The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-06-04
Today's Sport Parade
By Henry McLemore United Press Staff Correspondent)

Springfield, N. J., June 4-(UP)- This dispatch comes to you from the "Black Hole of Baltusrol," the quar- ters assigned to the ladies and gen. tlemen of the press here to report the national open golf champion ship which began today.
 It may well be the last dispatch, for the "Black Hole of Baltusrol,' T like the Calcutta one 1t obviously was modelled after, is likely to prove too much for human strength and mind. Veteran golf reporters, who remember way back when the feather ball was being used, say 1t is far and away the most cruel of all press quarters.
 Pitched over the club house gar. age, the "Black Hole of Baltusrol' is Q mean, grubby little garret whose white-washed walls htlngrily grab and hold that heat which beats down on the sloping roof ,only a few feet over the reporters heads. Yes- terday, when the heat was so severe that even the hardy golfers hesi- tated to play the course, the "black hole" was a furnace in which the writers sizzled and fried. Goats came of first, then ties, and finally shirts. Pants were yanked up over knobby knees.
 It will be worse today, when the big push begins and all the reporters check in. The "black hole" isn't much bigger than a buffers pantry, and with nearly 150 reporters and operators in it, the crush will be ter- rife. Tempers are likely to give way as the men fight and haul and shove to reach their typewriters on the plain pine planking the club has provided for desks.
 No provision has been made for drinking water, save a ten-gallon galvanized bucket stuck of in 8 corner where the dirt and dust that filters through the narrow windows coats 1t a murky brown. Two finger printed glasses stand beside, the common property of all who dare use them.
 Matters aren't helped by the fact that 50 yards away and in clear view of the "black hole" slaves, stands the big, luxurious clubhouse, its cool stone wrapped in ivy. Through its windows may be seen the mem berS, lolling in the deep chairs of the vaulted rooms, tall drinks in their hands, laughter on their lips.
 Don't be surprised if @ story of a riot comes out of Baltusrol-a story of heat-maddened newspapermen charging the clubhouse and having their vengeance on the man they believe to be their persecutor- Major Robert Avery Jones.
 Major Jones, who was with the British army in India-that's where he took his notes on the Calcutta inferno, probably-is general man. ager of the club, and when asked what he thought of the press fa- cilities, answered, with a shrug of his hounds-tooth- jacketed Shoul- ders:
 Entirely adequate, entirely ade- quate."
 So is an oven, major, if you want to make biscuits. And so is the Black Hole of Baltusro" if you want to test the mental and physi- cal stamina of the men and women who really make just another golf championship into an affair of na- tional interest.
 I have covered quite a few major sports events since came up from the cotton fields, but the press &C., commodationS here are the most shameful have ever seen. Even the cheapest little fight clubs make a beeter try. But then, I guess I shouldn't grow too indignant.
 Well, folks, if our black bread a-