Omaha daily bee., 1907-02-24
WITH COLLEGE ATHLETES
DOines In the Field Of Sport in East and
West.
SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE WEST
what william Lush, Yale Base BAH
Coach, Thinks Of basket Ball.
Plea for Keeping Inter-
collegiate sport.

College basket ball being a game that
has come to stay. Il is only the part Of
graciousness to take the game at the valu-
alton that has been put upon II by most
college men and admit that there are rea-
sons for its popularity. Only while ago
II was very much the fashion to sneer at
the game and say that It was a girls
game and the like. A short view Of fast
game OF basket ball is enough to convince
anyone that, whatever else 1t may be. II
Is not a girls game when college men
Ilay It.
The somewhat tardy recognition Of the
endurance and speed giving qualities Of
the game by college coaches now Is he
ginning TO arrive. Men who looked at the
game once with fear because II was sim
~ adding another TO what they considered
too large a list OF sports now are chile
10 see that II has It's place in the winter
season for helping to develop men for
the spring outdoor campaign In many
sports.
Billy Lush and Basket Ball.
For n general all-pround cuiogy " the
game Il would be harje- TO ind anything
more complete than the uttorances Of
William Lush, the former Cleveland base
ball player, who is in charge CT the base
ball team at Yale. Il covers the subject
so we'll that Il is worth while quoting OF
length. Someone was talking 20 Lush out
in St. Paul when 'he Yale basket ball
team was there awhile ago and this Is what
the base ball coach mad to say about basket
ball:
"Of the various bransnes Of college sport
that go TO fill up the interim between the
foot ball and base ball seasons all have
gradually given way before basket bail
ha
winter sport among the colleges as well
as the most useful and beneficial. both for
men who are training for one OF the major
sports and for those whose sole Fart in
college athletics IL PLAYED on the gym
nasum floor in this branch.
For ten years or more II has been
growing gradually In college favor and
even without the forward pass OF the foot
ball field to throw II into still brighter
relief the game sure to win its way
on the merits of its play. The qualities It
demands and those It develops were enough
in themselves to insure ultimate favor, but
the play OF the last few years in the inter-
collegiate basket bali league, together with
the sudden prominence which the grating
OF it's forward pass on the foot ball rules
has given IT, places basket ball far ahead
OF the position It held in former years
OF this season, both inside and outside the
league.
what IL Develops.
Among the qualities developed In the
men who take II up seriously are GOODNESS,
decision, suppleness activity and team
play. Weight height and superior strength
are advantageous. but with the exception
OF the center position, where height is a
requisite, there is no special premium put
upon any of these qualities. Speed and
agility are the qualities most desirable.
After them come endurance and the ability
TO submerge self in order to play for and
with the team, The new man at the game
is apt to be all nerves. He passes too
quickly. works too hard, and when he gets
chance to shoot for a goal he invariably
does II too quickly, with the result that his
try misses, where an instant's hesitation
for pose and aim would have converted
his worthless try into a valuable goal.
ut Is disconcerting to know that one
man on the other team is specially placed
TO guard him and the knowledge that he
is ever near and trying his utmost TO in
tercept the shot gives a green man the
'rattles' as quickly as anything could.
''The veteran has learned his lesson and