New basketball league set up by labor youth

By GLYN THOMAS

Basketball as an organized Sport has taken a great hold in Vancouver, It is on a par with Soccer and skiing as a major Sport. That is why it was nat- ural that this season progressive hational groups, trade unionists

Steve Endicott flips ball- away

Ukrainian Canadians,

Association of United Russian Canadian Youth Organization and National Federation of

Orde:*,

Labor Youth took part in a four- team softball league. When the

summer season was over it was dec'ded to tackle a winter sport and basketball was, selected.

from George Karcha as referee

Ommy Barras (foreground) gets our of the way of the play in the game betwen NFLY’ers and the AUUC squad.

and the National Federation of Labor Youth promoted the Van- Couver International Basket- ball League. ‘

All last summer mémbers of the West Coast Seamen’s Union, Electrical Workers

Union, United Jewish People’s

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A committ®e of representa- tives from these’ groups was set up, an interested group from New Westminster was taken in, and now a four-team hoop league is in full swing. Teams are, Ukrainians, New Westmin- ster, NFLY and Chinese.

WIN THREE FRIENDS

Top scorers to date are Ron- nie Campbell and Dave Cous- ins. Games are played every Tuesday night. Tommy Barras, young -veteran of the Fraser Valley League, is now secretary of this league and coach of the NFLY’ers. Danny Bratko of the AUUC, a promoter of the Vancouver and District Basket- ball League, now spends his time as referee and counsellor on rules. George Karcha man- ages the AUUC five and Steve Kenyers is manager of the Chi- nese team. The Elder broth- ers, Harvey and “Butch,” lead the New. Westminster team,

which has up to 25 people com-. :

peting to play on it.

When I asked Tommy Barras about some of the difficulties encountered in setting up the league, he said: “We started organizing too late and so could only get a small gym. We have had good turnouts, and we have been trying to teach the boys to develop a clean, friendly game, Commercial leagues teach players to win at all costs. Winning is important, but in our opinion, not so important as developing the qualities of comradeship and sportsman- “ship.”

“What are ‘the possibilities of expanding the league?” I asked ihim'ec

“Great,” replied Barras. “We already have heard of a group of Italian Canadians and a ‘Negro youth group who are in- terested.”

Many young trade unionists from the electrical, woodwork- ing and railway industries take part in the league. It is felt ithat next year the Industrial Union Baseball League (which is the biggest in Vancouver) may start an all-union basket- ball league.

, While the Vancouver Inter- national SBasketball League doesn’t anticipate developing any products for the Globetrot- ‘ters or the N.Y. Celtics imme- diately, it helps provide. clean sport and good competition for a group. of young people in the fast End of the city, and is developing friendship among youth of different national and racial backgrounds. :

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SPORTLIGHT

By BERT WHYTE————

ER Fuehrer und Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler was smiling as mem- ‘pers of the Canadian Olympic team milled around his box, holding up autograph’ books to be signed. The photograph was a clear one, and the fellows in our mortar platoon tried to identify the Canuck athletes.

We had crossed the Rhine in a surprise move, and the German civilians, caught unawares, had not had time to destroy their : One of the prizes I picked up was a beautiful book publ’shed after the Winter Olympics had been held “in Berlin und Garmisch-Partenkirchen”’ in 1936—the Olympics that had such a profound political importance, for the goodwill generated there made Hitler’s rape of Austria and Czechoslovakia just so much easier. (Communists and many progressive workers in Canada and other countries boycotted the 1936 Olympics; arranged, in- stead,.a Workers’ Olympics in Barcelona, which wére disrupted ‘py the outbreak of war in Spain).

As we sat leafing through the pages of the book someone exclaimed, “There’s Sonja Henie!” Sure enough the blonde Nor- wegian skater, dréssed in a white outfit, was smiling at us from

‘behind a knee-high snowbank. - “Sonja Henie wartet im Schneeges-

tober vor dem Stadion, in das sie wenige Augenblicke spater mit ihren Kameradinnen einmarschiert,” said the lines underneath. We couldn’t-figure out what ‘that meant, ‘but we all had something to say about Henie, :

Barbara Ann Scott

That conversation took place seven years ago, in 1945. Sonja Henie had been a star on skates since 1926——ten limes world figure skating champ and three times Olympic champ before she turned pro and began to star in ice shows and movies, Here it is 1952—26 years since Sonja hit the headlines—and the: little Norwegian veteran is still packing ‘em in to see her own “Sonja Henie Ice Revue.”

How does Sonja do it? That question has been asked by many; there’s one gal who hasn’t asked it but would probably like to. I refer to none other than Barbara Ann Scott (shown above) whose future as an ice star appears uncertain at this date.

When Barbara Ann won the Olympic title in 1948 Canada went crazy over her, and Hollywood ‘opened its arms.

Barbara Ann went to Hollywood, and that was the end of one dream. She didn’t photograph well, and her voice was thin and reedy. Then she starred in a show which toured Canada in 1950, playing to enthusiastic audiences everywhere.

But cracking ‘the big time was different. Trial appearances in shows south of the ‘border were disappointing. Barbara Ann, to put it bluntly, was a flop in recent shows in Indianapolis and Milwaukee. ‘

What’s the gimmick? Barbara Ann is certainly a better skater, as of today, than the veteran Henie. But she seems to lack that certain something—some call it “sex appeal” but it is much more than that—which all successful stars possess. It is warmth, .an ability to project one’s personality across to an audi- ence. Ethel Merman, no beauty, has it to a high degree. Mary Martin has it. Back in the twentiés Clara Bow had “Tt’'—that’s what it was called. And Sonja Henie has it today, as she had it 20 years ago. But.Barbara Ann, young, pretty, and the world’s ‘best figure skater, may fail to make the grade because she lacks that mysterious something that’s hard to define in print, but which means the difference between success ‘and failure to an’ ice star who wants to turn her athletic fame into a commercial “ortune,

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — FEBRUARY 1, 1952 — PAGE 11