The San Francisco call., 1896-07-25

and field team of the Olympic Club a very or
olnary lot with the exception OF Edgren, ana
1t goes on 10 say that the quality of the Olym-
PIC track athletes has been steadily deterior-
at1ug for several wears
=, certainly take exception to the remark that
Ine men were "a very ordinary lot, ana IN
plain words the Wasp sporting writer is away
on on such matters. We will admit that am
very ordinary athlete" but not so with the
There are three men besides Edgren on that
team that are the best in their respective
produced.
The Olympic Club never. in its history, had
a man tne equal of Dave Brown as mile run
ner' IN lact, this coast has never developed but
one better one, and that was Browns con-
queror, Tallant, the man he met in the north
DIoWn DIV II record Tor the mile, 4:36, is four sec
onds ana four-fifths better than anything the
has developed
Inc cub never in its athletic history has
jnoh aJ 90 sooo nigh jumper by about seven
Ie az ~ mas to-day, nor has this vicinity
HIS actual jump of feet 2 inches is the coast
recoIu, shared with Kerrigan, the nothern
tmonueI, t,l.n, ana II stands out wonderful per.
.S. t.SStt9onoe. Jonn Brunton, another member OF
IN tne Ieam, proved himself at the intercollegiate
cnanl M lpionshlps this spring the best all-round
Il, onan Wno ever competed on California soil In
SnS IN, alernoon ne ran two heats OF 1OO-yard
oasn, winning one heat in 1OL seconds and
running second to his team-mate in the final.
He ne Slso competed in two heats of a 220-yard
1asG, running second to his team-mate in the
nnai. He won the 44O-yard dash and also won
H sHe . proao Jump, competing against the flower
OF berkSeley and Stanford. and yet the Wasp
Styles MIN an ordinary performer.
4. n. butz, although not the equal of the
saoote-naheu men as far as championship form
irood Is CONSIDERED, , has always proved himself a
gooa performer, running second out of four
starters in the IOO-yard dash at Portland and
thavlng record of 20 feet ~ inches in the
broad jump.
~ would Would like to refer the sporting oracle of
S1p 1ne wasp 10 the track captains of Berkeley and
Slah10IQ ana also to John Elliott, the ac-
Kno1wIedged authority on all such matters, for
a'nletlc lnIormation which viii prove correct.
LEONARD GILL.
The following letter from Bob Gibson,
one of the old athletes of the Olympic
Club, to George Jones, who is also on the
retlreo ilst OF old-time Olympic athletes,
Will De found quite interesting:
ASTORIA Or. June so, 1896.
psdr george: Have you not a better set of
athletes In California than those who COM
Reteu nere Nn Portland) last Saturday?
Really, In the days when you and were exer-
clslng tnere were few men who were some
wnat raster at all distances except the halfa and
mile. All Astorians who were present during
the competitions are unanimous in saving
that while the Frisco boys were inferior as
athIetes they were away above the Portland
men In everything that combines to make up
the gentleman amateur
our 1eIoWs-the members of the A. F. c.
were much ehagrined at the treatment given
tne VISITORS by some Portlanders, and Pill
guarantee that II our little burg goes ahead,
as am conndent 1t must, the day is not far
dlstant when Astoria may welcome the Cali
iornla boys and show them that there is at
least one town In Oregon where the spirit of
true, gentlemanly sport peryades the ranks of
tne atnietes, and where successful or unsuc-
cess1uI competitors will alike be accorded the
treatment that visiting team Of athletes has
every reason and right to expect at the hands
OF tnelr nosts. We have much good material
mere, ana as soon as we get a track to train on
IL VIII De developed. In TACT, never saw a
more promising lot of young fellows than are
10 De found IN this city, and it is almost safe
70 say that they will some day equal the per-
Iormances OF the older fellows who, few years
ago, had no equals in the hose-team compe-
titions.
Just think of It'll Out of less than 1000
Amerlcan-born people there were nearly
dozen six-iooters who could 90 $50 in very
little more thau 10 seconds. That is record
tnat lew towns OF any size could boast of. AS
for Talent If California can beat him the
salmon canning industry OF the Low Colum-
bia Tor its equivalenJl can be won. l am sorry
Cofhn did not come up and make Talent run
bit faster in the hall Inc fact that we have
no place but the hills to train on here makes it
impossible Tor US TO develop a man properly,
as there is no opportunity for using the run
ming shoes. Talent, strange as it may seem,
only donned the shoes while training some
three or four times, and then upon hard
plank road.
Such conditions for training are not favor
mating our mans ability OF possibilities one
must remember that if by rough work walk
ing and jogging) over hills with a pair OF foot
ball shoes on he shows his ability to negotiate
a mile in 4:20, which he could have done the
other day had Brown been good enough to
push him, even the redoubtaDle little Irish
man, Connect, will find in the Astorian the
hardest nut he has ever attempted to crack.
Briefly, a match race between the two will
demonstrate that in Talent we have the
greatest miller of the world. Brown need feel
plAprin mis- defeat. there hpiDp
one Talent, and there are very few such
athletes as your gentlemanly little distance
man.
For such q big fellow, though, isn't Talent
remarkable? Standing 6 feet 1, and weighing
ordinarily about 200 pounds, ne is "closely
coupled" as Kerrigan, the diminutive little
chap who lowered Patterson's colors in the
high jump. Massive and well-formed joints,
immense power about the loins, symmetrical
throughout, splendid muscular development,
a constitution unimpaired by excesses and in
herited from a father and mother VINO never
knew bodily lntirmity, and u heart whose ac-
tlon is seldom or ever duplicated, even among
crack athletes, combine TO make MIN what ne
is, the strongest and biggest man who ever
successfully attempted TO compete in distance
events. Where can you find miller whose
pulse, after he has covered mile in 4 81 and
the last hundred in IL seconds. will register
but 78. He has yet, however, to learn much
about the scien ce of running.
At present his style is that of a sprinter who
simply reduces his maximum speed in order to
enable him to keep up more sustained effort,
his expenditure of force being greater than
that OF any other distance man l ever knew.
But to offset that expenditure he has stock
OF hand which so far has been easily equal to
all demands upon it. In time, OF course, he
will acquire the power to husband much power
that he now uses in a manner that is anything
but economical and when that time comes he
will, If necessary, establish mark for distance
men 10 aim al in generations TO come.
These may seem bold words, out the pred1c-
ton will be justified in the future.
Some OF the boys who are trying to account
for Browns defeat may, perhaps. find the solu-
tion OF the problem in my explanation OF
Talents powers, and if Tommy Conneff could
be induced to compete in the California cham
pionship events this Iall l shall endeavor to De
present and witness the fulfllment OF my pre-
diction.
With best wishes believe me, sincerely,
ROBERT GIBSON.
THE ANGLER.