Page 65 - Mastheads Aug-Dec 1944
P. 65
THE MASTHEAD, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1944 PAGE 3
Armed Guard ·Nine Nabs Softball Title Finale Swimming Program Discussed
By Staff and Sunke·n Survivors
Extra Inning Contest
On Friday, October 6, Lt. A : N. going to sea. He owes it to his
Rings Down Curtain Higgins, Physical Fitness and ~ountry, his fa1-,ily, and to himself
Training Officer of Treasure Island, to learn all he can that might be
On Softball Season conducted an open meeting of sur- of value to him in saving his life
vivors and the staff of swimming in the event of a disaster at sea.
A ~eyed up Armed Guard nine instructors of the U. S. Naval While this advanced training is so
with a never say die spirit, avenged Training and Distribution Center. important it goes without saying
an earlier defeat against a scrappy The purpose of this informal meet- that the non-swimmer needs ele-
Industrial club, taking the third in~ was to gather first-hand in- mentary swimming instruction
and final game of the Little World formation concerning ship sinkings even more. There is a staff of ex-
Series Softball Championship 4-3, and to learn from the men them- perienced and seasoned swimming
that saw this hotly contested battle selves exactly what conditions ex- instructors on duty at all times at
go into extra innings after Armed isted at the time they were forced the Treasure Island pool. Call Ex-
Guard had come from behind to _to abandon ship at sea. The men tension 50 or see Chiefs Sanford,
score the winning run. interviewed presented a good cross Oker, or Lewis concerning the
ZOWI E-Banging a single between second base and short is a hit-
The final game was almost a re- hungry Ar111ed Guardsman. A. G. clinched the series with a 4-3 win. section of survivors in the Navy t-{)- schedule of hours·for the several
take of the initial contest which day. This group received training types of swimming instruction. Be
.Armed Guard also won 3-2, only at half a dozen different training a topside swimmer, Mate! A sailor
after Industrial had threatened Bag Punching Expert, Girls stations throughout the country and on the bottom of the ocean is of no
twice with a two run rally that their abandon ship experiences further value to his country, his
fell snort of the required goal. The Featured On Gala Boxing Show took place in several engagements Navy or himself. And if you still
"convoy cuties" were pre-game Fistic chimes ring again W ednes- A hand balancing routine by in the South Pacific, the Atlantic, doubt that swimming is important,
favorites because of pitching super- day, October 18 with an invading Dwight "Atlas" Davis will follow and the Mediterranean battle areas. ask any survivor who had to learn
By means of this conference it out there the hard way!
iority, and their ace did not let them top notch punch crew from Vallejo the hot licks of the T. I. band while
method, Lt. A. N. Higgins is able
down pitching a beautiful game testing the wares of the highly the San Francisco Nitery will
to constantly . keep the current
with able support from Renner who touted Armed Guard team. Combin- supply girls and more girls in an
drove in two of the three runs. ing with this gala boxing affair eye filling floor show. Don't forget, swimming program on a practical BLOOD, SWEAT, NO TEARS
Industrial Nabs Second Game will be an assortment of entertain- October 18, in the T. I. gymnasium Navy basis. Ideas and theories that The RMS WAVES have done it
Armed Guard had ideas of mak- ment, featuring a hand balancing at 1900. are found to be faulty are discarded again! This is their story and they
ing it two in a row, but Industrial act, bag punching expert, top.flight and practical and proven methods were stuck for it. On Friday, Oc-
changed them pretty quick pushing floor show and swaying rhythm are introduced as soon as they can tober 6, the following Navy lasses,
across a pair of runs in the open- from the T. I. band. Billiards Champ, Andrew be learned. The best source for this under the supervision of Ens. Wini-
ing innings. Armed Guard tied up To stop the onslaught of this information is available only from fred Scott, reported to the Blood
the ball game with a two run dangerous Vallejo sock squad, the survivors themselves, and that Bank to generously donate one pint
splurge in the fourth only to have Ponzi, Fascinates Sailors is where it is obtained. each of the liquid gold: Y2c E>oro-
Coaches Weinroth and Metkovich
Industrial push a c r o s s three will throw their best boys into the With Educated Cue Chief Specialists Sanford, Oker, thy Hensler and Jay Witz,· SK2c
counters to make it 5-2. A pep talk fray in an effort to bring home the and Lewis, who are in charge of Helen Chevallier, Slc Jane Burnett
must have resulted because· the bacon. Headlining the card will be When Andrew Ponzi of Phila- the advanced swimming instruc- and Katherine Mousettee, S2c, Lois
game A. G. nine came right back in a rematch, pitting Archie "Sledge- delphia came to T. I. on October tion at the_ Treasure Island Train- Murdock and Beth Pedersen. For
the last inning to score three runs hammer" Rasley against the best 10, 11 and 12 with his bag of bi!- ing Center, were able to learn quite some it was the first "touch," for
of their own to force the game into liard playing tricks, officers and a few new angles about combat others the third and fourth. In
licks o{ Eddie Drawn. Incidentally
extra innings. Tollin and Haock of the only loss recorded on the Ras- enlisted men alike saw a fellow who swimming which will immediately realizing the urgency and impor-
Industrial ganged up on the be- ley maul wagon was registered by learned to play pocket billiards be included in the current swim- tance of blood donations in the fu-
wildered foe knocking in a set of with a broken arm, and who, al- ming program. Ever since the ture saving of lives of wounded
this same Drawn who decisioned
. runs in the eight to sew up the ball him in his first effort. Rasley has though he was blind for six months Treasure Island pool was commis- men and wom,en "over there," these
game 7-5. been priming for this bout for a sioned, about eighteen months ago, WAVES are to be signally com-
A. G. Gets Transf-usion solid month and his time isn't ex- the staff has been giving instruc- mended for their willingness and
tions in abandon ship procedure, noble spirit to give. We salute you,
A desperate Industrial club try- pected to be wasted.
ing for a knock out early in the As a feature of the evening, the flotation methods at sea, survival RMS WAVES!
game, rung up 3-0 lead in the World's Champion bag puncher, swimming and water combat meth-
ods. All of this advanced instruc- Two Texas recruits were as-
first four innings of the final con- will rattle the light bags as you
tion can also be generally classified signed to help build a boat. One
test witb things looking pretty have never seen before. Sam Slav-
under the headings of functional recruit would drive a nail into the
gloomy for the Barracks D boys. ich by name is undefeated in . 25
swimming or warfare aquatics. The side, then throw the next nail over
Armed Guard came right back in years time and his assault on an
swimming program on Treasure Is- his shoulder. When this continued
their half of the fifth with a two assortment of bags at one time is
land has been highly commended for some time the other recruit
run splurge and then scored an- expected to be the evening's high-
by the 12th Naval District Physical asked, "What's the idea of throw-
other one in the seventh as a result light. Slavich is also introducing
Training · Department and is con- ing all those nails away?"
of a walk by Glassup, Metkovicll his latest invention for the first
sidered to be one of the best in the "They have the heads on the
sacrificing him to second and Silvas time, the musical punching bag.
country today. wrong end," came the answer.
singling him across the plate with Old tunes such as "Old Black Joe",
Every- officer and enlisted man "Oh, you crazy fool!" exclaimed
the tying ·run. With the game now ."Bells of St. Mary's", and the "Beer
who is preparing for sea duty the other. "Save all those kind! We
in extra innings Armed Guard took Barrel Polka" will be_ thumped out
should see to it that he avails him- can use them on the other side of
matters into their own hands, with by this old timer in his symphony
self of this aquatic training before the boat."
Gonzales singling, and Reyes doubl- in leather. In perfect coordination,
ing him home. Reyes was a little Sam will punch from three to seven
over anxious in trying to stretch it bags at once using his head, hands,
tagged out to end the stanza. elbows and knees. Chiefs Get First-Hand Information On Ship Sinkings
A ndrew Ponzi •
during his boyhood, C!l,ptured
championship of the :world in a
sport that requires very keen eye-
sight.
The interesting story of Andrew
Ponzi relates that he lost his· sight
when a boy of eight years, regain-
ing it six months later due to a
surgeon's skill. It was nine years
later, however, before he began to
play pocket billiards and it was a
broken arm that introduced him to
the game.
Andy rE!calls that he was a
messenger boy in Philadelphia and
one day he stuck his arm out of a
street car window, only to have a
truck crush the arm against the
side of the car. With his arm in a
cast, he whiled away his time in a
church recreation room, where he
was exposed to pocket billiards.
Soon, even though his right arm
was still in a cast, Andy could beat
all the other kids tn th~ neighbor- PICTURED HERE ARE EIGHT SURVIVORS, happy to be able to tell their in-
dividual experiences to these three Chief Petty officers from the Physical Fitness and
hood shooting balls into pockets. Training Office, and hoping that others will profit by their pointers to help the train-
From that unusual start, Ponzi ing program. Left to right standing: Marvin G. Hall, RMlc, Rock Island, Ill.; William
B. Close, Cox, Cleveland, 0 . ; Roland J. Cotty, GM2c, Newark, N. J.; Albert S. Prosser,
went on to win the championship of RM2c, Georgetown, Mass. ; Harris J. Williams, Cox, Baton Rouge, La. Seated, left to
right: C. G. Sanford, CSp (A); Thomas J . Thorp, QM2c, Atlantic City, N. J.; C. - K.
BAG MUSICIAN-56-year-old Sam Slavich standing beside his beloved the world in pocket billiards on Oker, CSp (A) ;_ Joseph N. Mungo, Cox, Worchester, Mass.; W. B. Lewis, Jr., CSP (A) ;
Kenneth A. Austin, RM3c, Minneapolis, Minn. Inset: Lt. A. N. Higgins, Physical Fit-
bags during the era of 1911, three different occasions. ness Office1. -