Evening star., 1925-09-01

the world.
The old days of vague cultural"
ambitions arc passing; undergraduates
now have a degree of sophtsticatfon
which would astonish their elders, and
they all know that the best means of
| making the world look their way is
| to shove into the spotlight of college
| athletics one way or another.
Before showing just where the am
bilious but perhaps anemic rich boys
head in" it will be necessary to go
back few years. Possibly the read
er will recall that in his college days
foot ball heroes affected an ostenta-
tions untidiness; moleskins, shoes and
helmets were incrusted with mud;
on and off the field there was-not
exactly a studied affectation, but
| calm assumption of immunity from
common standards. You will recall
Bull McSwatt, who got a red sweater
with a letter on 1t in his first year
| they could do it then-and who was
reputed never to have taken 1t OF
during the rest of his college course.
Well GrOomed Players.
Gradually there came a change,
With increased competition and with
the Tightening up of the business or
ganization of foot ball success stand
ards began TO be built up. Coaches
and graduate managers began to take
up the slack here, and one OF the
first things they discovered was that
untidiness impairs efficiency. Details
of laundry, the care of uniforms and
equipment and minutiae of grooming
and fitness of the players came TO be
more and more important.
This came at about the beginning
OF the "phrophylactic era in Amer
lea, and no doubt It paralleled the gen.
eral outside drift in this direction.
At any rate, foot ball players SUD
denly developed a fastidious iRsiStence
upon the utmost cleanliness of sweat
ers. uniforms and equipment. They
no longer had TO be belabored by
coaches and managers. Laundry bills
went skyrocketing. The laundry
charges for big college team today
would almost run a small outfit OF
the old days.
1t meant endless work and expense
to keep the prima donnas spick-and-
span Managers and coaches deVel-
oped the scrub" manager system.
Here's where the rich boys come in.
Training quarters always had been
freuuented by eager but physically
dubious Young men of means, who
until then had been little more than
a nuisance The graduate manager
of a big Eastern college was, so far
as | know, the first TO put them to
work First he set them to cleaning
mud off the cleats of the shoes after
the men returned from practice.
Gradually they were given charge of
other details of uniforms and equip
ment.
Recompensed by Title.
Other colleges began to develop the
scrub manager system, the boys being
amply recompensed by the title ''as-
sistant manager" The real effective
ness of the system was achieved when
| it became the custom to choose the
under graduate manager from these
assistants, and TO bestow upon him
the mueh-coveted but otherwise I'M
attainable letter"
Presently it became customary to
have on hand at each big college from
20 to 25 such assistant managers.
This meant a valet for each OF the
men on the first and second teams
The scrub managers, many OF them
no doubt boys who at home had their
own Wallets, wait on the side lines.
Each Sancho PanZa receives his own
| Don Quixote, and helps him undress
and get under the shower, which the
scrub adjusts to just the right tenn
perature. Then he carefully scrapes
all the mud OF the cleatS or the SHOES
and, if they require il, pluDges them
into a pail Of tar oil and messages
them to kid-glove softness.
This is just the beginning. There is
endless detail of cleaning and polish
ing helmets and getting jerseys and
breeks ready for the next day. AS a
result of all this foot ball squads have
become as fussy as West Point cadets.
A smear Of dirt is anathema. Bull
McSwatt, who looked as il he needed
a brisk application of curry comb is
as obsolete as the three-toed horse.
The far, shining goal of all this. for
the busy scrub managers, is the under
graduate managership. That means a
lot more than you might think-for
reasons to be later disclosed-and
even the title assistant manager"
looming up on the boys private sta
tionery, or blaZoned in the junior an
nual, is not so insignificant as 1t
might seem. ....-
They Fetch and Carry.
/ | have seen slender, manicured be-
spectacled lads wallowing in tar oil
and mud and resin. and meekly &C
cepting curt orders to fetch and carry