The Washington herald., 1915-11-28

Schedule Helped Harvard
To Win Gridiron Triumph
BY EDWARD r.. BUSHNELL.

could get under way Ike a Hash and so
strong that one taci<ier was rarely able
to bring him down without help
Who VIII Rescue Valet
The football post-mortem Is already
under way at Yale SO many famous
men have failed that all Yale men are
inclined to look with charity on the un-
awaiting efforts Of Frank HInkey. He
can hardly be said to have done any
worse than the other coaches who have
been tried. And the situation Is GER
tainly not helped in the least by the fact
that just now there Is no available Yale
man in sight whose work is a guarantee
that he can turn out a winner. 1t is true
that there are three famous Yale gradu-
ates coaching at other institutions. any
one Of whom would restore confidence
But they are tied up with contracts.
There Is DR.. A. H. Sharpe, who Is now
head coach at Cornell. not only in foot
ball. but in baseball and basketball as
well. He has done so well with the Itha-
cans that he was signed for a term Of
i've years last spring. He will not be
free until 1870 Then there il A. A
Stage. who is athletic director at the
University OF Chicago. But stagg Is a
Chicago institution and could command
any salary he wanted II he threatened
to leave. The third man Is DR.. II. L.
Williams, of the University Of Minnesota.
inventor of the famous Minnesota shift.
with which Tom Shevlin tried to revive
Yale this fall. But Williams has Just
brought Minnesota through the big nine
season without a defeat, and it is doubt
full II he would leave even to coach his
alma mater.
Frank Hinkey's contract still has a
year to run. but probably it could be
disposed of without injustice to Hlnkey
II the right man could he found. Yale
has tested nearly all her recent grad
yates with football ability but has not
yet found the man. Howard Jones, who
coached In 1873 took up the work with
splendid prospects because he had been
Yale's coach in 1903 and later a success
full coach at Syracuse. But when Har-
ward beat Yale 800 he made way for
Hinkey whose teams were beaten 80
and 40 IN successive years.
Cornell Loses Cross-country Crown.
Cornell can afford to be generous in
matters and should not
begrudge the University Of Maine the
the first time the New
Englanders tried for IT Since 1899 when
the first run was held Cornell has been
beaten but three times. Yale turned the
trick IN 1902. Harvard in 1872 and this
year Maine accomplished It.
Defining an Amateur.
In their effort to fasten a charge OF
professionalism upon nearly all the prom
nent football players OF the country. the
defenders of pure ana
teurism in college athletics are IN dan
ger Of making themselves ridiculous.
The reports from New Haven last week
that because Capt Mahan. of Har-
ward. had been a counselor In a DO, s.
camp in New Hampshire. and for that
reason was deemed Ineligible to COM
pete In amateur sports. are pure non
sense. II doing what Mahan is reported
70 have done constitutes professionalism.
hen scores Of college athletes would be-
ZONE Ineligible for further participation
N amateur sports because the number
VINO spend their vacations thus il legion.
So much has been said and written on
he subject Of amateurism that a lot
or loose thinking and foolish concIu-
lions have resulted. An amateur athlete
s one who participates in athletics SOLELY
or his love OF the sport and not for
financial remuneration Of any kind. There
s nothing dishonorable in competing for
money provided a man does II openly
Ind against professionals But the man
who masquerades as an amateur and
completes for money is a perturer
There is just one reason for drawing
he line so sharply between the amateur
md the professional: that IS to protect
he amateur and to enable him to COM
'ete for the recreation and fun OF the
port. In other words he wants to COM
'ete against a man who completes under
he same conditions as he. The knowI-
'6ge that the contest Is absolutely even
md that his opponent is observing the
anne conditions is what adds zest to the
port. No athlete would wish to COM
'ete against a man who enjoyed an un-
air advantage. nor would the public
are to witness such a contest.
The moment a man begins to make a
wing out of a sport he begins to per-
ect himself so that he has an unfair
dvantage. That an amateur athlete
hould capitalize his athletic reputation
o write for newspapers and magazines
n sporting topics does not in any way
feet the principal laid down Neither
oes his action IN serving as a counsellor
j boys camp. even though he owes his
osition to his athletic reputation. These
hings do not in anyway add to his
thletic skill
Strange to say. the real principle IN
crying amateurism are lost sight OF
OF only by the general public and the
thletes. but by members Of college
aculties. Now that so many confer
noes are In prospect to draw up uniform
lles concerning amateurism and eligi-
ility. it will be well for the conferees -
} bear these principles in mind
nToryrighf H. ID