Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-09-22
Coach of american Boxing
Team Says Judges Kneto
Little of Came and Yer
diets Were A,VfuI
PANS COMMITTEE, TOO
BY LOUIS II. JAFFE

DECISIONS rendered by judges in
- the Olympic boxing matches at
Antwerp were SO poor, in the opinion Of
Spike webb. coach Of the American
team and instructor at the United
States Naval Academy. that he was
unable to End words of description.
IT could say that their verdicts were
terrible, awful aud rotten--but that
doesn't give vent to half my feeling. "
is the way Webb explained himself to-
day. He was in Philadelphia today to
visit Ed Earl Hartman. local entry In
the bantam class. on his way from his
home in Baltimore to see the New York
boxers who competed In the interna-
tional meet.
"If we had been given a fair break
bouts I am quite sure that America
would have had at least fourteen men
to compete In the finals" continued
Webb, "but, as It was, only three
Americans got into the deciding bouts.
and each succeeded in winning a
worlds title. They are Eddie Egan,
Yale heavyweight; Frank De Gennaro,
New York flyweight. and Sammy Mos
berg, New York lightweight.
"All Of which may give an idea how
the United States boxers outclassed
those representing the other countries
when 1t Is considered that had twen
ty two men in all on my team. The
Americans were entirely too good for
the other entries and proved this In
almost every bout, despite the fact that
they lost a lot of enthusiasm and con-
fidence on account Of the terrible hoot-
ing and razzing by spectators of other
nations, which greeted them when they
entered the ring. Just as soon as a
boxer with the American shield on his
jersey made an appearance In one OF
the corners it was a signal for un-
called for hooting, and cannot under
stand yet why we were treated so.'
Judges Lacked Experience
The boxing judges, who had been
appointed by the Boxing Federation OF
France. almost to man admitted their
lack of experience in taking on so
great a responsibility as the rendering
of decisions in the bouts. Webb says,
or else the judge was coach for one
of the teams of another country. A
Norwegian, elected to judge the bouts,
told Webb that he never had seen a
professional boxing match. explaining.
however. that he had done a lot OF
reading about the art Of fisticuffs.
One Of the rankest Of decisions. to
which Webb called especial attention,
was that of the bout in which Hart
man. the Philadelphian, met Walker.
wearing the colors Of South Africa, and
who eventually was declared worlds
champion. Hartman knocked down
Walker three different and distinct
times, Webb says. and each time the
South African was floored the Ameri- :
can was booed, hooted and panned. TIC
the surprise of the Americans and Hart
man most Of ali. Walker was given the
decision. In explanation of this YER
dict. the other day Hartman said
"When the fna! bell sounded Walker
was glad the bout was over. and told
me. i tried hard, Hartman; but you
won
Webb explained that he became so
exasperated at some Of the decisions of
the judges that he raised n number of
disputes, taking his arguments up with
the men in charge of the boxing events,
but the only satisfaction he got was