Evening star., 1936-07-12
THIS WEEK

But guess there wasn't anything
else to do that day. for woman,"
she now philosophers. you see, the
night before ! had decided it was too
risky a dive. If she had been hurt
never would have forgiven myself.
But then | got to thinking that the
only chance Mary had of winning was
to do this dive.
Il said to her, the night before,
Listen. Mary, it hard for Mother to
explain, but you've got to win by
big margin tomorrow if you're going
to win at all. You're awfully young,
you know, and some of the ladies
you're diving against are better known
than you. So the only way you can
win by big margin is to do that two
and half and do it perfectly, see?'"
The next afternoon. on board that
was stiff1y balanced for grown men
and women, Mary Hoerger, 73-pound
reincarnation of her mothers dormant
oDOI 10 WoiI kiCdt LitlC Will
the terrifying dive.
This weekend, eleven years after
her first swimming lesson, Mary is
competing for place on Americas
Olympic team - and it seems certain
that she will not only win with ease,
but will be one of our brightest stars
in the 1896 Olympic Games.
In ancient days Olympic performers
trained for ten months before the
Games. a period set aside for the heal
ing of the wounds of warrior athletes.
Mary, by coincidence, will have
trained ten months for the 1896 re-
vival of those ancient Games. Much
of her training, too, was in the nature
of wound healing.
"A couple of months after Mary
won that title" Ma explained, Il
packed her off to Aunt JOS farm in
upstate New York. Well, she was
there week when she bumped her
knee against something. The leg be-
k4n to swell, and finally we got her
to doctor.
1T was loose cartilage, and water
on the knee, we finally found out.
They put her leg in a cast for six
weeks, and she walked on crutches a
couple more after we came down
South. She got well SO slowly that l
thought it was going to be the end
of everything.
But, as it turned out, it was good
thing for her. She picked up ten
pounds while she was laid up, and
by the time the Olympic Games do
come around she'll weigh about 85.
"You can't imagine how much a
little more weight means in diving"
confided Ma. 'Just between you and
me, if breeze had been stirring that
day at Manhattan Beach, well. l guess
Mary wouldn't have won the cham
pionship."
Little Mary Hoerger. in moments of
stress, seems to be completely adult
person, and is treated so by the woman
who is her mother, her friend and her
most persevering rooter. Mary. for in
stance, has complete say over which
optional dives she'll select in her vari-
Gus meets, how often and how long
she practices.
But the responsibility that Ma
Hoerger has invested in her child rests
naturally on the slim shoulders of the
little girl. Mary Hoerger knows that
she is about to go to place that
hitherto has been only a spot on the
map in her ninth grade geography
book, and that she will carry with her
the hopes of 127. 7.OOO.O 900 Americans.
But when you ask her how she feels
about this great responsibility little
look of surprise comes into her calm
grey eyes.
"'How do l feel about it?'" she
repeats. why feel all right about
it. Heck, why shouldn't II"
And you wonder if it isn't better
after all, for all concerned, that the