The Aquinas 1967-09-20

              by
ALAN MAZZEI
In The Maze
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Page 11
For the past six years, the University of Scranton's participation in majorsport
athletic competition has occurred exclusively on the basketball court.
Without football in the fall and squash in the spring, our sports program has
lived and died with basketball.
The living has not been easy. In the first five seasons of this decade, our
basketball teams performed to the larghetto tempo of 54 wins and 70 defeats.
That ruth season proved particularly disheartening because it was to have
been the tap-off to a new era of basketball power not known in Scranton
since the 1930's.
The reasons for such hope lay in the head of one man and in the body
of another. The head belonged to new coach Nat Volpe; the body belonged
to new player Rhett Jenkins. Together, they would surely produce instant
success. Like a 10-14 record.
Wait until last year. Now, the head owned four bright, bouncy bodies
to combine with the remaining beautiful body. From the combination of
those five bodies, there emerged an honest-to-goodness team, fully equipped
to produce instant success. Like a 17-6 record.
That was the tap-off. Enroute to that excellent record, the Royals displayed
an exciting, fast-breaking offense. As expected, Jenkins, the lone senior
on the team, led our scorers throughout the season. Not quite as expected
was the support offered by a quartet of juniors, namely, Charlie vVitaconis,
Bobby Moylan, Bob McGrath, and Dennis Melofchik.
Today, the members of the quartet are a year older and wiser. They
will comprise the nucleus of the new 1967 Royals. Before the inaugural contest
in December, they must welcome a new member and thus become a
harmonious quintet. Maestro Nat Volpe will begin formal organization of
the quintet on October 15. Immediately, Coach Volpe will face a difficult
task: that of trying to replace the graduated Jenkins, the fourth-leading scorer
in University history and a marvelous all-around athlete.
In a telephone interview earlier this month, Volpe discussed in detail the
void left by Jenkins' departure.
"Rhett is definitely the most difficult man to replace from last year's ball
club. He was a great shooter and he did a good job off the boards. He could
score all the points from all over the floor. I cannnot say that any individual
from either last year's varsity or freshman team will replace him. However,
with four returning veterans, I feel that they will be able to take up the
slack. We have no individual to replace Rhett but the four returnees as a
unit, can bring along the new fifth man. We have lost one indiVidual'but I
e:l.1>ect team play to overcome that loss."
Whe.n Vo!pe was asked to name possible candidates for the fifth spot in
the sta~g lineup, he named three big men, six-foot, four-inch junior Ed
Moroz, SIx-three sophomore Jerry Gibbons, and six-seven sophomore Dave
Clauser. Of course, none of these boys will move uninterrupted into a start~
g berth. Volpe expects strong opposition from senior Tim Foley, juniors
Jun Loughney and John Scott, and at least half-a-dozen sophomores, including
Bob Germann, Gary Green, Fred Parise, Dan Mullin Bob Felix and Bob
Steinberg. Volpe labelled Steinberg, a transfer studen~ from the University
of M~land, as "a sleeper ... He can be valuable coming off the bench."
. ThIS season, the Ro.yals will play their home games in a brand new gymnaSlUm,
on an even bIgger playing area than the spacious Catholic Youth
~enter. ~V~th.this. in mind, Coach Volpe, a tireless, almost slave-driving phy:
ICal ~onditIomng mstructor, will have his team running and performing calI:
theu:s long before. October 15. Each day for three weeks prior to the initiat~
on or formal pracuce, every Royal will exercise himself into shape. In additlO~,
three. days of each w.eek will be spent in intensive classroom sessions,
durmg w~ch blackboard diagrams and discussions of defensive and offensive
patterns will prepare every Royal for regular season play. "When we re-port
for practice on October 15 we shall be able to run and to think a fortyminute
game," said Coach Volpe, "or else."
The varsity schedule this year will include 15 Middle Atlantic Conference
games among the 22 total contests. Temple University and Delaware Valley
College have been replaced on the schedule by Philadelphia Textile and Lo _
ola College of Baltimore.· y
Bessoi:' will be on a part-time basis
this year with combined duties at
South Catholic High School. He will
join the University athletic staff on a
full-time basis next year.
Bessoir, a native of Jersey City,
N.J., has established himself as one
of Scranton's all- time basketball
greats. As captain of the squad during
the 1954-55 season, he set the
school's rebounding record, hauling
down 43 against King's College in
Wilkes-Barre. That same year, Bob
joined the exclusive thousand-point
club (the other members are Bill
VVitaconis, Ed Kazakavich, Joe Fitt,
Jim Dooley, and Rhett Jenkins) and
also received the Les Dickman Award
as the team's most valuable player.
THE AQUINAS
SIC Fine Point 25C
Appointed To
Coach's Job
WATERMAN·SIC PEN CDRi'.
MILFORD. CONN.
Despite
fiendish torture
dynamic BiC Duo
writes first time,
every time!
BIC'S rugged pair of
stick pens wins again
in unending war
against ball-point
skip, clog and smear.
Despite horrible
punishment by mad
scientists, DIC still
writes first time, every
time. And no wonder.
BIC'S "Dyamite" Ball
is the hardest metal
made, encased in a
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Will not skip, clog
or smear no matter
what devilish abuse
is devised for them
by sadistic students.
Get the dynamic
HIC Duo at your
campus store now.
On August 13, 1967, the University
of Scranton Athletic Department
announced the appointment of Robert
Bessoir as head baseball coach and
freshman basketball coach. Bessoir
succeeds Bob Dougherty as baseball
coach and Larry Dick as Frosh basketball
coach.
Bessoir Is
better
10%
to serve you
SPORT COATS
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Only young
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UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
-ONLY-ARmin's
Phys. Ed. Bu ilding
Almost Completed
September 20, 1967
The latest addition to the ever-expanding building boom of the University
of Scranton is the nearly-completed $1,789,000 Physical Education Plant,
located at Linden Street and Catlin Court. The building is being erected
on land acquired from the Scranton Redevelopment Authority. Funds were
supplied by a $592,110 Higher Education Facilities Act grant and a $1,206,660
university sontribution. A federal loan of $815,000 took care of some of the
university funds.
The plant consists of a three-level building with one full-size ground
level and two lower levels, all with separate entrances and all following the
natural slope of the Linden Street hill.
The new facility will enable the University to inaugurate a new academic
program in physical education and to add greater emphasis to intramural
athletics.
A large entrance foyer on Linden Street will be completely ultra-modern,
providing space for student registrations, assembly of classes, and group meetings.
The main floor, or gymnasium, will measure 163 feet long by 140 feet
wide. Mercury vapor, fluorescent, and incandescent lighting systems are
being installed. The movable bleacher seats will seat 4,500 people.
The main floor will also provide
three smaller courts for intramural
bastekball and instructional classes.
In addition, the main floor will be
large enough to accommodate student
assemblies and rainyday graduation
exercises.
The remaining ground floor area
will contain cloak and service rooms,
storage, toilets, administration offices,
circulation, stairs, mechanical rooms,
and instruction equipment storage.
The first lower level, with entrance
on the southeast side of the building,
will contain locker rooms, shower
room and toilet facilities for students
and faculty, seminar and conference
rooms, wrestling instructional class
room, waiting room and lounge, faculty
offices, laundry, storage, janitor,
stairs, and circulations.
The second lower level, with entrance
on the Ridge Row side, will
con t a i n weight-lifting instruction
rooms, physiotherapy facilities, storages,
mechanical rooms, electrical
rooms, stairs, and circulations.
The magnificent complex will include
six large rooms for home and
visiting teams, facuity offices, conference
quarters, and specially equipped
rooms for gymnasts, wrestlers, weightlifters,
baseball players, cross-country
runners, and golfers. Throughout the
building are located some 2000 lockers
of assorted sizes for use by the student
body. Purchase of a locker will guarantee
the availability of the generous
physical education facilities.
For the necessary sake of cleanliness
and comfort, there will be available
more than 200 showers and
whirlpool baths, as well as a sun room
and health room for sauna baths.
Originally planned for completion
in January, 1968, the physical education
center is running several weeks
ahead of schedule. Hopefully, the
building will be ready for basketball
occupancy somewhat before the opening
of the court campaign in Decem-ber.