East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1912-08-12
LACK OF COMPETITION
COST DAVENPORT RACE
Maroon Runner, Fresh From the
Olympic Games, Explains De-
feat i'm 500 Meter Event.

Chicago.-Ira n. Davenport, of the .
! University of Chicago, one of the To-
cal point winners in the Olympic ,
games, who arrived in Chicago on !
Friday with A. NJ. Mucks. the c. A. A. |
weight expert, regards his experience /
in the great Stockholm festival as the
equivalent of year of brain cultiva-
ton at the Midway seat of learning. !
He would not trade his trip to Sweden /,
for the entire curriculum of the or
d.nary knowledge factory.
The maroon star, who led the Mid |
way track team last season and who |
holds the conference records in the
half mile and quarter mile. distrib- |
uted souvenirs and minute lee
lures among his friends after reach |
ing the campus, and left a trail of
enthusiasm for Olympic competition
behind when he left for Dubuque, |
Iowa, to visit Miss Phyllis Shriner,
whose engagement to the athlete was
announced shortly before the Ameri
can team sailed for Europe in June.
He will go to his home at Pond Creek,
Okla. before returning to the neigh
borhood of Marshall field.
MaroOns Defeat Surprises.
Davenport's failure to win the 500
meter race at Stockholm was one of
the surprises of the meet since he
was generally regarded as the fast
est middle distance expert in the
country. with the possible exception
of Melvin Sheppard of New York,
who placed second to James f. Mere
Of N
race, with the Chicagoan third. De-
spite the defeat "Davvy' had no tale
of woe concerning the event
Although Davenport said he had
been in fine condition when he ran
at Stockholm, Coach Stagg took occa-
sion to do his star pupil justice in
the matter by explaining several facts
not generally known. The coach ex-
planned that Davenport had trans
gressed his training rules shortly be-
fore the conference meet by indulg-
ing in an informal quarter mile race
with a team mate when he had been
told to take it easy" for day. The
Joke" race turned out to be tragic,
as Davenport strained a leg muscle
and had things his own way in the
NpiltleIlCe OllN DeIduSe ne nav lo
competition
The maroon leader as a result was
unable to train for the quarter mile,
which requires strenuous sprinting
exercise, and had to give up prepara-
t ons for the 400-meter race, in which
he was eliminated in the preliminary
heat at Stockholm. The Chicago
critics attribute his failure to win
the SOO-meter run to the lack of COM
petition throughout his career in the
west
Poor Headwor< Not Shown.
The report of the S00-meter event
given to Coach Stagg by Davenport
shows that the defeat was not the re-
suit of poor headwork. The coach's
last word before Davenport left was
an injunction against lying back"
and depending on the wonderful fin
ishing sprint which has won the ma
room so many victories. Davenport
obeyed orders and was with the bunch
all the time, but failed to make up
the advantage gained by Sheppard
ana Mered tn on their starts.
sheppard got a flying start and ]
was in next to the last position said
Davenport. Rounding the last turn
| was working up for a position and
passed one man on the turn, passing
Braun of Germany as well twenty
yards from the tape and gaining on
Meredith and Sheppard.
Meredith finished first with a
clear margin and Sheppard was given
second. | was told that it was inn
possible to see whether sheppard or
l was ahead at the finish for see
ond honors.
81 am glad that all three of us
broke the worlds record for the half
mile at any rate. After Meredith had
won the 500 meters with new
worlds mark of l:51 $40 we con-
tinued for the rest of the half mile,
and all came in under the mark. That
s partial consolation for losing the
race | haven't the faintest kick to
register against the race and would
not be put i'm the position of 'wailing
: for anything,
Fast Boat Next Time.
''The trip to Stockholm was fine,
but trfle long, You have heard by
now that the chartering of the Fin
lduu, a lpuS bp'iN, - iScolNSu 90 I"
mistake and that Il fast boat will be
taken next time. We did manage to
train hard and faithfully aboard, how
ever. | was in bed at 10 O'Clock
sharp every night.
Trainer Murphy did his best to
: make things pleasant for us, and
, have the greatest admiration for
him. He had the situation under con-
troll at all times, although he was
forced to give up active work be-
cause of illness after time. He was
not able to stay on the Finland with
the rest of us for the last three or
four days.
Il want to say that sweden is the
home of the true sportsman. They
couldn't have treated us better or
been more kind to us than they We're
there, and none of the Americans
will ever forget it. The demonstra-
tions for the various teams showed
strong international friendship. with
one or two exceptions. And. of course,
the fact that our team seemed to be