Everybody Out
For Every
Basketball Game
MAROON AND GOLD
Let’s Back Those
riffhtins
C hristian C'agers
VOLUME 33
I'LOX C'')r,-'rr;T- y p
ttFDXESnAY, .lANlARY 13, 1954
NUMBER 7
Elon Alumni
Of Alciniance
At Banquet
Merriment and good felowship
fpstured tlie anual Isantjuet meet
ing of the Alamance County Chap
ter of the Elon College Alumni
Association which was held in the
collcse dining hall herer at 7:30
ocl'.ck last Wednesday night. Jan-
uaiy Wi'-
The meeting, which was hailed
as being definitely the most suc-
cesful in the history of the local
alumni group, attracted more than
100 former Elon students from
Burlington and other Alamance
Couiitj communities.
Presided ever by Woody Wilson,
Burlington business man, who is
president of the Alamance County
organization, the banquet session
kept serious business affairs to a
minimum, with a program that
emphasized entertainment, of the
light and enjoyable typo, and de
licious food and beautifully deco
rated tables contributed to en
joyment of all present.
The invocation was by Dr. -John
G. Truitt, with the alumni g.^estt
welcomed back to the Elon campus
by Mrs. Scott Boyd, Elen's alum
ni secretary. Greetings were also
extended by Dr. Leon E. SnilLh.
Elon College president, and by
William B. Terrell, of Warrenton
who is president of the General
Alumni Association of the col
lege.
A special feature of the ban
quet was the presentation of mis
cellaneous gifts from the alumni
to Prof. and Mrs. A. L. Hook, who
are at this time beginning con
struction of a new home to replace
the one which was destroyed by
fire early last fall. The presenta
tion was made by Eugene A. Gor
don, Burlington attorney, who ex
tended the greetings and good
wishes from Elon aiumni in tliis
area.
Prof. John Foster West, Elon
faculty member from tlie college’s
English Department, who is known
for his activities as a writer and
poet, brought roars of laughter
from the alumni audience with a
humorous address that climaxed
the evening program.
His address followed a series of
musical numbers and skits, which
had been presented by Elon stu
dents under the direction of Prof.
John Westmoreland. The student
program included two skits by La-
verne Brady, a senipr girl of Ilob-
Wns, and four musical numbers
by student singers.
First of the musical offerings
was ■■You'll Never Walk Alone,”
rendered in entrancing style by a
tliorus of more than thirty student
singers. Tliis was followed by
The Bitterness of Love,” tenor
solo by Jerry Smyre of Greens-
boro, Take Joy Home,” by Ju-
dith Ingram, soprano soloist, also
of Greensboro; and by ‘Make Be-
with the two soloists in
^net combination. Accompanying
TYPICAL SNAPSHOTS OF FOiniEK ELO\ FOOTBALL STAR AND PRO HOXEK
Pictuied abo\e in two shots that .jp.fied his athletic career is Joe Colombek. a former Elon foot'iall great, whose mysterious dea h was discovered when liis body
\,as unccvtiet. in a lonely grave on Long Island just before Christmas. Golombek. who came to E on from Portsmouth, Va., is pic ured at the left in an lilon uni
form in tlic period during the late ’thirties when he was staning and earning All-State honors as a Christian fullback
grid star and boxer whil^ he was fighting as a professional boxer in the Norfolk-Portsmouth area in eastern Virginia
portrays graphically Golomhek's trcmcndcus strength.
A later sh t on the right pictures the big
Taken as a publicity 'unt -hot. that picture
all the
singers at the piano was
Shirley Cox. of
Elon College.
Church Speaker
t^oiiiing To Eloii
Elden Mills, pastor of the
“■“t Congregational Christian
West Hartford, Conn., one
^ outstanding religious speak-
and leaders in his field, will
PPsar on the Elon Campus for a
Mies of services during the week
^Sinning February 8th and end-
“8 February I4th.
Appearing as a representative
he Home Board of the Congre-
Christian Church in
■ rica Dr. Mills will speak to
Elon student body in chapel
each morning during his
Former
The mysterious death of a for
mer Elon football star, whose body
was discovered by New York po
lice in a lonely grave on Long
Island sent the name of Elen Col
lege rocketing over Associated
Press wires to the front pages of
newspapers from coast to coast
during the Christmas holidays.
The body of the man. later iden
tified as Joe Golombek. once a
brilliant fullback for the Fighting
Christian football squad, was dis-1
covered on Tuesday, December
22nd. and the first stories hit the|
afternoon newspapers the follow-1
day. while the New Y’ork authori-j
ties were still seeking to estab-1
lish the identity of the slain man.'
Identity was established within!
twenty-four hours, and the morn-,
ing papers on Thursday, Decern- j
ber 24th, carried Associated Press;
dispatches which stated definitely
that the slain man was Joe Gol-j
ombek, the former resident of ,
Portsmouth, Va., who won football
laurels at Elon College, later ■
fought as a profesional boxer and j
then chose a career as a soldier
in the United States Amy Air
Forces. '
The first news stories told how
New York police, following up a,
tip contained in an unsigned let-|
ter, uncovered Golombek's body j
in a shallow grave in a remote
clearing, not far from Long;
Island’s Great South Bay, and thej
lone clue at first as to his identity!
was an Elon College ring for the
Class of 1947, which bore the nni-
tials “J. G.” inside.
The authorities also had evi
dence from the unsigned letter,
which had been addressed to the
commander of the Westover Air
Force Base, Chicopee Fall, Mass.,
and which stated that the dead
man had been in the Army Air
Forces. Search of his clothing al
so revealed a cleaners tag fromj
Portsmouth, Va, ■ |
The Greensboro Daily Newsj
staff upon receipt of the press
dispatches, contacted Elon College
authorities on W'ednesday after
noon, December 22nd, and a
check of alumni records disclosed
that the only graduate either 1947
or 1948 whose_ initials were ”J.
G.’ was Golombek, and the same
alumni records disclosed that the
big athlete had been in the Army
Air Forces at latest report and
that he had been originally from
Portsmouth. His Air Force serial
number, as recorded here in 1948,
were forwarded to the news agen
cy on the chance that it might
lead to identification through the
finger prints in the War Depart
ment files.
In the meantime, however, iden-
Elon Athlete Is Mysteriously Slain
Body Of Joe Golombek Discovered
On Lono^ Island; Death Unsolved
lification had been made that battered too badly to be recog- friends in Brooklyn. They also
same day by the statements of nized. : stated that at the time of the visit
two of Golombek’s friends in New ] The two friends, David Rosen, Golombek was on a 12-day pass
Y’ork, who were located through, 24, and James Johnson. 23. told I from Westover Air Force Base,
a telephone number written on police that they last saw Golom- ' where he had been stationed
a scrap of paper in the slain man’s I bek on November 8th when he' A check with Air Force offi-
pocket. They identified him main-; had visited them in their Man-!cials at Westove» revealed that
ly from clothing and body cha- hattan hotel, at which time he the big sergeant had departed on
racteristics, since his head was; had told them he planned to visit the 12-day leave on November 4th,
GOLOMBEK AT ELON
Elon lUans
Fifth HifrJi
School Da\
my
Elon College will award eight
tree .scholar^llipN, with a total
value of S4.400. a^ a feature of the
j college’s fifth anual "High School
Day,” which will ut' (.tj.-,i.'rved on
the Elon ( anipu.-. c.. \'i e,lnL iday,
February 3.
i The'ii' ^cholai'shipT will be
' equally divided between Ijoys and
girls, with the top winniis in each
group to crowned as ■King and
Queen” of the day’s festivities.
The scholarship awards were first
made at the Annual "High School
Day ” last year, and there was
widespread interest in the con
test.
I Invitation.'- are now being mail-
I ed to more than 300 high schools
in North Carolina and Virginia
with each school inviled to send
u.-. enure senioi^ clas^ to be the
^lue.sts of Elon College for the
uay and with each school invitod
to enter one boy and one girl in
the contest for the eigiit scholar
ships.
Details of the scholarship con
test are being enclosed with eaca
invitation. cUing tlie fact that
competition will feature the fields
of scholarship, poise, personality
and appearance.
; Top awards for both boys and
i girls will be $1,000 scholarships
to apply on a four-year coursu
at Elon College, while other scho
larships in the amounts of $600,
$400 and $200 will go to boys and
girls who place second, third and
fourth in tlieir respective divi
sions.
! Plans for the fifth annual event
iare incharge of a faculty commit
tee, which is working with Roger
“Who was Joe Golombek?"
Such was the question on the
tongues of many preyent-day
Elon students when they read
in their newspapers of Golom-
bek’s mysterious death and the
discovery of his body in a shal
low grave near Long Island’s
eastern tip Just before Christ
mas.
And those same dispatches,
which brought a question to the
lips of more recent Elon stud
ents and faculty members, also
set the minds of many Elon
alumni and faculty members and
Elon townspeople spinning back
ward along the trails of memory
to the time when the name of
the big Danish immigrant boys
was known to virtually every
sports fan in this area.
Interviews with many of those
former Elon students and with
the faculty members who knew
big Joe Golombek resulted in
widely differing stories, and a
composite of all their opinions
might well be condensed into a
thumb-nail sketch wiiich says
that “Joe Golombek was a sort
of Jekyll-and-Hyde personahty
an aesthete who played the
violin with skill and tender feel
ing and who could listen alone
for hours to the mu-sic of the
cliBSsical masters—an athleU®
who loved physical combat and
who could and did rip enemy
football lines to shreds,”
A check into the Elon Col
lege records reveals that Joe
Golombek first came to the Elon
campus in the fall of 1937 from
Portsmouth, Va., a husky boy
who tipped the scales at 200
pounds or more, who stepped
at once into a regular berth at
fullback for Coach Horse Hen
drickson’s Fighting Christian
football squad.
al finals before being defeated.
Then came the 1.939 football
season and the end of Jf»e Gol
ombek's Elon grid career. No
no one seems to know exactly
I the reason, but early that season
Elon football fans and sports- | coach Hendrik.son dropped him
writers of that year branded
Golombek as more than slightly
terrific in ability, and he contin
ued through that season and the
next to be a real star in virtu
ally every game that the Christ
ian grid squad played. With a
7-1 record in 1937, the Elon
eleven lost the Conference title
to Appalachian, but the Christ
ians tied with Catawba for the
Conference crown in 1938.
In 1938 Golombek was named
as .All-State fullback, chosen in
competition with the stars of
the North Carolina “Big Five”
an well as the North State Con
ference, that in the days before
I'vo-platoon football and when
the .411-State included only
eleven men.
Those same two years saw
Golombek gain laurels in ama
teur boxing circles and put the
name of Elon in the national
exploits in the square ring. He
won the heavyweight champion
ship in several Golden Gloves
tournaments.
He won the heavyweight
crown in the Carolinas Golden
Glove?f tournament at Charlotte
in the winter of both 1938 and
1939. He went to New York to
the national Golden Gloves meet
each year as a member of the
Carolina’s team, and each year
he fought his way to the nation-
from the squad in some sort of
disciplinary action, and the big
boy soon dropped from school.
After leaving school Golombek
entered the army and served
through World War II, return
ing to Elon after the war to re
sume his studies. He played one
season of basketball just after
the war, and finally completed
requirements for graduation. He
was a member of the Class of
1947. but delay in completing
his work caused him to be listed
with the Class of 1948.
Also after World War II he
took a whirl at professional
boxing, engaging in several
bouts in the Norfolk-Portsmouth
■)(.'ing slated to report to Camp
Kilmer, N. J.. on Nowniber 16th.
Upon failure to report at Ivilmer
al that time. Golombek liad been
declared -AWOL.
The New Y’ork men, both of
whom had ser\ed witli Golombek
in the Air Forces, drclared that
in all their friendship they had
never heard Golcmbek mention' f.:,!,,.. ",'”'1 i" .
u ,1 . : Gibbs, tield secretary ot the col-
hunting—the anonymous letter to . i j .
'•* ""liege, and indications are that the
the Air force authorities had;io^/i u
, ““,1954 observance may break all
stated that his death was due to, .. , , .
, ... , , ", records for the number of visit-
a hunting accident—and that he u .
. 1 , be attracted to the
had never mentioned knowing ^
anyone on Long Island or plan-1 -rh= .•
ning to go there. The firs annual visitation of
The two men described Golom-1
they
gations from 43 high schools, with
i)0k as a non-drinker, and
declared that he had appeared^ j
_ 1,1 t. ,and class sponsors. The second an-
iiormally as a peaceable man. thus
a total of more than 1,000 seniors
.jlocking su.spicions th.it his death
may have resulted from a brawl
during a party. Possibility of a
robbery motive, however, loomed
in their statement thi-.t Golombeg
had usually carried a good bit
of money with him.
nual event attracted delegations
from 61 high schools and the
third year saw visitors from 62
different schools. Last year there
were senior groups from 69 dif
ferent schools in North Carolina
and Virginia, and for the third
„ J T u straight year there were more
Both Kosen and Johnson were i- j ,
f . u . J individual seniors and
reported as quite perturbed during I „
®! senior class sponsors on the camp
us.
heir questioning, but New York
authorities apparently attached no;
'Uspicion to them,' since both were
-eieased after the identification
of the body.
The FBI entered the case to
investigate the anonymous letter
that had pointed the way to Gol
ombek’s grave. This letter said
•hat the writer had been huting
on Long Island with a companion
and that the companion had been
■‘accidentally, fatally injured. "
Enclosed in the letter was a de
tailed sketch showing where the
grave could be found, and skepti
cal officers made the search Just
as the letter said they would, they
found a 4-foot pile of underbrush.
Under this pile in a gray sport
shirt, brown slacks and a blue
area ot eastern Virginia, but he' |f«eater, Golombek lay on his
back, and his mouth and nostrils
soon dropped out of action in
that field.
-After finishing his work al
Elon, Golombek re-enlisted in
the Army ,\ir Forces, and the
Elon .Alumni Directory of 1948
listed him stationed in Japan.
As late as the autumn of 1943
Prof. ,\. L. Hook. Elon registrar
continued to receive letters
from him, one of the last men
tioning that he had met a boy
in the .Army, whom he wished
to send to Eion as a student,
proof that Golombek still re
membered pleasantly his days
on the Elon campus.
were stuffed v.’ith leaves, indicat
ing a possibility that he had been
buried alive and had died of suf
focation after being injured.
The investigation revealed a pe
culiar twist to the case when it
was learned that Golombek's cous
in, An.sel Liebman, 43, of Brook
lyn, died of a heart attack on the
same day that Golombek's body
was found. The cousin died while
driving a rented car on the New
Jersey Turnpike, with his own cai
standing unused before his home.
A search of Liebman’s home re
vealed a typewriter, but police
stated that it could not have been
the One used in typing the anony
mous letter.
(Continued On Page Four)
The contestants for the eight
scholarships this year will come to
Ion on Monday, February 1st, and
on that day they will compete in
a series of tests that will deter
mine the winners in both boys’ •
and girls’ divisions. Winners will
then be announced and the "King”
and "Queen” of the high school
program will be crowned on Wed
nesday, February 3rd.
(Continued on Page Four)
Player 'fry-Oiits
Slart riilirsday
Try-outs for parts in the Elon
Player production of ‘Pygmalian’,
%vhich is to be presented in Whit
ley Auditorium on February 18th
and 19th, will be held in Mooney
Chapel this week, with readings
scheduled for 2:30 o’clock Thurs
day afternoon and 7 o’clock Fri
day night.
This was announced by Prof.
Charles W, Cox, faculty director
of dramatics, who stated that a
cast will be chosen at the same
time for parts in the religious
play, “Abraham and Isaac,” which
will be presented as a chapel
program on April 2nd.
In announcing the try-outs for
these two productions. Prof. Cox
stated that the cast for “Pygma
lian ” will call for five men and
six women, while four persons will
be necesary in the staging of the
religious play in chapel.