Manhattan College - Manhattanite Yearbook (Riverdale, NY)

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lads as these have developed into out- standing competitors. Charlie Tietjen, former Loughlin and Manhattan star is a sh-ining example of this practice. Secondly, he believes in close associations with his athletes and has gained their confidence and respect in this manner. Finally, Mr. Eastinent adheres to a heavy and regular practice schedule, as he firmly believes and repeats to every group that he trains, You only get out of life what you put into it. Needless to say, George was sought by many colleges throughout the country, but he declined all offers until he was offered one by Manhattan and this one he accepted with pleasure. He replaced beloved Pete Waters, who had coached the Kelly Green harriers for twenty years until all athletic activities were sus- pended in 1943. Under his guidance, Manhattan became renowned in the track 268 SICKINGER Fred Sickinger breasting the tape in 2:l5.5 in the 1000 yard feature 'of the Metropolitan A.A.U. Meet at the 23rd Regi- ment Armory on January 19. For this performance Sickinger was awarded a special trophy as the outstanding athlete of the meet. world for the caliber and spirit of her runners. Mr. Waters, during his long sojourn as mentor compiled an enviable record, having captured the IC4A indoor championships four times and the IC4A cross-country title three times. Mr. East- ment has shown that he has the ability not only to continue the excellent record of Pete VVaters but that he can even im- prove upon it. Even though he has had quite a bit of work and has made many acquaintances in Brooklyn he refuses to use the too often quoted phrase of wait until next year.', Rather, he keeps saying year after year look at last year. I C4141 NIet1'0p0l17ta'ns Even before Mr. Eastment came to Manhattan, a few students ran under the colors of the College. Coached and paced by Fred Sickinger, this small but spirited

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an instructor of commercial law in the School of Business Administration. Manhattan's new coach, now 41 years old and a Georgetown law graduate of 1927, left an unparalleled record in schoolboy track., His Loughlin teams were virtually unbeatable. In competi- tion in the Catholic High Schools Athle- tic Association, they won fourteen, with one tie, out of seventeen indoor cham- pionships: won fourteen out of eighteen outdoor championships: and fifteen out of eighteen cross-country championships. In the last eleven years, Loughlin swept all the C.H.S.A.A. team titles without a break. Eastment's teams were equally suc- cessful in open competition. They won the National A.A.U. indoor interscholas- tic five of the last six years, won the Eastern outdoor championship six of the last seven years, and annexed the private schools cross-country run fourteen times in seventeen years. in eighteen years his Loughlin teams failed to turn up a win- ner only twice at the Penn Relays, where they captured twenty-six firsts. Under the coaching of Mr. Eastment, Loughlin has won over 350 team and relay tro- phies. 1945 was a particularly successful sea- son for George , as he is known to the hundreds of boys he has coached. He turned out undefeated indoor, outdoor and cross-country teams. The highlight of the season coming at Franklin Field, Philadelphia, when his lads ran off with four Firsts and a second in the Penn Re- lays against rivals from all over the Eastern Seaboard. Following these tri- umphs Mr. Eastment received national recognition in Life magazine which acclaimed him as the best high school track coach in the United States. Wlieii George took over his duties on Iasperhill the material he had to work 26 with was rather skimpy. He had a few men who had previously run in college competition and were in shape, but the others were either returned servicemen who had not run in a couple of years or freshmen. However, he built up a team in a few weeks and entered his men in the indoor meets at Madison Square Garden. His two mile relay team of lgnatius Rienzo, Tom Comerford, Phil rO'Connel1 and Eddie Walsli rated with the best in the country. He also coached the IC4A 600 yard run, the one mile run and the two mile run champions in the persons of Fred Sickinger, Ed Walsli and Ed C'Toole respectively. All of these men are returned veterans who served under Pete VVaters before entering the Army. The Iaspers took a surprising third place in the Intercollegiate Amateur Ath- letic Association of America Champion- ships. Army, the victor for the third straight time, totaled .SSM pointsg NYU, the runner up had 35 points. Eastment's runners beat the Navy team by one-half point. Manhattan had 22 points to Navy's ZIM. The Navy team, which had been very good during the war years was ex- pected to place second or third and Man- hattan was said to have a chance to finish fourth, but turned the tables. This point is brought out to show the progress that Mr. Eastment made in such a short time with a handful of hardworking young- sters. George was a crack middle distance man in his younger daysat Georgetown University, and was a member of the Hoya's championship mile relay team. His phenomenal success as a coach can be attributed to several factors. Fi rst, he is willing to work with any fellow no matter how slow he may be or -how little promise he may show, if the youngster is willing to work out faithfully and never stop trying. Tn many instances just such

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squad gained fourth place in the Metro- politan IC4A Cross-Country meet at Van Cortlandt Park. Fred finished sixth over the five mile course, which was very sur- prising because he rose to track fame by way of the middle distances and was no- where near the peak of conditioning. Frank DiSantis turned in a fine per- formance and finished twelfth. Waltei' Doherty came in seventeenth and Gene Lavin and Pat Riordan also ran but neither finished high. Pete Reynolds, who was being counted on to provide the best performance of the group, became ill half way through the race and was forced to withdraw. ihfere he able to finish the team probably would have finished better. As it was the teams entered finished in this order: N.Y.U., Columbia, Fordham, Manhattan, C.C.N.Y., and Brooklyn Col- lege. Jlc'tr0,D0Zifa1z, 4-1.fl.U. Senior' Trark and Field Cl1Gl'1lf7f07'lSl1,lif7S Fred Sickinger, stalwart Manhattan middle distance star, stole the show in the Metropolitan A.A.U. at the 23rd Regi- ment Armory in Brooklyn by beating Stanton Callender and Les MacMitchell in 1000 yard feature event. It was his first victory of the indoor season and he gained hrst place by pulling away from MacMitchell in the stretch. Stanton C al- lender followed him to the finish line by two yards and MacMitchell finished third by six yards. For the performance Sickinger was clocked in 2 :15.5 and awarded by the unanimous vote of twelve judges and sports writers a special trophy for the most meritorious performance of the Meet. COMERFORD Tom Comerford leading Conor of Army in the 1000 at the lC4A Meet at Madison Square Garden on March 4. Cornerford finished third to Conor's second in this race.