The Washington herald., 1911-11-12
REAT UNIVERSITIES ARMY or
O T


teur because he receiving money indirectly
through his playing, but they who grumbled never
brought actual charges. Some said 1t was through
fear of reprsa because is alleged there record
In every college Of the past performances Of every
player that has been upon the grdiron-those having
the undoubted wherewthal to go their course being
marked with an \ and the others with interroga-
ton point
Be that it may, the student referred to was not
protested, made good his every promise, and in the
arts was almost as well up as in his football And he
held his head up proudly did any other man on
the field and when they yielded him honor, as they
did on two occasions. he received tas his due. He
prohted by the card privilege, but 1t earning
his way just though between class time he had
worked at manual labor far the actual cash re-
ceipts were concerned. Later this man accentuated
his qualities by participation in the uplifting of the
civic government in great muncipality-his college
honoring him as a man who had made good every
where and the municipality laudng him as one who
had done all things equitaby and we'll
He was one Of the men that had been discovered by
the growing number of scouts. He in minor
colege-in a college that he could attend, and,
through work outside, he graduated from. He
said many a time later that while he could never
nave gained the prominence he had obtained in the
larger institution neither could he have had the rea
zation Of his ambitions And he did. A few years
afterward he died without word Of regret Of an i'll
ness that had its origin in the heroic work that he
had done for his alma mater. An amateur he? A
man who not only willing to- but did, give his life
for his college? Assuredly So his comrades on the
campus said and the verdict Of ones comrades on the
campus IS beyond appeal
Was there wrong in him? Was there guile in the
scouts that obtained him? The amateurs NAV make
their own reply. The public may give its own YER
dict He has answered with his lfe-a life that got
nothing that not shared with his team and that
was not participated in by his college The college
gave him an education not knowing where its tuition
fees came from He paid the athletic association for
II with his brain and with his brawn-with the one in
lts lecture rooms and with the other it's football
media double toll, and far he was concerned
an honorable one-the only toll and the best toll
Dig brave man could pay.
And his case, save for its tragic end. will be re-
peated so long as there is contest between uniyers
ues and, perhaps, rightly so, long the athletic
associations are bent upon supremacy that in pop
uIar esteem excels popularity in the 1t is going
on To-Day Only last year at Washington Park there
were scouts watching the games between the great
schools In Brooklyn. The game was not over twenty
tSur nours when these scouts who are graduates of
larger coleges, were at the homes of players that
distinguished themselves canvassing them 1t is not
matter of much secrecy in the Flatbush or Erasmus
Hall district that one Of the McNulty boys coming
from family of athletes, heard in glowing terms
OF the advantages Of graduation from one Of the
great universities OF course they were not offered
tree tuition. That would have been irregular and
impossible but, If there any reasons that would
work against them becoming students, why, they
might be removed.
And how removed? By legitimate means Be
cause of the rule at present operating against fresh
men, they could not make the team the first year but
they would be eligible to fill in the depleted ranks and
not only that but would have the full benefit of a
season Of special training without the anxieties de-
pendent upon year Of active trial for game in
would be at stake. The case of the McNulty bows
Is cited entirely because it was one in which their
eminence in athletics disclosed them. They could
have gone to any university without hardship to
their family.
They are but some of many thousands throughout
the land that are sought after by graduates some Of
the candidates being Of families of wealth and some
Of them being Of families that may have pinched
themselves to give their boys an education in the
incidental course Of which they made themselves
known adopts in the collegiate course of athletics
And the course Of these scouts? An easy one There
may be loan adVanced-alYays good security
to maintain the native pride of the bow because a
boy without nride or indeed ,vitbon+ yoni+v S 80 ~
earthly use, and he may accept. Wages or salary
would make Of him menial, and menials have
neither initiative fine sentiment. which demands
at all times the superlative best The man on the
team needs to feel that it is for his alma mater he
Is striving his topmost best, and not merely the re-
turn for any gracious act The would be wages
measured by what he received; the other would be
gratitude and affection something that no labor could
recOmpense and years obliterate.
Now and again an unworthy man will sip in. Now
and again scout in his eagerness will transgress
the bounds but to-day in football in the larger and
TO some measurable extent. In the minor colleges
there Is reasonable adherence to the amateur rules
Of course, there are at times nexplicable rea-
sons why Mr.. A. who a half back at Oshkosh
should be found at Yale for example or why Mr. B.
who was an end at Guthrie. should be star at Har-
ward. or why Mr.. c. who was assumed to be bent on
the ministry at San Pedro should be at Princeton,
each in his second year; but, in the man these men
have qualified in their arts or special courses and
there may be no challenges.
1t may very well be that at Oshkosh there was
an enthusiastic Yale student who knew Mr. A. and
that at Guthrie there was a Hasty Pudding man
who discovered qualities in Mr.. B. and that at San
Pedro there was some muscular dominic who induced
Mr. Q. to become ambitious-the latter quite likely
for the Princeton domnies have keen sense for a
light foot quick eye and body of hard muscle
Best Athletes of the Land.
1t is this wonderful rounding up of the best athletic
talent In the country that keeps the teams of the great
universities IN class by themselves To be scored
against by any outside eleven is regarded as remark
lble. To be defeated is sensation. Every man on
he team has made his mark somewhere before he
considered even eligible He is got for his uniyer-
'ity through the loyal scouting of some graduate
1t must not be assumed, however that it is only in
ooba that this extensive draughtng is practised or
hat 1t Is confined to the larger universities The grad
late from Brown from Michigan or from any other
college Is on perpetual still hunt for material for the
:rews, the track and field contests and the baseball
eam OF his college. In these branches Of athletics
oo there were in the somewhat loose government of
score OF years ago some close approaches to the
Inc that Is supposed to mark the limit beyond which
he amateur may not In all Of these cases the ut
most care was exercised that the faculty should have
10 knowledge of any Of the means resorted to that