The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-05-17
SEWANEE DEFENDS THE ACTION OF COACH NV CANCELLMG FIELD MEET
Tiger Officials Wish to Make Facts in Case Known-Re flute Statements Made by Birmingham News
 papers-Reasons for Cancellations of d Field and Track Meets

, track coach in prohibiting the team to participate in the Birmingham meet on account of the violation of the training rules by few team members. Thank ] ing you am, yours for good sport, "EDMUND c. ARMIES" From the Sawnee Purple of May IS: Owing to the fact that about half 1 of the track squad had broken training by smoking and would not have been allowed to make the trip, the Se~anee 1 track team failed to attend the invita- tion meet which was held in Birmfng ham last Saturday, May s. under the auspices of the B. A. c.
 Whereas, the Sewanee athletic board of control has learned that cer- tain men of the track team have broken the training rule as prescribed by the physical instructor and coach of the track team and as acknowledged by members of the team. the Sewanee athletic board of control wishes it to be known to the student body that the board regards this as a most serious matter and condemns such action in no uncertain terms. The observance of the rules of training rests upon the honor, not only of the candidates for the various teams, but also upon the honor of the student body of the uni versity. Any disregard of the> honor lnNOlVSQ Tn the dlnIclG piSuSt III training is mortal stab at the best of Sewanee's traditions.
 More than once in the past has Se- vance ben handicapped by having no metropolitan paper to represent her in the news of the day. This was never more clearly evidenced than in the statements that appeared recently in two of the Birmingham dailies as to why the Sewanee track team did not attend the Birmingham Athletic Club meet on May 8, and the comments on the same.
 "In the Birmingham Age-Hera1d
 of that date the statement appears:
 1t is alleged that some of the Se-
 vance track athletes broke train-
 ing and, as a result, the whole
 squad was disbanded.'
 "rhe first part of this assertion is correct, but that the whole squad was disbanded is entirely false. Although The Age Herald modified this declara- tion by prefacing the article with It bis aleged,' nevertheless such an alega- ton is unfair to the college misrepre scented, and it should be corrected.
 "Again, the Birmingham News of
 May says: Be this as 1t may,
 this makes the third meet that
 Sewanee has canceld this year. the
 Cts with Vanderbilt and Mis-
 sissippi A. and M. being the other two. There is something rotten in Sewanee this thing would never have come to pass.'
 From this the average reader would gather that Sewanee was the delin- quent party in both of these affairs whereas the truth of the matter is just the reverse. Vanderbilt would not meet Sewanee unless two field events were taken out and the relay race all lowed to count 10 points, which would have been contrary to the S. l. A. A. rules. Mississippi A. and NJ wished to enter three men in the dashes and have unlimited entries in the other events, although she offered to pay the expenses of only twelve men to Stark vile. In addition to the fact that such meet is not in accordance with the s. l. A. A. rules, the absurdity of the request is apparent to everyone who knows anything at all about track ath- ls tics.
 Both of these institutions accom- piished that which, on the face of their actions, they were desirous of doing they avoided encountering the Sewanee track team and at the same time passed the buck to Sewanee by com- polling her to cancel the meets. Ac- cording to Coach Nicholson, the Tigers are willingto meet any collegestrack team in the south under S. l. A. A., N. c. A. A., Western Conference, or any other recognized rulAS but they will rot agree to enter - meet in which the rules are made for the occasion by the opposing coach or athletic au- thorities."
 The sporting editor of The Age-Her- aid regrets that this has come to pass, ana wishes to assure Sewanee officials that it was decidely not the aim of this paper to injure Sewanee in publishing the above statement, at the same time maintaining that there is no real cause for criticism of any article published in The Age-Herald regarding the fail- ure of the Tiger team to come to the E. A. c. meet.-M McC.