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TORCH CONTINUES UP VALLEYBy EDDIE LOPEZThe second leg of the sacred Olympic flame’s journey through the San Joaquin Valley began at 8 o’clock this morning in, front of Bakersfield’s City Hall as lunners from McFarland, Delano, Porterville, Hanford, Tulare and Visalia hand-carried the symbol of worldwide sports unity to its third overnight resting place at Tulare.lt;r?ffte Baket'oficlfr CdiforuiaaThursday, Feb. 4, 1960 31Frick AsksChange inHaSI VotingBy MILTON RICHMANThe voting for baseball's Hall of Fame drew a big blank again today—meaning no one was elected for the second straight time— and Commissoner Ford Frick says it may be high time to i change the system of balloting.President Joe Cronin of the! American League agreed with Frick that “some new procedure | ! .should lie adopted,” although Na-jtional League President Warren j Giles said the latest failure to elect anyone to the shrine at Coop-erstown, N.Y., “doesn’t necessarily indict the whole system.”No One CloseNot only wasn’t anyone elected this time, but no one even came close despite the fact a record number of 269 members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America took part in the balloting.Ed Roush, former Cincinnati outfielder, polled the best among the 129 players receiving votes. He got 146 votes, still far short of the necessary 202 minimum needed for election. Sam Rice, one-time Washington and Cleveland outfielder, was runner-up with 143 votbs, followed by former Philadelphia and Cincinnati pitcher Eppa Itixey with 142 votes.Roush’s Last Chance?Unless the rules are changed, the balloting marked Roush’s last chance at the Hall of Fame in a vote by the writers although he still may be enshrined by a special old-timers committee. Only those players active for at least 10 seasons between 1930 and 1954 were eligible in the latestA throng of about 1,000 spectators greeted the arrival of one of Kern County’s Olympic torchbearers, Robert Johnson of Bakersfield High, on the east side of the City Hall yesterday afternoon. Fifty cross-country runners from Arvin, Bakersfield High, East High, Garces, Shatter, South High, Taft and Wasco transported the flame from Gorman to Bakersfield. Each athlete ran approximatelyone mile. Some snow flurries and a heavy downpour made it rough on the first runners at Gorman yesterday morning.The torch relay also marked the official opening of a $7,700,-000 stretch of new freeway on U.S. Highway 99' over the Tehachapi mountains, more popularly referred to as the Grapevine. The T-shirted torchbearers were the first traffic to travel the new strip, escorted by a California Highway Patrol radio car.Participating in today’s phase of the relay to Squaw Valley for the VIII Winter Olympics will be Delano’s Leamon King, world record co-holder for the 100-yard dash and a member of the 1956 gold medal 800-meter relay team at Melbourne, Australia, and Tulare’s Sim Iness, 1952 Olympic discus champion, and Bob Mathias,1948 and 1952 Olympic decathlon champion.King was among the sports and civic dignitaries who greeted the torch’s Delano City Hall arrival at 11:30 this morning. After a brief civic reception, the torch continued to Tulare for an overnight stop. The torch leaves Tulare at 8 a.m. tomorrow for another stop at Fresno.The flame began Its unique—Californian PhotoOLYMPIC TORCH ARRIVES—Robert Johnson of Bakersfield High carries Olympic torch into Bakersfield for overnight stop. Johnson won Kern County cross-country title last season.MAYOR LIGHTS REPLICA—Mayor Frank Sullivan ignites replica of Olympic torch, which will burn day and night in front of City Hall until Squaw Valley Winter Olympics ore completed.HAPPY TORCHBEARERS—Pictured are the 50 Kern County high school cross-country runners who carried Olympic torch from Gorman to Bakersfield. Over 1,000 persons greeted—Californian Photoarrival of torch at Bakersfield City Hall, where a civic reception feted the symbol of sports unity throughout the world. The torch made a brief stop at Delano today.7,009-mile journey Sunday morning in the cabin of Sondre Nordheim, Norway’s first important skier, in the little village of Morgedal, just outside of Oslo. The flame, housed in an asbestos box, was jet-flown from Oslo to Los Angeles for a short helicopter hop to the | Coliseum. Before the flame is : placed in the Tower of Nations I at Squaw’ Valley on Feb. 14, it Continued on Page 33, Col. 2 ^Lundquist Named fortSports CupCalifornian New s ServiceARVIN—Three-sport athlete and student body president Gene Lundquist has been selected to receive the best all-around Arvin High athlete, who is a graduate of Sunset School, award during the 12th annual Sunset School Father and Sons Banquet on Feb. 18.Lundquist, a senior, will have received 13 letters in by the time he graduates in June, according to athletic director Frank Barle. Lundquist has lettered in varsity track and basketball and class B football.Considered a good student as well as a student leader, Lundquist is the brother of ex-Bakersfield College football star Bob Lundquist. a former assistant coach at North High.Lundquist ran class A and B track last season, but ran in enough dual meets to receive a class A monogram. He ran the class B 1,320 and pole vaulted in class A. He was a halfback on the lightweight football team.During one year at Arvin High, Lundquist lettered in four sports — football, basketball, track and swimming—before the ruling against four-sport participation wag legislated.Many of Arvin’s most-celebrated athletes have won the coveted Sunset School trophy in former years. Ken Gibson was last year’s winner.Other major awards to be presented at the Dads and Sons get-together will be Ray Newman, Bakersfield College football coach, Kern County’s outstanding sports personality of the year, and Lonzo Hill Bakersfield High, winner of the Jim Tyack Award, which is symbolic of being acclaimed the No. l all-around prep athlete in the county.I 1
Newspaper Details
Bakersfield Californian
Bakersfield, California, US
Thu, Feb 04, 1960
Page 29
Full Page
Clipped by
Benjamin S.
WI, USA 04 Jun 2024
Other Publications Near Bakersfield, California
The Berkshire County Eagle
Southern Californian and Kern Weekly Courier
The Weekly Californian
Kern County Californian
Daily Californian
