How Colleges Gather In A New Crop

For the past few months the football players shown on the preceding pages have been going through some of the most grueling days of their lives. The best of Pennsylvania's considerable store of schoolboy stars, they have been approached from every direction, in the nighttime as well as the daylight, by fast-talking coaches and alumni who want them to bring these talents to their respective institutions.

Eddie Kostelnik is an example. A tall, good-looking boy with alert eyes and big feet, he graduated at the top of his class at Connellsville (Pa.) High School last week. Kostelnik is glad it's all over. These past few weeks have been exciting ones. One day was particularly frenetic. There was a meeting of the student body (Kostelnik is president) and a meeting of the committee to secure top New York talent for the senior prom (Kostelnik was chairman). He planned to study during lunch hour, as always (he has a 98 average), and to get to track practice right after school (he holds the school record in the shotput, also lettered in basketball, and was captain of the football team).

All of this Kostelnik could have taken in his stride, but on this day there was an unusual amount of outside interference. Four football coaches from four separate universities drove up to the school, unannounced, to see him, and he had to fit them into his already-full schedule. He was late to track practice and when he got home—late, of course—another coach was waiting for him. Kostelnik ate supper and talked to the coach at the same time, then sat down to study. There was a knock on the door: another coach. And at 10 o'clock, when things had finally quieted down, a telephone call. Long distance for Eddie Kostelnik.

That's when Kostelnik finally blew. He threw his books down. "How can I ever get any work done this way?" he cried. During that period he got the only B in his entire high school career.

This has been a terrible time for the Eddie Kostelniks of this country. The pressures on these young men have been enormous. It is surely no secret by now that, without exception, every major college fielding a football team must recruit the members of that team. The livelihood of practically every college coach in the country, and that of their wives and children, depends on how many of these high school stars they can get.

IN A MIST

The boys for their part have been running in circles, and many will continue to spin right up until September. Most are 17 or 18 years old. The parents of many have had little formal education and generally are of no help to their sons in the sophisticated world of higher education and proselytizing. Coaches like Doc Blanchard of Army, Buck Shaw of the Air Force Academy approach the boys with offers of four years of education with pay on the U.S. Government. Coaches from the big football schools can and do wrap up the college campus and hand it to the young stars, who often need only say the word and they are on the next plane for California or Florida.

Probably in no other place in the country is the question, "Which offer shall I take," asked or answered more often than in Pennsylvania. The rugged state extending from the East Coast beyond the Appalachians is by far college football's leading hunting ground. There are about 1,400 high schools playing top-quality football in Pennsylvania, and only, three major state schools—Pittsburgh, Penn State and the University of Pennsylvania—share their output. Texas schools, by contrast, must supply a whole conference of top football teams.

This year 40 players from Pennsylvania high schools were selected on the first seven scholastic All-America football teams or as alternates. Of the 40 boys, only four were considered incapable of doing college work, three still have a year in high school, and three are too small for big-time college ball. Of the rest, five have been contacted by fewer than 10 colleges, six by between 10 and 25 colleges, and 19 boys by over 25 schools. Several have received queries from over 50 colleges. These are the boys with both athletic ability and good classroom marks, for although any star with a high school diploma is sought after by some schools, the bright boy is wanted by all.

Most colleges recruit players along the same general lines. They get the names of prospects from All-America and All-State lists, from alumni and friends, from local papers (the coaching staff at the University of Maryland subscribes to scores of Pennsylvania papers). Most coaches then write to the high school for the prospect's grades; if still interested, they write, telephone or send a representative—assistant coach or a local alumnus—to visit the prospect and invite him to the campus for a weekend, all expenses paid. Here is where the selling begins. And the more mail, long-distance calls and personal visits the boy receives, the more confused he gets.