Football: Mites for Openers

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No one who happened past the practice field in Dallas last summer would have figured that there was anything special about a couple of junior high school kids tossing a football around.

Even the obvious fact that one was Mexican and the other Negro would have excited little interest — unless someone informed the passer-by that Ines Perez the 5-ft. 4-in., 149-lb. Mexican passer and Jerry Levias, the 5-ft. 10-in., 175-Ib. Negro receiver, were not junior high schoolers at all. They were members of the Southern Methodist University varsity. The reaction to that news might well have been utter disbelief.

But college football is a game that frequently defies belief. The 33,000 fans and 18 million TV viewers who watched those mites from S.M.U. upset Texas A. & M. in the opening game of the season will not be surprised if the rest of the season is anticlimax.

So small that half of his jersey number (16) runs down into his pants, Substitute Quarterback Perez came off the bench in the second half to complete ten out of twelve passes for 107 yds. He seemed to be throwing out of a hole. But he managed to get the ball away; coolly he turned the last 43 seconds of the game into the longest moments of the afternoon. With his team behind 17-13 and Levias glassy-eyed from a tackle, Perez made those hot summer practice sessions pay off.

No Memory. Halfback Levias was operating on instinct. Earlier, with his ncredible agility, he had been largely responsible for keeping S.M.U. in the game. Accelerating, turning, shifting speed with deceptive ease, he ran the Texas defenders into angry exasperation. But at the end he was so exhausted that he cannot remember any of :hose final seconds. No one who saw lim can forget. He ran a kickoff back 24 yds. to the A. & M. 42 and caught a pass from Perez that was good for 29 yds. more. Finally, with S.M.U. on the A. & M. six, and only four seconds left, Levias ran a "curlin" pattern that he and Perez had practiced "about 1,000 iines" last summer. He sprinted into he end zone, jumped higher than two defenders, looked back—and there was he ball. Final score: Southern Methodist 20, Texas A. & M. 17.