Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-03-20

high school, when they read from
Homer and Virgil vivid descrip,
tons of the Olympic crown anc
combats with the cestus, get thu
stimulus of Olympic success ano
begin to dream of athletic great
ness
And so this year, when the Olympic:
are to be held in the United States
will youngsters get in real touch with
that which heretofore perhaps has beer
something related as idealism and the
unreal become the living?
And the result-a great stimulus fol
amateur sports in the United States.
EVEN now the awakening is begin
~ ming to be felt. Perhaps it is not
so much an awakening as springing
I'D to take in broader viStas. The
Olympic events held last month up at
Lake Placid, with countrywide broad
casts of vivid death slides, of life risks
to win athletic glory, undoubtedly gave
an impetus to Winter sports in those
sections where Winter sports may be
held. Not only that but greater in
terest in them was created where VIM
ter sports are only memories OF visits
10 COI0er cllmeS.
Track athletics, boxing, wrestling,
swimming are beginning to boom be-
cause of the aspirations of thousands
to win a place en- some team to repre-
sent this country. Almost every meet
held anywhere is becoming something
OF an Olympic tryout and athletic di-
rectors, coaches and men in charge of
athletic clubs are on the lookout for
new material capable CT going against
the best that foreign countries have to
offer.
EVERY set OF championships this
IL year takes on added importance be-
cause of Olympic possibilities. In
every section where the Amateur Ath-
letic Union holds its titular events,
whether 1t be in wrestling, boxing, track
and field, fencing or some other sport,
men are entering who otherwise would
never take part. Each of these is
something Of an Olympic tryout. 1t IS
from these events that winners will be
mine who will wear the red, white and
blue at Los Angeles this Summer in
the numerous and diversified COMPETE
lions that make up the Olympic games
Take Lacrosse, for instance. Almost
unheard-of numbers of men are re-
porting for practice with college
twelves only because there lies at the
end of the road chance to go to the
Olympics. Two college twelves, one an
all-star combination and the other a
championship team, are slated to make
the trip, and these players are likely tc
be picked from a dozen or more differ
ent colleges and universities. No school
VIII miss the opportunity to place its
best track and field athletes In the
championship meets, because competi-
ton In those meets may lead to Los
Angeles and an Olympic crown. And
while in the popular mind not so much
honor attaches to the laurel wreath
the days when all Greece hurried to
the Olympian Plains, it is none the less
true that this crown is just as keenly
sought and as highly priced by the
modern disciples Of Hercules.
MOT only between now and the
IN Oiympics viii amateur sports re-
ceive great stimulus, but what
should amount almost to new life blood
should course for years to come. Boys
Just reaching the age when they ex-
pect some day to be college men are
having implanted In them seeds that
will not bear fruit for years. And just
how much this may mean to America
IS impossible to estimate, because there
is no yardstick by which to measure
Its values.
The Olympics to America mean much,
not only in a more or less narrow sense
to the Nation, but in broad sense to
the youth Of America and future man
hood.
I A ND in thinking of this matter Of
n the Olympics, one is inclined to
dignity only with a tolerant smile
the apostles of calamity and woe who
preach that athletics Is on the down
grade, that college foot ball is soon TO
be no more, that in little while the
staiwart young men should be giving
over to less arduous demon
STATIONS Of their competitive prowess.
The Olympic era began 776 years before
Christ, and to this date, for nearly
5000 years, the love of physical contact
games and competition has endured.
And it hardly seems that one should
be very much concerned when another,
who takes not into consideration that
the human race changes slowly, works
himself or herself into the belief that
athletic competitions as a spectacle and
as part of the existence of humanity
are TO be so readily relegated to oblivion.
What has endured so long must have
in 1t some essence Of great value to
human progress sufficient to cause IT
to go on for at least a few more cen
turtles.
IN ancient days the Olympics were not
l. what they are today in the sense of
worldwide competitions. Then only
the five Panhellenic States could be
represented and the code which gov
erned entrants was adhered to with
rigidity. And, something else, not only
must the entrant be a citizen of one
of the Panhellenic group but his stand
ards OF morality of the highest. Furth-
ern1ore, the Olympics were not only
i've days Of athletic competitions, but
also Of music and poetry. The Pan
hellenic States were not a nation in
the strict sense of the word, because
they were more or less at war with one
another at frequent intervals. How
ever, the Olympic competitions were
deemed sufficient Importance to declare
peace, or what might nowadays be
termed an armistice for the duration
Of the games.
HERCULES generally is regarded as
d the tounQer OF the OlymplcS,
though 1t is doubtful If he were
any more than legendary figure If
he were more than that, then he was
so far In the mythical past, even at
the beginning Of the Olympic era. that
he was surrounded with such miracu-
lous tales. with which the ancient
Greeks were wont to clcthe their Gods.
that today he ought TO be regarded in
about the same light as the Titan who
forged the thunderbolts of Jove. 1t
was said Of Hercules that he was so
strong that he once gave Atlas a rest
by holding for awhile the world on his
shoulders
The other tales of the reputedly
strongest man the world has known,
such as the cleaning of the Aegean
stables, the strangling Of two great SER
penis, one in each hand, when but
months old. are almost as fantastic as
that showing him strong enough to
carry the weight OF the world on his
back At any rate though the phraSe