The Anaconda standard., 1896-01-31
BY THE EARLY WORM
Butte Is Losing No Opportunity t
Strengthen the Football Team.
CRACK STARS COMING HERE
The Middle West May Be Invaded
by the Smoke Eaters News
From the Principal Athletic
Ciubs OF the Country.

AltnOuRn Ine Opening OA bhc AOOS1@iA
season is three months away the
strengthening of the Butte team is go
ing merr-ily on and the aggregation
that will play under the crimson and
cream banners next season will GER
tainly be a most formidable one. The
smoke eaters of 1896 will be the crack
team of the Northwest and IL is fore
gone conclusion that 1t will win the
championship without any great diff
GUILTY. II as strong a team is made up
as is being figured on Ii may go east
and go after the championship of the
middle west. 1t is as good as settled
that Harry Walton will play opposite
TO Donald Gillis next season and now
the Standard Is in a position to an
nounce that Percy Benson. Berkeley's
great quarter back, will play with the
Butte team OF '96. Benson captained
the Berkeley team for three years and
was reelected to the position last year
but declined IL in order to- give some
of the new blood in the team chance.
He Is q quick, clever and experienced
player and he will greatly strengthen
the team at its vital point. Benson
has been anxious to come TO Butte for
several months and he will become Q
permanent resident of this city very
soon.
One of the greatest players on last
years Michigan university team also
has the Butte fever very badly and II
is not at all unlikely that he will Play
under his old friend and side partner,
Jim Hooper, next season. The corre-
spondence with him has not yet reach
ed the point where his name can be
divulged but he is one of the stars
among the big teams and his arrival
here will be the signal for demon
stration among the football enthusi-
asts.
Butte will have no difficulty in Sc
curing games next season, as all of the
big teams of the middle west and the
coast have already written to Manager
Stivers for dates. The University OF
Missouri. whose great team of last
year attracted national attention.
wants a game some time in the fall,
and will be accommodated. The colony
of Missourians in Butte is a large one
and the game will arouse the greatest
interest. The only games that have
been definitely arranged so far are
Doane college OF Nebraska, on Miners
union day. and Omaha on July T.
Either the Fort Douglas military team
or an All Portland team will play the
opening game on Decoration day.
The following is from the Ann Arbor
correspondence in the Detroit Free
Press:
'Tnlander for January is nearly
ready, having been announced for this
week. The principal feature will be
symposium on topics pertinent to ath-
letic control. the papers being contrib
uted by professors. alumni and stu
dents connected with athletics. Ii is
needless 10 say that all the papers
have been written with Casper Whit
ney in mind.
n t1
said that this Is probably all that will
be heard of the discussion over profess
sionalism here, as the tendency is to
hush the matter up. 1t is felt that the
playing of Hooper last fall was a mis-
take. but the board of control feels
that IL was a mistake they had no way
of preventing. AS TO the adoption of "a
higher standard OF qualification for the
university teams, so that they will be
strictly according to A. A. u. definition.
and so that IL will not be easy to run
outsiders in for players as bona fide
students, the board hesitates to do that
yet IL is said, however, that a more
stringent rule as to professionalism
has been adopted to take effect next
fall. Whether this rule embodies the
rigid definition of amateurism called
for by Whitney is not known. AS it
will not affect baseball next spring.
the question of eligibility may cause
some trouble when the varsity team
is selected. This does not seem likely.
however, as the trip East has been for
hidden and the general sentiment is in
favor of letting further discussion OF
the matter drop"
The following story from the Exam
iuer of an athletic combine in San
Francisco will interest local sports:
A combine of boxers in the amateur
athletic clubs exists. according to the
testimony OF Superintendent w. J.
Kennedy OF the Olympic club before
the investigating committee of the Pa
ciic Amateur Athletic association last
night, and the purpose of the combina-
tion is to keep up the rates. which at
present quotations are $40 for training
expenses and a s35 order for a trophy
The investigating committee had a
warm time of IL. The members pres
ent were President Humphreys OF the
association. William A. Berry of the
Reliance and John Elliott OF the olym-
pic club.
After Al Lean, the Instructor of the
Acme and Reliance clubs, had testified
that he made the contracts for the
Reliance contests the board allowed
him only s35 a month for prizes in
contests, l.. II. Fentrells. the wrestler,
was called, and testified that he had
been offered $40 to wrestle He re-
s fused to answer when asked who had
made the offer to him, and the penalty
for refusing was read to him--suspen-
sion from the amateur ranks. He still
refused, when Lean came TO his rescue
by admitting that he was the man
who had made the offer. The $5 adsi-
tional, he said. had been offered by him
personally out of his own pocket. Lean,
continuing. said he had played on the
Reliance football team. but only In
practice games.
Have you heard OF football players
being offered money!" was asked
Yes" was the answer. Il heard
one player say he was out for the
stun and was in football for all there
was in IL. II was Wilbur He said
ne had got job in the Union Iron
works and 500 TO leave the Reliance
and come over and play with the
Olympics. I do not know whether the
Olympic club paid him 500 or not.
haa ri him ask Mcmillan IL he couIdn',