Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-01-21
By J. W. Heisman.

pubilC interest III our llldJOI anna
teur and professional sports? The
circus, the dramatic performance,
musical entertainments and the
puppet shows date back hundreds
and hundreds of years. Track
sports also, of most every con-
ceivable kind, have an antiquity Of
thousands of years: and so ii would
be no great wonder that any or
all of these exhibitions and forms
of entertainment should be found
popular.
But track and field sports no
longer draw the unnumbered thou
sands as they did in the days of
the Grecian Olympiads. More mod
ern games have usurped the place
once held by the Olympic sports.
| refer particularly to baseball and
football. The crowds which attend
the more important matches in
these two lines of sport number up
the way they used, in the days OF
the eladiatorial combats of the an
cient Roman empire.
But both baseball and football
are of very modern invention. The
former has seen but little over half
a century of existence, while the
latter has in it's American form,
lived for an even shorter time. Both
are still. so far as the great public
furore which they create is con-
cerned, as of very recent develop
ment. The big crowds. the costly
stadiums, the tremendous salaries,
the vast space and attention paid
them in the newspapers, the elabo
rate plans-these are all develop
ments of the last quarter Of a cen
fury merely.
So long as it was uncertain just
what tenure these games would
have in the public esteem, just so
long was public esteem withheld
from those who had any connec-
ton with them. The business Of
ball player, or manager, or coach,
or of any one who depended upon
his connection with the game for
a livelihood was considered pre-
carious and the man himself was
regarded obviously; often, indeed,
as an undesirable citizen.
ONLY the fact that the man was
or had been a collegian and
that he would work with college
men made the apparent position OF
a football coach any better than
that of a baseball attache. And at
that very few such coaches had
any idea Of "fooling" with the thing
longer than season or two. They
had been drawn into it, In the first
place, just because they liked 1t,
or because their college needed
them. or because they wished to
make a neat little pile in a. very
short time; and after that they
were certainly going to give 1t up
for good and all Fr
Frankly that is about the way |
got into it myself. True, l had
been shut off from the immediate
practice of my profession by a most
troublesome affection of the eyes;
but | never thought to be in the
coaching business longer than
season or two at most. once IN
it. however, 1 found I could never
again afford to get out of it. Every
time J planned to do so / would
receive higher offers than ever,
which increased offers were posi-
bic always because of the way the
game was expanding and drawing
public attention and money.
And that's the way it is with
baseball. More and more enthusl-
asm and excitement are being
aroused year by year over the
game. a greater and ever greater
number of people flock to the
games, more and more money rolls
into the Golfers of the winning
clubs: and so the magnates have
more and more to spend for fine
PLAYERS and great managers with
which to turn out the winning
teams.
There is no forecasting where 1t
will all end There can be no
doubt whatever but that both
football and baseball are still on
the up-wave of prosperity, and
that those who can deliver the
goods in these games are going to
be eagerly sought after for years
and years to come.
A Nd what does this spell? why,
~ that men who make living
nv reason of their successful con-
nection with these games are now
regarded in the same light as sue
cessful theatrical producers, tai
ented stage directors or opera i'm
nressarios. 1t is ALL after all.
merely a matter of catering to the
public. and that public's appetites,
desires and delights. What intrin-
sicallv. theoretically or technically,
is the difference between the pro-
prietor OF a big hosiery, where the
needs OF a mans stomach are ca
tered to. and the owner Of big
league franchise whose club salts
fies the public's craving for mental
diversion? It's all honorable work,
If honorably done. and the one man
is as much a creator and useful cit
izen az the other.
Look at all the big bascbaIi man