The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1928-04-18
T I SPORT
KINGS QUIT
NPEA('E.
By Gene Tunney

By Gene Tunney
Nsavyweleht Champion Of the World
Z MIAMI, April 18.-If there
Is room for any more move
ments'' to be started, why not
launch one to let champions in
ell lines of sport retire IN
peace? Or to stage comebacks
In peace, for that matter.
Ever since one bright day several
months ago when somebody inter-
l.upted me at my golfing to inform
me that Jack Dempsey had retired,
/ believe that every sporting writer
in the country has unburdened him
self of reasons why the rumor was
or was not true.
All Of which is perfectly all right,
fOr boxing fans are vitality inter-
ested in current news and they were
naturally anxious to get the straight
OF it. But the thing that seemed
d little rough to me was that IN
come cases Dempsey was criticized
for retiring. In other cases he was
credited with Interior motives in
withdrawing from the ring and in
nearly all instances his alleged words
were doubted.
Some critics, after discarding
the story about Denpsey's eyes,
began deIving into the state Of
his finances and used the
amount he is supposed to spend
per Sear ON his family as proof
positive that he could not afford
20 retire II he wanted to.
Others attacked his business judy
nnent and reported him skidding to-
ward bankruptcy. i think that IS
q little unfair to "a man who has
matches and won at least forty
seven of them by knockouts. It
would look as though a fighter
with that record had done his duty
by the boxing public and should be.
given chance to do as he pleased.
Retirements from any form Of
athletics always cause much COM
ment and usually criticism. A sport
ing public which has been thrilled
by big figure is Ioath to give no
the chance TO see him in action
again. The demands are perfectly
natural but little unreasonable, as
most comeback attempts have
shown.
Many men, in the business or pro-
fessional as well as the athletic
world have retired under the false
impression that they were through.
only TO find that they were tenn
porarily the victims Of some slight
aiIEnent or that they had dropped
into q brief period Of staleness.
These men have successfully
comeback. But others who at
tempt 20 return once they have
quit, simply because Of public
demand. are likely to be less
successful. So why exert undue
pressure upon an athlete who
wants to stay in retirement?
It Is hard for any good man to
believe that he is through and this
makes him all the more susceptible
aptly recently when he said that
age takes something out Of a man
without his knowing it-that the
change might be 30 imperceptible
that even the fans would not no.
tice Il, but that beneath it all there
was some element missing. Yet
Cobb, influenced by his friendship
for Connie Mack, is planning to
take one more chance that his
theories are wrong.
Joie Ray and Harold Cutbill, the
Flying Parson," the great distance
runners who attempted a comeback
this year. were examples of Cobb's
logic. Ray had been national mile
champion for eight successive years,
and voluntarily retired after having
set the amazing record of Alp in
1925. Both men were still marvels
of speed, but the invisible something
Cobb had tried to describe was miss
ing without their knowledge.
Apparently there is no way for
q man I'm excellent health to
know that he is through until
he tries TO compete again. And
whether he has definitely an.
nounced his retirement or not,
he ought to have a chance to
prove II to his own satisfaction.
Jack Dempsey was far better in
1927 than he was in 1926. II he
thinks he can be still better in 1928,
isn't he entitled to his opinion? And
IL he thinks that he has passed the
peak, isn't he entitled to quit?
Then there is Matt McGrath, the
king of weight throwers, out try
ing to get into shape for the
Olympic games. Had he retired and
stayed In retirement at the age
when the average man would begin
complaining of feeblen ass, he would
have missed the thrill of many a
victory. 1t is entirely Mats affair
to Judge when he is through. But
it's the pubhc's affair to let him or
any other athlete rest when they
want to.
Ring records show that few box.
ers have been able to retire in
peace. Most of them, and usually
against their better judgment, were
made to feel ashamed of admitting
they wanted to quit. Jim Corbett
was knocked out three times before
he admitted it and stopped allowing
himself to be told that ne was as
good as ever. John L. Sullivan,
whom Corbett knocked out, refused
to listen to the demands Of the
fans and retired irrevocab Iv.