Evening star., 1938-09-01
HARD-R|D|NG ACE
REMODELS GAME
Tommy's Long-Hitting Play
That Banishes Tactics
Sets Crowd Wild.
By the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, Sept l.-Graying
Tommy Hitchcock, last survivor of the
golden decade" of sport that all at
once spawned Jack Dempsey, Bill Til
den. Bobby Jones, Babe Ruth, Helen
Wills, Tex Rickard and other figures
that will remain fabulous, is getting
ready to ride again.
Hitchcock, at 80 still the fiercest-
riding. longest-hitting polo player who
ever lived. will spark the Greentree
four once more in the national open
tournament, starting Sunday out on
Long Island and continuing until Sep
tember IL.
Whether his team wins. Hitchcock
is the man the crowds will flock to
watch. No man has dominated any
sport for so long time. The young,
headstrong riders have come and gone,
raising the dust for brief season or
two, but the incompatible Hitchcock
never seems to wane.
For is years he has been 10-goal
polo player A 10-goal player is the
best, the ultimate He is a man who,
presumably, rides a horse perfectly,
hits the elusive willow ball with the
maximum Of power and accuracy and
generally is the slickest man on the
field. He is in other words. what Til
den was and what Ruth was and what
Bobby Jones was.
Made Modern Game.
Hitchcock changed polo and made
1t the game it is today, Up to the
time he barged into the picture, polo
players used tactics slapplng the
ball around smartly among themselves
and gradually working it down toward
the goal posts. Tommy taught them
the art of smacking the ball country
mile and generally riding hell-for-
leather in its pursuit. Now all polo
is played that way.
The world has acclaimed him the
No. player for Is years. the perfect
lO-goaler. The grooms who handle
the ponies out on Long Island say
''they could have ranked him IA or 10
goals and not gone wrong"
Hitchcock is 5 feet IL inches, and
weighs 100 pounds, which is fair load
for Slim ankled polo pony. At II he
was the youngest member of the La
fayette escadrille flying for France be-
fore America entered the World War
He was shot down in Germany, i'm
prisoned and later escaped to Switzer-
land
He retained his interest in aviation.
Every working day he flies his own
plane in from the reaches of Long Is
land and sets it down in the East River
Der of private banking house. Each
evening he wings it back home and
then crawls on polo pony for work
out.
Well Punished in Play.
Every bone in his body has been
broken at least once. they say, though
that probably is an exaggeration. He
has had two brain conclusions. He
has been member of every American
international team since the war, ex-
cept in 1896, when press of business
prevented his going to England.
In casting about for polo players
who might have compared with Hitch
cock in their prime, the old-timers
suggest DevereuX Milburn, Malcolm
tMike) Stevenson and FoXhall Keene.
They aren't insistent about it, though.
There are two other l0-goal stars
At the moment-Cecil Smith and
Stewart Iglehart. That means they
are approximately as good as Hitch
cock. in the opinion of the Ranking
Committee When Hitchcock first
reached his zenith. Smith was young
cowhand down on the llano, and 1gle-
hart was playing with his building
hlocks