The Washington herald., 1922-12-22
WHITE SHINES
AS EXAMPLE
OF MIRACLE
Given Up as Hopeless, and
Doomed to Die in Two Years,
Youth Defied Nature.
By FRANK G. MENKE.
Copyright. 1872. by King Features
Syndicate. Incl

the power OF mind over mat
ter and upon what seeming
miracles can be performed by the
man who believes in himself,
SCOTS at encouragement and
makes unceasing, superhuman en-
deavors to accomplish a certain
end can find no better example
than the life story of Charlie
White, the Chicago lightweight.
White is a living, breathing de-
nance of the laws of nature; he
Is the man who refused to ac-
knowledge the rulings of nature
IN his earlier years, fought
against its whims and its dictates
and overthrew nature in the
. end so that he might rise to
glorious heights in the world of
athletics.
Nature never intended that White
should be any sort Of athlete-and
least OF all a ring gladiator. 1t
gave him a weak body, a heart
that functioned poorly. lungs that
were diseased and a reduced SUD-
ply Of blood. 1t handicapped him
in his babyhood and his boyhood
as Few youngsters ever have been
handicapped And when he was
eleven or twelve years old, the
medical fraternity bowed to what
IL construed TO be the immutable
law of nature and said:
The boy Is suffering from tuber-
culosis-he cannot live more than a
year or two at the most. Nothing
can be done for him except to oro-
long the end slightly by sending
him to some climate other than
Chicago"
HE STANDS FORTH.
And yet here. twenty years later,
Is the same Charlie White. stand
ing forth as one Of the greatest
II not the greatest-in his division.
Here is White, once the weakling.
with seventeen years Of terrific
warfare behind him, fighting bet
ter, moving faster. punching harder
and withstanding punishment easier,
than at any time in the spectacu-
lar career that has been his.
How was it done-and what was
done?
How does it happen that a con-
sumptive boy became a pugilist
and then. soaring beyond that
heights Of accomplishment. has en-
dured in ring harness at least ten
q boxer?
There's the story - the one
for the folks to dwell upon who
yearn always to hold up to man.
kind certain humans who fought
on and on in the face of the ''im-
possible triumphed most glo-
rfously in the end.
The story is simple-as itSis tod
by White:
STAYS IN OPEN.
"Exercise-more exercise - long
hours in the open. adherence TO the
golden rules and untaltering faith
in myself to build up a broken
bOdy-thats what did il.
When the doctors condemned
M to an early grave. and aban-
dcned my ease. realized that
whatever fight was TO he made for
my life had to be made by RE
alone. The family funds were in
sufficient to send me away to n
drier climate. 7 had to continue to
there with old kid Death as the
enemy
Whites first move was TO stay
IN the open air as much as possible
Twice A day-morning and night
he would indulge in walks as fast
as his enfeebled condition would
permit. As he improved. he started
10 do a little running, increasing
his speed and the distance as he
grew a bit stronger.
When | had saved up enough
money 70 pay for membership in
gymnasium 7 joined one" re-
counted White. Il didn't go in for
he rough and tough things at
flrst-hAcausN | wasn't able to. L
worked the pulleys. exercised with
dUmbells. skipped the rope and did
some shadow boxing. 1t was
mighty firing AT first and there
were times when Id go home all
worn out and somewhat worried
a. 70 whether or not the exercising
We snt TO" strenuous for me But
I stuck to il"
DONNED BOXING GLOVES.
Within two years after the day
that the doctors had said that
Charlie White couldn't live more
than two wears, the youn ester
donned the boxing gloves in the
gymnasium and began 20 indulge in
short tiIts with the boys there.
They went very easy with him at
firs--and White. of necessity. went
along slowly.
Al the age of fifteen-and four
years after White had ben regarded
as doomed by the medical profession
Charlie White made his debut in
the prize ring. His entry was
influenced by advice of the boys
in the gymnasium who predicted
grea; things for him
About the last thought Of my
life in kid days was that of becom-
ing boxer" said White Even
when ! started in the gymnasium !
had no idea of becoming a boxer.
All I was doing then was making
the fight for my life. What effort
j put into the gym boxing was put
there to help me build up-not with
the idea Of developing as a boxer
But The boys thought was
gnnd-and getting better with the
gloves all the time. They insisted
that ] take a try at things with
professionals. / did-and won. I
won the next fight won the
next Each new fight had
seemed to improve. The rest of my
ring history is written in the record
books"
r4Io&a ~-lz H.