Although Joe Maras didn't know the difference between a tackle and a take down when he became Amherst's football line coach in 1948, he is now coaching the Crimson's freshman wrestling team. His club hasn't lost a match since he took charge in 1952.

Husky Maras, former football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers, came from Amherst with Lloyd Jordan to help coach the Crimson line in 1950. After the football season he switches his talents to coaching wrestling, which, he feels, is not unlike football.

Maras never wrestied while in college, but he does have previous coaching experience with Amherst's freshman team. Although the Crimson freshmen won their first three meets easily this year, Coach Maras, conservative in his predictions, still has his doubts about the rest of the season.

"The early meets were so decisive," he says, "that it is difficult to predict how the team will do when the pressure becomes greater." Captain Tom Rockel, however, is confident that the team will remain undefeated.

When compared with last year's freshman outfit, which dropped only four individual matches all season, '57's team has a long way to go, but "in spirit, aggressiveness, and willingness to learn it already compares favorably with last year's group."

The main weakness is in the middle weights, where Chick Roche at 137 and Mike Murray at 147 both lack experience. The four upper weights are the strongest area on the team.

Captain Tom Rockel, former Rhode Island State champion, has pinned all three of his opponents at 157 this year. At 167, muscular Bob Gilmor, who shows a strong, aggressive competitive spirit, has won all three of his matches easily while Jim Dale, former Minnesota State champion and captain of the Aanoka High School wrestling team, has had little trouble winning in the 177 pound class.

Perhaps the most outstanding wrestler on the team is heavyweight Bob Wynn, who was a champion at the Lehigh Interscholastic last year. Wynn, in beating his first three opponents this season, has shown that he has both experience and speed, a rare quality in the heavy division.

In the two lower weights both Tatsue Arima at 123 and Phil Andrews at 130 have shown marked improvement. Arima, a native of Tokyo, is wrestling for the first time and already appears capable of handling his position. After winning by default in his first match, speedy Arima pinned both of his next opponents in the first period.

Andrews, former captain of Milton, lacks strength to go with his knowledge, but several weeks of varsity coach Bob Pickett's exercises are already giving results. It took Andrews only five minutes to pin his opponent in his last match against Brown.

With the four "toughest meets" still ahead of them the Yardling wrestlers must continue to improve to stay undefeated, but whatever the outcome of the season is, '57 promises to send several strong and experienced wrestlers up to Coach Pickett's squad next year