Reserve Officers Candidate School - Rocs and Shoals Yearbook (Long Beach, CA)

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Sail Navy, Down the Field SPORT As far back as man has been able to recollect ath- letics has been the foundation for the well being of a nation's youth. Military-wise, the same sort of rec- ognition prevails. For the services have long been cognizant of the need for person'nel who are as physically strong as they are mentally alert. lt was with this in mind that the Reserve Officers Candidate program opened to its personnel the time and facilities for athletic participation. To develop competitive spirit individual merits were awarded to members of the winning team in any sporting event sponsored by the athletic department. For the com- pany ofa winning team there were regimental points -points which went toward bolstering a company's standings in regimental competition. Included in the ROC'S athletic program were bas- ketball, tennis, softball, handball, swimming, volley- ball and touch football. The athletic events were not of compusory nature. The choice of playing or not was left strictly up to the candidates themselves, and seldom were the times when a team captain fretted over not having sufficient men to field a team. In a program as large and as selective as this Reserve Officers Candidate program it was not too startling to observe many athletes of college fame sporting the athletic uniform of the ROCS. For in- stance, in a touch football contest between compa- nies Five and Seven of the Second Battalion, men of the caliber of Billy Cox of Duke University and George Trammell of Washington and Lee could be seen pitting their gridiron lore against the likes of the motorized mastadon of Northwestern, Ray Huiz- inga. Meanwhile, five of Drake University's starting quintet have dressed out for practice session in the station's gymnasium. The school's ambassadors to ROC school are Dan de Ruyter, a three-letter winner and captain of the squad, Arnold Schults and Dean Showers, both three-time letter winners, Bill Line- mann, with two letters, and Jim Peterson, who per- haps is more well-known for his prowess on the foot- ball field. Peterson, along with the Missouri Valley Conference's leading scorer last year, Johnny Bright, led the Drake eleven to impressive gridiron wins, the highlight of which was the trouncing of Detroit Uni- versity, 27-6, last fall. In swimming, there was an array of talent, lecl by Northwestern's top man in that field-William L. lBudl Wallen. Wallen, a champion of the Amateur Athletic Union in his freshman year, distinguished himself further by winning the 440 meter free style in the East-West swimming meet in Florida the same year, Bud competed in the 220 and 440-yard free style in Big Ten competition the following year and was a member of the Olympic tryouts this year. In numerical strength, footballers took top honors. Tracksters however gave the gridiron lads a close competitor in this respect. From the four corners of the Unitacl States came some of the nation's finest cindermen. J. L. Carson, University of Wichita, a member of the all-Missouri Valley Conference is one such outstanding track star. Another track star was Charles Millard from Wash- ington State College. Millard, who lettered three years, competed in the 440-yard dash and was a member of the second fastest mile relay team in the school's history, having covered the distance in the excellent time of 3:l6.4--about ten seconds off the world's record set by tracksters from the University of California. ln wrestling, perhaps the most outstanding ROC in the program was diminutive Arthur Strunk from Hofstra College, New York. Although from an almost unheard of college, Strunk has compiled an impres- sive record that would make fellow athletes in larger and more renowned universities green with envy. In 1949 and l95i Strunk won N.Y. State AAU cham- pionship in the 145-pound division. ln 1950 and

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