The Chicago whip. (Chicago, Ill.) 1919-19??, 1921-05-21
Gourdin The
Sensation Of
Track Circles
Crack Harvard Athlete Never Par
ticipated in Track Events Before
Entering College.

Edward Gourdin, Harvard. '2l, is
distinctly a Harvard product The
track and field athlete whom Harvard
will depend upon to win at least 10
points. including three frsts. in the
dual meet with Yale Saturday has
been made during his four years at
the Cambridge university, He has
been developed and polished by
Coaches Pooch Donovan Edward
Farrell and William Bingham, the lat
ter two men being his present care
takers.
Preparing Tor Harvard at Stanton
school. Jacksonville. Fla. the bronze
hued youth participated in both base
bali and football. Facilities there were
not suitable to track. Gourdin read
much about Harvard, about track ath-
1etics, and about Pooch Donovan i'll
his prep school days and he was pos
sessed with a desire to test his skill
in the sport when he came to Cam
bridge.
Baseball however. called his atten
ton in the spring of his freshman year.
but he was not destined to stay with
the, yearling ball tossers for long.
Pooch and Eddie Farrell spied him
was reporting on the cinder path
rather than on the freshman diamond
Gourdin Natural Track and
Field Star.
From the very first he showed a
natural aptitude for track. He de-
voted his time to spirits and the
broad Jump. and as a freshman COM
peted in dual meets with Exeter and
Andover. He failed to win his num-
erals because of technicality con-
corning his eligibility for the Yale
meet.
In his first year of varsity competi-
ton he placed second in both the
Yale and Princeton meets in the quar-
ter-rnilc run. it having been decided
BY the coaches that that was the event
for him. He continued his broad
jumping and won the event against
Yale.
Since then he has had a varied but
most successful career at Harvard.
Perhaps his greatest achievement was
at the Stadium on Saturday when COM
peting against Technology he won the
100 and 220-yard dashes, placed sec
ond in the shot-put and made a new
Harvard record when he cleared 70
#. ilzB in. in the running broad jump
His record until that meet includes
some very meritorious performances.
His share in collecting points against
Princeton and Yale last season was
represented in the former meet by
three seconds and in the latter meet
by 4 first, a second and third. He
participated in the Olympic tryouts
but did not qualify for the overseas
trip, one reason being that he was not
right
Has Had Greatest Success This Year.
This season has been his greatest.
Starting indoors he showed speed
aplenty in the dashes and 300-yard
run, winning the longer event in the
triangular meet with Cornell and Dart
mouth. He ran at the B. A. A. games
for the second time in the short relay
against Tech.
On the southern training trip he won
both the broad jump and the century
| dash against Penn State, being clicked
| in 9 As seconds for the sprint. Against
Pennsylvania he won the broad Jump
and the 100 and placed second in the
furlong.
In the Penn carnival he won the
broad jump with leap of D feet 1917
inches, yet in three tries, all of which
were declared fouls. he cleared well
over "a feet. That brings him up TO
the present and it is safe to say that
the entire intercollegiate world will be
watching his individual efforts at New
! Haven.
Farrell Rates Him Americas Best.
Ned Gourdin is % years old. weighs
10 pounds and stands feet liz
inches. Eddie Farrell. the Crimson
field coach. styles him Americas great
est all-round track athlete, and rates