The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-05-29
ALABAMA ALUMNI
 ATTEND BANQUET Fully 200 Old Graduates in Reunion At University ,DR. DENNY HONORED
Many State Notables Respond to Toasts, Among Them Being O'Neal, Sterling Wood and 0thers-Pre-
 sentation of Diplomas Today
nxk. A. RoTHARMEL


 Tuscaloosa. May 2s-(Special. )-The University of Alabama alumni have he'd f,,u sway in Tuscaloosa today. The fea- tare of alumni exercises was the alumlh banquet this afternoon which was at tended by about 200 of the old graduates. The tables were laid in the mess room or woods hall on the campus. The list oi those responding to toasts contained many of the states notable personages among them being Governor Emmet O'Neal, R. P. Hobson, Dr. George Il. Denny and Sterling A Wood. In response 10 a toast Governor o'Neal paid high 1~.tute to pr. Denny and spoke of him as ore of the best educators in the south. svhen pr. Denny was introduced he was greeted with tumultous applause which lasted over five minutes pr. Denny spose of the work of the State university and predicted a brilliant future for 1t. All of the speakers paid glowing tributes to R T. Hobson and spoke of his brilliant speech of this morning before the alumni.
 Sterling A. Wood spoke on "Thc Eternal question in College--Athletics, or Women, or Botfi,' as follows:
 Either part of this subject is too much fos the poor mortal, called man. to handle Il seems that whether you treat athletics, O, treat woman or treat both, you are sure to have trouble ahead. however you handle your subject. But you cannot drop tcm. or either of them; each has come to stay. each is going to abide with you until you think 1t is aboarding with you.
 . Turn the rivers from the south,
 Turn the vine against the sun,
 Herds from waters in drouth,
 Man must dare or nothings done
 Some argue that woman is a necessary e1il; others, that she is an indispensable good and the like arguments are wade in reference to the other part of the sub- ject But we as conservative and reas- enable men will take her or 1t as we find her or it; just take the good along with the evil and eliminate the evil and cling fast to the good-of course, mean ath- letics.
 Tn some regards our subjects are iden- tical Each is the result of the action of great natural laws. Each is with us just as sure as tlie force of gravity, and he who opposes either may hold it back for " nurse a sore toe forever thereafter as the result of his i'll directed efforts. Nat ural laws are not to be set aside or stayed.
 ''The one part of the subject the woman part. is really already eliminat- ed as question. We cease to find any question about her, except insofar as lter mql6e-up of today resembles an interrotsation point. But as that make up is the result of the irresistible force of fashion meeting very movable body, we shall not regard the result as q permanent question. Her position is not questiona ble. She came, she saw, and the usual result followed So let Us pass woman; l don't mean go by her, but 0. K. her
 Appreciation of Athletics
 Tt is not for us to trace the subject of athletics historically. It is as old as the eternal hills and as fresh as the spring morn, and its history may be relegated to those who stay inside seeking to find some flaw, and do not commune with the best part of na- ture. Athletics has come down to us as a legitimate inheritance, and we would as soon part with 1t as with our birthright. In all times and in all gen. erations, different forms of athletics have prevailed. and the close knitted fabric of modern civilation Is respon-
 
 "The crowding together in the cities has taken from the great portion of our population the ability to engage in many forms of exercise, and in obe- dience to the cravings of nature, they ! are contending and deseryedly contend ing for sufficient space and sufficient time to cultivate the body. and they look ta our university for education as to It's best forms and most sportsman- like rules.
 The True Test
 "professinnai athletics does not satisfy the craving of the university man. He wants test where all mind and energy are centered where there Is no possi- bility of jockeying, where the player gets keyed UT as if his life depended on the l smallest matter. and the on-looker Is Tn I full sympathy. and where the die being cast, the field opens anew for further sensation.
 Recently. in the Alabama Vanderbilt game. when at the beginning of the ninth Inning. the score stood to 1 against us, where somebody was on second, one out, Moody to tho bat, twc-bagger, one run, z Moody to second-tyinr score; and what happened? Just a rainstorm and the game called reverting to the beginning of the ninth inning in favor of Vanderbilt who thereby won the uthern-intercollegiate championship-no by nose but by a tongue, by a freak of nature, but fair and square. The cyclone that visited Tus- caloosa just at that minute and the hail 7 stones as large as hen eggs ftly allowed an exit to the worked up feelings of the University men.
 "Athletics should be a full department , of this University and credit should be awarded, for proficiency. My mind wan ders sometimes in dreams, and I some times dream a dream that a student of this University kicked q goal from fielu ! s2 yards, and received and receved-dis- credit for it oh. but that was a dream, and no more even dreams like that. 1.f srour o1t1rnntte ba or II. ba Ina E