New Salt

Last year the team had a dismal record of two wins, four defeats and a tie. This season things could well be worse, and they may never get better, for the idea of recruiting a solid tackle or slithering halfback is out of the question. But the U.S. Coast Guard Academy's new coach was content. "Believe me," said Otto Graham, "I couldn't have picked out a better spot if I had sat down and studied offers for two or three years."

There had been plenty of other offers. Shrewd, tough and resourceful, Otto Graham was an All-America tailback at Northwestern University, passed and ran the Cleveland Browns to seven league championships in a glittering ten-year professional career that ended in 1955. Last year, proving he could coach big-time football as well as play it, Graham turned assorted college players into a smooth unit that trounced the world champion Detroit Lions in the annual all-star game, 35-19.

Big Big-Timer Graham was looking for small-time football. "I want to win as much as anyone," he said. "I even want to beat my wife at croquet. But football should be fun--even for the coach. It may sound corny, but I believe that line about 'it doesn't matter who wins or loses--it's how you play the game.' "

Teetotaling, nonsmoking Otto Graham was just the clean-cut man that small-time Coast Guard (enrollment: 625) was looking for. When he got the academy's offer, Graham's first question was: "Where is it?" (Answer: New London, Conn.) But the more questions Graham asked, the more he liked the idea of coaching in a school that selects its students by competitive exams, and where parties and panty raids are no problem. Graham shipped aboard with the rank of commander in the Coast Guard Reserve, last month set about teaching the pro's wide-open passing game to his cadets.

Last week, as college football began across the nation, Coach Graham sent his lightweight Coast Guard team against the hard-nosed recruits of Geneva College (enrollment: 900) in Beaver Falls, Pa. It was no fun--especially for Otto Graham. Hands jammed deep into his pockets, chomping gum furiously, he writhed on the sidelines as Geneva toyed with his cadets. He bellowed frantic warnings ("Pass! It's a pass!"), once barked at officials ("Watch those off sides!").

When an overeager cadet knocked a Geneva back breathless by plowing into him after he had skidded out of bounds, one of the 7,500 up in the tank-town stands mustered enough courage to heckle the great pro star:

"Hey, Graham, do you coach that way?"

Graham spun and glowered: "You think so?"

"Well," replied the heckler meekly, "I didn't think you did."

Final score: Geneva 35, Coast Guard 0. Coach Graham tried to take the debacle in stride; come what may, he is planning to spend the next 20 years at the academy, and the academy is planning to have him. "I'm not worried," said Graham in the dressing room after the game. "Did I seem worried? I wasn't a bit nervous."

P: Picked by many preseason seers to hang on to their national championship, Louisiana State University's Tigers fumed for the first half as Rice's quick-kicks rocked them back on their heels; but they came back in the second half with sturdy, sprinting All-America Halfback Billy Cannon leading the way to win 26-3.

P: Powerhouse Purdue of the lordly Big Ten huffed and puffed against unexpectedly rugged U.C.L.A., rolled up 203 yards on the ground v. U.C.L.A.'s paltry 79, but could not get up enough sustained steam to score, had to settle for a 0-0 tie.

P: Coaching his first game for Navy, Wayne Hardin turned loose a winged-T attack built around the passing of Quarterback Joe Tranchini and the broken-field flair of Halfback Joe Bellino, rolled to an impressive 24-8 victory over butter-fingered Boston College, which had been rated as one of New England's best.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.