The Washington herald., 1911-10-22
WILLIAM F.
DONOVAN

in the dormitor1es the question whether "Od Man
Courtney, Of rowing fame Jack" Moakley has
done more to bring the Ihacans INTO the front RANKS
of the college world Of sports. MOakley Is Soutn
Boston boy who absorbed foot racing lore and was
very creditabe middle distance runner, but never
prominent as a professional. He had that admiration
for Mike Murphy which to grow up with all
the athletcaly inclined the section From an IL
structOr in public Fairgrounds he bOssomed into the
largest flower of great gathering Of athletic poseS
when he put Cornell at the top year after year as
leader in cross country and other distance run ing
When Moakley asked to what method he at
trlDuted the success of Comedians in stance run
ming he promptly answered, why, the very location
or Ithaca tends to make young rugged. Climbing
those hills is the best kind of training"
But there's than that to the Cornell system, and
the big hub in the wheel is MOakley. He his dis
tnctive plan. All The year round his cross country
runners are being grOOmed. During dual meet at
Ithaca a few months an official from New York
who was on Cornell field for the first time was mys-
titled to see half dozen men jogging out Of the club
house and away from the grounds.
What those fellows doing?' he asked. "Oh,
those are some of the country runners getting
ready for next fall volunteered native.
And while the Intercollegiate country cham
ponshps are being decided next fall likely not there
will be group of young wearers Of the red and
white plOdding the hills of Ithaca in preliminary
workout for the distance runs of 1912
Monkeys athletic sensation Of the recent college
year was John Paul Jones, the mile runner, who es-
tablished a worlds amateur record Of Am Is POS,
lowering by One-fifth of a second a mark made by
Thomas P COnneff in 1898. OF Jones it has been said
that he was advised never to run because Of ten
up process began and Jones strengthened by
cross country running that started with the slowest of
JOgs. To-day Jones the last quarter of a
gruellng mile race at pace that would make good
quarter miller who picked him up at the threequarteI
pole cave in before reaching the tape.
The Murphy system was established at Yale when
Johnny" Mack stepped in, but coach outside the
trust could have taken up the work and carried it
along the original lines as well as Mack has done
He is Of the professional sprinters who bit
after Murphy's time, but he had the little dis
trict schooling in athletics.
Mack a sprinter who believed that hundred
yard race never until the tape had been
breasted. Although an adept at starting, several
occasions owing partially to an injured tendon, Mack
trife slow in getting in motion. Then some Of
the men in front considered the already In
that last nerve pulling muscle piercing fifty yards
Mack would bound to the front and make to
the tape that usually brought him inside the money
That kind of spirit is credited to Yale which
accounts for the present show Of confidence in Macks
methods.
Tommy" Keene, at Syracuse, and Frank NJ. Ka-
naly, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
others Of the Bay State group of successful coaches
keene was professional sprinter who competed here
and in the Sheffield handicap in England with large
measures OF success. Kanay's personal dabble in
competition was as distance runner, ana he was up
to few years ago of Americas best. AS one Of
the younger members of the trust kanaIy is growing
rapidly in power.
Frank GormIey Boston man, is at the head Of the
Young Mems Gymnastc Club, Of New Orleans, the
leading organization in the South in athletics. AS
coach there he handles hundreds of athletes from the
Southern colleges. joe Riley, another from
the Hub is coach of the Kansas City Athletic Asso
citation.
The city of Worcester in which Mike" Murphy Is
known to every one who had the slightest
touch of the athletic fever has little group Of coaches
that have been remarkably successful ]. Fred
Powers, time holder of the all round amateur
championship, has coached NOtre Dame, University
and Holy Cross. He is now at Worcester Academy
Tom" Holland, one of the old guard of professional
foot and pupil in the Murphy school, has
been a winner at Northwestern University in Chi
cago, NOtre Dame and at Holy Cross College.
Martin Delaney brother of 'Jere,' a professional
distance runner of note and skilled coach at Exeter
and Iowa University, is himself deep into athletics in
the Middle West being in charge of the track team
of Chicago Athletic Association and many cOlegians
during the summer months. The OCOnnOr brothers,
Charlie" and Eddie" both clever and feet
teur sprinters and both fast up to half mile
made the rounds of the minor colleges of New Eng
land
Nothing But Praise"
When the attention of James Z. Sullivan, the chief
figure in the Amateur Athletic Union, and by virtue
of his position who has always been identified
with intercollegiate sports, was called to the athletic
trust he said:-
IF that trust 1t is the only in the world that
there is nothing but praise for. a fine body Of men
been worker from boyhood. Their moral influence
has been great that know personally at least a
Of fathers who have told me that men have been
made out of their boys by the training they have
under some of these coaches.
Yes, they all round coaches, not specialists
Yale has great pole vauers because athletes run in
groups, sort of follow the leader style When Gill
and others at Yale they looked up by
younger athletes and the latter aimed to become pro-
of Yale point winners in that in recent years.
At Harvard there time when fast quarter milers
came forward year after year. at Dartmouth, follow
ing the career of Chase, other great hurdlers
Cornell has been without peer developer OF
distance runners
when Dartmouth College secured all New England
for coach who had not been contracted for by some
other college a member Of the Athletic Committee
asked me TO recommend coach. had several in
mind but conditions surrounding others brought the
issue down to Harry L. Hlman. told my visitor to
engage him. not with the idea of having him develop
winning team in year two, but with the
thought always in mind Of building for the future
said that Hillman had been coached by Mike" Muir
ply and had always been keen student OF athletics.
In short l said that he came nearer TO the type of
leaders among these men you have In your list than
any man available Remarkably strange that with
all the interest in athletics the fact thatthe men who
lead In the development of college athletes from
that one little spot that mans thumb could almost
cover on a wall map has never been noted until now"