The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-02-20
WORLD FAMOUS
ANNOUNCER
FOR MEET
John j. HaIIahan Obtained BY
r Georgetown to Keep Fans
~Ta Informed.

HtbOt ubO0a
Another major attraction was
added today to the card Of the
Georgetown indoor track and field
carnival at Convention Hall torlor-
row night. And the new feature
does not happen to be an athlete.
Joie Raw, Harrison Thomson, jim
mic Connolly, Ralph Hills, Bob Nc
AllAster, Bernie Wefers, jr., and
about $50 more will support the
athletic angle Of the program. The
new feature is an announcer-as
. q matter of fact, the world s great
est announcer, and one with an in
ternational reputation.
The gentleman is John j. Halia-
han, sports expert Of the Boston
Globe and official announcer in Eng.
lish at the last three Olympiads: also
announcer at the annual intercol.
legiates.
Haflahan has a voice, which, un-
aided by a megapho1e, will carry
to the topmost tiers OF the Harvard
stadium when he sounds off the
results of a race. It is not the
gtrident, raucous voice one would
Imagine. Rather 1t Is a voice OF
elear reverberating accents that
all distinctly on the ears Of anyone
within rifle shot of his station.
He does not boom. He does not
cream. Neither does he, shake the
ALTERS with his sonorous phrases.
lie merely fills his lungs, opens his
Ups, and proceeds to spread the In.
formation to the assembled multi
ude in an ordinary pitch, but with
Pach letter and each syllable enunci.
ted so distinctly that there is no
fort I'm hearing him.
OF course. one whose clarion call
can echo and re-echO i'm the wide
reaches Of the Harvard stadium
may sound quite loud In the mar
row confines Of Convention Hall,
but it may be that he win have to
rednce his welLknOwn voice to q
whisper in order not to knock the
patrons off their seats.
In any event he has been i'm.
orted from the Hub In order to add
o the pleasure of the crowd that
Pill attend the Carnival tomorrow
light. And it il not at all unlikely
hat his announcements will prove
ute as much OF an attraction as
he performances Of the athletic
nminaries. -
In addition to the voice, Johnnie
possesses an encyclopaedia knowl-
edge of the past, present, and rec.
Drds Of every athlete of note or near.
mote in these United States. And 1t
10 his custom at the beginning OF
any important race, to take the
public into his confidence and dis
close the pertinent facts concerning
every starter. For instance:
I'm lane No. i: Bob McAllister,
formerly New York's flying cop,
now the dashing detective. holder Of
the national 100-yard championship,
sensation of the present indoor sea-
son throughout the East.
I'm lane No. 2. Boots Lever, of
the University of Pennsylvania, rec
ord holder and national champion at
sixty yards.
Elm lane No. 8: Eddie Farrell, Of
Fordham, national sprint champion
IN 1921, winner of the dash events
in the Penn relays the same year.
I'm lane No. 4: Bernie Wefers, jr.,
metropolitan dash champion at dis
tances ranging from 20 to 800 yards,
and son of the greatest Georgetown
sprinter of history
And when s. Harrison ThOm-
son steps forward to take his
place at the beginning Of the So
yard hurdles, one of the three
events i'm which he Is entered,
Johnnie is taking to disseminate
TO the multitude the fact that the
blond young man has the dis
tincti0n of having won the all
around championship Of the
United States on three occasions,
also that he is the fair-haired boy
who does the punting for the
Princeton varsity eleven.
And so on with every athlete of
pte. The home town boys like
ills, Of Princeton; Johnnie Holden
yree, OF Navy, and others are not
ping TO be forgotten. Joie Ray
hght to be good for five minutes
Navy is coming to Washington
Fcording to announcements from
nnapolis, with the largest track
uad that has ever participated
any track meet in Navy history
ommander e. G. Washburn, ath
tic officer at the Academy, will
wade Washington with a team
tWenty-four men, a larger rep
eSentation thatn the Admirals sent
, the Penn relays last spring.
The Navy team possesses a mum
er of brilliant performers and
heiF work here will be watched
it'll interest by the midshipmen
it Is felt that the Navy has
gged considerably in this line OF
bdeaVor during past years and
at it is time to put track and
cid on the same basis of efficiency
football, rowing and baseball.
Pennsylvania will arrive here
th twenty-six men, the largest
am to be entered by an out OF
,wn college. Included in the Rec
nd Blue outfit are enough stars
give considerable anxiety to tn,
illtoppers on the question of an
exing point honors. 1t ought t
e a merry tussle, with the battl,
esiding chiefly between Penn
Princeton, Navy, Virginia, ant
Anyway, when Starter Jimmy
fulligan sends the first group o
printers flashing down the straight
gay In the preliminary heats TO
ne 5O-yard dash, it's going to b.
ne beginning of a large evenin,
p Washington track and field his