“Fill Ferris!" New Spokane Biz Manager Told

Curfman Hired For Job With Spokane Team
SPOKANE, Jan. 28 (AP)— Raymond A. (Babe) Curfman, who resigned last month as football coach at the University of Idaho, was hired Thursday as business manager of the Spokane Indians baseball team.
Roy Hotchkiss, owner of the Spokane club in the Class A Western International League, said Curfman’s job is to “fill the ball park.”
Curfman resigned under pressure at Idaho last month after his Vandals won only one of nine games during the 1953 season. He had been head coach there for three years and won a lot of friends in this area. He will move here from Moscow, Idaho.
The Indians, once the best drawing team in Class B baseball, have had trouble at the gate in recent years. Hotchkiss has considered getting out.
No salary was disclosed but Curfman faces a big job keeping the 5,400 seats in the Spokane ball park reasonably well filled. The Indians drew a record 787,185 in 1947 when the WIL was a Class B league, slumped to 104,500 in 1952 and 80,873 last year.
The affable Babe said he played baseball as a boy.