Basketball Becomes the Sixth Major College Sport by Ruling

As the Committee on the Regulation of Athletic Sports voted swift approval of petitions submitted by two prominent student organizations. Basketball officially became the University's sixth major sport yesterday.

The action of the directing body following a recommendation of the move on March 25 by the Student Council and the unanimous decision of the Undergraduate Athletic Council on Monday which was hailed with great enthusiasm from all quarters, culminated the drive begun last winter when Yale raised a similar protest against the sport's remaining in a minor position among other college athletics.

Members of the Committee

Faculty members of the group which handed down yesterday's ruling are William J. Bingham '16, Director of Athletics, Chairman; Dean Hanford '17; Chester N. Greenough '98, instructor in English; and Arlie V. Bock, Henry K. Oliver Professor of Hygiene. Graduates on the Committee are William Edmunds '00, George Whitney '07, and Charles C. Buell '23; while George S. Ford '37, Walter B. Page, 2nd '37, and Robert B. Watson '37 represent the undergraduates.

First to be considered a major sport was rowing, the others being in order of their approval baseball, football, track, and hockey. The latter was given a first rating in 1913. With the move of the Athletic Committee colleges in the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League, which includes Princeton, Dartmouth, Pennsylvania, Cornell, and Columbia, almost unanimously recognize the activity on a par with football and other chief sports.

Council Urges Measure

Final student pressure which carried behind it the rising popular interest in the game was brought to bear on the Committee on Monday when the Undergraduate Athletic Council reached their decision unanimously at the Faculty Club. Ernest a. Gray, Jr. '37, captain of this year's team, quoted figures to prove the popularity of the sport and pointed out the advisability of the measure by claiming that 430 men participated in Basketball this winter in some form or another. He also announced an increase of 35 in candidates for the Varsity quintet since Harvard joined the League.

The new ruling which will take effect beginning next fall comes at the end of one of the most brilliant seasons in the history of the game. Against Yale the hoopstern this year netted one game, dropped another.VERNON H. STRUCK '38 From Major to Major Struck will lead the first major Basketball Team in the History of the Sport at Harvard.