Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-28
AMATEURS SAID
TO BE ENTHUSED
Special Correspondence OF The Star.


| the national championship committee Of
| the Amateur Athletic Union of the United
| States, has just arrived home after an ex-
1 tended trip through the west and the Pa
cific northwest. His objective point was
| Portland, where the national Amateur -Ath-
| letic Union championships were held this
year. He returned very enthusiastic over
| the west and highly delighted with the sue
cessful termination Of the track and field
| championships. In speaking of the cham
| pionships he said:
THE track and field championships that
| were held In Portland were without doubt
| the most successful that the Amateur Ath-
! letic Union has held in many years. The
performers were high class. the conDeti-
! ton was clean and interesting, and for the
| first time in the history of amateur sport
that is, since the organization of American
championships. which was in 1St6-the tro-
ply embiematic of club success goes to
western city.
1.-The Chicago Athletic Association, with
It's splendid team, all picked champions
won the championships quite easily. Heie-
tofore the honors have always been won by
an eastern club. The effect of this win is
farreachng, for 1t shows conclusively that
the athletic superiority of the country no
longer exists in and about New York city,
and the east will have to look to the west
in the future for closer competition and
more defeats
THE team that the Chicago Athletic As
ISOLATION had on the field at Portland was
one that could certainly defeat any club
team that was sent this year from the east.
Performances proved that, and naturally
they feel quite delighted over their glorious
victory. In fact, SO delighted are they that
they have asked for the national champion
ships for 1906
rlroI,1 10 arFn fIn
championship meet was the shot-put of
young Coe of Boston. -.e created a new
world record. passing easily the record Of
Ralph Rose with several feet to spare.
Young Parsons, the Los Angeles sprinter.
proved that the stories that have been sent
from the far west were not misleading by
running 100 yards In 40 seconds, beating
Archie Ham quite easily. TIE perform
ance of young Parsons in the 100 yards aud
his defeating Hahn SO easily proves con-
ciusiyely that he Is the fastest amateur
Splinter that has been produced since the
days of Duffy and wefers and it would
not surprise many experts to see Parsons
run even faster. All of the other perform
ances were up to the standard the men
from Chicago having practically no one
to oppose them. The quarter of a mile run
by Waller of Milwaukee in 40 So seconds
was one of the fastest quarter miles run
in America this year.
The championships were held in con-
junction with the Portland exposition. and
the arrangements were in the hands of H.
w. kerrigan of the Muitnomah Athletic
Club, and everything was in perfect
shape as one could ask for. The track was
a fifth of a mile clay track, built within the
base ball Enclosure adjoining the exposition
grounds, with 100 yards straightaway
through the center. The track was fast
well rolled and in good condition and
everything available for fast time which
will account for the fast time made in the
100 yards, 20 round turn and the $40 yards.
The athletic condition of the Pacific
northwest is very encouraging. With the
formation of the new Pacific Athletic AS
ISOLATION of the northwest amateur athlet-
les will surely have well-merited boom
backed by the strong Multnomah Club of
Portland. The Olympic olub of San Fran
cisco Is again beginning to take a strong
! hold in fostering track and field athletics,
encouraging the formation Of junior clubs
| in and about Frisco. the building Of tracks
and the giving Of games. The colleges of
the Pacific northwest and the west are to
a certain extent responsible for the growth
of athletics, and that the Pacific northwest
| turns out champions and is able to keep
them from year to year 10 remarkable
when you consider the fact that they have
very few games out there to take part in
| and the climatic conditions are such that it
| is pretty hard thing for a man to COM
pete as successfully as our fasteners do
In some western cities the competitors
compete for no prizes. so the work of the
western men at this particular meeting was
simply remarkable.
THE holding Of this championship meet
| Ing in the west and the fact that the west
could produce specialists to win in many
events speaks volumes for the good work
| of the Amateur Athletic Cntn. of the
| United States The holding Of these cham
| pionships in the Pacific northwest will
materially help athletics in that particular
district, and Manager Kerrigan, President
| Herdman. George Willett w. Greer Harri-
| son, Secretary Hauser and Captain Rosen-
| neld all thought that the Amateur Athletic
/ Union had done sport on the Pacific coast
| great deal of good and that the holding
| of these championships is that ditrict would
advance sport at least ten years.
1T was a wise move, therefore, in giving
| these championships to the west In fact
| H. w. Kerrigan of the Multnomah Athletic
| Club made the statement that all the west
| would have to do would be to keep on pro-
| ducing champions, and that the east would
| then have to come out there to back up
| their championship claims.
The athletic condition throughout the
| entire Pacific northwest Is encouraging so
| far as track and field sports are concerned
4 They thoroughly understand the amateur
| situation, and track and field sports are in
! a healthy condition. Boxing is not. and the
sooner the Pacific Association drops trying
/ to make the boxing end of the Amateur
| Athletic Union amateur the better they Will
! be off. The boxing from an amateur stand
| point is in a very bad condition and cannot
| go on much longer. What is wanted in,the
! Pacific and Pacific northwest Is more open
| athletic competitions for the schooIboys. the
| working boys and the athletic club boys
| They want more athletic grounds. | should
! also think that they were absolutely short
| Of athletic hust!ers. They have a great
| many, but it Is too bad that we could not
| send out from the eastern district twenty
| five or thirty men whom we have here. who
are expert athletic managers. The west
VIII open up, and think the holding of the
western championships this year viii do 1t,
and If 1t continues to improve In the future
as 1T has IN the past there is no reason
why they should not become the athletic
| leaders of the world. They have great ath-
letic talent there that is not developed
the men simply do not get a chance to COM
De e.