NEWCOMER AMONG THE MAJORS

If the distinction between major and minor sports is accepted as a valid premise, there is every reason to accept a new applicant for major ranking. Most significant of the criteria upon which the Athletic Committee basis its conclusions concerning a "major sport" is the amount of interest it arouses in the College. AT present there is only one winter major sport--hockey--and its popularity is unquestioned in New England. During the past two years however, there has been a phenomenal growth in another sport--basketball. Tonight over two thousand people jam the stands to watch the game with Yale, tonight Harvard basketball will conclude its most successful season.

Harvard is the only large college in the country which still designates basketball as a minor sport. Yale, too, has kept her hoop artists in the minor league, but reliable authorities agree that basketball will be a major there before the start of the next season.

Until the past few years, the interest which this sport commanded was negligible. Neither the College at large nor even many of the players themselves cared to give more than a half-hearted whoop in Hades concerning its activity. Since then two events have intervened; first, Harvard joined the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League, second, a thoroughly competent coach was appointed.

Starting almost from scratch, Coach Fesler has built up an organization which has captured student fancy. Large crowds turned out for a number of the games, including many who had never seen a basketball game before but who found their first experience stimulating. Today basket is sufficiently important to be accorded the recognition given to hockey and baseball.