Stars & Stripes

Everybody but Hollywood had scouted hula-hipped Herman ("The German") Wedemeyer, St. Mary's Hawaiian-born 170-lb. halfback. An All-America sophomore last year, he had turned down $20,000 from the football pros this spring. Two big-league baseball clubs--the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs--had been after him. So were several sharp-eyed West Coast fight managers, who thought he was a natural boxer. Last week, making his Manhattan debut against Fordham before 30,798 Polo Grounds fans, Weddmeyer, a quadruple-threat man, ran, kicked, blocked--and threw three touchdown passes.

St. Mary's smart Coach Jimmy Phelan explained it: "He's a cross between Pavlova and Sonja Henie . . . and he has that Hawaiian rhythm." (Wedemeyer is half German, half Hawaiian.) In the fourth quarter, when a Fordham quick kick sailed over his head, Wedemeyer chased it back to his 30-yard line, then, as tacklers converged on him, kicked the ball right back. It rolled dead on Fordham's five. So flustered was Fordham that its quarterback called for a forward pass on the next play, pitched it smack into the arms of a St. Mary's player who calmly stepped off twelve yards for another touchdown. Score: St. Mary's 33, Fordham 2.

It was mid-season last week, and time for the stars of 1946 to be showing their stripes. Some standouts: P: Army's Doc Blanchard, whose bad knee had started rumors that he was all through, proved it wasn't so by galloping to four touchdowns against unbeaten Columbia. Partner Glenn Davis played as healthy a game as ever. P: Illinois' Buddy ("Black Magic") Young, pre-season favorite who hadn't measured up to his advance billing, finally came to life. Young got off a 34-yard touchdown run which helped Illinois beat Wisconsin 27-to-21. P: Georgia's big firecracker Halfback Charlie Trippi failed to go off against the Oklahoma Aggies (he was held to a mere 21 yards), but Georgia won anyway, 33-to-13. P: Fullback Bobby Layne, who is deep in the heart of Texas' fans, got stopped cold by Arkansas' big line, took to the air and pitched one 45-yard pass, another 50-yarder for touchdowns. P: A big Armenian (220 Ibs.) named Alexander ("The Great") Sarkisian loomed large in the of Northwestern's line and helped hold favored Michigan to a 14-to-14 tie.

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