|
Honors
1941 Players:
Joe Lyman, Pvt McConnaughey (Detroit Lions)
AP Reprint:
RADIO INTO FOOTBALL
Lawrence Journal-World - Oct 9, 1941
Army's 41st Division Coaches to Use "Walkie?Talkies"
___________
"Calling Coach Tuttle! Calling Coach Tuttle!
Pull Hank Smith out of left guard! He's been letting too many men
thru! That is all."
The army's new technique in radio communications
has reached the football field and if the idea spreads, you can be on
the lookout for plenty of complications.
The experiment is to be made Sunday, for the first
time on any gridiron, when coaches of the army's 41st division football
team try out two "walkie-talkie" radio sets during a game between the
soldiers and the Boeing Aircraft team of Seattle.
The plan is this: Lieut. Loren W. Tuttle,
head coach, will pace up and down the side lines with a walkie-talkie
strapped to his back. Assistant Coach John Hackenbruck will perch
on the roof of the press box with another portable set.
From his vantage point Hackenbruck, former Oregon
State and Detroit Lions star, will try to spot plays and openings not
discernible to Tuttle down on the field.
Coaches Tuttle and Hackenbruck will have no
difficulty procuring the necessary equipment, seeing as how the 41st
division uses 100 or more of the portable sets on field maneuvers.
The two way voice sets weigh about 20 pounds and hang on the back like a
knapsack.
Football authorities were approached on the
legality of the idea. They haven't as yet, been able to find any
rules covering suck activities by coaches and assistant coaches - so
long as they don't talk by radio to the players on the field.
* * *
Kicking off the 1942 season against the College of Puget Sound, Fort
Lewis boasted the heaviest center in the area in Private Vaughn Weber.
The 270-pounder played 3 seasons at Western Washington College and was
coach at Tenino High School for the 2 years prior to enlisting in the
army in September. Lt. Col. James A. Lybecker, a halfback with the
91st Division Rose Bowl team of 1917 opened the ceremonies to kick off
the game. Fort Lewis was no match for the Loggers, falling 34-0.
The team was occassionally referred to as "Powder River" in reference to
the 91st Division battle cry in World War I: "Powder River - let 'er
buck! - Ninety-first!" The roots coming from the Wyoming national
guardsmen called up to Fort Lewis (Camp Lewis) during the
Spanish-American War and World War I.
|
