Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1930-12-25


IN THREE PARTS-PART THREE
"A RENT you going TO g~raduate?"
II he said.
NJ attic will have to get along
without 4 sheepskin. said Flash. blow
ing luxurious lIngs Of smoke from his
cigaret toward The ceiling. III take
I certified check from enc Mr.. Lou
Parsons, instead hes getting things
smoked up plenty. They'll be ready
when I get there. We play two games
in New York, so to Chicago. Pitts
bareh. and Detroit, then head for
points south. east and west"
who else is going TO be on the
team?" Ted asked, keeping his voice
steady with an effort.
Don't know" said Flash. what
difference does it makeP II will be
another little old one man team
Parsons says I'm the greatest pub
licized football player the game ever
had. He says Ill be al the drawing
card they need. And with the dough
I'm getting they can't afford to pay
he other boys more than $3.50 a game"
Oh SAID Ted Desmond.
Even if they would take him. even if
he could humble his pride to the ex-
tent of asking Flash Hammond for a
Job, he wouldn't Go it for that KIND Of
money. Ordinarily he might, but UNI
Ger the circumstances. no. 1t would
burn him up too much. He'd taken
the short end before. but not to the ex-
tent OF his getting a hundred and fifty
. game while Flash Hammond Grew
thousands. TO hell with it, He'd starve
first.
Have you told Doc Foster yet?" he
asked.
Haven't told any one" said Flash.
Just got back 10 the campus and came
up here. Think he'll squawk about
my turning pro? It'll be all over the
papers tomorrow
NO said Ted. Il guess not. No
one who's reasonable would ask a
young fellow twenty-three years old
to turn down what will probably
amount to a hundred thousand dollars
Just to keep his amateur standing in
q game he is never going to be able
to play any more as an amateur. I
expect the faculty won't like it much.
They'll pull the old gag about COM
m%ercializing collegiate athletics; as
though they weren't commercialized
already. 1 just wondered-don't you
feel sort of grateful to Doc and-well,
to Doc for putting you in a spot where
you can drag down that money!
Flash got up and stretched mag
n%ificently. "Horsesl' he said. i've
cone as much for Doc as he ever did
for me. He's getting more glory out
of being my coach than he ever got
before in his life. Besides, you know
this, Ted, SO it doesn't sound fat-head-
ed to say tit wouldn't have mattered
if l had gone to California or u. S. c..
or anywhere. I'd have been just as
good"
Ted had nothing to say to that.
See you later" said Flash.
Ted still said nothing. He knew
that whether or not it would do him
any good he was going out to get
drunk. Plenty drunk.
For the next ten days Flash Ham
mond was all over the sporting sec
tons of the newspapers and more thar
occasionally broke into headlines or
the first page. Flash Hammond or
the train, rushing to New York. Flash
Hammond arriving and being cheerec
and greeted in the Grand Contra
station. Flash Hammond shaking
hands with Mayor Jimmy Walker or
the steps Of the city hall. To top il
all off, Flash Hammond Endorsed q
brand of cigarets and q dozen other
things. His face appeared plasterec
on 24-sheet billboards all over the
country-to stare and smile at every
pair of passing ankles.
Every time a neWsboy waved the
latest edition before his eyes, every
time he glanced at one of those bill
boards, Ted Desmond grew more bitter
Doris went to bed every night with
a heartache because of the look ir
his eyes. She understood so we'll. II
wasn't that Ted was envious. Why
during the three years of their varsity
competition, Ted had never expressed
a jealous thought.
Even now, it wasn't jealousy Of
Flash. 1t was that money. The mon
ey which would have enabled then
to get married right away. Flash was
getting all of it, cleaning up, while
Ted, who deserved at least half, wa
getting nothing.
The first game in New York arrived
and Flash Hammond did not "get go
ing" That was the way the sporting
writer's put it. Ryan, the old Notrt
Dame end, playing his second profess
sional season for the team selected tt
oppose Flash Hammond's Bearcats
was the star of the game. He broke
through the interference time anc
again to nail Hammond behind the line
If scrimmage. When Flash got smar'
and went around the other end, the
men in front of him slowed him w
so much that Ryan caught him from
behind.
Still, that might be somewhat ex-
planned by Flash's train trip and his
first appearance with a new team
They waited for the second game
which had been sold out in advance
After that n the papers were moi
so kind. The wise writer's like Run.
yon and Eddie Frayne began to in
sinuate none too gently that this young
football hero out Of the west was fal
from being an all time all-American