The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-02
WITH THE COLLEGE ATHLETES
DOINGS IN THE FIELD OF SPORT
IN EAST AND WEST.

-tOst anu EAtCut w ttAADNtNs-tuV
YOUNG OF Cornell on Needs OF Sport.
Overdeyotion 10 athletic sports 10 COM
,-alnsd OF bitterly by educators who dis
euss college problems Of the present day.
Th.v say that there are 1.-TWO many studepta
whose Chief interest In college activities
ssam, TO be In athletics and that there are
100 many forms OF sport for tbs student
:, take part In. Compared with the games
Of the college man OF some years ago, there
sssm, TO lie not q little justice In the latter
mart Of the statement. Where there were.
saw twenty or thirty years ago, three or
four branches OF sport, there are now nine
team or twenty. all represented by varsity
,sa,rs. All colleges m universities, OF
course. do not participate in all these forms,
BIT most colleges are interested In at least
inf a dozen and likely more.
loving. baseball. football and track
.oorts are. Of course. the major branches.
In the first place, however, there are many
colleges which by the nature OF their geo
rfaphical situation cannot have rowing.
u.ryard. Yale, Cornell, Columbia. Penn
syhania. Wisconsin, Georgetown, Syracuse.
Randolph Macon, Minnesota, Stanford, Cal
ifornia. Washington and perhaps n other
!NsiIil llItl ld SAN ~
Annapolis has a crew, but that hardly
comes under the head Of q college.
i;aseball is the national game and there
i, practically no college which does not
slupo,t a team. The sole exception which
slrgcots itself is Haverford, where cricket
Is lie spring sport. Football is practically
the same. The sole exception Of promi-
r.uce in the East is Columbia. This 10. OF
.,aoIian - tho lUoartnan RnOhC
cprnr. Stanford and California on the
Pacific Coast exist without football OF the
native variety.
There is no one particular institution
vhich is not represented in track athletics.
Even II the institution has not a competing
.snm. there are at least interclass meets.
Trac,, athletic sport has the best hold on
college men Of all the sports.
These are well established sports and
have been popular for years. Added to
thrsp. however. in tho list OF a well regulated
university are many others. Harvard
for instance as the most athletically devoted
university in the country supports prac-
,ically everything except polo. Harvard
is characterized as the most athletically
devoted because the Harvard athletic
squads are universally larger than those
a. any other institution. Harvard has
basketball, gymnastics. swimming, fenc-
ing. lawn tennis. hockey. croes-country,
golf, shooting, lacrosse. soccer, water polo
aud cricket.
Yale has all except cricket, and has be-
sides wrestling, handbal and polo. Hand
bali ia not very often intercollegiate In char
acter, although Yale 10 mentioned In con-
nection With 1t because Columbia and Yale
on occasion have dual handball compe-
titions. The Yale squads which report
for athletic teams are not as large as they
are In Harvard.
Pennsylvania 10 very we'll equipped
In numbers OF athletic competitions. They
have seventeen on their lists at Philadel-
phia; handban and polo being the excep-
tons. Handball, cricket and lacrosse are
the only exceptions at Princeton.
The amaller colleges are devoted mostly
10 tho major sports, although naturally
enough some OF them play hockey and
basketball; as conditions permit. In
most Of them there La no chance for many
other sports, although gymnastics, wrest-
ling and lawn tennis all are favorites, A
review Of thirty or forty OF the smaller
colleges OF the country probably would show
that outside Of baseball, football and track
athletics, time Is devoted in many OF them
10 at least ten sports. With the limited
number Of students and an equally limited
capital for the athletic associations, this is
quite a drain on the vitality Of the student
population.
What the total cost OF athletics is in the
colleges OF the United States would reach
are many large universities in the country
where thousands are sp5nt every season.
Football costs $50 900 or SOC DOC In a year
in the biggest institutions, rowing totals
y,0N, and track athletics about $1,000.
Taking a college where fifteen or sixteen
sports flourish, il IL not hard TO imagine
that 500, 600 may be spent in a year on
athletics. There are several colleges which
maintain sport on so LAVISH a pasls, ana II
America, where there are three or four
hundred institutions OF the college grade,
paid about $40, 600 900 a year 1or athietics,
It would be decried as an impossibility:
However, taking twenty r thirty IN
slitutions, it does not seem SO Impossible.
The sums spent by Harvard, Yale, Prince
ton. Pennsylvania, Cornell, Columbia, Wis
coll>in. Chicago, Michigan, Minnesota
Illinois, Syracuse, Georgetown, Amherst,
Williams, Dartmouth, Brown, Virginia,
Stanford and California, aiken as instances,
would amount to more than 81 900 900 al
together. That is only a very small part
Of the whole, because II many other colleges
spend only a little money, at least there
are 80 many which spend small sums that
in the aggregate the sum Is worthy OF con-
sideration. In fact, it seems as II $4,000 900
were a moderate estimate for the total
spending on athletics.
In view OF the number OF sports and the
amount spent on them, the athletic situa-
rion is believed to have got beyond the CON
troll OF the student. II is ~contended that 1t
is harmful for young men TO devote 80
much Of their time TO games and, further
more. that IL is bad for them to have the
handling Of great sums OF money. The
careful supervision Of athletic funds by a
graduate manager in most institutions
makes peculation unlikely, II not impossible
In one way It is an excel nt thing for the
undergraduate to have In charge funds
Of such dimensions. 1t makes IL necessary
for him TO improve and develop the business
sense which he has TO display when he gets
out Of college. ~
Another angle Of view OF the athletic
problem ia the percentage OF men in the
institutions who take part in sports IL
was fgured&ut not long 9 that on the
basis OF the total registration at Columbia,
for instance. IS per cent; OF the students