Sport: Scoreboard, Jan. 2, 1956

¶ The National High School Federation looked back over its football season and reported a grim fact: six youngsters died as a result of injuries. Heads hitting against the ground, knees or helmets accounted for four fatal concussions; one player died of a fractured vertebra; the sixth died of a ruptured kidney. There was scant consolation in the discovery that the death rate of .90 per 100,000 players was the second lowest on record. Lowest: 1952, with .77 per 100,000.

¶ Twin Football Stars Harry and Robert Beaube of Gadsden, Ala.'s Emma Sansom High School looked so good to an Auburn (Alabama Polytechnic Institute) coach that he offered the boys $500 each to make a run-of-the-mill athletic scholarship look a little more attractive. Southeastern Conference Commissioner Bernie Moore promptly fined Auburn $2,000 for violating recruiting rules. (So far as the conference is concerned, the twins may sign with any school but Auburn.) Said Auburn President Ralph B. Draughon: "In our opinion, the rivalries in the recruiting of athletes in Alabama are reminiscent of the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, or of the feuds of the Hatfields and McCoys. [Auburn] apologizes to the Southeastern Conference."

¶ Wringing still a few more figures out of their record books, baseball's statisticians discovered that five of the best nine pitchers in the American League were lefthanders. Best of all was the Chicago White Sox's Billy Pierce, who had an earned-run average of 1.97. Yogi Berra, Yankee catcher who was Most Valuable Player for the third time, led the American League in catching errors. Yogi made 13 misplays for an average of .984.