The San Francisco call., 1896-07-26

Iished in a recent issue of THE CALL, in
which it was said that the track captain
had been at work for the greater part OF
the vacation in the interests of track ath-
letics.
at is true,n said Captain Brown to-day,
'ithat / have devoted much OF my vaca-
ton to booming athletics and encouraging
those who can do anything on the track,
and who purpose trying their mettle under
the blue and gold. l have not talked with
or written to solitary prospective student
with regard 10 athletics, who had not
already signified his intention OF coming
to Berkeley. | have spent considerable
effort, will frankly admit, showing pros
pectiye freshmen that they will make no
mistake in coming to Berkeley and clinch-
ing them as to their purpose. but have
held myself aloof from Offering any side
| inducements that would in the slightest
degree tend to taint the purity OF amateur
athletics.
"Ever since have been connected with
athletics ut Berkeley it has been my one
| aim to see that no one com mpeted In any
track or field event who could in any
sense be called professional. / am
unalterably opposed to tie plan of getting
men to come TO college simply because
| they can sprint or jump or what-not, with
| ont regard to their classroom ability or
their capacity for staying in college after
they have entered. Before now men have
entered under the guise of special stu
dents or through the art school, whose
purpose in entering the university was TO
get a chance to participate in some of the
athletic games.
stAs cartain of the Berkeley team, shall
not tolerate such methods. What we want
! is closer adherence to the principles of
pure amateur college athletics, as advo-
| Gated bv Casper Whitney and other such
/ nj re
own sake. II we have only one track ath-
/ lete in the University next year, he has
| got to be en- amateur IN all the word i'm
| plies before he can enter field day under
our standard.
1T has been the purpose OF the leaders
of track athletics at Berkeley for the past
] three or four years, especially, to bring
them to a higher level and TO destroy even
| the semblance of professionalism.
| "At the last intercollegiate three men
were barred out from entering under the
blue and gold because they were reported
| to be semi professionals and because their
collegiate records were low. We want
only such men on the field as will snow a
Willingness to develop themselves and al
the same time keep up their ends in the
classroom.
.The experience of Berkeley prior to the
season of 94 with regard to the choice oi
| base ball players has taught US valuable
| lesson. Ii l am r1ghtly informed, there
were only three or four men on the U. G,
team that played Stanford in 1898 who
were legitimately registered, non-profes-
s;onal players with good standing in the
university and taking full hours.
/ II firmly believe that the very fact that
they were not pure athletes had much
to do with turning the tide of defeat
against US and giving impetus TO the
|! 'hoodoo' that has been on Us so far as
intercollegiate baseball is concerned
/ Since more care for the rules OF amateur
athletics have been observed, change fol
the better has taken place in our favor.
''Barnes, our sprinter, who has been out
for year, will be back again next term