South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-09-09
pop GEERs STILL
KEEPS OLD SKILL
Famous HorSeman, IS Years
Old, Says He Will Stay in
Racing Game 10 Years More
and Perhaps a Bit Longer.
RY FRANK G. MENKE.

NEW YORK. Sept. 9.-After SO
years in the sulky Pop" Geers, the
silent reinsman", announces that 4
guess I'll stick around for about 10
years more. Mebbe III stay a little
longer than that"
Pop" is 90 years old. And won
derful old man he is He's the great
est driver that ever climbed into a
sulky. He has done more for the har-
tess game during his long and honor
able career than has any other man,
and the horse lovers throughout the
country will be glad To know that the
veteran has no present intention OF
retiring.
For Sc years Pop" has been within
the glare of the harness spotlight. he
has driven over 5000 races since he
first climbed into the sulky in Mobile
back in 1878. and I'm every one or
them he has driven u the best OF ms
skill. driven the horse the limit OF
his powers, and never once has his
name figured in scandal.
Such a record surely is remarkable
when it is established in a sport that
teens with scandals.
Geer's gameness has become pro-
verbal Several times during his long
career on the turf he has been In Sc
rious accidents, but on each occasion
he has gotten back into the sulky at
a stage during his convalescence when
most men still would be in bed.
Several years ago he was injured
in Kalamazoo. The meeting closed
there with Geers in the hospital and
orders Of his physicians, insisted upon
making the trip to Detroit
1T Will Kill YOU" they told Pop.
sOh I guess not -" said GeerS.
He arrived in Detroit during the
matinee. and, on crutches, made ms
appearance on the track. 1t was the
day of the great $4,000 NJ. & NJ.
stake, Dude Archdale was the horse
that Geers had grOOmed for the race,
and when the veteran found that
there was no real reinsman TO pilot his
favorite in the big stake, he threw
aside his crutches and got into the
sulky.
Dude Archdale won the race by a
wide margin.
One of the hardest things TO do is
to get the veteran to talk about him
self or about his horses. But, in his
refusal to enter into detailed discus
sIons, ne never is unkind, never curt.
There is about him always the polite
ness, the civility, the gentleness that
from the southland.
Horses are like human beings,
Geers once said. You have to study
them, learn their peculiarities and
then humcr those peculiarities. Prob
ably the reason that some men who
drive are not as successful as they
ought TO be is because they use the
same methods with all horses. You
can't do that and be a consistent win
ner."
GeerS has an uncanny power over
horses, and he has uncanny Judgment.
He has handled from 5000 70 5000
in his long career. and not one that
he ever turned aside made come
back" When Geers judges a horse as
Lacking in speed and courage. il is an
iHfallible judgment And when Geers
tells YOU that he has a horse that
looks like a conner it's a pretty safe
gamble that the horse will flash into
stardom in the harness world before
the season IS out.
"Thirty-siX years is pretty long
time in the sulky," said Geers. But
il doesn't seem such long time TO me
now that | look back over it. I'm 63
row and I feel pretty fit. | guess I'm
good for 10 years longer. If I'm tired
Of the game ] may retire, but then
gain 1 may not"