The Washington herald., 1922-05-24

once in a while an ecstatic non
combatant rises UP and asks us an
easy one. One. for example. as
simple and soft as this which has
just come in: who is the greatest
all-Eound athlete in the United
States-I mean by that the one who
Is proficient in the largest number
of games?"
We can state briefly, in this
connection. that we can think Of no
athletes today who had the ALL
around proficiency of Jim Thorpe.
of Carlisle: Elmer Oliphant, Of
Purdue and West Point, and Neil
Snow. of Michigan.
What were their qualifications?
Thorpe, football: all-round star,
line plunger, end-runner, kicker,
great defensive player; track and
field: sprinter and jumper; Pen
tathlon champion; baseball: major
league.
oliphant football: one Of the
great backs; baseball; first-class
collegian; track and field: good !;
basketball: star.
Snow. football: star and line
plunger; track and field: jumper.
runner. hurdler and weight throw
er; baseball: fine fielder, hard hit
ter with numerous major league
offers.
OF More Recent Growth.
Our leading champs today 20 in
more for specialties. Jack Demp-
sey and Babe" Ruth are pink car
nations in their main lines, but in
their secondary sport. which hap
pens to be golf, they are somewhat
to the seaweed, not to say the
onion blossom, when it comes to
class.
Bill Tilden and Bill johnson,
ranking tennis player, are still
more exclusive as they amble along,
recitfng: 'One thing at a time, and
that done WELL" etc.
As far as we know Norwich
doesn't even play golf.
ords are hardly complete enough
George Owen, of Harvard, is a
masterpiece at football, baseball
and hockey.
That MacAldridge. or Yale, Is
both a baseball and a football star;
that King and Bolles, of the Navy.
are equally buoyant upon the grid
iron and on the water.
Charlie O'Hearn,. of Yale, might
have been one of the best il bad
leg hadn't checked him.
Kaw, of Cornell, is a shining
light upon gridiron and diamond.
Pink" Baker. of Princeton. upon
the grfdiron and the field where
massive weights are to be tossed
through the air. The same goes
for Doc Jordan. of Yale.
The West ana the South have
their all-star combinations but the
radiophone has not yet completed
it's task of scattering the jubilant
statistics.
Frank Frisch, of the Giants, has
proved to be a star at football,
baseball and basketball. He. is the
best all-round athlete among the
major leaguers, although Carl
Mays, in addition to pitching, is a
fair golfer and a crack shot.
Charles Albert Bender, the Chip
pewa Chief, now with Reading, Is
still a good pitcher, good golfer,
good pool and billiard player and
crack shot. Bob Legendre, of
Georgetown, can do more things on
track and field than anyone else.
Gratwick, of Harvard. is a three
sport man. but the roster of those
good at four sports is none too
large.
Cyril Tolley. or Oxford, which.
however, Is not in the United
States. is a fine golfer, good tennis
player and fair cricketer. He
might also make a great hammer
thrower II it wasn't for his pipe.
The Specialists.
Dempsey, Tilden, Ruth, Johnston,
Evans. Ouimet. Jones. Richards,
Leonard, Greb, Cobb and Hornsby
are mostly specialists.
They may have outside hobbies.
such as golf, or recreations, such
as hunting. but their concentration
is banked around one sport.
Jim Thorpe still keeps buster
than any of the. lot through base
ball. football and the woodland lair
of the quail.
Whether or not Luis Angel Firpo,
of the Argentine. pursues the ple-
siosaurus and the anaconda in of
seasons Is not known.