The Washington herald., 1908-01-12

Of the 1900 persons who saw Princeton
and Yale battle in the recent great foot
bail contest at New Haven few knew
that they were watching a wonderful
exhibition of grit and pluck on the part
Of one of the players.
OF course, every one was thrilled by
the uphill fight made by the Bulldog. and
the vain effort of the Tiger 10 stave of
defect in the grueling second half.
Every man on both teams was playing
the game of his life But the greatest
Of them all was Brown. the Princeton
right end, who played for twenty-five
minutes with his coilarbone broken Like
gladiator. who feared lest his opponent
would find his weak point, Brown played
on. never shirking his duty and never
letting up for a moment in the fierce
ness Of his tackles. The pain from the
injury must nave been excruciating. His
left arm was useless. and all his tackles
were made with his right But his pluck
carried him on until finally nature could
stand ii no longer. and the coaches sent
in a substitute. Even then he did not
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an examination showed that his collar
bone had been broken. the coaches mar
veled at his pluck. though they were
men accustomed to Witnessing almost
superhuman feats Of endurance on the
gridiron.
Wonderful as was Browns exhibition
Of pluck. the history Of sports contains
others equally amazing to the general
public. In the excitement Of competition
the trained athlete seems to be buoyed
up on A wave OF exhilaratiOn which
makes him forget all pain. and his
nerve carries him on until at last ma
ture has 70 give in. In the paTlance OF
the sporting world # Is called sand 20
and no athlete with a yellow streak
has much chance OF success
Case OF John De Witt,
They produce a game brand Of athletes
at Princeton. and their football players
are noted for this quality. In 1903. when
Princeton defeated Yale al New Haven.
ali the points were scored by John De
Witt, who played all through the season
with a broken hand and strained wrist
On one hand lie wore a plaster cast and
his other wrist was protected by a heavy
leather guard. Most persons would con
slider either of these injuries Of sufficient
Importance to require careful nursing.
but De Witt never played a better game
than in that year. The following year one
Of the greatest of all Tiger half backs
played with a shattered coIlarbone pro-
tected by a leather harness
Water-On-the-knee. considered by the
medical profession as an especially dan
gerous injury. has not prevented a score
of players from fighting like demons on
the chalk-mayked field. There have been
a number Of great stars who played be
fore their broken ribs had knitted and did
not consider they were doing anything
heroic
To play with a broken nose attracts lit
tie attention. In fact. there are houses
which make a speciality OF furnishing
football teams with all manner Of braces,
protectors, and forms of harness in or
der that the players can continue despite
their injuries.
In the Prize Ring.
Though the football field furnishes
many Of the exhibitions Of pluck-for the
game is still the most strenuous of all
sports-it is not the only place where
sand" can be found in abundance. On
the football field il is simply the pure
love OF victory that. lesds the athletes on.
In the prize ring there is still the love Of
victory, with the added purse that goes
to the winner. and oftentimes a cham
There have been some fine examples OF
grit among the pugiIIsts. More than a
dozen years ago two Of the greatest ring
chiefs. Robert Fitzsimmons and James J.
Corbett, met in the roped arena at Car
son City. New. for the championship Of
the world. Corbett was at the height Of
his career, fresh from a victory over
John L. Sullivan. the greatest Of all
fighters. and "Lanky Bob" who had
worked his way up was the challenger.
Both were scientific fighters, and they
could hit blow that would XIII an Ordi-
nary man. Always on the alert 10 take
Of the slightest sign OF weak
ness on the part Of his opponent each
man fought with great caution, but fire.
quently landed terrific punches on the
body Of the other.
One of COrbetts blows broke one Of
ribs early IN the fight But
'Lanky Bob too willy to show any signs
of distress at that time, fought on BY
and by nature was ready TO quit, but not
The Australian faItered.
and seemed about to drop. Corbett. be-
lieving that he had the fight won, grew
reckless. "Lanky Bob" rallied his
strength in an insant. Corbett dropped
his guard for a fraction Of a second. 1t
was just long enough to end his career
and produce a new champion. For Fitz-
simmons sent home the blow that brought
him victory.
When Joe Cans Won.
Joseph Cans. a negro. and Battling Mel
son. an American Swede, were opponents
in the prize ring at Goldheld, a year ago.
Both men weighed about 193 pounds. The
negro is a master Of his craft, the white
man a bulldog fighter, that is. one who
depends on brute strength. Nelson was
the younger, and the winner Of many
fights. Cans had a record equally as
brilliant The negro trusted sto science.
the white man to strength. It was
terrific fight and went on for over forty
rounds. The negro won. and the white
man has never been as good since. Be
fore this battle it was thought that the
white man could not be hurt. The loser
had great sand" No one knows the
vital parts of the human body better than
the expert pugilist. Cans is an expert.
It was a brutal contest For more
than twenty rounds the negro was the
white mans master and he toyed with
his opponent like a cat with a mouse.
But the white man fought on until na-
ture gave way. There was no doubt
about it being a contest of human brutes.
but it was also a wonderful exhibition of
sand"
Professional baseball players are noted
for their grit. Injuries which would keep
an ordinary man at home are passed
over with hardly any attention. There
were several striking illustrations on the
New KOTK National In L.