Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-13
A. A. F. AND A. A. u. HAVE
LIKE AIMS DESPITE WAR
Control of Olympic Representation Is Cause OF
Trouble and Two Organizations Should Get
Together and Make Peace.

fact that there is a good deal that
may be said in favor of the A. A. u.
And when the real Goals of the matter
finally are Sifted out, it is found that
the main part of the trouble lies not so
much in the petty arguments that
sometimes are caused by questions of
eligibility of an athlete or by an ath-
lete taking part in an unSanctioned
meet as 1t is a real and continuing
struggle to control the representation
and participation of the United States
in the Olympic games every four years,
a struggle on the part of the A. A. u.
to retain the control it now has and
which it long has held by virtue of the
cooperation of the foreign governing
amateur bodies and some of the other
groups that would like to get control
of the activities of the United States
in so far as such activities appertain
to the OlympicS.
Line Up Colleges.
Attempts have been made to line up
the colleges in the fight so that they
will take an active part in the effort to
wrest control of the Olympics from
the A. A. u, and. theoretically, the
colleges have lined up with the Army
and Navy and Y. M. C.. A. and other
bodies, but actually they have not
taken a real part and probably will
not. A good deal Is made of the fact,
and has been made of it, that the
Olympic teams are composed largely
of college athletes, but the colleges
have practically no voice in the
arrangements of the Olympics. AS a
matter of fact, college athletes do make
up a large part of the squad that
represents this country in the Olym-
pics, but usually they compete under
the colors of some club which finances
their competition during trials. 1t
has been customary for. many years
for college athletes to compete for
clubs during their Summer vacations,
and during such competition the
A. A. U. has been a factor for good
in helping the colleges maintain the
amateur status of their athletes.
And the colleges, provided the
athlete has kept his amateur status,
has never objected to an athlete COM
peting for some club. 1t is impossible
for the colleges to give their athletes
opportunities to compete all during the
Summer vacation, and meets for them
under A. A. U. auspices has provided
a field for those athletes that wanted
to stay in competition all Summer,
especially in track and field sports.
The A. A. u. probably has done more
for amateur athletics in the United
States, especially track and field, than
all other organizations combined, the
colleges excepted. 1t started as an or
g~anization to keep competition on as
even a basis as possible, to prevent the
more experienced professional coming
in competition with the amateur. It
caused all athletes to register and In
registering to give proof of their anna
teurism. 1t kept in touch with these
athletes and or many occasions de-
clared them professionals and no longer
allowed them to compete.
Need of Supervision.
Having got that far it was necessary
to provide a method Of competition that
would be closed to men who were anna
tours, a kind of competition by which
the professionals could be kept out. To
do that 1t evolved the plan of sanction
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