Drake's Ground-Gainer

Iowa's Drake University football team (six wins, two losses, one tie this year) seldom makes headlines outside its own Missouri Valley Conference. But last year, in Sophomore Halfback Johnny Bright, Drake had the leading ground-gainer in U.S. football: 1,950 yards in rushes and completed passes. Last week Drake fans by the hundreds drove up to Ames to see what broad-hipped Johnny Bright would do against Iowa State and saw one of the great individual performances of the year.

Twisting, churning and pounding through Iowa State's line and around the ends, big (6 ft., 200 Ibs.) Halfback Bright ran for four touchdowns, one of them a 71-yard sprint, passed to End Tom Bienemann for a fifth. Final score: Drake 35,

Iowa State 21. In rushing and passing, Bright had gained 229 yards in 35 plays (including seven out of eleven pass completions) to bring his total yardage in the nine-game season to an even 2,400. It was an alltime national record. Old record: 2,187 yards, set in 1942 by Georgia's All-America Frank Sinkwich.

Because he plays in one of college football's minor leagues, Halfback Bright may be passed over by the All-America selectors, but the pros have not overlooked him. The professionals cannot make direct offers without violating the rule book, but they can send him questionnaires. So far, Bright has received questionnaires from the New York Giants, the Los Angeles Rams, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Cleveland Browns and the Green Bay Packers. With his senior year still ahead of him, Johnny Bright is in no hurry, but he does hope to play the pro game for a while. A Negro, and a serious student (B-average) who is majoring in sociology and physical education, Bright says: "I want to get my master's degree with pro football paying the bills. I want to do work with kids, social work, recreation and coaching. I've always liked to work with kids."

* Named for the town of Lipizza, near Trieste, onetime site of the old Habsburg stud farm.

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