The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-11-26
FOOTBALL CASUALTIES.


| closed. has been an especially I'M
fortunate one in the number of deaths
and serious injuries which have oc-
Cured in the playing of the game
throughout the entire country, must
be admitted on all sides. This is a
distressing condition of affairs but it
is one, it would seem, which ought to
be handled with fairness and justice,
and particularly by such an influential
journal as the Chicago Tribune and
the several other important publica-
lions in the country, including the
Cincinnati Enquirer. which takes the
Tribune's word for things as gospel.
The Chicago Tribune considers
itself the statistical expert among the
newspapers of the country, especially
when it comes to fixing up death lists
for sports and other pursuits. AS
general thing its figures are most
reliable but in its zealousness to do
the work of this sort thoroughly and
promptly, it occasionally oversteps the
mark, and this is certainly the case
in it's football statistics for the recent
season. 1t places TIE number of
deaths due this year at football at 26
and the number of serious injuries at
20. Please notice a few of the entries
in the death list. One played died on
May 25 from injuries he received in
a game in 1905. "In some manner his
breast bone was fractured. which
punctured the tissues of the lungs,
causing pneumonia" A case of
pneumonia which lasts for four years
ought to be something of novelty to
the medical profession. Or If it did
not develop until a few days or weeks
before the death in question is it fair
to attribute it to an injury on a foot
ball field which happened four years
ago? Another player is credited with
dying on March 10 of consumption
contracted through exposure on
the football field in the fall
of 1908" 1t is unusual to say the
least for consumption to develop
among football players as a result of
exposure. They are generally so
hardened to all kinds of exposure that
consumption passes them by. Still an
another player is credited with dying
on April 5 "as a result of over exer-
ton during training in the previous
season. Could it not be possible
that something else caused this
death? In another instance player
died on May 81 from the effects of
injuries he had received in a football
game on Thanksgiving, 1906" What
these injuries were Is not stated. but
they must have been of a peculiar
kind to linger on for three years be-
fore causing death. Another player is
credited bv the Tribune with dying
on January 81, having died sudden
" as the result of being kicked in
the groin in a game on Thanksgiving
day. 1908" This breaks all records
for sudden deaths as it did not hap
pen until one year after the injury
was inflicted.
There are a few other instances in
the Tribune's list of football victims
for this year which are just as unrea-
sonable to charge to the game as the
ones noted But granted that they ac-
tually did result from football in
iuries, the deaths should ont be cred
tied to the football casualties of
1909. They should be divided up
among the wears when the accidents
occurred. AS a matter Of fact in the
Tribune's list of twenty-six deaths at
tributed to this years football season
no less than seven of them happened
mOnInS DeIOIo the ISC0II lOOlOdtl sea-
son began. This may be the Trib-
une's idea of fixing up the football
death roll for the past season. but it
assuredly is not a fair one. The ac-
tual death list for the season is quite
bad enough without adding to it a
number of deaths which should be
credited to other seasons if they ac-
tually did result from football.
The casualties on the football field
this year will, no doubt, result in
earnest efforts on the part of the
leading experts in this sport, for a
change in the style of play, particu-
larly in a further development of the
open game, which will reduce the
danger of playing it to a minimum.
1t is to be hoped that these efforts
will be successful. for it would be
shame that any necessity should arise
for the adjustment of the game.