Queens College - Silhouette Yearbook (Queens, NY)

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Over' she goes! Our soccer team in action during a practice session. MN, INDING a theme for a sports resume at Queens is at least difficult. It would be easy to write Off losses and say that was all-but that's not the way it goes. We win some, we lose others. But is that important? Success in sports at Queens has never been meag- ured by the number of games won. If it were, the report would be unfair to the participants and neg- lectful of the true situation. We cannot expect Win- ning teams as long as players must work against facts like long class hours with little time to praq- tice, the necessity of traveling to points of practice, often as much as an hour in each direction, inade- quate equipmentg and competition with schools which provide athletic scholarships. And so, winning is not the most important thing. It is rather the occasional win over athletic colleges, the spirit involved in a close contest, the comradery and communal mourning of another loss: in these things we find the real character of sports at QC. We've learned our lesson while in college, and it is a lesson worth remembering as we enter the big arena. Were never beaten until we quit-some thing that doesn't happen at Queens. Those long years ago when first we entered the college-some from local high schools and some from the services-we found basketball being rein- stituted after a brief respite caused by the war. It had an abortive schedule to be sure, and ended with a 9-2 record. This was the year some of us got to see Harry Evans in action on the court for the first time, and the year that saw a fine 60-50 win over our traditional rival, Hofstra. Baseball was inactive then, but an attempt to re- organize the soccer team was made. This proved unsuccessful, for men were scarce at the time. Two wins over Hofstra marked the basketball sea- son that year. This made three in a row over the Hempstead school-the best record we have ever chalked up. Games were played in the bandbox gym of the Jamaica Y , and Queens was a threat to anyone who walked onto the tiny floor. The year, 1946, marked the full return of sports to Queens. The war was won and male students and instructors were returning to their college purS11ifS, sports of course being one of them. Spring saw base- ball come back after a three year halt, and the tennis team re-forming. The college received some solid pub- licity because we had the best college iniield in the city. Efforts to resuscitate the soccer team were success- ful in the fall as Gene Pelles went all out on the job. Not many victories were recorded, but a founda- tion was laid for the coming seasons as many of the fellows got their first taste of the sport. Basketball moved to the Flushing Armory that sea- son as the team, under the direction of Mr. Pechar, played a rough schedule. Bruce Hurley and 101111 Needham made their cage debuts and handled most l to I P 3 jf? I .air f 1 I . ' L-F . fy a . ' 5 ., 4 1 ' ,uffisai Qi' ,519 11, ,ggi ggi ,155 .iid fri-T25 fist 1' 111:15 ht LJ., ml .gllli :rich .gi .1 G t . .ii :jr 'T'-FF 'Q1512-Q r at N'f N. wan iivklil .klxa .N- .,-' 5 'X-if--. ul Q33 A SU V' , r- W .Ju , 344 E fl SM 'X l . .Ha .iv ZX. Ng 'ii xx? Pb, al Lefl-Two Queens men warming up during spring training-H

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Sports

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PGRTS of the scoring for the squad. It was then that the Stein-Regan Memorial Award was instituted. The award, honoring two ex-QC athletes who died in service, is presented to the most valuable basketball Player each year. The judging is on the basis of abil- ity, leadership, cooperation, and sportsmanship. Rolf Haag won the first award, being elected by his fel- low players. The Phys. Ed. Department welcomed the return of Dr. Spitz and Mr. Tierney in 1947 and they im- mediately took over the direction of the baseball and tennis teams. Mr. Pechar organized the golf squad at the same time, and sports really gained the spotlight. . The nine had one of its better years, as the pitch- ing of Ted Ether paved the way to a couple of im- portant wins. That was the year we downed Kings Point and Adelphi, but lost to the hotshots from Hofstra. With Paul Eleischman, Gene Greenwald, and joe Locastro, flashing speed and ability, the soccer team had its first season on the upstairs side of 500. The team was playing its home games at Forest Hills High School field, usually early of a Saturday morning, and unfortunately never managed to get many of the stu- dents out to form a crowd. Basketball had Mr. Salmons as coach in the '47- '48 season, and the cagers played their home games at Jamaica High. Our team started well, but the con- tinued strain of practicing on the Forest Hills High court while playing games on another caused a mid- season slump. George Gaetano did his best to com- pensate for court troubles, but even this tremendous all-around playing and scoring average of more than ten points per game couldn't overcome the many dif- ficulties involved. Came spring once more in '48 and the baseball team was out bearing the icy blasts of what we wist- fully call a baseball field at Queens. The cold gave the pitchers a hard time, and none of them were able to get going until late in the season. Until then, how- ever, the slugging outfield trio of John Constantino, Gene Eliaspoh, and George Morfesi, kept the blue and silver in most of the games. The golf and tennis teams went along their merry Ways winning most of their matches in both sports, proving that Queens can do more than hold its own Ill .sports where most of the competition is unsub- sidized. Harry Taylert blossomed for the golfers then is did Bob Crosswell and Ed Helfeld for the tennis eam. And then came that blessed summer of 1948 when they built the new gym. Good and happy days were fllose when we thought of the basketball team prac- ticing and playing on its own court and the baseball team holding indoor workouts right on campus. But, something went wrong. The place, we were told, was 21 fire trap and could not be used until a sprinkler SyStem and fire wall had been installed. To date the Rfgbi-Rolf Haag helps keep Hunter College from scoring? they lost 86-43. . ' ... tm, 4-. Z' y sa r w . 1 . s l l f ff. . me l 8 Q., pi., K ,phxgg Q., 'X 3 ' f. lf 1 .. . . :Q .,:: wi ,-.V iq Y . -' . f ,f..,,.,.fi J-,Q ..,,.- . -qi - H , , ,Q X f T.. ' 5 . , . U f In 3:-,uw I I ---' ' - V k , .-I ...I . 1. 1. p . , i t Bob Mueller