The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1915-04-30
noW less WILLARD WON CHAM
PIONSHIP.
r;t,ehoIder An Al-Round Athlete,
Ruuning 100 Yards In Ill sec
ends.

Ouuss
wan can imagine that the farmer
sround a little town like I'm
III ..t KAN. never cot a great deal of
le.r Easement Id an athletic way.
enoo hoyhood life of "a farmers SON
lhe nnoiIv pretty much full Of drudg-
j. hnt our community was little
e ,iasarant because most of the farm
+hera were well to do and the
snrs had v little more time for rec
reati0n. .,4a+;ar 49,
ho;ng something OF a spr1nter, ana
was a mountain of flesh ana bone
and weighed when | was u years
a a Iittle short Oh ESQ pounds Though
never trained minute and never
tnew the slightest thing about train
;rg for any kind OF an athletic con-
+ast vet / could 20 out At any time
VI nm OFT 100 yards in ILL seconds.
This Was fast enough to beat any Of
4hn lads around that section Of the
aauntry and I took down many a
Ssiza III the county fairs In addition
- that | could Jump little and also
uoanaggd W toss the weights about
I-ith some effect. As swimmer i
was a regular star and could beat
arv nv the boys i'm the river, either
N short or long distances.
"Had | known anything about the
Ia+ast ideas OF starting and getting
under way fast I might have improv-
al nv time somewhat. But, like
other rube sprinters, We just stood
nm IN the line till the word was given
and then started to run as fast as we
eonId. Spiked shoes were unknown
IN any of us, and had anybody sprung
I pair of them In our company he
nrobably would have been lynched as
a ringing professional.
GLOVE fighting In those days was
totally unknown to me and the rest
~ the boys il Pottawatomie county
district. we used to read of some Of
the mighty gladiators Of the day and
marvel at them, but as for knowing
lust how they fought we were totally
at sea.
VT has been my boast at different
times that 7 never i'm my life engaged
in a rough-and-tumble fight. say it
still and believe I am telling the
truth, but a friend of mine who came
to Havana to see me battle johnson
tells me I am wrong.
HE recited to me one day in the
training camp how ! had gone TO a
dance one night with my girl and
had been insulted by band Of row
dies who happened to be in the
neighborhood at the time. He fur
Their tells me that | slapped the near
est one To me and slapped him 80
hard that he fell fiat on his back a
second one rushed at me, but ! hit
him On top OF the head with an over
hand swing and fioored him.
my friend claims that | then pitch
ed III and whipped the remaining four
of them, putting them all to flight II
that incident really too place, it has
since passed out OF my mind. i re
member indistinctly Of once having
trouble with one OF the Kelly boys
at dance in my neighborhood and
that / slapped him 50 hard he was
Knocked out. That gave me repu-
tation for being a strong man and
one who was not afraid, because, as
| remember 1t, the Kellys we're hight
ing men and nobody in that vicinity
cared much about crossing them.
yet they never bothered me any after
that
One time while still young man
I was mixed UP in a lawsuit over a
horse. The judge was an Irishman
from Kentucky and he was a great
admirer OF a good fighter. After 1
got through with my testimony he
asked me few questions about my
self
"Afterward he told my attorney,
Mr.. Crane, who was at the Havana
fight, that he never saw such a
splendidly built young fellow as
was and figured that III I started
fighting it would be hard task for
anyone to whip me.
u never saw such thigh on q
man. he said No horse in the world
could do thing with him, that's
sure
And no horse that 7 ever saw
could do anything with me. l was a
real horse tanner as well al horse
trader and was proud Of my skill.
Next I will tell you how ii hap
pened that I saw my first real ring
fight and started on my career TO-
ward the top"