Scorecard

FOUL PLAY

Buddy Harris, a 6-foot 6-inch center for Roxborough High and the leading scorer in Philadelphia's Public League, committed his fifth personal foul in a game last week against Olney High in the first minute of the second quarter.

Ordinarily, Harris would have fouled out and been limited to seven points, far under his 32-point average. But Harris kept on playing—and fouling.

By the end of the game, which Roxborough won 66-64, Harris had scored 34 points, had been whistled for walking with the ball seven times and had committed six offensive fouls, five defensive fouls and one technical foul.

The Public League, you see, is playing under the much-praised Nucatola Rule, suggested by Johnny Nucatola, supervisor of officials for the Eastern College Athletic Conference. It allows a player who has committed his fifth foul to remain in the game; the penalty for any foul after the fifth personal is loss of the ball after the foul shots.

One of the most vehement opponents of the Nucatola Rule happened to be at the game. He is Bucky Harris, a well-known former Philadelphia coach who is also Buddy's father. "It's ridiculous," the elder Harris fumed. "The rule gives kids a reason to foul. They can do anything and still play." As for his son's 34-point performance and Roxborough's win, Harris said, "It was horrible. I've seen a million basketball games, but nothing as ridiculous as that."

CROSSCURRENTS IN SAN DIEGO

Whether the San Diego Chargers get to keep Ernie Ladd and Earl Faison or not, the team seems to be in trouble. Despite two successive division championships, the Chargers have only once drawn a capacity crowd in San Diego. The team this winter has lost 16 of its first 20 draft choices. Further, its refusal or inability last summer to give Ladd and Faison raises totaling only $7,000 prompted that dissatisfied pair to play out their options and create the op�ra-bouffe situation that exploded last week (Faison and Ladd were traded to Houston and then returned to San Diego after Coach Sid Gillman's claim that Houston had "tampered" with his players was upheld by Commissioner Joe Foss). Now reports persist that local stockholders are disenchanted and are trying to dispose of their stock.

The one big thing still going for the Chargers is the new stadium the city is about to build. Rumors that it was being shelved are not true, and work is supposed to begin in the near future. The stadium could save the Chargers.

PLEASED AS PUNCH