The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-04
"Dolldrlsst' In Athletics
By MONTY


 New York, February S.-(special)- "Dollarlust" will cause the absence from the Olympic games of 1912, of some of the greatest athletes that ever drew on a spiked shoe. The"call of the coin' has been heard during the last few years by athletic stars in all corners of the world. As result, many of the greatest runners in history are now professionals and therefore ineligible to represent their nations in the big International carnival.
 If one should attempt to generalize 1 and formulate specific reason for this recent growth of oommercialism in athletics, it would be no hard task. The reason is the growth of interest in ath- letic sports and the corresponding in crease in the number of dollar admis- sion fees that can be lured into a turn stile box placed at the entrance to an athletic stadium.
 Every year has seen the awakening of new interest in amateur sports. In turn, this greater interest in simon pure" competitions has caused increased interest in the professionals-not the old time professionals, but the new ones. those who have just deserted the amateur ranks. An athlete reels off one or two or half a dozen first class performances, and he is straightway made the idol of many admirers. He 1 sees a chance to commercialize this admiration and, when challenge for ! a professional race comes his way, he accepts the opportunity to convert glory into dollars.
 | A typical example of this in our own country is seen in the case of Johnny Hayes. the little New Yorker, who won the 1908 Olympic marathon in London. | No sooner had he returned to this coun- try than he set out on a series of pro fessional marathons against other 'pros," notable among them being Do- rando Pietri, the Italian whom he de- Heated on d technicality in London. Hayes has been cleaning up the coin ever since and is now firmly established
 for a life of comparative ease during
 the rest Of his days. But he cannot represent his country at Stockholm during the coming summer. He is a
 full fledged pro"
 Of course the same can be said of
 Dorando, too, the only difference be- ing that he has garnered just about i twice as many samoleons as has Hayes. I Qorando is now back in sunny It. and vii have to stay there while less I proficient marathoners try to carry the colors of his fatherland to glory at Stockholm.
 The men who finished first and third in the hundred metres are also inelegi- be for the next Olympiad by virtue
 of their becoming professionals. Rr. r l.. Walker, the doughty South African who beat the Virginian, Jimmy Reoter, to the tape, is now back on the "blaclx | continent" with black mark against his name so far as amateurism is con cerned, but he doesn't care who wins the hundred this year because he has l. several thousand cold ones in the bank. + Nat Catmell, formerly of the universi- | ty of Pennsylvania, who was right on Rector's heels in the London sprint, is pro by the same token. He has N like the others, amassed a bunch of cash beating foreign professionals, in- cluding the great Jack Donaldson, of |l Australia and England
 II The latest Americans to forsake the
 ranks of the amateur are Hans and II Billy Queal, who made such a remark II able pair in the 10 mile marathon team II races. Queal has been doing top notch II work in this country since he became a professional, beating such stars as Percy Smallwood, the Welshman, Henri II St. Yves, of France, Jim Stanley, of san Francisco, and Alfred Shrubb, of England The last named was about \ the first great amateur athlete toy be- come professional, and he is probably II still the best runnner in the world at his distaces, although he uncorks an | cratic performance once in while. II But, as to Helmer-he has done run ming on the "other side" that has been \ little short of wonderful. He ran con sistently and won every race since his invasion of England until he came to i the professional classic of the year in ! that country-the Powderhall mara