Evening star., 1923-12-31

luII
Paddock went thorouhly into his
ca Sc in a statement in which he falled
to retract anything he has SAID ABOUT
the A. A. L.
Explains His Stand.
His statement follows:
I'm justice to the National COL
legiate Association, the Amateur Atm
letic Union. myself ana those inter Ter
ested in following this case, l 1eel
that the whole matter should be
clarified.
"As l see it, there are two angles,
the technical and the personal, TO pe
considered.
good standing compete outside of the
country without a. A. L. sanction!
Personally, is an athlete in the ANA
teur Athletic Union a free agent:
And both of these questions can pe
answered in the negative.
Technically, the National Collegl-
ate Association in It's meeting at AT
lanta, failed to prove tnat IL ,Pos-
sessed the authority in this country
or in any other to go over the head
of the International Athletic Fed
Grafton and make its sanction OF an
athlete hold good. AS the only recos-
niZed representative or the lhterna
, tional Federation in America Is lne
A A. u, that body must be the nnaI
authority, and in this case when
was asked to apply for reinstatement
! to the A. A. U. by the National Col
legiate Association this was aa-
mitted Having always followea the
recommendations of the \. G. A. A.
| Will apply for reinstatement in the
personally my case has plainly
shown that an athlete in the A. a. =.
is not a free agent A man must De a
; u, else he cannot compete. in the ma
tional championship or the olympic
games. For both of these are con-
trolled directly and indirectly by the
or when he will. a man cannot critl-
| cize either the organization or the
| committee of the organization and
maintain his standing. This differs from
the American system OF government,
where the citizen has the right to his
! opinion.
Personal Side Of Affair.
'aThe personal side of the case also
J involves all of my relations with the
| A. A. U. since l first became mem
/ ber of that body The charges have
/ been made that owe the Olympic com
mittee of 1920 for expenses. and 1 have
answered that If this was the case the
committee had only to send me a Dill.
| have been charged with professional
/ ism because of lecture tour. and
. from the board of governors of the
local A. A. u, and had the word Of
i New York committeeman of the A. A.
f; u. that there is nothing in my lecture
that warrants such a charge. | have
been censured for not always running
+ in places and times and instances un-
der A. A. U. officials.
| 'Track work has been my recreation
and my pleasure-not my vocation.
1 have accepted invitations to compete
where the greatest education benefits
! might be derived. I admit that at times
have acted independently. of the
A. A. u. though l have always ad-
hered to the code of unquestioned
sportsmanship. T admit that | do not
agree with the policies of the A. A. U,
which prevent man from being free
agent I have always professed myself
| willing to answer charges that the
A. A US committee. / already have sent
statements accredited to me by the
/; A A. US committee, l already have sent
in full explanation. l cannot take back
| what l have not said, and l will not
! take back what l have said"