Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-05-27
IIIIII|IuINIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!! Observation-Disclosures
SHOT PUT MA MANAGEMENT OF
PASS SO FOOTlBLUES GIVEN A
MARK SHORTLYIS SUPPORT VOTE

CAMBRIDGE, Mass, May 26.-No
athlete in SO years of intercollegiate
track and field championship compe-
tition has put the 16-pound shot a
distance of SO feet, Eddie Farrell,
Harvard coach, notes in predicting
that this feat may be accomplished
next Friday or Saturday in the 5Oth
annual titleN meet here.
"The east has no Ralph Hills this
year to head off the Pacific slope,
but Clarence Houser of Southern Cali
fornia, the Olympic champion, and
Elmer Gerkin of California probably
will know they have been in a battle
before emerging from the extend
competition. Houser is one of the
three wonderful small men-and by
small men I mean less than 100
pounds-who have made history in the
+. G. A. A. A. A. shot putting compe-
ttion. The others were r. l.. Beattie
of Columbia and Bud Whitney of
Dartmouth whose performances car
ried them to the crest before the war.
"Houser, who was beaten for the
shot putting championship last year
by Hills, has wonderful nervous en-
ergy and unparalleled speed. In
marked contrast to Houser was Ralph
Hills of Princeton who was forced to
improve the association record to win
the title from Houser last year. I
have never seen a shot putter with q
more marvellous lift than Hills If
he had had the drive and nervous
energy of Housr, I believe that he
would have smashed Ralph Roses
record of 81 feet to smithereens. The
first man who can combine the quail
tiles of Houser and Hills Will put the
shot 81 feet.
'Most track enthusiasts know that
shot putting is the art of overcoming
gravity. To do this one must COM
bine speed, strength and weight, CO.
ordinating all three to gain the best
possible form. When shot putter
learns his art there should be no
strain. And yet I consider the shot
put to be the most, difficult of all
field events to thoroughly master
Another factor to consider is that
competition really is a detriment to
good shot putter. In some events
the athlete can do better work when
the competition is keen. In running
events it is an asset to be keyed up,
but that does not apply in the shot
put.
Interest in shot putting among
collegians is traceable, L believe, to
the desire for football men to take
up weight events for off-season train
ing. It is natural that they should
turn to weights and yet it is diff
ficult task for the big man to perfect
timing and rhythm, which are all
important to the shot putter.
I'm 40 meets the winning put has
exceeded AZ feet on eight occasions,
including the last four successive
meets. The record has been improved
20 times in SO years, the improve
ment in this event having been more
gradual than in any of the riginal
events on the program. Athletes from
Is colleges have won the event, in
Guiding: Yale, 10 times; Princeton,
81 Harvard, Z; Columbia, 4; Dart
mouth, A. Penn, 2; Stanford, 2; Mich
igan, q Stevens, 2; Swarthmore, 2;
California, Cornell, Lafayette, New
York university and Maine, 1 each.
IF Houser breaks the record this
year it will be the first time in near
ly 40 years that the record will have
been broken three successive years"