Evening star., 1925-01-08

southern conference. NOW 1t Is ITO
against those institutions, because tn
that is admirable and because the /
splendid fellows, but it does seem m
some credit where the greatest ere
facts about athletic standards in the
Until two or three years ago
athletic standards in the South were
widely at variance. Now the stan
dards of athletics in all the larger
institutions are practically the same
and it was the leadership which
brought about this change that should
be given credit for what has been ac-
complished.
Virginia Planted Seed.
The one Institution in the whole
South that deserves almost entire
credit for the rapid advancement of
the standards of athletics is the Uni
versity of Virginia. That university,
for what it has accomplished in the
last 10 years, should receive en-
comiums from every other university
and from every person interested in
the welfare of intercolle late sports.
Some years ago Virginia adopted
policy in athletics that established it
definitely in a place of leadership in
intercollegiate athletics. It began TO
insist that other institutions with
which 1t maintained relationships, or
which hoped to have relationships
with it, live up to the same standards.
The going was difficult for awhile.
Virginia had trouble even in getting
schedule filled with the teams it
really desired to play, because few
schools were willing to adopt the
rigid code of eligibility under which
Virginia decided it would play.
In 1916 Virginia began an or
in Is
stand, with the result that there was
formed The Association of State Uni
versities of the South" an organiZa-
tion numbering only four or five
memberships and which never
amounted to much, possibly because
the war interfered and again because
some of the members felt they could
not very we'll live up to its provisions.
However, that was the planting of
the seed.
Idea Sprung in 1920.
In December, 1920, at the annual
meeting of the Southern Intercolle-
giate Athletic Association, the old or
ganization in existence for 80 years
and Familiarity known as the S. l.
Double a, at Gainesville, Fla, the
idea of a great conference of State
universities and States colleges to
encompass the entire South had birth.
Most of the institutions present
were against it because they felt
they We're too small for such an or
ganization and too small to live
under such eligibily rules as were
proposed, while a majority of the
others felt the thing to be too big,
to stupenduous, to undertake, because |
of the wide variance in athletic |
standards and the great conflict in in |
terests in many places.
Not so with the University of Nir-
ginia- It took hold of the PROPOSE |
tion, interested the University of
Georgia. and they with two or three
other universities spent months in
public and private argument favor
able to the project. At first only II
institutions in the South were will
ing to become members of such an
organization, but as the others be-
gan to realize the import of the |
proposition they began to get aboard
the band wagon and the outcome was |
the Southern Conference, probably |
the greatest and most powerful ath-
letic organization in the United |
States.
1t was the University of Virginias |
faith in it's policy that begat the |
Southern Conference. 1t was honesty |
of purpose and sincere desire to !
build something better than that |
stable foundation for the growth of !
athletics, that brought about for the |
entire South a sudden revolutionary |
improvement in athletic morals.
Charlottesville Men Praised.
And it was the University of Vir-
ginia that did it. Other universities
had their part in the organization
work of the Southern Conferences;
others have given very valuable help |
since, but it was Virginia that found |
and planted the seed. 1t was Vir-
ginia that carefully cultivated the
soil until the seed sprouted and grew |
to be big enough for others to rec
ogniZe its value, and that others
have since come forward to help keep |
the tree pruned and nourished and
vigorous should not lead one away |
from the fact that the original plant
ing was really the important thing.
And probably Virginia would have
done most of the caring for the tree
it had planted had not the two men
mostly responsible for 1T been rele-
gated to the background by those
who did not realize the really big
thing those two men were doing.
DIR. Albert lie Fevre and DIR. w. A.
Lambeth of Virginia are not in charge /
of athletics at the University any |
more: they may have been buried |
I
University of Virginia are concerned. |
but they will live eternally in the
new and better spirit which encom
passes athletics in the South. What |
Lambeth and LIE Fevre did for ath !
leticS at Virginia was splendid; what |
they did for athletics throughout the |
entire South is something for which
every institution in the South should
feel thankful.
They brought about a new era of
understanding, honesty of purpose
and ightforwardness in athletic
relations to replace the old one of
suspicion and distrust: built up a new
eligibility code, and in short created |
a new system of athletic relation
ships and morals; because, after all,
what Virginia has been given credit
for doing was only the reflection of
the labors of these men.
Georgian Has Helped.
In connection with the Southern
Conference, the work of DIR. S. ".
Sanford of the University of Geor-
gia comes in for hardly less praise
than that of DIR. Lambeth and DR. lie
FeVre. AS matter of fact, after DIR.
Lambeth and DR.. LIE Fevre were no
longer at the head of athletics at
Virginia, it was DR.. Sanford who
took the reins and piloted the South
ern Conference through the perilous
way of its formation and by his abil-
ity to lead, to inspire confidence of
others in what he projects, has put
the conference in it's present impor-
tant and almost unaSsailable posi- /
ton.
1t may be truthfully said that in
all probability no other man than
DR.. Sanford could have carried on