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CHICAGO, Aug. 30. (UPI)-
By the grace of Jack Manders' talented toe and a
bit of luck the professional Chicago Bears laid claim today to supremacy
over the best football players the nation's colleges can produce.
But their glory was as diluted as the watery cheers of 77,450 customers
who saw them squeeze out a 5 to 0 victory over the collegiate
All-Americans in a downpour of rain at Soldier's Field last night, and
went away still arguing.
Is the best professional team better than the best college team?
The record would indicate that the footballers who play for pay won
because they stoked more power. They lost almost as many yards from
penalties for roughhousing as the All Stars gained.
"It was that damned rain," said Coach Frank Thomas, the Alabama mentor
of the collegians. "It turned what started out to be a great wideopen
game into a battle where the style was cramped.
Without-the rain the professionals' triumph probably would hang by the
thin thread of a three-point victory. Shepherd, Western Maryland's
halfback who was top-scorer of the country last fall, wouldn't have
sprawled over a messy pass from center, fumbled behind his goal and
given the Bears two points on a safety.
The benefits of Manders' right foot, which has failed once in 30 such
attempts for the Bears, came after the All-Stars had repulsed the
pro-men on the two-yard line.
From then on the All-Stars, picked to the notion of 73,918 voting fans,
played a see-sawing defense game until five minutes of the final quarter
was gone. Don Hutson's flying feet sped across the soggy bog and led a
belated charge to within marble-shooting distance of the Bear goal.
Despite 112 yards in penalties, the pros gained 166 yards to the
All-Stars' 127. Of their yardage the Bears made 159 yards from
knockabout scrimmage. The Bears tallied10 first downs, the All-Stars
six.
Passes, a pre-game promise from both, camps, were ineffective as the
ball, limping like a water-Iogged soda cracker, sloshed to the ground
short of intended receivers. The Bears completed two of 11 attempts and
the All-Stars two out of nine.
Beattie Feathers, an All-Star last year but a Bear Cub now, turned on
the heat that brought Mander' kick. Behind Manders massive hulk he
squirmed and skirted-left end for 18 yards in the first quarter before
he was rammed out of bounds on the All-Stars' 15-yard line. |
