Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-08

D6IpuIl lldS 1OA WolACo u NOPy
of the letter he wrote to Mr.. Brundagc,
and in this letter he reminds the presi-
dent of the A. A. u. that he did name
the official during general conversa-
ton over the charges. The reason given
for the suspension of Barbuti, which
implied that he must have broken some
of the rules of amateuriSm (whatever
they may be-, was that he refused TO
name the official. 1t never was charged
by the A. A. U. that Barbuti ever re-
ceived or solicited money for competing.
This leaves a new definition OF ANA
teurism. An amateur is an athlete who
says Yes" to the A. A. u. and he loses
his amateur standing the moment he
says No"
In the letter to Mr. Brundage young
Barbuti puts the matter up fatty and
quite frankly to the president OF the
A. A. u. He wrote, in part:
ION my return from Amsterdam
several of the boys whom I named
to you in our conversation at the
Hotel Savoy Plaza congratulated me
on the favorable position in which
was to get money from indoor COM
petition during the Winter of 1928
30 They told me places and men,
including among the number the
high A. A. U. official who had paid
them sums for competition in the
games You doubtless will recall the
name of this man and of others I
mentioned during our conversation
at the Savoy Plaza.
when at the A. A. U. headquarters
(on charge of failing to appear at the
A. A. U. meet, though entered) / finally
entered the committee room, I found
myself In a hostile atmosphere. which
emanated almost entirely from the high
A. A. u official who had been named to
me on the Olympic steamer.
lone of these men said to me he had
to vote as was indicated by the high
A. A. u. official The man said point
blank to me that If l would state that
the high A. A. u. official referred to in
my letter was low one and not a
high one he would reinstate me. He
knew that I was referring to him, ne
knew that the newspapers were aware
OF his identity. he knew that the great
body of athletes was aware Of his iden-
tity and he sought this means of exon
Grating himself. refused the offer"
Barbuti has received no reply to his
letter and no cogniZance has been taken
of his application for reinstatement in
time to compete in the national A. A. u.
championships.
Pawning Their Laurels.
IT is not pretty picture young Bar
butt paints Of young athletes return
ing from the Olympic games. which are
ballyhooed as the height Of idealism and
all that sort of thing. The decks OF the
ship bringing back the Olympic heroes
are painted as money-changing place
where any larcenous tendencies that
might be in the young athletes are ac-
centuated.
The heroes" might be excused
from an ambition to capitalize their
proves honestly and openly and
might be pardoned for wanting TO
toss their laurels openly on the
pawnshop counter for what they
might bring. But, according to the
Barbuti impression, they are looking
for the under-cover money, petty
larceny, as it were. There is no
money to speak Of in openly profess
sional track and field athletics, but
there is in amateur" competition.
Also. it is limited that some Of the
athletic clubs supposed to foster anna
teur athletics and high ideals of sports
manship are in reality fostering larceny
by making under-cover payments to
athletes in order to build up their
gates" for the indoor games. It hardly