Opportunity Is About Thru Knocking

WE'VE BEEN stressing the importance of boxing instruction to every enlisted man for some time. Now we'll add a little fat to the fire by passing on what a former world lightweight champion has to say about it:

"Boxing should be made compulsory for every serviceman in the American armed forces!"—that from Lieut. Benny Leonard.

Speaking at Camp Pickett, Va., recently Lieut. Leonard emphasized the significance of the sport to sailors. "When a ship gets hit," he said, "they don't go haywire. They've been hit on the nose before, and they've learned how to take it. Every man sticks to his post with his head high, his brain working smoothly and his eyes open."

Chief Specialist Reginald Stent, himself an ex-pugilist, who has been diligently working under Lieut. R. E. "Dick" Johnson, in coaching the boxing classes aboard the Pasco NAS, has this to say: "With the very evident signs that within a short time most of the able-bodied men on this station will be sent to sea-duty, it is the duty of every man, while there is time, to take a inventory of his physical condition."

"For your own safety," advises Chief Stent, "spend the remainder of your time aboard this station getting fit. Boxing will provide that extra lung power, heart power, muscle power that may bridge the narrow gap between life and death."

There you have it. Advice from two former fighters. Each who realize the full import of the job that lies ahead. They realize the odds are against you if you're not in shape. "The Good Ship Opportunity" is about to set sail. For your sake and the sake of your loved ones, don't miss it!

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GORDY'S GABB . . .

Just because their baseball equipment has been tucked away, didn't mean sports were taboo with Don White and Steve Ananicz ... the two Flyer players have taken up Softball and have been sparking Recreation's team ... the NAS Band team his [sic] improved as much on the diamond as they have on the networks ... last week's softball play brought the prodigal Flight One team back into the fold ... wonder if Chief Newkirk's "R" One boys will follow suit? ... with a smoker on tap ... our corner comes up with a suggestion for a ring "natural" ... a match between Harold "Suds" Lewis and Larry Nicolich ... how about that? ... Jackie Souders advises that the two most rabid tennis fans on the campus are A and R Mechanics Frank Roddie and Beverly (the WAVE) Reed ... Society notes: two sports figures tread the altar-bound paths in the coming weeks ... Umpire Oscar Wheeler takes the fatal leap in Yakima, on July 25 and ex-Portland gridder "Gabby" Matthews turns the trick in Portland early in August ... the mystery of "when is the NAS swimming pool going to open?" has us perplexed too ... tip; by August 10 for sure!

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P. S. ON THE FLYERS ...

Chief Johnny Akos brings in a postscript on the Pasco Flyers as Published in the Bremerton News-Searchlight: "Yes, the WAVES will replace the talented Flyers, but not on the baseball diamond. Baseballdom will long remember the boys in blue whose ability on the diamond netted thousands and thousands of dollars for recreation equipment which was turned over to servicemen throughout the Northwest and Alaska" ... which reminds us ... one of the last official acts of the Flyer team was to send a beautiful Navy floral piece to the men and patients at the U. S. Naval Hospital at Seattle....

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SPORTS CIRCUITING ...

Induction of Willie Pep gives the Navy four world boxing champs. They are Featherweight Pep, Welterweight Freddy "Red" Cockrane [sic], Middleweight Tony Zale and Light Heavyweight Gus Lesnivich [sic] ... the Army, however, still has the Number One fighter Sgt. Joe Louis and the Marines have the Number One fighting fighter, Sgt. Barney Ross ... Lieut. Johnny Druze, baldheaded end and captain of Fordham's famed Seven Blocks of granite team in 1937, is leaving the Naval Pre-Flight School in Athens, Ga. to join his former coach, Lieut. Comdr. Jimmy Crowley in Auckland, New Zealand...

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Here's a look at the front page of The Sky-Writer for Wednesday, July 20, 1943.