Evening star., 1926-10-19

,
When Driver went to South {;
Melton. at that time president of tn
was in deep financial hole. having
$1,000 and other debts. which brou,
athletic teams were noted mainly by
full and usually it was an exceptions
able to hold its oWn in foot bali ga
Right now, after three. years under
Driver, the athletic association is not
only out of debt, but has money in
the hank. And not only that, but
Driver has built a new athletic field
costing Just little more than $40. 900
and now is engaged in constructing
field house for basket ball games
and for general housing Of athletic
teams. The field house Is to cost
around 100000.
Raises the Money.
OF course. all the money necessary
to do these things, especially the con.
struction. did not come from athletic
sources, hut it was Driver who In.
spired those to provide money who
did provide 1t and 1t was under his
direction that money was raised and
expended. Driver formerly was an
all-round coach himself. but has not
had time to do that at South Carolina.
It was at William and Mary that
Driver began his coaching career
He took charge of athletics at that
school shortly after he CAME out of
the Army, In which he was a com.
missioned officer. and began to de-
velop fine teams. He remained at
William and Mary for several years
then decided to get out of athletic
work. He did for one year, but went
back into it with South Carolina. with
excellent results for that university
II is understood that William and
Mary is very anxious to get Driver
back there.
Few athletes win such distinctions
AS were won by Driver while in col
lege. AS a student at William and
Mary during his senior year he was
captain Of four teams, base ball. foot
ball, basket ball and track. Later
when he went to the University Of
Virginia he won letters in four sports
in one year, the same four in which
he captained teams at William and
ball and base ball, Driver also was
far better than the average in the
dashes and in the quarter mile as a
member of the track team.
Is a Modest Fellow.
With all that he has accomplished
as an athlete and in charge Of ath-
letics. Driver is modest kind Of q
fellow, perhaps too modest for mis-
own good. He told the writer recent.
ly. when queried as to howRhe had
managed to finance the situation at
South Carolina. that he had done
nothing more than to suggest things
and others had done the actual work
IivavS
was the keystone to the whole works
here before his death. He wanted 10
build up student life at the univer.
sity. and he did. He got me here to
help him do it, and I did to the best
of my ability"
The President Melton Of whom Driv.
er speaks died last Spring and the
new athletic field was named for him
at the recent dedication exercises.
Not much more need be said of
Driver. Everybody knows him to be a
gentleman clear through. knows him
to he honest and courteous in every.
thing he does, knows him to be q man
of real worth to any university with
which he may be connected. And, as
an after thought, il the University of
Virginia is looking for a real man to
make a member of its faculty in q
capacity as director Of athletics. then
1t need look no further than Jimmie
Driver, one Of its own alumni.
West Virginia's foot ball team made
a fine impression here last week in its
game With Georgetown. Splendid
sportsma nShip, perfect poise and
Willingness to take penalties without
a whimper caused the team to he
placed ina a class by itself in the esti-
nation of many Of those that watched
II play. West Virginia took many
penalties, and N the last quarter,
when il WAS behind and it did not
have much longer in which to get the
touchdown 1t needed to win. it still
did not show any signs OF breaking.
Twice il put the ball on forward
passes within the danger zone. only
tn have ii brought back for a penalty.
II may be that. with West Virginia 'A
style of play. il expected a certain
number of penalties, but be that as it
may. by accepting them without
word West Virginia made itself lot
OF friends.
Another remarkable incident in the
game PLAYED by West Virginia was
that il never took out time. showing
an attention to details Of play that
did not require numerous conferences,
out of which nothing ever comes any
way. and also indicating physical
condition on the part of its players
way above the ordinary.
Georgetown meets Eion College
this week, and after its strenuous
game with West Virginia the contest
should seem a regular pink tea
E,lon has not a team capable Of doing
anything more than taking a decisive
whipping at the hands Of the Blue and
Gray. and Coach Lou Little probably
will give his second string players
chance to show what they can do.
Washington either will not support
in a big way foot ball games or II
looks for something else besides good
foot ball to make 1t do so. II the
pubic desires to watch good foot ball.
then it would have turned out to a
much greater extent for the George
town-West Virginia contest last week.
No better display of foot ball could
have been desired. But the public
did not support that game a. IL
should That contest, strictly on the
relative merits of foot ball contest.
as compared with some of the other
contests that draw $4,000 persons.
should have been attended by at least
a crowd of 5000, vet hardly more
than a third of that many were