Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1923-03-02
UNIVERSITY
NEEDS new
GYMNASIUM
tHy GEORGE HuFr)

equality of opportunity IN university
athletics--that your readers would Be
interested TO know something about
this point.
| In athletics there is absolute equal
ity. Ability is the only yard stick
BY which candidates are measured.
The coach who selects his teams would
not coach very long If he allowed any
kind of prejudiees to influence his
choice.
/ Many Of the men who wear the
I0range and Blue in athletic contests
are working their way through the
University. They walt on tables.
They stoke furnaces early in the
morning and late at night. They
scrub floors. Ii takes real man to
do this work. carry his scholastic
work and compete on an athletic
sguad-but ] am proud To say that
/ Illinois has many of them.
| Intercollegiate athletics, however. Is
only one phase Of our athletic work.
The following article viii explain this
statement and will, | believe. explain
why the present gymnasium Is so in.
| adequate:
There are COLT men students at the
University Of Illinois. Most of them
are home folks---native of this state,
which Is investing in their mental
education because II will pay large
dividends to the commonwealth in the
| future.
But 1t is recognised that the body
must be trained as well as the mind
that physical welfare must 20 hand
in hand with education.
lllinoi sis doing much to carry out
this idea. But the peoples univer-
sity" is at great disadvantage be-
cause its gymnasium, the center of
athletic activities for these students,
Is pftifully inadequate to provide for
| them.
Since the building was erected in
1902 when the university boasted
| only 1888 men students, this is not 10
be wondered at. Costing only $780,.
900, the building even then was re.
gar3ed merely as stopgap until a
more adequate structure could be
| obtained.
Many Students in Athletics.
| The public hears much of inter-
collegiate athletics but little regard
| ing the intramural sports of students
who are not ON varsity teams. Yet
last year $3.50 men took part In 1907
| athletic contests such AZ baseball,
football, truck, basketball, SWIMMING,
| playground ball, eoccss, wrestling,
water polo, tennis and golf.
II Is nk to be supposed that there
were thatimany different men In these
contests. As the year goes by, many
men turned from one seasonal sport
/ to another, but the number of differ
ent individuals enrolled was large.
Critics Of intercollegiate athletics
sometimes assert that only a few
profit by this training--eleven in
| football, IL or Is in baseball, and so
on. Yet last year 2,416 men were
candidates for the varsity and fresh
man varsity teams. Most of them
when they were eliminated from these
squads straightway went into intra-
mural sports.
Athletic Plant oyercrowded.
: But Illinois athletic plant has long
bee noutgrown and cannot begin to
provide facilities for these eager
young men. At least half of the in
tramural sports are played indoors.
As a result of the lack of facilities,
an intramural basketball team, for
instance, may play only once week,
in order that every team may have a
chance.
A swimming pool that is crowded
when rs men dive into 1T attempts to
provide aquatic facilities for these
COLT students, There is no sport
more enjoyed than swimming and If
Illinois boasted larger and more pools
many more would be attracted. Every
student must learn how to swim 90
yards, If he does not know how,
when he enters. But as soon as he
fulfills this requirement his oppor-
tunities for swimming as a pastime
practically vanish as the small pool
| is worked overtime with the required
classes.
Busy From Morn Till Late.
The building that was erected in
| 1902 TO accommodate 1888 men is now
used every day by l AIS students. This
was shown in January by an exact
count which showed this average.
The old armory, converted into a
gym annex, smaller building known
as the engine annex, and the new
armory when it is not in use by the
military department, only partly takes
care of the overflow from the old
gymnasium. A count kept of the num-
Der of men who use the entire ath-
letic plant shows that they average
1854 every day.
Lights burn In the gym until 10
o'clock at night, indicating that some
intramural athletic contest is in pro-
gress. The building does not even
halt at meal time in the evening. But
the lack of a modern building with
far more space cramps the ambition
Of the athletic department to furn-
ish facilities for healthful recrea-
tion to every man in the university.
Poor in Comparison to Others.
This state Is far behind as COM
pared with many other states and
privately endowed institutions in
furnishing gymnasium facilities.
Northwestern's gym built in 1910 at
cost Of 1901 600, would cost about
100000 today. The entire male
student body at Evanston is l,50O.
Indiana university provides a gym
for / 800 that cost $500, 900 in 1916,
which would cost $514,000 in 1923.
Uncle Sam in 1908 spent $500 900 on
a gym for his 2,400 middies at An
nanolis that would set him back ST.
1875, 900 today. At West Point 1850
cadets have the use of a gymnasium
which cost s4OO, 900 in 1910, this
meaning s747,000 now.
Illinois state pride is that its uni
versity stands among the foremost
institutions of the land, east or west
Yet it will be a blow to this pride
when Illinois gymnasium is com
. pared to Princeton's. There are only
J 2,200 men at Princeton, but they hav'
: the advantage Of gymnasium which