The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-12-27
NEW CHAMPIONS
 IN MANY SPORTS
 IN PRESENT YEAR

New York. Dec. 27-A1though there was no international competition in sports in this Country this year, the 1915 season probably was the greatest in the history of sport in the United States. It was a year of great sur priseS, too, although there were not quite as many upsets as in 1914, and many champion lost his crown. As in 1914, tennis, stands out above all other sports for the number of upsets and it was in this branch that the best individual record was made, Miss Mol1a Bjurstedt, the Norwegian girl, getting credit for the record.
 Miss Bjurstedt came over to the United States shortly after the dawn of 1915 and was heard of particularly until she decided to enter the women's 8 national indoor championship tennis tournament for a- little exercise. The Norwegian girl got the exercise and also the title. After the indoor title followed many other lesser champion national clay court title and the crown for ability on turf courts.
 Had it not been for Miss BjurStedt's S most remarkable showing it is likely that premier honors would have gone to another tennis player, William M Johnston of San Francisco. His achievement was second only to that 
 champion that ever wore the national purple came along with a rush and wrested the crown from three of the greatest players that America. has pro- duced Maurice NcLoughlon, Richard Norris Williams and Karl Behr.
 On the links the big achievement of the year was the unexpected victory | of Jerome D. STravers in the national open championship. Up to last June it was a common saying that Jerry Travers, great match player that he was, had fallen short of true great ness on the links because of his in different work in medal play cham ipionships. +s.e
 What he did at Ba1trusro1 stamped him as the greatest amateur. golfer that America has yet produced. Four national amateur championship and one national open title make a shinin g record that no other American goIfef is likely to equal for years to come. When the time for the amateur championship came all the talk was what the umvirate-Travers, Oui- troit links. What they did was to disappear from the competition, Evans in the first round. Travers and Ouimet in the second. and leave the field to the others.
 Of the others Robert A. Gardner Of Chicago proved. 10 De the. best. Hold ing himself down to sober. serious golf, which, as he confessed to a friend in the middle of the week would have driven him into meIancholia before long, Gardner played through and won the title for the second time, for he held it before in 19O9.- Gardner is a champion through and through and no happier, whole souled golfer ever wore the national crown.
 TJ the old idols were shattered. CorneI produced one of the greatest football teams of recent years and went through the season without defeat knocking Harvard off the gridiron pe- destal. In baseball there were new champions in both organized base ball leagues. The Athletics. with most of the old time stars gone, dropped down into last place and the championship of the American League went to the Boston Red Sox, who eventually took the worlds title. The greatest baseball surprise, however, was the victory of Pat Moran's Phil l lies, who showed the Boston Braves
 out of the top notch.