateur three-cushion players gathered in Minneapolis from December 3 through 13 for a national tournament. The meet, held at the Minneapolis Athletic Club, was won by Edward Lee, representing the New York Athletic Club. Lee won all his seven matches, had the best game of the tourney, 46 innings, and tied with two other players for high run honors, each getting an 8.

Stars Tour Military Camps and Hospitals.

During 1945, the Billard Association of American sponsored tours of billiard stars to military and naval bases and to service hospitals. Engaged in this work were Hoppe, Charles C. Peterson, world?s fancy shot champion, and former pocket billiard champions, Andrew Ponzi, Erwin Rudolph and Irving Crane.

BOWLING

American Bowling Congress.

Highlighting the bowling news of 1945 was the announcement that the American Bowling Congress tournament would be resumed in 1946. With the successful conclusion of World War II, machinery was immediately set into motion to prepare for the greatest of all tenpin classics, the annual World?s Bowling Championships of the ABC. Postponed in 1943, 1944 and 1945, in cooperation with the Office of Defense Transportation, the first postwar event was awarded to Buffalo, N.Y., where 40 lanes, installed especially for ABC competition, were laid at the 74th Regiment Armory. Dates for the tournament, billed as the world?s largest indoor sports event, were set at March 14 to May 13, 1946.

Women?s International Bowling Congress.

The nation?s feminine bowling contingent hailed the resumption of their national meet, sponsored by the Women?s International Bowling Congress, at Kansas City, Mo., in the spring of 1946. Their show, like that of the ABC, had been shelved for three years owing to the wartime emergency.

Match Game Competition.

In match game competition, the Stroh Bohemian Beer team, Detroit, again successfully defended its title by atomizing the opposition Heil Quality Products line-up of Milwaukee in a home-and-home match, outdistancing their rivals by a margin of 696 pins. Buddy Bomar and Bill Flesch, Chicago, relinquished the two-man match game crown to Bill Kanet and Wally Repenhagen of Detroit. In individual match game competition, Buddy Bomar bowed to Joe Wilman, Berwyn, Ill., the 40-year-old former GI, and captain of the Budweiser squad of Chicago, 1942 ABC titlists.

New Devices and Equipment.

The day of Victory in 1945 also meant the early manufacture and installation of new, accuracy-tested devices. Bowlers will soon enjoy conveniences such as an automatic infallible foul detector, improved score east, automatic score table, perfect pin spotting machines, new materials for pins and bowling balls, new alley finishes, full width alley resurfacing machines, new methods of treating bowling balls, acoustical treatment for establishments, improved lighting and decorations, and other advancements too numerous to mention.

BOXING

Boxing at Madison Square Garden.

Summer Boxing Carnivals.

Madison Square Garden attracted more than $2,000,000 in boxing last year, but had the lowest calibre of talent since the sport was revived in New York, under the Walker Law, in 1920. However, it had the greatest number of boxing shows forty-five. Despite the paucity of topnotch talent, boxing was conducted regularly in the famous arena throughout the summer, for the first time in its history. From the closing of the circus to Labor Day, a period ordinarily devoted to idleness, Promoter Michael Strauss Jacobs conducted fifteen boxing carnivals, not one of them at a loss.

Gate Receipts.

Three times the gate receipts in the arena exceeded $100,000. On a number of occasions, the receipts approached or exceeded $90,000. It was not considered unusual to see $16 established as the maximum admission charge (the normal maximum was $8). At the slightest indication of interest, the maximum rose to $12, although the boxing material on exhibition was ordinary run of the mine, and incapable in normal times of justifying an admission charge in excess of $3.

Champions and Challengers in Armed Forces.

All the championship talent was in the army, the navy or the coast guard. All the established challengers for titles were similarly occupied. Nobody seemed to care. Everybody seemed to have money to spend and boxing was just one of the media. Thus, there was the contradiction of a year of sparse talent in a year of amazing receipts for the nation?s largest boxing center.

Boxing in Other U. S. Cities.

Activity in other localities did not follow the pace. Boxing was conducted in such centers as Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit and in California, but on nothing approaching the grand scale that obtained in New York.

Championship Bouts.

The year held but two championship bouts, one of them for a universally-recognized title, but 1945 ended with promise of greater things to come. Joe Louis, world heavyweight champion, and his foremost challenger, Billy Conn, of Pittsburgh, former holder of the world light-heavyweight title, were discharged from army service and were signed for a title bout to be held in June, 1946. Mr. Jacobs will promote this bout.

In the bout involving the world featherweight championship, Willie Pep, of Hartford, Connecticut, retained his crown against Phil Terranova, of the Bronx, New York. This bout followed Pep?s discharge from the Navy, and preceded his induction into the Army. In the other championship bout, Ike Williams, Camden, New Jersey, knocked out in two rounds, Juan Zurita, of Mexico, to gain recognition as the National Boxing Association?s lightweight champion. Bob Montgomery, of Philadelphia, was recognized in New York State as world lightweight champion. His service duties prevented a defense of his title, as they did the titles of Joe Louis, heavyweight, Gus Lesnevich, light-heavyweight, Tony Zale, middleweight, Freddie Cochrane, welterweight, Manuel Ortiz, bantamweight, and Jackie Patterson, flyweight.

Outstanding Events of the Year.

Outstanding among the boxers of the year was Rocky Graziano, a middleweight from Brooklyn, who shared in two of the $100,000-gates, including the year?s largest; engaged in five bouts and won all by knockouts, and twice knocked out Cochrane, the world welterweight champion. Since the Cochrane bouts were at catchweights, the 147-pound title was not involved. In each bout, Cochrane was knocked out in the tenth round. Billy Arnold, the late Al Davis (killed resisting hold-up men in November), and Harold Green, were Graziano?s other victims. Graziano?s bout against Green, staged on September 28 in Madison Square Garden, attracted 18,592 persons, the year?s largest crowd, and receipts of $103,970, the year?s record. Graziano?s bout in August against Cochrane attracted 18,071 onlookers and receipts of $100,469. The other bout, which attracted in excess of $100,000, was a heavyweight meeting between Tami Mauriello and Lee Oma, held March 23 in Madison Square Garden. The receipts amounted to $101,918, paid by 18,291 spectators.

Amateur Tournaments.

Indian boxers from Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Amos Aitson, in the bantamweight division, and Virgil Franklin, in the featherweight class, were outstanding champions in the Amateur Athletic Union?s annual title tournament, held with customary success in Boston. Other titles went to New Orleans, Philadelphia, Chicago, Buffalo, Alexandria, Virginia, and Cleveland.

Intercollegiate Tournament.

The United States Coast Guard Academy boxing team carried off the Eastern Intercollegiate Boxing Association?s championship title in the annual tournament held at New London, in March, displacing West Point?s cadets as champions. An unusual feature of this tournament was the unprecedented experience of Peter Thistle, Coast Guard, who retained his bantamweight title without swinging a blow. He drew a bye in the semi-final round and in the final won by default.

CROSS COUNTRY RUNNING

In cross country running Tommy Quinn of the New York Athletic Club won the 49th annual senior National A.A.U. race over a treacherous ice and snow covered 10,000 meter course in Delaware Park, Buffalo, to win in 34:14. The Wingfoot outfit won the team title with a score of 19 points. The Buffalo Downtown Y.M.C.A. was runner-up with 36 points.

John T. Hanley of Dartmouth College won the 37th I.C.A.A.A.A. harrier race at Van Cortlandt Park. The U.S. Military Academy took the team title with a score of 34 points. Navy, the 1944 champion, was second; Rhode Island State, third; and New York University, fourth.

Drake University took the N.C.A.A. cross country team title for the second year running. Notre Dame was second. The meet was held at East Lansing, Michigan. Fred Feller, the defending champion, covered the four mile course in 21:14.2 to lead the seventy-two entrants. Hanley the Dartmouth College I.C.A.A.A.A. champion was second.

New York University won the 1945 Jr. Metropolitan A.A.U. and the 1945 Metropolitan Collegiate cross country titles. Alex Jordan, Violet captain, won both individual championships.

The N.Y.A.C. and Tommy Quinn were also the Metropolitan senior A.A.U. hill and dale champions.

CURLING

The ancient Scottish sport of curling was followed on a modest scale wherever ice permitted and bonspiels could be organized. Medal competitions rich in tradition were held with satisfactory competitive results. The outstanding event was held in Schenectady, N.Y., where the Caledonian Curling Club of New York defeated the Utica Curling Club No. 1 Rink for the Gordon Medal on Feb. 17, in a three-day session which saw last year?s winners, the Schenectady Curling Club, eliminated by the Caledonians in the semi-finals on the previous day. On Feb. 18, Utica?s No. 2 Rink came back to win the R. S. Emmet Memorial Curling Medal from the Caledonians. In a three-day bonspiel at Yonkers, N.Y., in January, the Toronto Curling Club won the Douglas Medal and Schenectady defeated Utica for the Griffith Medal.

CYCLING

Cycling retained its hold on the pedal-pushers, despite production handicaps, in a year which was notable for observance of the Silver Anniversary of the Amateur Bicycle League of America. The celebration revolved about the organization?s championships, held at Chicago?s Humboldt Park, Aug. 12-19, and witnessed by thousands. It was the occasion, too, for revival of an annual fixture which had been abandoned following Pearl Harbor. Ted Smith, Buffalo, N.Y., out-pedalled his rivals to win the men?s senior championship. Spencer Busch, Buffalo, N.Y., won the men?s junior title, and the girls? championship was captured by Miss Mildred Dietz, St. Louis, Mo. Professional cycling was at a standstill, but a movement was started late in the year for a revival of the sport which once merited major significance through the popularity of six-day races conducted in various parts of the country.

FENCING

National Tournament.

Women.

The third wartime national tournament, held in June, 1945, was featured by the victory of Miss Maria Cerra, long a leading contender, in the women?s foil championship ? the only event where the strength of the field has not been materially impaired by the war. Except for the redoubtable Helene Mayer, former world?s champion now residing in California, the entry list included all the top-notch women fencers of recent years. Mrs. Helena Mroczkowska Dow, former titleholder, was second, and Miss Madeline Dalton, last year?s winner, was third. The New York Fencers Club trio, led by Miss Cerra, won the women?s team event.

Men.

Lt. Norman C. Armitage, USNR, in capturing his 10th sabre crown, set a new record for U.S. national championship victories in a single weapon, far ahead of his perennial rival, Dr. John R. Huffman, whose participation in recent tournaments has been prevented by his wartime scientific activities, but still four short of the all-around record of 14 set by the veteran Leo Nunes. Armitage came from behind to defeat Dr. James H. Flynn in the deciding bout of the final round-robin. Dr. Tibor Nyillas, victor in 1944, finished third.

Dernell Every, of the New York Athletic Club, won his third title in the men?s foil event by nosing out Alfred Snyder, defending champion, and Warren A. Dow, winner in 1942 and 1943.

Max Gilman?s victory in the ?p?e championship, not defended by Miguel de Capriles, was unexpected because he had never before shown top-flight style in regional or national events. Nevertheless, he outscored Dr. Flynn, a medalist last year, and Fred Linkmeyer, the diminutive Pacific Coast champion who has earned several bronze medals in prewar national competition. Gilman thus became the third pupil of Chicago?s Alvar Hermanson since 1939 to capture the ?p?e title and to prevent a clean sweep of the men?s events by the fencers of the New York area.

Regional Championships.

In the Pacific Coast regional championships, Edward Carfagno retained his foil and sabre titles, while Linkmeyer won the ?p?e and Miss Janice York the women?s foil. Victors in the Mid-West region were Byron Krieger in foil and sabre, Ivan Gilbert in ?p?e, and Miss Paula Sweeney in women?s foil.

Intercollegiate.

As in 1944, no men?s intercollegiate championships were held. However, the U.S. Naval Academy team, undefeated in dual meets, was informally recognized as champion, with the U.S. Military Academy and Columbia next in order. The women?s team title went to Brooklyn College, with New York University second and Hunter College third. Individual winners were Miss Julie Kassell, first; Miss Mariette Pinchard, second; and Miss Sophronia Pierce, third.

During the war, the most serious casualties among former fencing champions were Lt. Dean Cetrulo and Col. Gustave M. Heiss, both of whom suffered severe injuries at the front. With the cessation of hostilities, plans were drafted for United States participation in the 1948 Olympic Games. However, a critical shortage of new Olympic material was noted by leaders in the Amateur Fencers League of America, who have scheduled a greatly increased program of competitions for the 1945-46 season in order to stimulate a speedy return to prewar standards of fencing in this country.

FISHING AND HUNTING

The one big fact in fishing and hunting during 1945 was that the year brought the end of war-imposed restrictions. Fishermen, among the first sports groups to feel the war?s blight, once more were allowed to roam off-shore, with big game fish rather than enemy submarines the deep-sea warriors encountered. Restrictions were lifted on coastal night fishing, too, while in some places freshwater anglers, who had been barred from city water-supply lakes and reservoirs, got their privileges back.

For hunters, the war?s conclusion meant the end of rationed ammunition and freedom to range farther afield in jalopies blessed with gasoline. It did not, however, bring much ammunition in time for the hunting seasons of the various states because of manufacturers? reconversion problems. New guns remained scarce and expensive, along with most fishing tackle right through the year.

Fishing.

The immediate result of the Coast Guard?s quick action in removing off-shore bans was the appearance in the news of a few world record fish and some which, while no record breakers, were outstanding.

Record Catches.

The records included an outstanding feat by a woman. In September, Mrs. R. B. Dean set a women?s 6-thread Pacific sailfish mark with one weighing 91 pounds, taken off Acapulco, Mexico. A 5-year, 15-thread amberjack record fell when H. Stein caught one weighing 74 pounds at Government Inlet, Fla. The biggest previous was 60? pounds.

George Van Wickle took a 44-pound barracuda on 9-thread line at Fowey Light, Fla., for a new standard in that tackle classification, while G. L. Green set a 6-thread dolphin record at Guaymas, Mexico, with one of 36 pounds, 13 ounces. J. F. Cicero?s 154-pound tarpon on 9-thread was a new world standard, also set in Mexico. Mrs. D. A. Newstead got a 69-pound cobia at Palm Beach on 24-thread, for a woman?s all-tackle mark. Carvel Bowen of Hollywood, Calif., claimed a 3-thread Pacific black marlin standard with a fish he brought to gaff in 1 hour, 21 minutes, off Acapulco. It weighed 135 pounds.

Noteworthy, too, was the achievement of Hans Hinrichs of Quoque, L.I., in taking one of the first and biggest broadbill swordfish off Long Island soon after the ban was off. A hard fish to take on rod and reel, Hinrichs? weighed 515 pounds, believed to be an Atlantic record but certainly not for the world. His was taken on 24-thread line.

Unusual Catches.

Other exceptional fish which didn?t break records included a striped bass and a bluefish. Bluefish have been scarce in the North Atlantic for several seasons, although scattered small ones were caught a year ago. In 1945, some that were really large also appeared, although in no great quantities. One of the biggest weighed 15 pounds, taken from Manasquan Inlet, N.J., by a 16-year-old Leland Froriep. Bernard Calitri of Wakefield, R.I., took one of the year?s biggest authenticated striped bass. It weighed 61 pounds and was caught on a plug from the surf at Charleston, R.I.

Tuna fishermen were active for the first time. The biggest were taken around Bailey Island, Me., although a brief flurry of excitement occurred off Brielle, N.J., when 13 weighing from 500 to 700 pounds were taken in commercial nets.

Hunting.

The hunters, handicapped though they were through a continued shotgun shell shortage, were out in greater numbers than during the war years. Some officials placed the hunting increase up to 50 per cent because of service discharges and other factors, although that seems high to the writer. It is probably true that more deer were taken than before, this supposition being based upon increased numbers of whitetails in most states.

Bow and Arrow.

Bow and arrow hunting for big game thrived, with many states setting aside special areas and seasons for this form of archery. The most noteworthy feat reported with the archaic weapon was by Fred Bear of Detroit, a leading exponent. Bear killed a 1,500-pound moose in the English River district of Canada with a single arrow at 32 yards. The arrow went out the far side, cutting a rib. The bull bounded three times before going down.

Bird shooting was mostly poor, with pheasants scarce almost everywhere and even below normal in South Dakota?s usually bounteous covers. Woodcock shooters in the northeast once more complained that the fall flights came too late for the Federally-regulated open seasons.

FOOTBALL

Collegiate Football.

In the last season of the war, football set new attendance records for both college and professional play and developed one of the great teams of all time in the intercollegiate ranks.

Army Top Team.

Once again, as in 1944, Army was the team of the year, and in Felix (Doc) Blanchard and Glenn Davis it had the most dreaded pair of backs fielded by any college eleven within memory. Blanchard was compared to Bronko Nagurski of Minnesota as a fullback of the ages and won the Heisman Trophy as the outstanding player of the year. Davis, acclaimed as the fastest ball carrier of 1945, was runner up to his team mate in the balloting.

Army again won nine games in a row as in 1944, to extend its streak of invincibility to eighteen games. Never before had it put two perfect seasons together. The West Point Cadets, coached by Colonel Earl Blaik, won by overwhelming margins from Notre Dame, Pennsylvania and Duke, beat Michigan by 28.7 and in the windup against Navy, their traditional rival, which stood unbeaten up to this game, ran up twenty points in the first quarter to triumph by 32-13.

With a powerful, veteran line averaging 200 pounds, and a skilled passer and quarterback in Arnold Tucker, along with its twin engines of destruction, Blanchard and Davis, Army was the terror of the college gridirons. Some ranked it the greatest team of all time and a match for the professional clubs. It had exceptional team speed, with a 220-pound tackle in Tex Coulter who is as fast as a back. It had complete mastery of the T formation, with its quick-opening plays and, above all, it had Blanchard and Davis, who scored all five touchdowns against Navy, six against Pennsylvania and ran amuck all season.

The Army-Navy game, climactic spectacle of football for many years, returned to its prewar setting in the Philadelphia Municipal Stadium for the first time since 1941. The huge enclosure was jammed to its capacity of over 100,000 spectators. With the country at peace, President Truman attended the game with his family, and many of the most famous war leaders of the Army and Navy and of Great Britain were present in probably the most distinguished gathering ever to witness a sporting event in the United States.

The game was a natural, for both teams stood unbeaten at the kick-off for the first time in the history of their rivalry and were ranked as the best two in the country. Tens of thousands of applications for seats had to be rejected.

Associated Press Poll Ratings.

In the Associated Press poll, Army was ranked by an overwhelming vote as the No. 1 team of the year. Navy was beaten out for second place by Alabama by the margin of one point in the final balloting. Navy had been tied by Notre Dame while Alabama went through with a perfect record, although it did not play as difficult a schedule. ?Bama won the championship of the Southeastern Conference.

Indiana was ranked fourth and won the Western Conference title for the first time in forty-six years. The Hoosiers had their first unbeaten season, though they were tied by Northwestern, and their success brought tears to the eyes of their coach, gray-haired Bo McMillin, quarterback on the Praying Colonels of Centre College in 1921. McMillin was honored as the coach of the year, ahead of Blaik of Army and Lou Little of Columbia.

Fifth in the ranking was Oklahoma A. & M., also unbeaten. Then followed Michigan, St. Mary?s of California, Pennsylvania, Notre Dame and Texas.

Regional Champions.

Texas won the Southwestern Conference crown. The Pacific Coast Conference honors went to Southern California. Missouri was champion of the Big Six and Denver of the Big Seven.

Pennsylvania was the top team in the Ivy group again and Yale beat Harvard and Princeton for the Big Three honors. Columbia had its best season in many years, losing only to Penn.

Bowl Games.

Alabama played Southern California in the Rose Bowl game at Pasadena on New Year?s Day. Alabama won, 34-14, marking the first time the Trojans have even been beaten in the Rose Bowl.

St. Mary?s, which beat Southern California and lost only to U.C.L.A., met Oklahoma A. & M. in the Sugar Bowl at New Orleans. The winner was Oklahoma, 33-13.

In the Cotton Bowl at Dallas, Texas defeated Missouri, 40-27. Holy Cross and Miami University of Florida met in the Orange Bowl at Miami, the victory going to Miami, 13-6.

Attendance records reached a new high in the Western and Southern Conferences and there was an estimated increase of thirty-five per cent for the country. Notre Dame, Michigan and Ohio State each attracted more than half a million spectators, and Pennsylvania drew 477,000, an all-time high.

Players and coaches returned to the campus in large numbers in 1945, but, with the heavy dependence upon freshman material and the changing personnel, particularly in mid-season, the football was not nearly up to normal standard except at Army, Navy and a few other colleges. Returning veterans who distinguished themselves included Pete Pihos of Indiana, Meryll Frost of Dartmouth, Stan Koslowski of Holy Cross, Bob Evans of Penn and Dick Fisher of Ohio State. Among the coaches to come back were Bernie Bierman of Minnesota, whose team lost its last five games; Dick Harlow of Harvard and Tuss McLaughry of Dartmouth.

Outstanding players, in addition to Blanchard and Davis, included Herman Wedemeyer of St. Mary?s, Bob Fenimore of Oklahoma A. & M., Harry Gilmer of Alabama, Tex Coulter of Army, Warren Amling of Ohio State, Dick Duden of Navy, Vaughn Mawcha of Alabama and George Savitsky of Penn.

The T-formation had a nation-wide vogue in 1945. Army, Navy and Notre Dame used it and most of the other teams employed either the T or a variation, some times in conjunction with the single wing.

All but a handful of the major colleges were back in competition in 1945. Those to remain out included Stanford, Santa Clara, Duquesne, Fordham and Georgetown. All of them expect to be back in the fold in 1946. Eight colleges in the ?Ivy? group of the East prepared for reconversion by adopting an agreement prohibiting athletic scholarships and imposing eligibility restrictions.

Professional Football.

Professional football enjoyed a highly profitable season despite the fact that many of the players were still in the service and the quality of the play was well below standard. The Cleveland Rams, with a new coach in Adam Walsh, won the title in the Western Division and the Washington Redskins came out on top in the Eastern section after the New York Giants had knocked the favored Philadelphia Eagles out of the race with a 28-21 upset victory, overcoming a 21-0 deficit.

National League Champion.

In the play-off for the championship of the National Football League, the Rams defeated the Redskins in Cleveland, 15-14 in freezing cold weather. The receipts were $164,542, a new record.

Steve Van Buren of the Eagles set a league record in scoring eighteen touchdowns. He was the high scorer and leading ground gainer of the season. Bob Waterfield, Ram back, was the outstanding rookie of the year.

GOLF

Golf, which was forsaken by its parent, the United States Golf Association, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, made great strides in 1945, thanks chiefly to the Professional Golfers? Association and one of its members, 34-year-old Byron Nelson.

Unlike the U. S. G. A. which called off its championship schedule at the beginning of the War, the pro organization, out of sheer necessity, kept its program running throughout the War Years, calling off its championship only once ? in 1942. It hooked up with the War effort, giving War Bonds in lieu of cash, assisted in promoting the sale of the various bond issues and, by the end of 1945, could proudly point to its record of having been instrumental in raising $610,000 for various war agencies.

Buoyed by the success it had in 1944, when huge galleries trailed the top-notch players wherever they went, the P. G. A. went all out in 1945 when its tournament bureau, presided over by Fred Corcoran, arranged the biggest tournament schedule in its history ? forty-two all told, including its championship, with prize money reaching the astounding total of more than $5,000,000.

Chief beneficiary of this ?spree? was Nelson who, taking up where he had left off the year before when he led the nation?s golfers with $45,000 in winnings, became the biggest winner in the history of the game. Competing in thirty-one of the tournaments, he won nineteen of them, eleven in a row ? longest string ever compiled ? one of them being the P. G. A. championship, and at the end of the year had $64,600 in War Bonds to show for his efforts, a new high for play-for-pay golfers.

So outstanding was his game, that the closest to him at the year?s end was Harold (Jug) McSpaden with $33,000, chiefly resulting from thirteen seconds (he failed to win a single tournament). Sam Snead, who was in the service until late in 1944, had six triumphs to his credit and Ben Hogan, released from the Air Force during the year, won five events.

Nelson?s triumph in the P. G. A. was the second of his career and his average scoring mark for the year was 68.33. In the course of his sensational winning streak, he also annexed the Canadian Open and took first money ($10,000) in the All-American Open at the Tam O?Shanter Club in Chicago, with a score of 269.

In the Seattle open, Nelson established a new world scoring record for a P. G. A. sponsored 72-hole event by registering rounds of 62,68,63,66 for a total of 259, beating par by twenty-one strokes.

A short while before Nelson performed this feat, Hogan had won the Portland tournament with a score of 261, his rounds of 65,69,63,64 leaving him twenty-seven under par for the event.

An unusual honor came to Nelson when he was voted the No. 1 athlete of the year in the annual Associated Press poll, a distinction that was also accorded him in 1944.

During the year the P. G. A., through its own activities and those of its sectional bodies, turned $250,000 over to the Rehabilitation Fund it had established in 1944.

This worthy project, the idea of Leo Diegel, former P. G. A. champion and one of the first home-breds to dispute the sway of foreign-born pros in early championship days, was aimed to assist in the rehabilitation of sick and wounded servicemen by supplying playing facilities at various veterans? hospitals throughout the country.

The quarter million dollars raised during the year made it possible to construct nine-hole and miniature courses, putting greens, driving ranges and other golf facilities at some twenty-five hospitals. First of these to be built was a 9-hole course at the Valley Forge Hospital, opened June 8 at a cost of $30,000 raised by the Philadelphia section of the P. G. A.

The proceeds of the 1945 P. G. A. championship, $51,606 in all, were turned over to the military authorities at Wright Field, Dayton, O., for use in providing golf facilities and equipment there.

Now that the war is over, golf will be back in full sway in 1946 and already plans have been laid for one of the biggest seasons on record. The P. G. A. has set the pace with a schedule calling for forty-five tournaments, with prize-money amounting to $600,000 waiting for distribution. The U. S. G. A. will restore its tournament schedule as will the Western Golf Association and all other major and minor golf bodies.

GYMNASTICS

The slender margin of half a point separated the gymnasts of Penn State College and the Hudson County Swiss Gymnastic Association in a struggle for the Amateur Athletic Union?s national team title, perhaps the keenest test this annual fixture has ever provided. Penn State won the title with 60? points in the championship tournament held at Jersey City, N.J., in May. The Hudson County gymnasts had 60 points. Overshadowing this struggle, however, was the performance of Frank Cumiskey of the Hudson County group, who won the all-around championship for men, taking four individual titles on the road to this distinction. A thirty-three-year-old postal clerk who was a member of the 1936 Olympic Team which competed at Berlin, Cumiskey won the long horse, side horse, horizontal bar, and parallel bars. A feature of the tournament was the victory of Stephen Greene, Penn State student, in the rope climb, a specialty at which this athlete, paralyzed in his legs since he was eighteen months old, holds the world record of 4 seconds for a 20-foot pull. His time was 4.4 seconds. Miss Clara Schroth, twenty-four-year-old Philadelphia stenographer, scored an upset when she won the women?s all-around championship. Representing the Philadelphia Turn Verein, Miss Schroth won the balance beam and the free calisthenics, retaining titles in each; tied for the title in the side horse, was third in the parallel bars and tied for third in the flying rings.

HANDBALL

The rivalry that existed between Seaman Joseph Platek, Chicago, and Frank Coyle, New York, in Amateur Athletic Union handball competition through 1944, came to the front again in 1945, when these two clashed in the finals for the national four-wall court championship title. Platek was returned the victor, reversing the 1944 order, when Coyle ended the eight years? reign of Platek as champion. In the annual tournament conducted at Chicago, Platek proved too strong for his rival and won the title in straight games, the first by 21-19 and the second, 21-8. Sam Atcheson and Ed Dettweiler, Memphis, Tenn., won the doubles title. As a means of beneficial exercise, the sport continued popular wherever courts were provided.

HOCKEY, FIELD

National Tournament.

Women?s field hockey was able to put on a national championship late in 1945 for the first time since 1941, the tournament being held at Bryn Mawr College. The all-Philadelphia first team emerged as the champion, winning its matches, 7-0, 1-0 and 5-2. Philadelphia also claimed the runner-up berth, taken by the team designated as the reserves.

Teams entered included West Jersey, Stuyvesant of New York, North Jersey, New York, Long Island, Philadelphia all-College, Virginia, Tri-State, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

Northeast Tournament.

In another important tournament, the northeast round-robin at Boston, the Boston Field Hockey Association team was the winner. Miss Virginia Crook of Sargent School provided the Hub score that beat Stuyvesant, 1-0, in the final match.

HOCKEY, ICE

Ice hockey was the first of the major league sports to return to the prewar standard of competition in 1945. Most of the skaters who saw service with the Canadian and American forces were discharged in time to start the regular season of the National Hockey League, and as the campaign wore on all of the six teams in the circuit had their established stars of three and four years ago back in uniform.

This circumstance made for an appreciable improvement in the brand of play, and the games were considerably closer and more interesting than they had been for some time. Although attendance, through the years of conflict, held up amazingly well, the turnouts during the present campaign threaten to establish an all-time high.

The Stanley Cup, symbolic of the championship of the world, was won by the Toronto Maple Leafs in April 1945, after the regular National League season had run its course. The Canadiens of Montreal, winners of the Cup the previous year, finished in first place in the regular race, with a record of 38 victories, as against only 8 defeats and 4 ties in 50 games.

Detroit?s Red Wings finished second, Toronto third, the Boston Bruins fourth, the Chicago Black Hawks fifth and the New York Rangers last. Under the play-off system followed by the League the first five teams were eligible to participate in the post-season competition for the Stanley Cup.

The Canadiens and the Maple Leafs survived the early rounds of the playoffs, and clashed in a series decided on the basis of best four out of seven games. Favored as they were to score over their rivals from their own country the Canadiens were the victims of an upset which saw Toronto prevail, four games to two.

Long a sport without an outstanding individual performer, hockey brought to light a scoring sensation in the person of Maurice Richard of the Canadiens. Richard broke a record of long standing when he notched an even 50 goals through the season. The previous mark was made in 1918 by Joe Malone, also of the Canadiens, who tallied 44 times in a 22-game schedule.

Elmer Lach of the Canadiens led the league in the matter of total points, making 26 goals and 54 assists, an accomplishment that was also a record. Richard was second with 73 and Toe Blake of the same team was third with 67. The total number of points amassed by these three, who played together as a line, amounted to 220, and constituted another record.

Lach?s fine work was recognized by the sports writers who named him the player most valuable to his team, for which citation he received the Dr. David A. Hart Memorial Trophy. The Georges Vezina Memorial Trophy, named in honor of one of the best goal guardians of all time, was awarded to Bill Durnan, also of the Canadiens.

The Frank Calder Cup, presented each year to the season?s best ?rookie,? went to Frank McCool, Toronto?s goaltender, while the Lady Byng Trophy, awarded annually to the player voted the ?most gentlemanly in combination with effectiveness,? was won by Bill Mosienko of the Black Hawks.

For the first time since it was put into competition in 1908 the Allan Cup, symbolic of the amateur hockey supremacy of Canada, was not set up as a prize. Because of the war the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association decided to cancel the playoffs. In the United States the national amateur crown was won by the Seattle Ironmen who defeated the Boston Olympics in the finals.

Many minor leagues discontinued their activities, also because of the war. The American Hockey League, though, played a full season and its championship was won by the Cleveland Barons.

HORSE RACING

Running Races.

Betting.

The story of racing in 1945 divides itself into two distinct parts ? one dealing with the financial aspects of the sport; the other with the animal and human side.

Of the two the first is by far the more intriguing for never in the history of the so-called sport of kings were so many new records hung

Source: http://astheysawit.com/2562-1945-sports.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=1945-sports

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