'47 Sports Forecast Paints Glowing Picture

Like the slow return of washing machines and Buick convertibles to the American scene, College athletics are still throwing off the traces of war-time curtailment in their quest for the elusive goal of "normality."

This fall, for the first time since formal athletics were resumed on a large scale a year ago, that goal is definitely in sight. Coaches who last year were starting from scratch in building new teams out of new talent will have a chance to go much further this year with a solid foundation.

When Dick Harlow greeted the 1947 football squad almost three weeks ago in the opening day of practice, be found a nucleus of 20 returning lettermen and strong prospects from last fall's Freshmen and Chief Boston's undefeated Jayvees. Twelve months ago he made his long awaited return from war service to Soldiers Field on a similar mission to find a mean of unfamiliar talent interspersed with a smattering of 1942 players and members of informal wartime squads, and the opening game scarcely a month away. The resulting seven wins out of nine after such a precarious start were a pleasant surprise to all.

Informal Squads

Other sports were better able to make the transition from war to peace, although many faced particular problems of their own. Hockey, basketball, and baseball teams carried over many players from informal squads of 1945. The skaters, however, ran afoul of Yale and Dartmouth, two faster-developing postwar aggregations which they will have to be pointing for this winter, and the basketball and baseball squads had to become familiar with two new coaches.

Crew Prospects

A bright light in the new era of Crimson athletics is Tom Bolles crew, which rose last spring from its previous informal status to establish itself as one of the top boats in the country and a good hot for the 1948 Olympics.

Schedules were another wartime casualty, particularly for the football team. When the Crimson eleven returned to active duty last fall, many familiar opponents were caught without an open date, and it is hoped that such Ivy League rivals as Penn, Columbia, and Army will be worked in soon again.

The second season of the post-war rennaissance is about to get underway. We are waiting patiently and hopefully for the last wrinkles to be smoothed away.