Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-06-09
N j RPHY WAS
KEENEST JUDGE
| Of A 7 HE TES
By Ed W. Smith.
HICAGO. June Sit is small
wonder that Ike Murphv vet

wonder that Ike Murphy, vet
eran of athletes. who passed
away in the East few days ago,
led the athletic world and created
more han one sensation by spring
ing great performers on the differ
ent countrie- at diff rent times. FIR
Mike was one of tn keenest judges
of human form a..d human capa bill
ties that ! ever saw, AS a matter IF
fact he vas little short of uncanny
in his perception and could tell al
most at glance what an athlete
was capable of. Not only was he
deep student of the physical side,
but he studied and judged tempera
ments as well-and this was one "
the biggest factors in Mikes marvel
Gus success in handling men for sth-
letic contests.
IT is not mentioned In any of the
biographies that l have seen of
Murphy that he was once one Of
the greatest of professional sprint
ers back in the old days when
printing was one of the real sports
in New England and towns in that
section subscribed money to send
their stars to Old England TO COM
pete in Sheffield handicaps and 9TH
er big races. New England pro-
duced more than one man in those
days that could beat even time"
for 100 yards and, as a matter of
fact, every town in that section had
a champion ana plenty Of money was
wasered whenever a match race 1r
an open event came up that brought
toe y ,f . H. 10lrz
IT was in a school of that kind that
the lynX-eyed Mike learned the
game of footracing and acquired his
knowledge of men in much the same
way. Naturally a wonderfully bright
and thoughtful fellow, ambitious TO
lead at all times and with a COM
petitive spirit that was wonderfully
developed. it is small wonder that
Mike, able as he was TO impart that
same spirit to the men he handled,
was hugely successful against the
world even at times when he seemed
to have vastly the worst of it in the
way of athletic material on his
squads
NEITHER has it been mentioned
that Murphy at one time trained
the athletes of the old Detroit Athletic
Club when such men as Fred Owen.
Luther Cary, Fred Duchame, George
Mesley Joe Murphy and other great
athletes were competing around the
Middle West. Yet Mike was a fami-
lar figure then and was almost as
successful as he proved in later
years He not only uncovered but de-
.veloped some Of the greatest ANA
.teurs the world ever knew
THE last time I saw Mike was at
l Reno, New. in 1910. while he was
taking a vacation watching the
training of Jeffries and Johnson and
Eastern syndicate. ! rode from Chi
cago to the divorce city with him and
had many an interesting chat with
hSm about the great athletes OF past
and present Even then Mike was
not in the best Of health and his in
creasing deafness bothered him more
than a little and it was hard for him
TO converse in public.
HIS keenness was shown at Reno
after he had looked over the
big fellows wio were. working for
that memorable contest. There new
or was much question about the con-
dition in which the colored man
would enter the ring but there was
a mighty big question about Jeffries.
After Murphy had looked over the
Los Angeles man carefully couple
of times ! asked Mike his opinion.
He shut one eye slowly, squlnted
long and hard at me and then re-
marked:
Us this fellow going into glove
contest or are they training him 10
run a Marathon
Further than this Mike would not
venture but il was enough. They
never trained Jeffries right at all Tor
that combat and the wise ones VINO
watched knew it-and perhaps prof
tied well thereby. Jim Corbett knew
it as well as anybody, and said SO
four DAYS before the battle. Mur-
phy knew il two weeks before and
said so. Mike vas a wonderful man.
MANY 2 man who thought ne
wi was a sprinter was turned INTO
a star distance man by Murphy, VINO
knew at a glance that the athlete
hadn't picked out the right game for
himself And in 90 cases out Of 100
Mikee Judgment was absolutely cor