The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-09-01
SPORTING COLUMN.
Edited by Chaa p Howard

Edited BY ChAs. p. Howard.
One OF the aims Of this column will
be to keep our readers posted from
time to time on the athletes of our
race participating in athletics of a
higher caiibre and especially those
competing in colleges and universities.
This week we are introducing to
you Mr.. c. L. Abbott of the South
Dakota State college. Few of US knew
that right next to us here in South
Dakota was . race athlete who for
four years was all state center. Alb
bott weighs less than ITO pounds and
looks more like = plow hand than a
football player. Besides being all
state center for four years he won his
letter four years in baseball, four
years in track, competing in the
Drake relays at least twice, and four
years in basketball, being captain of
the team last fall, his senior year. Be-
sides all Of this athletic competition
Abbott has worked his way through
South Dakota State university and
graduated with high scholastic hon
ers. BE goes to take up his work as
head OF the dairying department at
Tuskegee and will also give the ath-
letes of Tuskegee the benefit of his
athletic training.
The thud Of the pigskin is already
being heard from many lots and our
hearts are beginning to beat real
fast, for soon wen hear the referee
say Second down and ten to 60"
Already the Maroons have begun to
look behind trunks and in closets for
those old football toys they threw
away last Thanksgiving day and
swore by all the gods above and below
the earth they would never put on
again. The Maroons are going to
have the best football team this fall
they've ever had, first because the
players are more seasoned and better
conditioned than everbefore, and Sec
ond because they are going to have
real, live, honest-to-goodness coach.
Yes, Archie Alexander is going to
coach the Maroons this fall Look
out Fair Grounds, look out Valley
Junction, Alexander the greats on
your trail and every Maroon player
says that the Maroon goal won't be
crossed this year, a record they've had
for four straight years.
The Maroons lose two players this
year, pockets" Mcclure and Curtis
Morton. Mcclure enters the Chicago
art school September 9Th and Curtis
Morton enters North High. Curtis
Morton's place will likely be filled by
Dunlap, an old high school star, but
Pockets" successor is yet to be
chosen.
Howard p. Drew has probably run
his last race. Last Saturday at San
Diego, Drew strained himself again
and is now laid up with paralysis. No
Negro athlete has ever done more to
put the race on the athletic map than
Howard p. Drew, and if this does
mark the fall of the curtain on the
Drew act we certainly want to shed a
tear. Football and track coaches may
trot out all their favorites who showed
nerve" "crust," "guts," "stick-to-it-
iyeness," but none can bring out a
star that outshines Drew. Ever since
Brew pulled a tendon inn Stockholm in
1912 as q member of the American
r'-~s'-ic team he has had to run un-
der most adverse circumstances, but
never once has he been heard offering
his injury as an alibi. When he lost
to Joe Loomis in Frisco last fall he
didn't hollow my leg" single time,
but set out to train harder and few
months later beat LOOMS in the east
These are only a few of Drew's good
points. *a:.t.
We must confess that we tip our
hat to Howard P. Drew as the great
est sprinter the world has ever pro-
duced. They say figures don't lie. We
offer you two worlds records accred-
tied to Drew, 9 3-5 for the century
and 81 1-5 for the 22O. And Drew is
the last person in the world to re-
mind you that he's a worlds record
holder. "Boy Page Binger DESMOND"
Why not have tennis club? Yes,
Isadore, ther are between 5000 and
1000 colored people in Des Moines.
Yes! / know they have about 5000
clubs, but why not a tennis club.
There's always room for another club.
Ye shades of Brown-Rush club argu-
ment.
But to quit joking about it, we real
ly need tennis club. "Where there's
organization there's strength" There's
a lot of tennis material around these
parts and if properly organized we
would get lot Of pleasure out of it.
Mr.. Erase has promised courts and if
a club is organized we will have an
official organ to preach the good work
on and get even more things.