The Washington herald., 1921-08-14

Rudd, of the English college track
team, appeared on the held q few
days before the International meet
smoking q pipe, II was quite an
ordinary thing TO Mr.. Rudd. q Gus
tom among athletes In England
Comment on II amused him.
When the London Athletic Club
team came to America twenty-seven
years ago to compete against the
v. Y. A C. the English athletes all
smoked pipes, which rather aston
ished the Americans. who weren't
allowed to smoke at all. However,
the English were beaten in every
event, SO pipe smoking for athletes
didn't make much Of q hit In this
country. Smoking isn't good for
any athlete. as IL interfsres with
deep breathing. I've never known
q frst-class runner who was .
habitual smoker. But jumpers and
weight throwers often smoke.
No benent In Il. Of course. Il was
simply less harmful where . sus-
tained effort wasn't needed.
A. Q rule the old-time fighters,
both In England and In this country.
had q free and easy way Of living
and training. Most Of them drank
hard between bouts, went out of
condition altogether, and then went
through a furious training period
with long runs in heavy sweaters
and hours of gruelling work In
gymnasiums, to sweat the poisons
from their systems and get back
into shape.
They even had a theory that
breaking training" was necessary.
That idea was exploded long ago.
A fighter who lived as John l.. Sui
livan lived in his day would be dis
credited now and the public would
not care to see him.
Johns wild carousing and his
generosity when "in his cups" made
him a popular hero. But times
have changed. Now the popular
fighter is the fellow who takes care
of himself, lives cleanly and Is al
ways in shape to give his best when
IN the ring.
In London prize-ring days fight
ers and followers of the ring were
| a hard-drinking, hard-iiving crowd.
Usually a champion opened a road
house or a saloon to capitalize his
fame. Nearly all of the English
champions from the earliest days
have retired from the ring as tav-
ern keepers. It's still customary In
England. In this country the Gus
tom died out before prohibition
came in. Tommy Burns, Willard
and Dempsey alone of all our
heavy-weights champions never had
any interest In liquor selling, and
Burns and Dempsey are the only
ones I remember who didn't think
an occasional period of breaking
training" was necessary to good
condition.
Even school athletes dissipated
their energy by indulging in too
much hard training, although of
course they were not given the
mixed-ale S.method of relaxation.
When marathon and long-distance
running came into fashion twenty
years ago, school boys were often
seen plugging along in cross-coun-
try events that undoubtedly
strained their vital organs and
sapped their vitality. This is now
being discouraged by all school
athletic authorities.
There is no question in my mind
that MANY of the old athletic. cham
pions broke down long before their
time through alternating too much
relaxation with too much hard
training Straining breaks down
important organs. The human body
is delicate machine. Strainlns
isn't training. 1t breaks down
heart, lungs and nerve centers.
When an athlete goes stale" It's
time for him to lay off and conserve
his energy.
How that Is done by athletes
strictly up to date in the methods
that have made Americans supreme
in every branch of athletic sport
I'll tell in next weeks story.
Copyright 1871, by the Bell Syndicate,
Inc.)