New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-09-11
GROWTH OF ATHLETICS.
INCREASING POPULARITY IN AMERICA
OF TRACK AND FIELD SPORTS.
SCIENTIFIC METHODS THAT ARE NOW I'm
PLoYED-PART THAT THE COLLEGES
HAVE PLAYED:

HAVE PLAYED.
There Is no other outdoor sport In the world that
is so ancient and honorable in its origin as that
known as track and field athletics There is no
other sport to which the human body adapts itself
so naturally and quickly. And. take it all IN all
there is no other sport that claims as general and
widespread interest do these graceful and en-
livening contests Baseball. football. tennis. golf
all admirable and popular forms OF sport, are
merely modern developments and variations upon
the struggles in feetness OF limb. soundness OF
wind and quickness of eye that in the form OF
foot racing. wrestling. throwing and the like have
engaged the youth Of the world for thousands Of
years
Every one knows that the ancient Greeks were
physically the most perfectly developed people on
the globe and no one doubts that this perfection
OF the human frame was due largely to the athletic
contests that were held throughout the Peloponne-
sus and that eliminated in the splendid and mag
nncent Olympic games History records no nation
al custom that formed so great a part Of the life
of the people as these selfsame games in the
beautiful valley Of the Ellis. where every nth
year were foregathered from all parts OF Greece
the flower Of her manhood and strength for the
supreme struggle In skill and endurance. No spot
for the games could have been found inspiring
that sacred grove OF olympia winding rivers on
this side and that. and the deep blue of the
Ionan Sea far away to the west. The earliest
recorded date Of the Olympic games Is the year ss4
r. c. and from that time forward they waxed so
great In national Importance that the Olympiad the
period Of four years that elapsed between two sue
cessve celebrations OF the games, became mode
of reckoning that endured for many centuries
among the Greeks
EARLY ATHLETIC TENDENCIES.
Tire American schoolboy Of the present day. there
fore when nc challenges his mate "A
feel that he has had a precedent set for him by
perhaps the most renowned OF ancient peoples.
The fOndness for foot racing and wrestling has
probably been strong in the breast Of the aver
American youth and young man for century.
but it only about twenty-five or thirty years
that tho love Of sport began TO take on definite
shape. Then almost spontaneously from many
parts Of the States the Atlantic seaboard athletic
games. held at sonnet hing like regular intervals
and after a prearranged manner. began 70 spring
into existence and before the country realized l.
athletic clubs and organizations had sprung up
all over the land and the athletic spirit had fairy
taken hold Of the young men.
That was. then. in the early seventies. the begin
ming OF the athletic craze. II you care to call it so,
which destined TO play a part Of real I'M
portance IN the minds and the living OF the people.
for IT is agreed all sides that result OF the
outdoor athletic life INDUCED In through the last
twenty years will be that the generation OF young
sters that is now being born will be- on the aver
age. far healthier and stronger for the problems
Of life than the past and present generations have
been. No devotee OF athletics and OF sport denies
that in this country there have been occasional
grave excesses sprnging doubt from ignorance
and il-timed enthusiasm. But the ill-efect OF
these casual excuses is far outweighed by the
benefits I'm general derived from athletic sport In
the open air College professors assure US that the
students to-day far stronger and sturdier set
OF men than they were fifteen or twenty years
ago and the change for the better has been due
solely the time that has been given over 70
athletic exercise in the open air.
TAKING on DEFINITE SHAPE
Il was about tho year 1876 that the athletic spirit
began 70 take organization and shape The New
York Athletic CLUB began TO hold annual
tumn meeting the Mott Haven track. For
long time this meeting might certainly be described
as the great athletic event Of the y.an Il attract
ed large crowds and the interest in the contestants
was intense. There plenty OF contests, but. of
course the records were not in the same class with
those made in recent years. Following the lead Of
the New-York Athletic club. other athletic clubs
sprang up In and about Manhattan Island. and
then a little later. all the East.
IN The seventies hy the organization OF the IA.
tionaI Association OF the Amateur Athletes ot
America. which at once gave more weight and au.
thori,y to the various games that were being hello
with Increasing frequency. The rather cumbersome
name 81 this organzation which mas done much
soon gave way In ordinary parlance 10 the
~ As" by which It has been Familiarity called
since.
During all this preliminary period tho system
and methods Of raining were extremely crude
The fact 81 inc matter that nobody knew
much about training and every runner. every
Jumper undertook gang his ain sweet gait"
Some mon trained meats alone others thought
that tea and toast tho proper articles ~
diet for a nye-mile runner. while almost every
man who was In raining denied himself the most
harmless food In his desire 20 build up his muscles
and his endurance. inc consequence was mar
records made wer" not 80 al remarkable ana not
on the part OF some undernourished enthusiast.
The effect Of All this salutary in tho end. how
human ri body for ,eats Of SKIN and endurance Was
NOR" Of sclence han any one had supposed
hold ~ he question and evolved system ~ train
INK that has improved steadily year yea by year 49,
the enthusiasts IN the early days undertook and
conSlderable 'ms passed S before It was Glearly
um. filled with bad air was not as invigorating "a
some rousing work in tn" open air and under the
clear vault OF heaven.
THE MARCH or SCIENCE
But year by year scientific methods have OBJ
tanned IN athletics I'm everything else under
tho sun In these nineteenth century days. and the
results plainly apparent Hardly twelve
month In the last ton years has passed by without
witnessing the breaking OF many records that 1t
had seemed impossible to lower or course there
must como a point beyond which heetness OF limb
and muscular strength. even when backed by the
most scientific methods. cannot CO. but il is evil
dent that I'm many contests that point has not Yet
been reached Where few years ago races were
run I'm sort OF hit-or-miss style. now the whole
thing is down 10 science Take hurdle racing Tor
Instance. for the l20-yard distance. A few years
ago the record at the intercollegiate sames
0:is7s Now the record is O:5 20. difference that
IL little less than wonderful. That difference is
only the outcome OF scientific methods. II has
been only I'm late years that the hurdle
have measured off their PAGES TO the inch. and
have taken an exact number Of strides In each
section Of tho course. Not many years ago
would have laughed at the idea OF knowing exact
" how many strides man would take in 800
yard race.
THE FATHER OF AMERICAN ATHLETICS"
building of athletics In America and therefore TO
the strengthening Of the American physique. none