Evening star., 1922-03-22

Some OF US, II is true, you claim to
be the kind of athletes who try to
maintain this standard. but many of
US are not. You know as well as l
do the number of men In college who
are playing ball of one kind or an
other simply because they happen to
be big. rough or something. land not
because OF any interest in sportsman
ship. 1t is hard to picture certain
athletes l know as interested in the
honor of college athletics.
Not Worried Over Foot Hall.
Now as to base ball. There is no
getting around the fact that a ma
jority of college ball players who are
any good use their skill to advantage
during the summer. There are more
ways to get around the professional
regulations for them than in any other
sort. | have yet to be convinced that
t',<re is any alarming tendency for
college foot ball players or track men
io practice similar deceptionS. In
orally caught. and public opinion is
openly against il.
Put the main evil of present dav
college athletics, | think. takes other
forms. Recruiting and paying men to
come to college is one. Influencing
them to transfer. allowing them to
miss classes. leave when the season is
over and come back next year are
others. My only solution is a central
board of standards where general
rules to apply to all colleges could be
devised and enforced. Otherwise you
would have the different colleges un-
der varying standards. and the result
would be no better than conditions
that now exist
with definite rules from a central
board there would be something to
hang to.
"Then a college which refused to
abolish the practice of giving ath-
letes free rooms and board in So
called varsity houses the year round
and colleges which continued to play
men who were not certified by the
faculty to be in regular attendance
end up in their studies or who favored
athletes in other ways. would stand
before the bar and be convicted.
Sure Athletes Would Approve.
Il think you would find your aver
age athlete approving such central
board if-and that if is the big quail
iication-it would not demand ma
terial changes in the course his own
college pursues. Only the exceptional
athlete would come out for good
sportsmanship if it were against the
interests of his college. Such is mis-
guided college spirit. So. perhaps. the
matter stands up to the big-minded
alumni.
IL don't believe in intramural ath-
letics and nothing else. I don't think
there can be such a thing as college
athletics unless they bask in the
light of intercollegiate sport and
varsity teams. Interest now taken in
class and fraternity athletics is mere
ly a hangover from the interest in
the varsity teams. How far would
the club system such as they have at
Andover go if there were not also a
school foot ball elSven practicing
daily?
Finances are playing too big a part
in the game. but 1 think this is the
result of an honest desire to put out
better teams. 1ntersectional games
are good for the team and for the col
lege. They are broadening. Finally,
I get bacl, to the idea of conference,
which would adopt and enforce stand
ards and regulate schedules. Reforms
Will come in no other way"
Something In the way of sports
manlike interchange among the COL
States and England may follow the
visit to London of the Pennsylvania
four-mile relay team, where on April
they will compete against Oxford
Cambridge four in the Achilles Club
games at Queens Club.
With the Quaker athletes now on
the high seas is John T. McGovern,
who will act as sort Of plenipoten-
tiary for a number of American uni
versities. Waiting to meet him in
England is Bevil G. D. Rudd, the for
mer Oxford track star, who spent
several months in this country last
year and is devoting himself to the
splendid work of bringing athletes
of his country and America together
on a plane of common enterprise and
understanding.
There is more than a chance that
these two men, in conjunction with
other college athletic authorities of
England, will arrange a definite sys-
tenn of International meetings involv-
ing various sports extending over a
period of years
1t was learned that Pennsylvania
has declined the invitation to partici-
pate in the big track meet in Paris
in April. The Red and Blue runners
have a leave of absence of but a
month, and, studies aside. they must