BURGE'S CATCH WAS MEMORABLE by Marty Mule, Baton Rouge, La Newspaper, Staff Writer.

It was like finding a touchdown in a green haystack.
     Pete Burge, trying to free himself from a cluster of Tulane defenders, leaped near the back line of the end zone and pulled in Abe Mickal's 13-yard lob.
     "He came down flat on his back," Mickal recalled.  "It was remarkable."
    It was, by all accounts, one of the most memorable plays in LSU annals and represented the tying points in the 7-7 hallmark Tiger-Greenie game of 1933.
     Mickal, who later in his college career would be a made a ceremonial "senator" by Huey Long, was involved in two noteworthy LSA-Tulane games, but no one single play equalled Burge's catch.
     LSU entered the '33 Tulane game with an odd 6-0-2 record.  The Green Wave lost its first two games, but hit its stride going into LSA with a 6-3 record.
     Tulane's "Little Preacher" Roberts gave the standing-room only crowd of 26,000 at Tulane Stadium the first of an afternoon of thrills when he returned the opening kickoff 76 yards deep into the LSU side of the field.  He scored on a 10-yard run a few minutes later, then kicked the PAT.
     Roberts was the speartip of the Tulane offense, with an eye-catching 230 all purpose yards in the game, an astounding figure for the time.  Mickal, who finished the day with seven completions in 11 passing attempts for 92 yards, was the Tigers' offensive threat.
     Passing statistics represented the only offensive area in which LSU showed superiority.  LSU ran from scrimmage 41 times, and on only 19 rushing plays did the Tigers gain yardage.
     Tulane, on the other hand, was also contained by the Tigers, with only one run longer than 10 yards.
     Bob Simon, the Green Wave quarterback, almost found another way to do in the Tigers.  Simon had been punting on third down all afternoon.  On third down at the Wave 40 in the third quarter with the score tied, Simon dropped back to kick.
     But then he pulled the ball to his chest and, in the manner of a basketball chest pass, threw it to Roberts, crossing laterally in front of Simon.
     Roberts, picked up blocking from Barney Mintz and ran down the sideline to the LSU 22 before being forced out of bounds.
     "We threw them back," Mickal said.  "We had to, because they sure weren't giving us anything."
     That was one of three Tulane possessions inside the LSU 25.  Only once did the Wave score.  The other Wave threat ended with Michal making an interception.  LSU penetrated Tulane's 25 only twice, gaining points only on Burge's miracle catch.

     Mickal, whose family immigrated to the United States from Syria and settled in McComb, Miss., was one of the South's premier backs a year later, along with Tulane's Claude "Little Monk" Simons.
     Two excellent teams, with the first Sugar Bowl invitation dangling in the balance, sparred in the 1934 Tulane-LSU game.  Mickal, however, went into the game wearing two heavy braces from injuries at Mississippi State.
     In a showcase game, Simons ran a punt 55 yards to beat LSU 13-12.  Mickal, who had difficulty moving his still legs, had missed two extra points - the slim margin between victory and defeat. 
     Mickal remembers that game vividly.  Of the 1935 LSU-Tulane game, which the Tigers won 41--0, Mickal has only a vague recollection.
     "But," Mickal said 54 years after throwing the pass, "I'll never forget Pete Burge's catch of 1933."