State

Coach Carl Suavely He started out as head coach at the Uni¬ versity of North Carolina in 1931. Since then, he has had a most interesting' and highly successful career. IT was a Saturday afternoon back in the fall of 1934. Carl Snavely was nearing the end of his first year at the University of North Carolina. He had compiled a record that was highly gratifying to all Caro¬ lina supporters. He had lost only one game that year, and that was to Tennessee. The Tar Heels had defeated Davidson on this particular Satur¬ day afternoon, 12 to 2, and the next game was to be with Duke the following week-end. The squad was returning to Chapel Hill by train, and the home¬ ward trip was no sooner under way than one of the managers be¬ gan distributing mimeographed copies of instructions, based on scouting reports, for the game with Duke. Thorough Analysis These mimeographed sheets out¬ lined in great detail what the coaches considered the strong and weak points of the Blue Devils. The general characteristics of the Duke squad as a whole were first analyzed — such facts as number of lettermen, the averages in weight, height, and age; the little give¬ aways on certain plays, if any were detected by the scouts; the usual starting lineups and the usual sub¬ stitutions for each man. Then one by one each player was analyzed. His strong and weak point and any peculiar character¬ istics were discussed in consider¬ able detail. To study these reports carefully was the assignment given those Carolina boys that Saturday after¬ noon as the train chugged them back to Chapel Hill. With those reports well digested, the players would be able to begin preparations in earnest for the next game. This may give you an idea of the way Carl Snavely works. Thoroughness — and by thorough¬ ness I mean attention to every lit¬ tle detail — and hard work are, to my mind, the keynote to this man’s success. He tries hard not to miss a trick, and he seldom does. The Chapel Hill Rotary Club made a determined effort recently By BOH M.AIHIY to add him to its membership. Carl was very much interested, was on the verge of joining when he realized that often he would find it difficult getting away from prac¬ tice soon enough to make the Club’s meeting on time. "We often talk things over after practice ends, and I don’t want to feel that I would have to rush away from my assistants in order to get to your meeting, for I know how you fellows are about attendance," he told me. Russ Murphy, backfield coach, who used to belong to Rotary in another town, had to decline an in¬ vitation to join the brethren in Chapel Hill for the same reason. "If the boss can’t get away from work in time to attend the meeting, you can hardly expect me to do so,” he explained. A Hard Worker Yes, this man Snavely is a hard worker, in season and out, day and night. When he’s not coaching, he’s writing letters — to prospects, to alumni, or studying movies of previous games. He uses a dictaphone at home, and he frequently dictates so many letters at night that his secretary doesn’t have time to transcribe all of them the next day. He has at his home a specially equipped room for showing movies, as well as at the gymnasium, and he and Mrs. Snavely and any guests who may be around will often £nd an entire evening going over se pictures, many of them in slow motion, that even the smallest flaws may be detected. He usually has the pictures of his last game ready for the play¬ ers the first of the following week. He is generally credited with being the first coach to use movies extensively in the South. He will not use "bootleg" pictures nor will he use pictures of an opponent taken during the same season he is meeting that opponent. For ex¬ ample, he will use pictures of the 1944 Duke game in preparing for this year's Duke game, but he wouldn’t use pictures of Duke’s games this year in preparing for the 1945 contest. Coach and Mrs. Snavely are sociable enough, but they lead a quiet life at home. The loss of their son, Carl. Jr., a Navy flier, who was lost off the coast of Ire¬ land during the war. was a terrible blow to both of them. He was their only child. Good Golf Player His chief recreation is golf, and he shoots consistently in the high 70’s or low 80’s. He has a big police dog for a pet, and the dog is pretty good at retrieving lost golf balls. He doesn’t drink or smoke and thereby sets a fine example for his players. If he happens upon a cocktail party, he doesn’t embar¬ rass himself or the host. He just sips ginger ale or ice water. Coach Snavely’s people came from Virginia— where his father was at one time a minister— but he was born in Nebraska and grad¬ uated from Labanon Valley Col¬ lege. He has done most of the work for his master’s degree. He’s rather scholarly looking and could easily be taken for a college pro¬ fessor. He began his coaching career at Kiski and Bellefonte prep schools which at the time turned out just about the best prep school teams in the land. He had several unde¬ feated seasons and two of his editions were credited with the na¬ tional scholastic title. His first college assignment was at Bucknell where from 1927 through 1933 he won 42 games, lost 16 and tied 8. During his first two seasons at Carolina he won 15. lost 2 and had one tie. At Cornell, where he coached from 1936 through 1944, he won 46. lost 26, and had three ties. The war years pulled down his high average at Cornell. That gives him a college record to date of 103 wins. 44 losses, and THE STATE. Остове» 13. 1943 25