The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-05-22
LATE DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LOCAL SPORT. WORLD !: T
GENERAL PERSHLNG AND OTHER NOT
sABLES SEE CREAM OF ARMY IN FINALS
D. HAROLD e. REcAroL.

setting and more creditable prestige
than It had at the Cirque de Paris,
Paris, on the night of Saturday. April
rs, when the boxing championships
sof the American Expeditionary Forces
were determined before a cheering
throng OF 10000 persons.
The boys battled for the honors be-
lore their commanding general, Gen.
eeral John j Pershing, and around the
ring we're men high in diplomatic and
military circles of France and Amer
Lea The governor general of Paris
twas represented by General Poillot
Prince Leopold OF Belgium and Count
e>Oultremont were in General PERISH
1ings box. Consul General Thackary
tnnd Admiral Benson were also enthu.
y*iastic spectators. The following
American generals witnessed the mill
sing: Harris, Lewis. McKinstry, Our.
Zee. Fiske, Connor, Edwards, Stafford,
Nolan and Brewster.
General Pershing entered during
zone OF the events. Colonel Wait G..
johnson. chief athletic officer, called
rAttentions and every man and wom-
can in the hall stood up. The command.
ing general answered with salute
land great ovation in his honor fol-
Flowed.
= Just before the last bout Colonel
.Johnson introduced General Pershing
land the crowd again stood He asked
1the people to be seated.
I wish to take this opportunity to
say TO the management and tho par
elephants that all lovers of sport must
~have enjoyed very pleasant even
Hing, General Pershing said 1.-THE
slnanner OF selecting these Contestants
has been such that they were natural
f.ly evenly matched, so much so that
my sympathies have been with the
Judges.
IF we are to Judge the athletics Of
<the American Expeditionary Forces
by what we have seen here this even
Ing we must come to the conclusion
Ihat they are of high order.
THE fairness and cleanliness OF
sfhese bouts IS something OF which we
-,shouId all be very proud. The result
fof this type of athletics is sure to Gre
ate higher tone in athletics at home.
1.-TWO million men are going to carry
Sback home a better notion of what
s.,clean sport should be. The manage.
.7nent deserves credit for carrying out
those events and to the men in charge
4 wish to express my very sincere
THANKS
The crowd was sprinkled with wom-
en-, whose cheers and sparkling eyes
Showed that they too liked the clean
@eharacter of the sport Every sitting
standing and hanging-on space around
s1lie big hall was occupied. A couple
&of score of doughboys who could not
tfind room anywhere else climbed
tthrough the open skylights.
Seven championships were decid.
ed The champions are:
Babe Asher. bantam, Second
lsarmy. from Detroit.
Leo Patterson, lightweight, S. o. s..
Joplin. Mo.
Bob Martin, heavyweight, lie Mans,
Iron Akron, Ohio.
Gene Tunney. light-heayyweigh S.
20. s.. from New York.
y Billy Klecll, welterweight, S. o. S.,
from New Orleans.
N Jackie Clarke, middleweight, sec.
sond army. from Philadelphia.
John Fundy, featherweight, third
army twon by default). Pittsburgh.
These boys came out on top after
Hundreds of matches, held through
tout the A. e. F. since the armistice
Company, battalion, regiment, divi.
1 sionai and corps titles being deter.
/ mined before the men came to Paris
rfor the final tournament In the lis,
| sof champions is one negro, Leo Pat.
/ fterson, who ,cleverly outfoughl
1"Bushyp Graham, of Brooklyn, in the
lightweight division. Patterson put
4 up a clean fight
A couple OF movie cameras churned
away during the glove passing and
1.-The boys around the A. E. F. who
~could not be in Paris will have an op.
sportunity to see action pictures OF
the closing fistic proceedings.
The bantam boxing created a sterl
Sing encounter with Asher and Schrei.
der, Philadelphia, Asher totaling UT
The lead in points as each round went
Jon, hitting his opponent and then
dancing away in time to miss the re
turn blow. The seventh was a lucky
zone for Asher and unlucky for the
philadelphia lad, for Asher sent a
crashing blow to Schriebers Jaw
sending him totthe mat In knockout
Martin and Fay Kaiser, Pittsburgh
scollided in the heavyweight class
Martin had the reach on Kaiser and
maintained his lead throughout each
round, repeatedly having Kaiser wob.
bling. But he fought gamely to the
end. and although losing the decision
was given a hand by the vast audi.
fence.
A big event of the evening was the
Graham imbroglio. Patter
son, a negro, Is mass OF muscles
Graham is strong mitigating man
while Patterson keeps away from his
opponent Patterson scored MANY
head blows by a snappy left jab which
he used at every available opportti.
nifty The decision was Patterson's.
A mixer-bout was that between Tun.
ney and Jamison light -heavies. The
first two rounds we're even, the third
went TO Tunney and fourth and fifth
to Jamison From then on the battle
WAS clean scientific match with
Tunney scoring on points.
Summers. a Brooklyn lad, and Kleck
hit all kinds of high spots in theIr
welterweight event The milling was
fast and the punches just bounded
from each others bodies. At the tenth
round the boys had showed up so vel
and fha hnffIo 90 aver, fhs,- i,,5xa, \ q.