The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-05-24
AN ATHLETIC CONGRESS.
A Suggestion for the Publication of
Sport IN American Collie eS.

To THE EDITOR OF THE SUN-Sir: From
the youthful ball tosser whose field is a city
lot to the rich owner of racing yacht con :
testants in our athletic rivalries are expected
to fight fair" and individual violations OF
this requirement are promptly and emphat-
| icaly rebuked by the spectators. The game
or the race or the fight that is not decided ION
the square" is invalidated by the decisive
disapproval of all who are Interested in IL. We
have large vocabulary Of terms similar TO
the two just used that embOdy in the Ian
guage OF our daily life this American spirit
of fairness.
American sport is clean: and for the main :
tenance Of that condition the public looks
quite naturally to the colleges. What are the
signs of the time in college athletics?
The detractors of sport in our cole ges base
their attack not upon any inherent quality
of evil in the spirit Of athletic rivalry. but
always upon the manner in which it is con.
Quoted Instead of athletics for the colleges.
they claim that our colleges appear to exist
for the sake of athletics.
The principal evils attaching to the ath-
letics Of our cole ges are the undue prominence
given TO sport and the tendencies to profess
sonalism arising therefrom. Concrete mani
festations of these evils. of recent occurrence,
may easily be adduCed:
First. at one OF the largest and best known
universities in the East the proposition was
made. In all seriousness. only q few weeks
ago. that the graduating class should devote
athletic scholarships. to be awarded on q
basis OF one third for character. one-thrd
RT fo aSsPc abb ab tee third and biggest
Second. Yale and Harvard have made an
agreement whereby violations Of the amateur
disre gnrded in determining the athletes
eligibility for varsity teams This new ruling
will affect the universities less vitality than
athletes will no longer feel the salutary re-
straint hitherto imposed by the strict require
ments of college athletics.
are others, fortunately of equally frequent
occurrence, that make for soundness and
ad by Ga snd hf o eonar a
athlete who allows himself to be dropped
from his team because of deficiency in cur
ricuum work as having broken training
loyalty TO. alma mater
Complain, i made BY unwsc CRITICS of the
expense aud the brutality of sport; these are
so far, as they affect the problem at al. Incl
dental. and not the primary evil, That lies
fiCting standards and rules,
The remedy for confusion is fusion. Uni
iorinity Is the need of The colleges il athletics
Is definite, strairhtiory Suggestion or Of
remedy: Let there DO held congress at
which reEreIse sentative, Of competing colleges
ing for his own university and looking out
for her interests. With an eye to the genera
federation, that preserves the Undergraduates
OF the individual giving each representative
a voice in the government of the whole with
q wholesome freedom in its own affairs.
leEe, coaches. dispensing for the summer
might with great profit assemble for such dis
ress would take. the place OF the present
Mhat, do the athletic directors thIrk of the
NEW YORK May %.