Evening star., 1932-07-16
COAST TRACK STAR
PALED IN PREL|MS
Three Places Added in Each
FieId Event Because of
Stiff Competition.
BY ALAN GOULD.
Associated Press Sports Editor.


Associated Press Sports Editor.
DALO ALTO, Calf, July 16.-
- TIE American Olympic
/ track and field tryoutS to-
day reached their final
stage with another irterSectional
controversy gathering headWay
and the defeat if not the actual
elimination of Big Ben Eastman
in prospect. Other California
favorites were on the borderline.
After a record breaking day in
which virtually all of the head
line performances were turned IN
by stars of the East and Middle
West. the Olympic Track and Field
Committee. under pressure, broke
precedent by deciding to extend
the qualifying limit In all held
events from five to eight.
The decision was made public us
unanimous but it was preceded by
stormy session last night and immedl-
ately stirred up an East-West contro-
yersy in the official family that dwarfed
the recent debate over the timing OF
Fasteners at the intercollegiate A. A.
A. A. championships.
Joseph T. England of Baltimore,
chairman of the committee, made this
explanation:
1T was the general feeling, on the
basis of the closeness of the perform
ances in nearly all of the field events,
that we were justified in extending the
qualifying limit in the interest not Oh
any special section, but of the American
Olympic team, which We want to make
the strongest possible"
THE effect of the ruling was to put
i total of IS men back into the final
competition today after they had
apparently been eliminated. OF these,
nine were Far Western athletes and in
cluded such conspicuous performers as
Dick Barber of Southern California, in
tercollegiate bread jump champion; Ken
Churchill and James De Mers, record
holders in the iavelin, and Bob Jones OF
Stanford intercollegiate discus cham
pion Only a matter of inches separated
some of these stars from getting within
the first five.
Even with another chance however,
all of them faced the necessity CT MAX
ing big comebacks to gain one of the
three places allotted to each event for
the Olympic team.
Meanwhile the East figured to con-
solidate its advances, paced by the
world record feats of John Anderson in
throwing the discus 1854 feet and
Leo Sexton in hurting the l6-pound
shot 50 feet 8 inches. These two stall
warts were among the main reasons
for expecting the New York Athletic
Club to capture easily the National
A. A. u team championship, held in
,t-ith ha trio1c
THE Middle West coming through
i superbly in the track events. looked
- Eddie Tolan dusky flyer from
Michigan. as the best bet to sweep the
sDrint finals The South, too, showed
strongly, with Emmett TOPPING OF New
Orleans in the 100 Johnny Morriss. an
arsistqnt school principal from Abbey
villo. La. the high hurdle sensation. and
a chance to sweep all three places IN
the hop, step and jump.
On one of its most famous battle
grounds. the Far Western brigade, by
contrast faced terrific battle to come
back after the shocks to its track and
field prestige Outstanding were the
prospects that speedsters such as East
man and Frank Wykoff, the Southern
California sprint ace would be hard
pressed even to make the team. let
alone win their favorite events this
afternoon.
Eastman looked away off form in his
400-meter trial by comparison with the
dazzling performance of his intercol-
1egiate conqueror, Bill Carr of Penn
sylvania. The blond Stanford star won
his heat, beating James Gordon OF Los
Angeles, among others, in 48.8 seconds,
but this was more than a second slower
than Carr's time for the other heat,
and Big Ben actually had to fight
every step of the last 200 meters to do
even that well.
"HE wasn't the runner we know"
i i said his coach, Dink Temple
ton. who witnessed the trials
from a wheelchair on the sidelines.
''I'm keenly disappointed, but I still
think Ben will come through"
To others it appeared Eastman's OBJ
vious letdown was the natural result Of
putting him on the spot in an
extraordinary athletic feud.
The chance today appeared extremely
remote that Eastman would get the
revenge" his admirers expected for
his beating in the 440 at Berkeley
Carr stepped off his 400, "breezing" in
47.6 seconds, equaling the Olympic
record as he took the measure of Karl
Warner of Yale by about yards. This
this afternoon, with Eastman in the
free-for-all struggle for third place.
Wykoff bowed only to the best sprint
Ing performance of the trials when he
ran second in the 100 to Tolan, who
raced against a brisk head wind in 104
seconds. equaling the world record he
shares with Charley Paddock. Never
theless the Trojan flyer obviously was
having trouble at the finish. He with
Lot, ,oI
of a recurrence Of trouble with his back
muscles and subjected himself last night
to baking out" under lamps.
TOLAN afterward ran a close second
i to Hec Dyer of Los Angeles in the
fastest 200-meter trial. Dyer was
timed at PIG seconds. equaling the
Olympic record. The Michigan sprinter
gave the impression. however. of having
plenty in reserve, and convinced coaches
he was the best all-around sprinter on
the track
Ralph Metcalfe. Marquette Negro
sensation of the Midwestern tryouts
was slow in getting under way in. the
100 meters. qualifying third in the heat
in which Emmett TOPPING of New Or
leans beat George Simpson in only l0.9
seconds Metcalfe came back in the 200,
however. to beat Simpson in pit. The
third trial in the 200 went to Bob Kiesel,
University of California bullet" in 21.8.
with another Midwest Negro flyer.
James johnson. Illinois State Normal.
qualifying handily for the second time.
With eight uualiflers in each race,
minus upsets the 800 and 1900 meter
runs offered little chance to gauge form.
Eddie Genung. the national half-mile
champion. impressed critics in the 800
with his finishing kick" while in the
1900 Henry Brocksmith, Pen" Hallowell
and Glenn Cunningham, a trio of
collegians, showed to better advantage
than the two New York A. c., favorites,
Gene Venzke and Leo Lermond.
THE surprise entry in the hurdles
nrnved to BE- MOrriSS. the SOUTH