Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-22
MURPHY WILL TRAIN
THE OLYMPIC TEAM
Planning the Invasion Of Eng
land by the Crack American
Athletes Next Summer.
By Edward r. Bushnell.

By Edward Il. Bushnell.
| With the final refusal of the American
committee to remove Matthew Haipin of
the New York Athletic Club as manager
Of the American Olympic team, and the
selection Of Michael c. Murphy of the
University Of Pennsylvania as trainer, the
| great task of getting together a team
| which can bring back TO this country the
| Olympic championship for the fifth con-
secutive time was formally started. BY
It's appointment Of Murphy the commit
| tee made a ten strike, for it silenced
the criticisms Of Halpin and gave the
athletes assurance that their physical con-
| ditioning would be in the hands IT the
premier trainer Of the world. Murphy 8
appointment means that Halpin will at
| tend solely to the business management
Of the team. which. of itself. is enough
work for any man. Anybody who knows
| Murphy knows well that he will not toll
crate any interference with his charges.
Now that the committee has restored
harmony among the athletes VINO Will pc
candidates for the team. its plans for
training the men will shortly be an
nounced The actual makeup Of the team
cannot be determined until after the pre-
liminary tryouts June at Philadelphia
and Chicago. Naturally the committee
will waste Just as little time after TINS
date as possible. for the team sails june
q. In order to make it possible to select
the entire team within the week following
June 6 the American committee Will prop
ably request that the western INTERIOR
legiate meet be held May 20 and 3O-the
same date as the eastern meet. The pres
ent date of June conflicts with the
Olympic try-outs and a later date for the
Olympic trials would be most unsatisfac-
tory. There Is little doubt that the con-
ference association will set its games a
week earlier.
Under Murphy's Training.
Although no official announcement has
been made on the subject it Is likely that
as many of the athletes IS can spare the
time will go to Philadelphia after their
selection and put themselves in the care
of Mike Murphy at Franklin Field AL
though Murphy has been named as the
trainer, his duties will not begin until
after the team is officially named. AS
trainer Murphy will have huge task on
tween tvs fifty and sevefty-ave men on the
team, all sent to him from different
trainers. Murphy is too wise a man TO
attempt to change the styles OF any or
his charges and he will not.interfere with
the training of the men. even II they DO
use some methods Of which he does not
approve Murphy appreciates that many
Of his charges come from his rival train
ers and he will therefore encourage them
to train as they have been doing.
Murphy's services will be most appre-
ciated by his rare skill in getting his
men in fit condition physically and hold
ing them there. 1t is this quality which
has been most responsible for Murphy's
success as a trainer. Murphy is re-
markable judge of athletes. their good
points. bad points and their characters
and dispositions. He never handles two
men according to the same rules. He Is
not a oisciplinarian in the strfctest sense
the line apd his men seldom go contrary
to his instructions second time.
Murphy's Great Success.
The success of Murphy has been little
short Of phenomenal. He has developed
more champion athletes than any other
man. 1t was he who brought out We
fers, the holder of the world records for
the 100 and 22O-yard dashes Fitzpatrick
and Connef, the half and mile cham
pions; Sweeney, the worlds champion
high Jumper. and Kraenzlein. the worlo 8
champion hurdler. His success N turn
ing out intercollegiate champions has
who hold the fourteen intercollegiate rec
ords. counting the mile walk, eight OF
these are still held by the men who
made them under Murphy's training.
These include the quarter mile by Tay-
lor in 1907. the half mile by Parsons in
1906 the mile by Haskins in 1907. the high
jump by Mofiitt in 1907. the two hurdles
by Kraenzlein in 1893 and 1880. the broad
jump by Kraenzlen in 1899 and the mile
walk by Fetterman in 1898. In addition
to these record holders until last year the
men Murphy trained held the records In
the pole vault and the shot put. or the
eight intercollegiate records mentioned
above. seven are held by Pennsylvania
men and one by Yale. In the last fifteen
intercollegiate championships the teams
Murphy has coached have won twelve
times there being but three defeats-once
by Harvard and twice by Cornell. or
his twet victories Murphy won seven at
Yale ana five at Pennsylvania 1t Is
such a record as this should have been
unanimously chosen to train the Amer
team team.
To Take Only the Best.
1t is becoming more and more evident
every day that the American committee
does not intend to avail itself of the per-
mission to start twelve men in every
event on the program. If they did the
United States would send abroad a team
Of $50 men. which would be a wanton
waste Of funds. In the two sprints six or
eight men can be chosen who Will get all
the points possible Tor THIS NUMBER IN
cludes the cream of Americas sprintars.
OF course. there will be many ''phenoms"
developed with records OF ten seconds or
better. but when these woud-be cham
pions toe the mark at the Intercollegiate
or the try-outs. most OF them Will be
badly beaten IN ten seconds.
In all of The other events the same is
true. Half a dozen men will be enough
for the quarter mile. and similar num-
Der for the half and mile runs. In the
special events like the high and broad
jump the committee would be foolish to
take the full number of men. for the ath-
letes who can do six feet or better in the
high jump or twentythree feet in the
broad jump can be counted on the fingers
of one hand. In some Of the events there
will probably be half a dozen or more
men with ability fairly equal, which would
necessitate taking them al. But this will
be the exception rather than the rule.
There IS no doubt that all the points
America will get will be scored by no
more than twenty five men which further
proves the uselessness Of taking 100 many
men.
GE0RGETOWN'S SCHEDULE.