The Washington times., 1936-08-29
WALSH SAYS BRUNDAGE IGNORED ATHLETES ON BOAT
Officials
LetStars
CQrOuSe
By DAVIS ]. WALSH

NEW 4O6LA, aug. 90 NA.N'S''
With an exchange of wellbred re-
proaches between AL Masters and
DR.. Joseph Raycroft as to just
how it came about that we con-
trived to do so well at Berlin with
practically nobody to manage the
management, the vanguard Of the
American olympic team docked
with the President Roosevelt last
night.
DR.. Raycroft spoke chidingly Of
destructive criticism and 1 trust
this is not going to be one OF
those defined, private fights, be-
cause I plan to take issue with
Mr.. Masters, too.
He says the team was misman-
aged, but that's absolutely pre-
posterous. It just wasn't managed
at all.
The only time President Avery
Brundage, to my knowledge, got
below the decks where the sterling
performers, or steerage folk. had
their abode was for press confer.
ence the first day out. After that,
the press conference took place in
the cabin lounge which, after all,
was air conditioned while the tour
ist lounge was not-by, I believe,
Mr.. Brundage's order.
Dan Ferris, the No. 2 man Of the
management, went below the last
few days when he was distributing
railway transportation.
Made Athletes Party
Mr.. Gus Kirby managed to make
it the night of the athletes party,
at which time he officiated at the
now famous, or infamous, mock
marriage, to his ultimate regret.
don't think DR.. Raycroft got
there until the committee sent
him, in company with DR.. Lawson,
to interview Mrs. Eleanor Holm
Jarrett Just before her dismissal
from the squad, to his and every
body's regret.
1t didn't seem to have occurred
to them to take the testimony of
an official who was placed in gen.
eraI charge below, their reasons
for ignoring him probably being
both cogent and urgent. Anyhow,
it is not of record that he made
the slightest effort to correct
events that could only lead to
trouble. One minor team, feeling
no necessity to train, made a
junket of the trip from the first
night out. If Lawson Robertson
or some other official opened his
door to demonstrate, he was told
off with proper indignation.
was present when he mentioned
the matter to Mr.. Brundage and,
if anything was done about it, this
escaped my attention-and posi-
bly, Mr.. Brundage's, too.
There was some action against
the black jack and dice games that
flourished early in the trip but
then another squad, being happily
composed almost equally Of men
and women, decided to dance its
way into condition, with beer and
pretzels on the side. Mr.. Masters
doubtless knows about that, unless
he is an unusually sound sleeper.
Danced Until Three
It sometimes was necessary for
these athletes to dance until in
the morning before they felt that
their condition was satisfactory.
believe, by his own inference,
that Mr.. Brundage had to go all
the way to Berlin in order to find
out what was really taking place
during the voyage. AnyhoW-by
inference evaded responsible
ity by upbraiding somebody else
for not calling the matter to his
notice.
Perhaps I, myself, the writer,
am equally remiSs; for I now and
then noted the presence Of cock
tail drinking athletes up there on
Mr.. Brundage'S own deck, which
they had vulgarly crashed. and
somehow it never occurred to me
that all the time he might have
heen thinking very deeply about
something else and hadn't been
noticing.
Neither did suspect that Mr..
Brundage ought to be reminded
that, as long as he was going to
pitch a lady athlete all the way
out Of the OlympicS. he'd do well
to interview her in person. This
was really a deplorable oversight,
since he would have had to go
over a half-dozen more or less
inert American shields on his way
to the interview. I know, because
that's exactly what I had to do a
half hour later
VOTE AMERICAN
jewelers. Play Two
The Ross jewelers. meet Deco
quan in a double header tomorrow
at Woodbridge. The first game
rt ,tr. of n m