Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-03
TRYING TO PURIFY
COLLEGE ATHLETICS
Summer Base Ball Dominant
Problem Before IntercoI-
Iegiate Association.

NEW YORK, January I'm further
ance of the movement for purity OF col
lege athletics elimination of profession
alism and encoura cement of high ideals
among players and manag gers in intercol-
legiate sports, representatives of fifty
colleges and universities met here today
for the third annual convention of the
intercollegiate athletic association
While other sports were. mentioned dur
ing the discussion of the session, which
extended well into the evening. base ball.
foot ball and basket ball came in for chief
consideration. Stress was laid through
out upon the ethical necessity of strict
control over college athletics. Capt
Palmer A. Pierce, U. S. A, president of
the association, in his opening address,
spoke of this necessity, insisting that the
ethical basis of athletic control should
be worthy the educational plane of the
institutions which fostered intercolle-
giate sports. The note was further
sounded by Chancellor McCracken of
New York University, who instanced vio-
lations of the tenets of fair play and the
announcement of special privileges to
IAN athletic champion on the part of
lone of the largest, universities of this
country not a member of this associa-
ton"
The evils of PROSECUTING, practice
which was declared to be not yet stamped
out in college athletics. were dwelt upon
by several Of the speakers. including
President Pierce. who cited the case of
one boy who received forty-three letters
Of inducement from colleges. Faculty or
NJ
others, among them Prof. c. A. Waldo
of Purdue University, who alluded to
the undermining influence exerted upon
athletics by the passing of control to
professional coaches or managers of
teams or to bodies of alumni with sport
ing proclivities.'' How to eliminate I'M
fair play in sports was another problem
discussed, Prof Charles w. Larned of
West Point decrying the practice of many
coaches who instruct their charges on
the anything-to-wi basis. AS a means
of nstilling ideas of fair play into the
rising generation he praised the idea and
the work of the public school athletic
league in New York city, which aimed
first of all the means of playing fair as
the only right and manly thing to do.
Many interesting points were brought
out in the debate as to whether any stu
dent in good collegiate standing should
be permitted to pay in intercollegiate
base ball The question involved the
eligibility of the player of summer base
ball." whose cause was advocated by
Prof. Judson p. WEIGH OF Pennsylvania
State Agricultural College, Prof WEIGH
declaring that man who earned money
during summer vacation playing base bal!
was no more a professional than the
mal who worked at other occupations to
get through college.
Prof H. c. Chase of Tufts College took
a similar view, maintaining that the sum
mer base ball player was no worse than
the star amateur whose way through col
lege was made easy by the extension Of
special privileges. Men who made play
ing on various teams their chief business
in college were technically not so good
as the students who played ball merely
during the summer, he thought.
Prof. 4. A. Stage of Chicago University
was q prominent speaker on the other side
Of the question. He said that to allow
professionals to compete in American COL
lege sports would lead to athletic an
archy. To let down the bars for summer
base bali players would mean that the
other teams would be overrun with pro-
fessionals
Eternal watchfulness is now the price
of purity in athletic sports in colleges"
said Prof. Stage, and until that senti-
ment is entirely for fair play we must
be watchful.'
Among the institutions represented today
were West Point. Chicago University,
A11lleTSl, NE" oIh university, o"dTln-
more. Haverford. Rutgers. Oberlin, SYRIA
cuse Stevens, Union. Bucknell Colgate.
Wesleyan, Pratt institute, the universities
Of Pennsylvania, Missouri, Rochester.
Virginia, Kansas, Vermont and Nebraska,
Kenyon College and George Washington
University.
Without formulating, as it had been ex-
pected TO do, an accurate definition of
the word amateur as binding upon it's
members, the Intercollegiate Athletic AS
sociation. representing fifty colleges and
universities, concluded tonight its third
annual convention, which had been IN
session here throughout the day. In
volved in the non-action was the failure
of the association to arrive at any hard
and fast determination of the summer
base Ball. players status. A year ago a
special committee was appointed to con-
slider this matter. The committee re-
ported at today's meeting, but it's report
while a comprehensive one, made no rec
ommendation further than that the pres
ent rule, giving each college the right to
decide the summer base ballist's status
for itself. should be continued in force
fnr