Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-27

Courage and determination to win
! are recognized as the assets which en-
abled George Young, the unheralded
! 17-yearold boy of Toronto, to swim
from Santa Catalina Islands to Los
Angeles and win the Pacific Coast s
| first great long distance swimming
contest with Il prize Of $25, 200.
Georges triumph is distinctly a pOpu-
| lar one.
THAT much-harped theme of classic
adventure, swimming the Hellespont.
was a mere splash in a duckpond
compared with the exploit of George
! Young in Catalina Channel" according
to the Atlanta Journal. Catalina S
l7-year-old conqueror actually swan
from 80 to "a miles, buffeted by the
tides. For nearly 16 hours he fought
against hostile currents, sometimes
against masses of seaWeed that threat
ened to entangle him. and against
bitter cold, emerging at last as the sole
remaining contestant Of 103 VINO start
ed. and as winner of the WFigley
S25 900 prize George deserves his for
tune. What hero he would have
made for one of Conrad's romances
OF youth and the sea-
"The odds were heavily against such
a swim, especially in Midwinter, but
the human brain enables the human
animal to overcome natures obstacles,
making all things possible" says the
Los Angeles Express. while the view
that his success was due to the fact
that che had faith In his ability to
win and never allowed any other
| thought 10 enter his mind" Is eN-
pressed bv the Salt Lake Deseret
News. The Elmira StarGazette de
scribes his story as IAN epic of deter
ra
chester Union chronicles: He had
banked everything on the venture and
he gave himself heart and soul to the
task Of winning through. Fieula-
lively, If not literally he had burned
his ships behind him. And the deter
rnination to conquer, the will to vic
tory. made possible what many expert
waternen Of the Pacific Coast had de-
clared to be a physical impossibility.
= X 4. 4
Telling the receipt of fiery" letters
'denOuncing Toronto tor not having
sent Young 10 california in special
, ear with trainers and advisers doc
tors to take care of his health and
LAWYERS 10 take care of his interests. "
the Toronto Daily Star replies that
the denouncers should stop to ask
themselves why they did not finance
him. Their answer" continues the
star. would he that they didn't know
he was going. The same answer could
be made by about half million people
in and around Toronto. Probably
more than half the people here didn't
know there was to be swimming
race or that Toronto youth was com
peting until the news OF the result ser
the city talking. Most OF them VINO
did know about the swimming match
l.
not know that Young was gong ana
had no opportunity to back him. lie
up and went
"That he had even a chance to
win" it is further testified by the
Charleston Evening Post, was hardly
believed. and his pretensions were
viewed Almost with amusement
George Young takes his place in the
record of pioneers in athletic achieVe
ments, and the youth OF his DAY VIII
look to him as Il hero and a champion
of their generation. Ihe fortsIi1oIta :
Sun is reminded of the stories OF
Horatio Alger, once denounced by
1.-THE iudicious and level-headed' as
rot" and feels that ii feat like
Youug's had been the authors theme
| they would have been quite right
about it, generally speaking Yet IL
| happened.
Tile had a purpose" is the outstand-
! ing fact to the Omaha World-F1eraId,
which adds the comment: Irudy
Ederle. it will be recalled, swan the
English Channel for America. Millie
Gade Corson did it for her husband
and Riddles. Young rises nobly and
markedly out of the water to exclaim
! that he did 1t all for Mother The
| Indianapolis Star believes that the
| victory will be popular for two rea-
sons--one that youth has again been
| served, and the other that the sue
cessful entrant previously was prac-
!! tically unknown In American swim
ming circles. The public in a country