Has Charles a chance

to regain heavy

What chance has Ezzard Charles
Sot of dethroning Rocky Marciano |
‘On June 17 and winning back the

eavyweight title?
Practically none, says the record |
: Ok. No heavyweight champion |
n history has ever regained the |
frown after losing it, though many |
€ve tried. }

James J. Corbett lost the title to |

pep Fitzsimmons, who in turn lost|
fo Jim Jeffries two years later. |

ret

Ped them both.

Jeffries retired in 1904, undefeat: |

ed }
wick Johnson
Rocked him out in 15 rounds.
ck © nearest a heavyweight
ampion came to regaining the
me was when Jack Dempsey
Gene Tunney on the deck
_that famous “long count” in
'cago, September 22, 1927.
Hs ed Scrambled up as the re-
Fee said “nine” — actually 14
ends had elapsed, but the
bse Mt didn’t start until Demp-
eee to. the farthest neutral
€r — and backpedalled to
Safety,

niger Charles won the cham-
Wane by outpointing Jersey Joe

ee in 1949 after Joe Louis had

r :
of fae When Louis came out
galt retirement” to try and re-

e title in 1950, Charles out-
him.

Pointed Q
cnetsey Joe Walcott knocked out
a aa m seven rounds at Pitts-
Year) 1951, and the following
del outpointed Charles at Phila-
. ee Charles was in good shape
jiny © ‘ght but couldn’t beat the
he ce has prevented any
Tom ine ¢
Seeong aaa Wearing the crown a
Ocky Maroj
W. , Marciano knocked out
lone tt In 13 rounds in the fall of
bout’ € gave Walcott a return
the following year and flat-

eff gave Corbett and Fitzsimmons, -

2"

Un cracks at the title and stop- }

ut tried 2 comeback against |
in 1910. Johnson!

tened him in 2.25 of the first round,
with a punch few people saw.

Now Charles, a superb boxer,
hopes to outpoint Marciano, an
awkward fighter who packs a kayo
wallop in either fist. ;

Charles is an optimist. Marciano
may be clumsy, but so was Jim
Jeffries. Master boxer Corbett
looked liké a sure winner in one
of his fights with Big Jeff, until he
got careless in the latter rounds

and Jeff stiffened him with one
mighty swipe.

Marciano may be no Jeffries —
though some experts think he’s
likely to hold as high a rating in
ring history — but Charles is cer-
tainly no Corbett. Ezzard may stay
away from Rocky for a few rounds,
then he’ll find himself on the re-
ceiving end of one of those famous
blockbusters, and he’ll go down
and not get up.

Rangers win twice

After polishing off Victoria’s
handpicked eleven 7-0 at Royal
Athletic Park, Glasgow Rangers
met Lower Mainland All Stars in
a return match at Callister Park
last Saturday — and for the first
55 minutes of play failed to score
a goal.

Then Pat. Philley’ had to leave
the game with an injured ankle,
and Rangers tore through a re-

shuffled All Stars side to score
three times in five minutes and
wrap up the game.

Rangers were lucky, at that. All
Stars had plenty of chance to score
but the forwards muffed every op-
portunity. Greig at outside left
was an utter failure, Ion was lost
because he had no one to play with,
and Whittaker showed no aggres-
siveness. ;

Aftermath of Hungarian victory

Fantastic!

There was one really wise Englishman in this soccer-crazy city.
y wise Englis i :
nd’s team—beaten 7-1 by Hungary in the People’s Stadium here

Engla
tolq ees nhame?—Jimmy Hogan.
ere,”

he sounded the warning

«

happen h
And

Note,

Sen

lay treatment, Why don’t they

football?” he asked.
Baye Was: proved right. After the

€ven Hungarian friends ask-

teams Was that the best English

ian Victory for the Hungarians
defeat ¢ on England her heaviest

in international football.
© Previous heavy defeats
Ww

goy, 22. by Scotland, at Glas-
Scot} 'n 1878, and 6-1, also by
and, at The Oval in-1881.

ae as at Wembley, the Hun-
With "S, exploited the open spaces,
Positig € forwards running into
Passes for beautifully placed

aegeieY toyed with the English
Ts, who, though . toiling
could not subdue their
Ponents Poedy and persistent Op-
i €e goals came to the victors
See, ql first half and four in the
priee of them in four min-
fron’, With only the lone reply
Melver Froades:
Comme are some after-the-match

tainly Wright (England’s cap-

Sounds .°% Soals against us! It

Plain terrible but we can’t com-

Us aly hat long pass through beat
Syq the time,”

half). Owen (England’s centre-

Seen antastic. I have never

Gyyj thing like them.”
Crosics (Hungarian goal-

long before the kick-off that England hadn’t a chance. B
We haye cast aside the old style,” he said. “We were humiliated at Wembley,

€ third back game, oxy-|

By ERIC BUTLER

This veteran among English Sa
u

’ says Owen

BUDAPEST

Alas, it wasn’t any member of
on May 23 before a crowd Of 92,000.
ers (he has trained Hungarians)

even I did not believe this.
and the same will

keeper: “No defense in the world
could have stood up to our for-
wards.” gh cell

Gustav Sebes (Hungarian Gepuly
sports minister): “The ‘highest
praise must be given to the Eng-
lish team for the gallant way the
stuck it out to the very end.

Gyula Nandi (coach and selector
of the Hungarian team: “The long
25-yard passes of the English team
save us the time to take position
and break up our opponents’ at-
tack.

“This game has been a fine ex-
perience to find out our faults be-
fore the vital World Cup and to
correct them—and this we shall do.

“J think that England played
well on the whole. I hope that
they will learn from this experi-
ence and will be able to correct
their faults and take their right-
ful place among the best teams in

the world.” as
The Hungarian players are stl
perplexed about England leaving
out the maestro, Stanley Matthews.
“what do you expect if you leave
out Matthews!” one of them, Mi-
haly Lantos, declared.
* * x

All the leading members of the,
Hungarian government saw the |
game and at the end both teams
were received by Prime Minister |
Imre Nagy. Before and after the |
game they paraded in front of }
President Istvan Dobi’s box.

British diplomats motored from |

Vienna and Belgrade to join other |

British supporters headed by
George P. Labouchere, British min-
ister to Hungary.

Before the kick-off a band play-
ed “God Save The Queen” and the
Hungarian national anthem as the
two teams—Hungary skippered by
Ferenc Puskas and England by
Billy Wright—stood to attention.

A special news skeet devoted en-
tirely to the game was on sale on
the thronged streets of Budapest
the same night and it was rapidly
bought up.

The sheet consisted solely of a
report and comments on the game,
topped by pictures of the 12 men
(including the substitute, Gelen)
who took part in the Hungarians’
triumph.

The headline was: “New World
Fame for Hungarian Sportsmen.”

Outside the banqueting hall
where the two teams dined huge
crowds gathered to get a glimpse
of the national heroes.

Budapest Radio reported that
gate receipts were a record for any
sporting event in Hungary.

“The money will go toward help-
ing development of sport in the
country and to enlargement of the
stadium where the game was play-
ed.
“Though Hungary” the com-
mentator said, “has demonstrat-
-ed the.superiority of its advance
in football technique, we remem-
ber too that we learned how to

| play the game of football from

those masters of English football
long ago.”

Gert Whyte's

OPPED in to see George

Bunka at Western Sports. Cen-
tre this week and look over his
patented invention, the “Profés-
sional. Snooker Master,” which is
designed to teach anyone how to
handle a cue properly.

Bunka, an expert wrestler and
successful coach, is also no
slouch as a snooker player. The
idea for his invention came to
him while he was watching
George Chenier in action last
January, and noted. his easy pro-
fessional stance and perfect bal-
ance for every shot.

“lt talked to Chenier, then
thought it over some more,”
Bunka told me. “Finally | built
my machine and applied for a
patent.
machines were placed in every
billiard parlor they would soon
pay for themselves by producing
betfer players (and that means
shorter games) and cutting down
en ripped cloth — which is usual-
ly the result of amateur cue
handling.” ;

Bunka’s invention is a. small
table with a billiard ball sitting”
in front of a slot. The player
takes a proper stance, grasps the
cue as illustrated in a Series of
charts, and slips an attachment
near the tip over a gadget in the
slot. A motor is started and the
cue moves back and forth the
proper distance in a piston action,
while the player receives training
in how to hold it properly prepar-
ing for a shot, and how to move
his arm which balances the butt
end. -

Correct stance is to keep the legs
well apart, right knee stiff, left
leg ahead and with the knee
slightly bent. Right forearm
should be parallel with the right
leg, and delivery of the stroke
should always be from the parat-
lel of the leg forward. The butt
of the cue should be grasped
some six inches from the end.
As a one-time billiard player
I tried out Bunka’s invention and
believe that it has possibilities.
Perhaps it will become a stand-
ard fixture in clubs and billiard
parlors some day. Good luck,
George.

* * *

On a previous occasion I made
a few remarks about the ancient
and honorable game of billiards,
along with a few comments on
ballet. The latter aroused. con-
siderable attention but my ob-
servations on billiards dropped

| believe that’ if these

SPORTLIGHT

into the void.

The game, nevertheless, has a
tremendous fascination for those
who play it—and its derivatives,
snooker and pool—and is one ‘of —
the most scientific of all sports.

“Come, let us to billiards,
Charmian,” Shakespeare had
Cleopatra say to her lady-in-wait-
ing in Anthony and Cleopatra.
Historians say that Willie erred,
however, for the game hadn't
been invented in Cleo’s time.

It is generally agreed that bil-
liards is an indoor development
of lawn bowling and began in
England sometime in the 14th
century. ;

Puzzling, however, is Abbe Mc-
Geoghegan’s statement in his
History of Ireland that Catkire
More, a sub-king of the second
century, wrote in his will: “To
Drimoth | bequeath 50 billiard
balls of brass, with pools and cues
of the same material.” :

* * *

Louis XIV, a plump monarch,
tried both billiards and ballet in
an effort to reduce his waistline.

Other historical figures who
were addicts of the cue include
George Washington, Thomas Jef-
ferson, Alexander Hamilton and
General Lafayette.

x x x

To show how seriously experts
take the. game, there’s the story
of Louis Fox, an old billiard
champ, who was playing John
Deery for a title and a $1,000
side bet in Rochester one night,
back in 1865. 2

Fox was ahead when a fly lit
cn the cue ball. Every time he
blew it away it returned. This so
unnerved him that he missed his
shot and his opponent made a
run that won the game.

Fox threw down his cue and
rushed out into the night, mut-
tering to himself. A couple of
days later they found his body
floating in a river near the pool
hall. ;

* * .

Can’t conclude this column
without mentioning the name of
Willie Hoppe, the greatest player
cf all time. Menke says it is esti-
mated that Hoppe, in 59 years of
play, spent more than 100,000
hours over billiard tables and
walked about 26,000 miles. He
retired at the age of 65 (probably
his feet hurt).

* * *

Raek ’em up again, boy. No,
wait a minute. Guess it’s time I
hung up my cue for this week.

George Bunka, wrestler-turned-inventor
PACIFIC TRIBUNE at JUNE 4, 1954 — PAGE 2