The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-01-09
l ALKING
IT OVER
by JOE WILLIAMS .

NEW YORK, Jan. e.-When
\ learn that it is the privilege
ana power of trinity of political
appolntees to sit in swivel chairs
ana decide between half stifed
yawns that one man is a champion
ana another is not a champion, ]
am disposed to inquire what the
neck makes a champion anyway?
a
am back tracking, of course, 10 The
necisiou Of the New York boxing commits
sion, which made The sehmelfng fellow
champion last summer and the more
recent decision which made him non
champion this January
n
II It IS possible TO become a champion
such a. loose. offhand, indiscriminate
Msy tnen am puzzled that the distiuc-
public. -'''' 1'''''' y ''''
But what about our champions? How
do they get that way? And are they really
ehampions7 How do we know that there
aren't fifty guys around the country who
can punch the ears off SchmeIInE? Or
Sharkey or any other heavyweight profess
sing TO be two parts tiger and one part
savage?
nut of the ring Dempsey, easily
~ the best fighting man the game
had had in twenty years, had no
faith in his fists. He wanted no part
of strangers in informal brawls.
Even in his camp workouts he took
no chances with new sparring part
ners. He gave them the works right
of. It was Dempsey's theory that
anybody with two fists was danger
GUS.
Several days ago, the newspapers carried
. story about Mickey Walker being batted
around in lunch room by an innocent
bystander, one George Youmans. Although
he isn't the fighter he used to be I still
think the Jersey bulldog is the best all
around fighting machine in the ring.
n n
But here you have the spectacle Of
really great fighter being whipped by a
husky young man totally unknown in the
proiession Quite probably meeting IN the
stranger. but the fact remains that In
free for ALL with the elements of fighting
science discarded. he ran an embarrassing
and embarrassed second.
n
It naturally follows that a man who
makes business of fighting should be
more proficient at the thing than the man
who does not. Yet world champion at
any weight Is not necessarily unbeatable.
At h>st. It Is merely a theoretical
distinction.
THIS same possibility applies to
n all other sports. Speak of
great pitchers today and invariably
such names as Mathewson, Young,
Plank, Bender, Walsh and johnson
come up. One of the greatest
pitchers in history never threw a
professional ball. I refer to Dutch
Carter, now an attorney in this
city, and member of the executive
board of the Brooklyn club.
Old timers tell you Carter was as good
as Matty or Young ever was. and IL he
had gone into the professional game he
would have been an enduring sensation.
Carter was Yale man. and in the early
COS was the spear head Of the varsity
pitching staff.
II q
once Yale played a game against the
Giants and Carter famed eleven of the
professionals including Roger Conner,
John M. Ward. Mike Herman. Jack Doyle
and Buck Ewing.
Il u
IL was a raw spring day. The Giants
wore big heavy sweaters more for prOtec-
tIon against the human cyclone. as Carter
was known TO the headlines, than the
weather. But Carter. a massive youth.
stepped to the slab bareheaded and in a
sleeveless Jersey and in spite of the dis
couraging conditions pitched faultlessIy.
a TER the game. Ewing called
IA him the greatest pitcher he
haC ever seen. The Giants tried to
sign him three different times.
Other clubs were equally unsuccess-
full. Carter was more interested in
business. I saw him at the recent
winter baseball meeting here and he
is still a powerful, well developed
man with a keen enthusiasm for the