The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-12-18
n EW LIFE.
AthleticUniOn
Outlook
GOOD PROSPECTS.
Select Gossip in the World
of Sports.

Of Sports.
With the change in the personnel of
the board of managers of the Amateur
Athletic Union, made at the recent
election, new life and spirit has been
infused into the organization, and there
is promise that at last the union may
once more enjoy the prosperity that
marked its existence a decade or so
ago. 1t looks, too, as though now some
of the projected plans of long ago
might be carried into effect with some
degree of success. The movement to
secure individual membership in the
Amateur Athletic Union at an annual
cost of 81 is a move in the proper direc-
ton. Barstow S Weeks, the new presi-
dent, is father of the scheme and is
very much pleased at the interest ia
ken, many prominent men in the ath-
letic world having announced their in
tentiOn Of taking up individual mem
bership As another method of in
creasing membership President Weeks
ana members of the board of governors
are i'm favor of recognizing as amateurs
a certain class, comprising many prom
lhent men connected with athletics,
who, under the present conditions of
competition, can only be considered
professionals; men who, although they
receive money from athletic organiza
tons, are in reality paid more for
their intellectual than athletic ability.
There was a small, select parlor con-
ference at Yale, just one week ago this
evening, as q result of which some i'm
portant steps may be taken regarding
the management Of athletics there. The
conference was called primarily to dis
cuss the track athletic outlook, and
Walter Camp and eX-Captains Sheriff.
and Williams were invited to be present
to offer suggestions. However, once
the leaders of Yale's athletics and ath-
letics policy were assembled, track
athletics and the selection Of an ath-
letic trainer were by no means the only
matters discussed. The fact that
Yale's strength and prestige in ath-
letics generally had been gradually
slipping away from her Tor for some
time afforded a most fruitful theme.
Many Of the suggestions made, if
adopted, would involve radical changes
in policy and management in many
lines. AS far as the matter of a coach
goes, to use Manager Magee's own
words, There are about sos ropes out
from different directions for a host of
men, but nobody has yet been selected
or approached" To all appearances,
George Foster Sanford, the old Yale
foot ball player, has the inside track
i'll the running.
1t is not at all unlikely that there
will be a regular intercollegiate cross
country run next fall, in which repre-
sentatives from Princeton. Yale, Har-
ward, Cornell and Pennsylvania Will
compete The matter has been agitated
lately at all the universities, and al
though no definite action has been tax
en-, the plan has met with heart APP
provaI. The probability of such meet
greatly increases the Importance of the
runs for the college championship cup
now held at Princeton, since start
toward making a strong team there
must be made. For the past three or
four years cross country runs have be-
come popular in the eastern universe
ties, those at Harvard, Yale and Cor
nell having been especially successful
this year In addition there have been
several intercollegiate contests. The
Cornell team defeated the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania this fall while
later in the annual open championship
race on Thanksgiving day, Yale scored
a victory over Cornell, thereby claim
ing the intercollegiate championship.
| The way of the transgressor is hard
| in athletic circles, over in England. The
man who is detected doing crooked
work upon the cinder path, as for in
stance running under an assumed
teresting case of that sort came to
| light recently at the Northamptonshire
assizes. A man of the name of Arthur
! George Howe, who won the 100 ward
race at the games promoted by the
Northampton sports committee, was
prosecuted on the charge that he did
obtain on June 4 last, knowingly. un-
lawfully and by means of false pre-
tense-viz.: byfeloniously pretending to
be an amateur and a member of the
| Clapham-W andle Harriers, an ebonized
clock of the value of C IS, with intent
to defraud. The evidence showed that
Howe made his entry under the name
of Frederick White, won his heat and
the final, and took away the prize. The
accused pleaded ignorance of the rules
but that did not avail him much. He
was convicted, and in passing sentence
SAID that the prisoner had been guilty.
OF shabby and disgraceful conduct as
an amateur runner. 1t was deliberate
cheating, the court said, and the SEN
tence of the court was six months inn
prisonment at hard labor.
That meeting of race promoters and
track owners whose sympathies are
with the outlaws and the cvnIists, rsa-
ing union, held in New York the otber
day, cannot have been very encoHra s'g!
ing to the unions officers. 1t had been
asserted before the meeting that ten,o
sentatives of nearly ali tbe iaadi,,er ~ l., e
Gle tracks of the country wo,iid 'ii nt+o ~
thp meeting a,d - 1911 dtIeHu