| 0 ns Centennial miracle: mile’ could surpass Bannister-Landy epic : Name any sport and the odds are British Columbia will have it in 1958 to help celebrate the province’s 100th birthday. ual Planned for Vancouver by the B.C. Track and Field Association. comes off. There’s bound to be a big “if” in connection with plans to bring all the world’s top Milers here for a “miracal Mile” that would outclass the 1954 British &pic between Roger Bannister and John Landy, For example, Would all the milers agree to Come? Empire Games Invited would be active run- nets who have smashed the four-minute barrier — Derek Ibbotson of England, the pres- €nt world record holder; Ken Wooa and Brian Hewson, Eng- land; Merv Lincoln and Herb Ellio't, Australia; Ron Delany %f Ireland; Olavi Salsola, Olavi Vuorisalo and Olavi Salonan of Finland; Dan Waerns, Swed- i; Stanislau Jurgwirth, Czech- Slovakia; and Don: Bowden of the United States. These fellows,- if you ever linea them up at Empire Stad- um, would be shooting for a 5 mile. What a race that Would be! Then thefe would be a 5,000 Metre classic, with world re- “ord holder Vladimir Kuts of © Soviet Union opposing Gordon Pirie of England. Not to mention the sprints, Ss Both ‘ex This dramatic picture, taken at the viel de Empire “gg oding with his famous last-quarter “kick Yards from the tape and goes on to win. ©, which was run before a crowd of 35,000, Bannister and Landy have since retired. f Bo R DEREK IBBOTSON with stars like Bobby Morrow and Dave Sime on hand. Does it all sound fantastic? Maybe it could happen. Things aren’t beyond the talking and dreaming stage right now, but behind every gigantic accom- plishment there’s usually a dream. OV: Games in 1954, shows Roger Bannister at Empire Stadium as he catches John Landy Bah men broke the four-minute mark in the largest in Canadian track and field hjstory. But nothing will equal the track and field meet Robert Osborne, president of the centennial sports’ commit- tee, has discussed the scheme with Track and Field Associa- tion president Bob Hutchison, and both are high on the idea. Such an event would undoubt- edly jam Empire Stadium and arouse world attention. As for other sports during the centennial, there’ll be plenty of everything. MacDonald’s Briar Canadian curling championships will be held March 3-7 in Victoria. Victoria will also host the badminton, bowling and sail- ing championships. Alberni will stage a basket- ball tourney. Vancouver will stage the Grey Cup final at Empire Sta- dium November 30. Also the wor!d shooker championships, Canadian lawn tennis cham- pionships, Canadian amateur boxing championships, and the B.C. swimming championships. That doesn’t nearly exhaust the list. There’ll be rugby and cricket and golf and baseball and lacrosse and what have you. But topping the program — if it comes off — will be the June track and field meet with its “dream mile” race. Providing, that is, it. J Highes: of its kind in the world js the Pine Mountain ski jump in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. vertical height of 500 feet. < Gert White ‘e The ski slide has a _ SPORTLIGHT | N SUNDAY afternoon I visited a billiard parlor on West .Broadway to watch a world champion give an ex- hibition, (if the Lord’s ‘Day Al- liance boys are tuning in, the affair was admission free). Clark McConachy of- Auck- land, New Zealand looks like a professional billiard player should—dark vest, black bow tie, white shirt, green eye- shade. He plays like a man who has been at the top, too. There is something fascin- ating about watching a cham- pion perform. It doesn’t-mat- ter if it is Greco dancing, Casalseon the cello, Ulanova in a ballet number, Arcaro on a horse—class is class. McConachy handles a cue like an artist. Age has slowed him down but his style is still superb. Time after time the spectators broke into applause as he made some particularly difficult shot. The trademark of “a _ real champ, of course, is not that he makes so many difficult shots, but that he plays posi- tion so perfectly that almost all the shots are easy ones. Experience in any _ sport makes that sport more inter- esting to watch. As a one-time money player (I rarely pick up a cite now but am still fairly proficient) I got a’ great deal of pleasure watching Mc- Conachy control his cue -ball in masterly fashion—running all the colored balls in snooker, for example, without letting the cue ball touch a cushion. After an exhibition of bil- liards, snooker and trick shots the New Zealand champ gave a short “tesson for beginners” which was watched with great interest by the younger mem- bers of the audience. “Have you been in Canada before?” I asked McConachy. “Just once, in 1935,” hé re- plied. “How long will you be in town.” “About a week, then I start on a cross-Canada tour.” McConachy was New Zea- land champ from 1915 to 1952 —a span of 37 years. He held the world’s professional title in 1951-52. His highest break was 1,943 against Joe Davis at Leicester Square Hall in 1932. * * * Now that even the diehards have accepted the fact that television, like the automobile, is here to stay, a few com- ments on its ‘sports coverage may be acceptable (without arousing the wrath of the back- ward - lookers among the column’s readers). TV coverage of sports is im- proving locally, and a great deal of the credit goes to a young man‘named .Ted Rey- nolds, a sports announcer who manages to combine an en- gaging modesty with a sound knowledge of the subject he comments on. The cameramen, too, have improved considerably. No longer do they show you one end of a football field when the play is going on at the other. Toughest problem is. still hockey. At times it is almost impossible to follow the action of the puck. But TV now does a fine job on sports like foot- ball basketball, boxing, wrestling (that’s a sport?), track and field and rugby. November 8, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE li