Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-27
REVIEW Of THE YEAR
IN THE PRINCIPAL SPORTS
1908 Will Always Stand Out as the Producer Of
the Greatest Struggles and Performances
in the Standard Branches.

| all before II, scoring more points imam All
the combined nations OF the earth, In the
events that are purely classed as track
| and field in this country. England, now
ever. bases it's score and victory on the
points accumulated in not only the track
| and field sports, but the fencing. rowing.
| yachting, rifle shooting ana klhoreo
| pastimes.
| From the outset Of the Olympic games
/ friction developed and charges flew thlcR
| and fast until the closing days when the
affair reached its eliminating point. Inc
| English officials disqualified Carpenter.
an American, who won the 4OO-metre run
! on an alleged foul. The race was or
dered rerun, but the American team re
| fused to consider the project and forfeited
| the event.
Melvin Sheppard Of the Irish-American
| A. c. of New York was the hero of the
| Olympic games and the all-around cham
| pion of the meet. He scored IN points,
greater number than any other man.
Sheppard won both the 500 and $50
metre runs. events generally conceded to
| Englishmen. and broke the worlds record
| in each case. He also ran on the Olympic
| relay team of Americans that won, and
| for this was awarded IA points.
America was beaten in the 100 and 200
metre races, despite the presence In the
former of James A. Rector. the young
| Splinter whose work was the sensation
! of the year. Rector was credited with
| 100 yards in % seconds and SO sec
onds. but was not allowed records. lie
| took second. however, In London and
equaled the worlds record in his heat.
| In the field events America had q walk
| over, Parker breaking the Olympic record
| in the high jump. America also won all
| the places In the 1OO-Inetre hurdle race In
| worlds record time, Smithson Of Oregon
winning. America won the pole vault. the
i weight events and several other contests,
| leaving few first places to foreigners.
| In the Marathon race. the greatest
event Of the meet, little Johnny Hayes
| of New York won after Dorando, the
Italian. had collapsed within few hum
| dred yards of the finish. Hayes later
| turned professional and competed In
like race with Dorando. who also became
| professional The race took place in
| New York and Dorando won. A few
weeks later. early this month, Tom Long
| boat. the Canadian Indian. in turn de-
| feated Dorando.
| Cornell was again the victor in the
| Eastern intercollegiate meet, while Chi
| cago triumphed In the west. Cornell was
! pushed to win by Pennsylvania, and had
not Michigan, much heralded as 1t was.
| failed dismally to make good, the Red
| and Blue would have nosed out the 1tha-
/ cans. In this meet Shaw of Dartmouth
| broke the intercollegiate hurdle record,
which had long stood. covering the dis
| tance in 10 10 seconds. and equaling the
worlds record.
The pole vaulting all through the year
was remarkable. Dray of Yale and Gill
| bert. his teammate, continually boosted
| the bar to new heights, until Gilbert fin-
ally went the highest, getting credit for
a new worlds record at II feet 9a4 inches.
The winter and spring seasons were more
| prolific of meets than usual. due in a
| great measure to the anxiety Of the ath-
| letes to get into shape for the trials for
the Olympic team. These were held in
the west at Chicago, on the Pacific coast
| in San Francisco and in Philadelphia for
the east.
In the Ring.
The various fighting championships re-
manned in America, despite the fact that
an assault was made on the featherweight
| title by Engishmen, and Tommy Burns,
| the heavyweight champion, made trip
| to England, France and Australia. Burns
| found all his opponents the easiest kind of
marks ana gathered in much money in
an easy manner. While abroad he fought
Jack Palmer. Jem Roche and Bill Squires,
! finding trouble knocking all of them
out. Then he turned his face to Australia,
and on reaching that country put away
Lang and Bill Squires for the second time.
| Jack Johnson, the colored heavyweight.
| Saturday, December 26, at Sydney, Aus
tralia. gained the title to the world 8
championship by beating Tommy Burns
| in fourteen furious rounds. The cham
| challenger carried such a spirited fusil-
| lade to his opponents body and head that
| he soon had Burns in a sorry plight. The
| Canadian stood up under the most vicious
| kind of punishment for thirteen rounds.
He came out for the fourteenth game as
ever, but the police, realizing that he was
a beaten man. mercifully ordered the ref
cree to stop the contest. Hugh D. McIn-
tosh, who promoted the battle. unwilling
ly obeyed the mandate of the law and
| awarded the decision to Johnson. While
! Burns was not knocked out. Johnson will
| be technically credited with such vic
tory. Burns could not possibly have
| lasted the twenty scheduled rounds.
| Abe Attell found little trouble holding
| on to bis featherweight title, his greatest
difficulty being in obtaining bouts. The
| lightweight championship came back to
| Battling Nelson, when he defeated Joe
Cans. after being apparently all in. Billy
| Papke defeated Stanley Ketchel for the
middleweight championship by the knock
| out route but ketchel shattered ring ira
| dition by coming back with knockout
| victory over the same fighter. The boxing
| game continued to hold good on the Pa
| ciiic coast, while Boston and Philadel phia
continued without interruption. New
York had It's ups and downs, but has had
| d good share of the fighting work this
season.
| While the auto race meets furnished
more enjoyable sport than In previous
! years, better records and better contests
nature. This was the most pleasing fea-
ture Of the season. 1t was particularly
pleasing to Americans that of their
countrymen won both the Vanderbilt CUP
race and the 20O-mile endurance road race
in Paramount Park. He was George Rob
ertson. the driver of the Locomobilc. In
| both events he was opposed by brillian,
drivers and the highest type of car. but
he came through with fine victories
The grand prize race was held at Sa-
! vannah, Ga, on a specially prepared
course, patrolled by soldiers. Wagner, in
a Fiat car. was the winner after record
| breaking and startling race. This race
also had the entry of many foreign cars
The twenty -four-hour race continued il
popularity. but the road race grew &c
at various points. Tho Glidden run wa:
another artistic success.
| Harvard and Pennsylvania of the bi,
eastern college elevens finished without
q defeat. though Penn had a tie game
with Carlisle Indians. Yale lost It's game
to Harvard, but won from Princeton
| Princeton had 4 poor season. losing &c
Yale and Dartmouth and being tied by
three other elevens.
Pennsylvania defeated Cornell. MichI
gan Lafayette and number Of other
good teams. while Harvard won from
Indians, Dartmouth and Brown, besides
Yale The Indians. as usual. had q
lengthy schedule that carried them a.
far west as Denver. This year they
played In Pittsburg, St Louis, Oman
and Denver on the western trip. The
redskins won all OF these games.
Chicago had brilliant team and de-
feated its opponents. Michigan was
again a diSappointment in It's big games