Omaha daily bee., 1919-01-05
COL. ROOSEVELT
TELLS BENEFIT
OF BOXING Law
Former President Endorses
MeIady Bill and Tells How
He Improved Physical
Condition.

Al lCttSi " NSiC MSlduy, stoNh
man and sports promoter, endorsing
the Melady boxing bill which viii
be introduced in the Nebraska legis
lature, Col. Theodore Roosevelt sale
that he could best express his higl
regard for boxing by quoting from
his autobiography what boxing hat
accomplished for him personally. Ii
it he said.
Having been a sickly boy. witt
no natural bodily prowess, and hau
ing lived much at home. | was a
first quite unable to hold my owl
when thrown into contact will
other boys of rougher antecedents
| was nervous and timid. Yet from
reading of the people l admired--
ranging from the soldiers of Valley
Forge, and Morgan's rifemen. tc
the heroes of my favorite stories
and from hearing of the feats per.
formed by my southern forefathers
and kinsfolk, and from knowing my
father, l felt a great admiration for
men who were fearless and who
could hold their own in the world
and l had a great desire to be like
them. Until l was nearly IA
l let this desire take no more def
mite shape than day-dreams. Then
an incident happened that did me
real good.
Loses First Fight.
Having an attack of asthma,
was sent off by myself to Moose
head Lake. On the stage coach
ride thither l encountered a couple
of other boys who were about my
own age, but very much more conf
petent and also more mischievous.
| have no doubt they were good
hearted boys, but they were boys!
They found that | was a toreor-
dained and predestined victim, and
irdustriously proceeded to make life
miserable for me. The worst iea-
ture was that when | finally tied
to fight them | discovered tina.
either one. singly, could not only
handle me with easy contempt, but
handle me so as not to hurt me
much and yet to prevent my doing
any damage whatever in return.
THE experience taught me what
probably no amount of good advice
could have taught me. l made up
my mind that l must try to Learn
50 that | would not again be put i'll
such helpless position, and having
become quickly and bitterly con-
scious that l did not have the natur-
al prowess to hold my own. de-
cided that / would try to supply
its place by training. Accordingly,
with my fathers hearty approval, |
started to learn to box. l was a
painfully slow and awkward pupil,
and certainly worked two or three
years before | made any perceptlble
improvement whatever.
> Wins Pewter Mug.
"My first boxing master was John
Long, an expire fighter. | can
see his rooms now, with co'orec
pictures of the fights between Tom
liver and Yankee Sullivan and
Heenan and Sayers, and other great
events in the annals of the squared
circle. On one occasion, to excite
interest among his patrons, he held
series of championship matches
for the different weights. the prizes
being, at least in my own class,
pewter mugs of value, should
suppose, approaching 50 cents.
"Neither he nor had any idea
that l could do anything, but was
entered in the lightweight contest,
in which it happened that i was
pitted in succession against a coupe
of reedy striplings who were even
worse than l was. Equally to the,f
surprise and to my own, and to-
John 10. g's, I won, aid the pewter
mug became one of nv most priced
possessions. | kept it and alluded
to it, and | fear Dragged about 1t,
for a number of years, and | only
wish | knew where il IS Now.
Secures Champ Trainer.
'"When obliged to live in cities l
for a long time found that boxing
and wrestling email me to let
good deal of exercise il. condensed
and attractive form. | was reluc--
tantlv obliged to aba,.don both as
grew older. l dropped the wrest-
ling earliest. When became gov
ernor the champion middleweight
wrestler of America happened to be
in Albany, and | got him to come
around three or four afternoons a
week.
incidentally I may mention that
his presence caused me a dlthculty
with the comptroller, who refused
to audit a bill | put in for a wrest-
ling mat, explaining that | could
have a billiard table, billiards be-
ing recognized as a proper guber-
material amusement, but that a
wrestling mat symbolized something
unusual and unheard-of and could
not be permitted. The middle
weight champion was of course so
much better than | was that he
could not only take care of himself
but of me, too, and see that | was
not hurt-for wrestling is a much
more violent amusement than box
ing.
Evil of Inexperience.
"But after a couple of months he |
had to 60 away and he left as a sub,
stitute good-humored, stalwart |
professional oarsman. The oars
man turned out to know very little
about wrestling. He could not even
take care of himself, not to speak
Of me. By the end of our second
afternoon one of his long ribs had
been caved in and two of my short
ribs badly damaged. and my left !
shoulder blade so nearly showed out
of place that it crcaked. He was
,n .,ioacad ne I pae ,uhau I |