The Washington times., 1912-12-05

NEW YORK, Dec. 6.-The remarkable
number Of new records hung up by
American athletes during the last
twelve months. as 10 shown by the &C.
ceptance BY the American Amateur
Athletic Union Of the record commit
tees report, shows that Yankee ath-
letes are not yet near the limit Of their
ability. The list shows that rapid ad-
Vances have been made in almost every
department of track and field sports
short and long distance running, jump
Ing, weight.throwing. swimming. In all
there were eighty.one new marks estab-
lished. q larger number than during
any year for long time past.
No one IL more enthusiastic over the
exceptional showing than James T. Sui
Ivan. secretary.treasurer Of the A. A..
u. and one of the biggest men In ANA
teur sports, who declares that 1t proves
his contention, that Yankee speed.
bra awn, and endurance has yet to prove
all Of which It is capable.
Records Important.
1T 10 difficult" said Sullivan. ito
properly estimate the relative import
ance Of the new records. but one feat
that seems to stand At the head Of
the list Ii that Of Jim Thorpe. the
wonderful Carlisle indian. In esta ablish-
Ing q new 'ail-round' mark. Too much
stress cannot be laid on the importance
Of developing athletes proficient In
Oordingiy Tnorpe's work Stamps MIN the
biggest athlete Of the year. E.
ut would not be fair. possibly. to
say who stands next to Thorpe In
achievement during the last year. year. but but
wonderful high jumping BY George
HORNE. Of Leland Stamford University.
stamps him one Of the greatest ath-
letes Of the age. The success he met
IN hi. attack on Mike sweeney. sv;IS seven,
high shows his wonderful work. Now.
although he IL believed to have made
higher Jumps, he IL only credited. Of:
ncislly. with q leap. Of six feet six and
strsted that he has not yet. in all prob
ability, reached his limit.
Wight's Work Great.
"In the jumping department 1t must
also be remembered that the work OF
Wright. the Dartmouth pole vaulter.
was the greatest seen In years in this
sport. But q few years ago the stand
ards used for pole vaulting did not
reach above eleven feet. and this year
Wright boosted the records to over
thirteen. otHcT poio NaoNctS o'e uoH.o
great work also, as may be seen In
the fact that all clubs ana schools now
have standards Of twelve feet.
"Kiviat's 1.50O-meter mark at the
Olympic try.outs and his mile In AIS 3-6
in making which both he and Tabor
iapped the field and had to elbow other
runners out Of the way at the tape,
thereby being robbed u at least q sec.
ond. stand out as among the best run
ninE performances Of the year. Then.
Too. the work Of Donald Lippincott and
Ralph Crais in the 100 meters and Mere.
dith in the 500 prove that American ath.
ietes are not found wanting at the
shortor distances.
Pat Mcdonald. with the shot, and
Jim Duncan, with the discus, showed
that the weight throwers are keeping
step in the quick-step advance OF the
american athletic army, and Duke
Kahannmoku's swimming records in,
dicate that In the water as well a. or
land the American athlete excels.
"!.ast but not least among the not
able performances Of the year 10 Lott,
new javelin record. This Is a brancf
OF field sports that has been sadly neg
iected in America, but his performanc,
Of 1856 feet 10 inches. though some dis
tance behind the worlds record, show,
We may yet arrive In that"