Grand Forks herald., 1917-01-25
NORTH DAKOTA
ENTERING UPON
NEW SPORT ERA
Professionalism Being Re-
established on Firm Basis
in All Branches.

e, Noflh Dakota is just recovering
from ! an abnormal period in athletics,
.hE Whlch many sports f1ourished,
men tailed and finally passed into
ntiivion. 1n.il For MANY years past ath-
lstlc events have been attractions in
clally successful,
Professionalism and amateurism
were not classified, and as a result,
every athlete entered events merely
lor the cash compensation. AS a
result sports in general did not re-
MAN AS clean as otherwise would
nave nave been possible and on every
nan hano baseball basketball and foot
pan games, intermingled with boxing
houts and wrestling matches, were
held. Fans patronized until the mo-
| notony OF routine numbers wearied
them and the promoters failed to
answer the popular demand for better
entertainment. One by one the pro
moters dropped out and during the
past 1ew years, few events Of i'm
portance, other than the colleeiate
| events, were held
New Era Commences.
! Inc new era in sports has lust COM
Menced. Professionalism has again
entered the field to compete for
popular approval with the colleges
ana university. Wrestling. boxing,
nasenall and other sports are again
coming into their own and are being
recognized and it Is now predicted
that within the next two years North
Dakota will he represented with era ck
| professional basketball and footba II
agsregations.
id, The period now entered upon by
the professional athletes and promot-
| ers appears to be normal and unless
| get rich quick" methods are made
/ Of frt
IS certain that the now plans, now
helng carried out will result in a
healthy and steady growth.
IN amateur circles collegiate events
hold the center Of the stage In foot
ball the University of North Dakota
had one Of the greatest teams in the
history of the institution. Coach
Andy Gill and his squad romned
through season marked with re-
| peated victories. The state title was
taken by the varsity but the title for
the two Dakotas was lost to South
Dakota.
The North Dakota agricultural COL
lege team had a remarkable season
under the leadership Of Coach Paul
DAVIS DAVIS. The same degree Of develop
ment that followed the university
through the season was apparent in
me Farmers camp. jamestown COL
lege, Fargo college. wahpeton sci
ence and all other educational Insti-
tutions within the borders Of the state,
classified under the collegiate head.
had successful seasons. If not in VIC
torres, from a financial viewpoint.
The Interest manifested throughout
North Dakota in the gridiron sport
promises to bring about greater re-
suits and If the support increases in
the future, as it has during the mast
year. the result will be that the ag-
gregations from Dakota will reach
closer to par in ability with those Of
the big eastern institutions.
In football. North Dakota looks
forward to the greatest year in its
history. After several years of varied
success and failure. the sport has fin
ally been placed on a basis whereby
1t can be conducted in satisfactory
manner. Professional football as vet
mas failed to develop and the colleges
alone enjoy the exclusiveness Of the
game.
|, Baseball is the professional sport
that has been and will again be rec
ognized by all fans. The Northern
league will be practically controlled
by clubs from tho TTlickertail do
main and 1t is expected that all in
terest will center about the pennant
race Last year Fargo -Moorhead
alone was represented in the circuit.
Forks will undoubtedly have fast
clubs. With no organ nized circuit,
various cities throughout the north
ern section of the state placed inde-
pendent teams in the field. Grand
Forks was represented. but poor sup
port and the failure to win games
finally resulted in disaster. and the
season was closed before the summer
was well under way
| Not COIlerj4te Snort
The university and colleges through
out the state have. baseball teams,
| but this sport is not specialized in
and only small amount of interest
has been aroused in the contests. The
best season for years will be expert
enced this spring and it is believed
that new interest will result and place
the sport back in a more popular
rank in the future
Basketball as usual tends to draw
crowds. In the smaller cities through
out the state the greater attention il
paid to the game in scholastic circles
and the principal events of the mid
winter season are the contests to de.
eide the championships of the variou,
districts. In collegiate circles the
competition is keen. with the titIe
for the state invariably resting he.
tween the agricultural college and the
university nuint.
/ Boxing Revivins.
Wrestling and boxing was practic.