South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1920-07-23
SPORT TAKES Big
- JUMP THIS YEAR
All Countrie Experience
Greatest Revival in History
of Athletics.

NEW YORK. July 22.-When the
curtain rolled up on the year 1920
e was generally predicted that this
would be the greatest year IN the
history OF sport the world has ever
known.
That prediction is more than
holding good.
Soprts have come back with a
bang TO enjoy greater popularity than
they ever new before. Every sport
ing event OF any consequence that
has been held to date, both IN this
country and IN foreign lands, has
attracted crowds that have been be-
Ind the widest guesses Of those
~Vho have been the sponsors.
Baseball magnates. especially In
he major leagues. are dlzzily enjoy
ing prosperity that dwarfs the golden
DAYS OF baseballs best previous
years-the period between 1903 and
1913--by comparison.
Attendance records In no less than
I'VE major cities have been sent
crashing into the discard since the
season opened The New York Yam
KEGS. for instance. have broken the
attendance record az the Polo
grounds on two occasions. And these
same Yankees took both Chicago and
St Louis By storm on their last Wes-
tern trip, not 70 mention Cleveland,
where they were greeted by the
greatest turning out of fans 20 a sun
day game that the Forest city has
ever known.
Horse Races.
Horse racing is literally wallowing
in a food OF attendance, especially at
the Metropolitan tracks, where the
ponies draw crowds of from 10000
TO $4,000 whenever there is race
Of importance on the program. The
great Man o. War gallOped TO sew
eral new worlds records amid the
frantic cheers OF between 1000 and
10000 wild-eyed racing fans.
At Ithaca, where the Inter-collegt-
ate regatta was rowed on beautiful
Lake Cayuga. the Orange varsity or
Syracuse flashed across the finish line
while a crowd estimated at z5,OOO
looked on with varied emotions.
At New London, where Harvard
defeated Yale on the Thames, fully
10000 people lined the course and
earlier in the rowing season, AT Phil
adelphia, when the American Henley
and the Childs Gu races were rowed
-~n the SchuylIIill river, more than
$4,000 devotees of rowing were pres
ent.
The great athletic meets that have
IHaiuTRGs
portance because OF their bearing on
selections for the Olympic team
have attracted bigger crowds than
athletic officials could have hoped for
Large English Crowds.
The greatest single gathering or
the year saw the classic English der
by al EPSON Downs There was no
accurate way 70 estimate the crowd
but British critics who have scanned
the masses at the historic EPSON
course for years recorded that the
throng closely approached the mil
lion mark.
Horse races such as the great Ken
lucky derby and the Latonia derby
drew unprecedented crowds. Fifty
thousand people saw Paul Jones win
the Kentucky event
In France. where COG GaulOis won
the Grand National steeplechase, on
June 20. 10000 people gathered at
the track.
In England. where the American
Davis cup players forged their way
10 so many victories, the tennis
courts at Queens. London at VIM
b1edon and at Eastbourne were
nanIxed by solid masses Of humanity,
and thousands failed to secure ac-
comOdations-
Yet the year is young. There are
many great sporting events on the
aIendar 10 be decided. The classic
Olympic track and field games at
Antwerp will be witnessed by thou
sands upon thousands Of people. The
National golf and tennis champion
ships in this country; the coming
worlds series and the classic foot
ball games Of next fall, which prom
Use 10 draw the greatest attendances
I'm history. will add hundreds or
thousands 20 the attendance figures
in sport for this most wonderful of
Years