The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-01-11
AMATEURS MADE MANY NEW RECORDS 1908 Great Year for Sports in
 United States IMPETUS OF MARATHON Many Teams Want Services of John Fitzpatrick-shrubb To Appear In
 New York-The History of
 Bobby coushen.
IMPETUS OF MARATHON
By MANHATTAN.

New York, January 10.-The year of 1908 stands out prominent as a year of broken records in amateur athletics in the United States. New fighters in no less than 3l different events. That much of this was due to the Olympic games is very prob- able. While the number of records actu- ally broken in the Olympic games was not , surprisingly large, the impetus given athletics by the games unquestionably had its effect. Here are some of the new rec ords for the past year:
 Eight hundred meter run, by Melvin Sheppard, minute 52 4-5 seconds.
 Fifteen hundred meter run, by Melvin Sheppard, 1 minutes 3 4-5 seconds
 Throwing discus, Greek style, by Mar tin Sheridan, 1A feet inches.
 Throwing discus, free style, by Martin Sheridan, 40 feet 51z inches
 Tossing 56 pound weight, by P. McDon- aid, IS feet A inches.
 Throwing Is pound weight, by John Flanagan, 17s feet 51k inches.
 Putting the IS pound shot, by Ralph Rose, 49 feet 10 inches.
 Putting the 12 pound shot, by Ralph Rose, 57 feet inches.
 One hundred and twenty yard hurdles, by A. B. Shaw, 151k seconds.
 Five mile run, T. J. Collins, 25 minutes D 2-5 seconds.
 Two mile run. by M. P. Driscoll, g minutes 2S 2-5 seconds.
 Pole vaulting, by Dray, 12 feet 91k inches.
 Broad jump, by Irons, "A feet 6h inches.
 Records were broken in skating, swim ming, billiards, ski jumping, horse rac- ing, ice boating and other things. It was truly a gerat year for records
 New Workers will shortly have the chance to see in action the greatest long distance runner the world has ever known Alfred Shrubb of England Shrubb is under contract to run two races in Mad ison Square Garden before another month rolls round. In his first race at 12 miles, Shrubb will run against a relay team of three of the best professionals Messrs Powers and Pollok can sign. Each of Shrubb's opponents will run four miles,
 IiC plOiuOlClS are lTyluS ndTQ to get some of the distance stars of the amateur athletic world to flop to the pro ranks for this race. It is a well-known fact that the good five-milers who run for the medals so far outclass the pros" who race these that Powers and Pollok hope to band together in team that can take fall out of Shrubb Later on Shrubb will run a full Marathon race against Tom Longboat, the great Indian runner, who recently beat Dorando in the garden.
 Several western rowing organizations are negotiating with John Fitzpatrick, ex- champion sculler of England, to coach their amateur crews for the coming sea son. One of the organizations is located at St. Louis and another Is on the Pa cific coast
 Fitzpatrick has not yet decided what he will do.
 Fitzpatrick, who is A years of age, has been rowing since he was 16 years old, when he won the German High school re- gatta prize from nine competitors. Be- fore he came to this country he also won the Great Northern, the South Shields. the Whitehaven. in which he rowed five heats for the finals; the Tynesside and
 
 In 1906 Fitzpatrick met the elder James Ten Eyck, Wallace, Ross, Jack Largan, George Perkins, c. Phillips and a num- Der of the other cracks in the Shadewell handicap and beat them all
 Later he won the French international sculling sweepstakes by again defeating Ten Eyck, Ross Largan and also Al Hamm, James Bell, Roland, Kennedy. Adams and others.
 He has trained and handled crews all over the country since 1SS7 and has met with exceptional success. Among his winning crews were the Varuna, 1888; Duluth 1889; Alameda, Cal, 1890; Port land, Ore, 1891; the Bohemian Palisade, Union New York Naval academy, Nep, tune. Baltimore, Potomas. Washington, Southside. Quincy, H.; Nautilus Bay Ridge Atlanta Hoboken and the Staten Island.
 Charley Courtney. the veteran Cornell rowing coach. is again urging that the college races be rowed at three miles in- stead of four. He claims that the last mile is too much of strain on the young athletes.
 There are few men whose judgment in such matters is as good as Courtney's, and it is not impossible that the change will commend itself to the rowing author ities
 Two years ago the Fordham college bas- ketball team made a vigorous protest when "Bobbie'' Cloughen was added to the track team of that institution, and even after he had started training for the sprint races he was often called upon to play against the strongest college bas ketball teams, and always did much to bring victory to his team. Whe nths big, red d-haired youth who is now the fastest sprinter in America, started running in the little gymnasium up in Fordham he had no idea that he could win races, and really only joined in with the track men him valuable man. Unless he was req sonably certain that he was going back