The St. Louis Republic., 1904-09-11
FOOT RACING HAS REACHED
ITS HIGH PERFECTION.
WRITTEN FOR THE SUNDAY REPrHILc.

WRITTEN FOR THE SUNDAY REPUBLIC
Foot racing. either in the form of
sprirr:pg or long g-dis;ance running. has
reached its highest perfection. Not since
1873 has there been a single improvement
in form. and II any records are lowered in
the future II VIII be due. not TO form. but
TO mere superior ability. Running has
reached its zenith. But the field events
such as hurdl.ng. jumping. pols-vauiting
and throwing the weights have brilliant
future before them
Such - the statement Of Fred Stone OF
Chicago. who was a crack sprnter in his
day. the late eighties and the early nine
ties
With the exception OF the crouchins
position at starting, no permanent
the crouching start is no better way of
starting than straight w. knees bent,
ready TO go style. 1t was introduced
solely for The sake of amateur sprfnrers
ana MAS brought into active use by the
colleges because there were So many
npvices az the game there.
The idea In the cfouching start II this:
IL serves only to steady the sprinieT. il
does not offer position TO him for
faster start. With amateur spriniers the
old method Of starting up was a hard one.
hard for them TO keep balanced BY the
crouching start they get better chance
TO steady themselves This is the only
reason why IL Is now so popular Nearly
all the shorter distance worlds records
were made with the standing start
he Crouching start - one OF the few
innovations that have lasted. Il has been
q benefit in that II helps the amateurs and
noviceS and these new to tn. game. Pro-
fessional runners. amateurs. trainers and
coaches have y orked on the stride. start
ing. finishing sprint. ways Of touching the
ground. etc. but there Is nothing neT.
Way back in u the sprin;ing game
was perfected. SO was ii with the long
distance game. What records have been
made since that time have been made
only the fruits Of this perfection OF form.
i do not say that the records are the low
est now. No: they may even go still low
er. But it viii be- with the same form.
Il regard the American college athlete
to-day as far superior to the amateur ath-
lete OF any other country in the world.
they will not beat US. Why? For nearly
a dozen different reasons. First. they
haven't got the trainers or coaches ia
England that We have here. Second. they
don't know how to train. Then. they
would not train II they did know how.
There are many other such reasons
But the greatest is that they haven't
got the coach or trainer. 1t makes al! the
difference in the world who the trainer is.
Here in America we've got a dozen that
are head and shoulders above any in Eng
land. There's Nike Murphy Of Yale. who
stands alone In his line. Then
there is Graham Of Harvard. Tim Robin
son OF Princeton. Fitzpatrick Of Nichi-
gan. Fitzpatrick Of Wisconsin and Stagg Of
Chicago. and they are ali exceptionally
good men
When the London Athletic Club sent
over its all-Ensland team to compete
against our all-American team here in
1894. the Enelishmen did not win a single
first. II was due to Mike Murphy There
We're Englishmen on that London team
who could have won nrsts- The material
was there. all right. but Nike Murphys
and ideas were too many for |
them That Was. In my fninc. the greatest |
gathering of the world : athletes that was
ever seen And il demonstrated more than |
any other thing that il makes all the dif-
ference in the world who is the trainer.
English college athletes nowadays are |
not earnest OF serious enough. They don't |
train with any conscienriOusness and with
out the trainer, the cannot win.