Evening star., 1938-12-07
Cornell Quarterback
Proves Persistence
Tremendous Asset
Tunney and Cobb Lick
Seemingly Hopeless
Conditions to Win
BY GRANTLAND RICE,
Snecial Cnrresnnndenf n1 T1aA SfaH

fore swinging WeSt-when I was at
Durham for the Duke-Pitt game
I talked with Carl Snavely about
the Cornell team. We talked about
Peck and Holland and Roth and
McKeever and some of the other
stars of the Big Red array and Carl
said:
THE most interesting player on
the team this year-as far as was
concerned. anyWay-Was the quar-
terback Matuszczak. I'll tell you
why.
Last year he couldn't make the
freshman team. Apparently he was
just another kid trying to be a foot
ball player-and with no chance of
getting anywhere. But there was
more to him than we thought
much more. He had made up his
mind that he was going to be the
varsity quarterback this year. 1t
was far-off goal for him to shoot
at but that didn't freeze him, nor
did his failure to make a spot for
himself on the freshman team dis
courage him.
AT spring practice this year he
did everything he was told to do,
exactly as he was told. He came
around to see me in the evening
and asked me countless questions
about quarterbacking. Even after
the spring practice sessions were
over he went on preparing himself
for the fall-and when we reached
the fall practice he was the best
quarterback on the squad.
Starting with a very limited
skill. he had made himself a real
football player. I think I got as
big kick out Of that as did out
of anything that happened all year" )"
They Can't Be Stopped.
Boys like that have made good
in sport before. In fact, there is
practically no way to keep them
from making good AS Snavely
talked thought Of couple of them.
One was Gene Tunney. Tunney
came back from the war determined
to make a place for himself in the
ring. He was tall, raw-boned kid,
with only little boxing experience.
no knowledge of the sport and a
body that had to be built up to
Withstand the grueling that a
fighter must take. The odds against
him ever becoming heavyweight
champion of the world were, rough
ly, about 100000 to l the day he
stepped off the transport.
Practically all he had on his side
at that time were pride, courage.
intelligence and patience. A lot to
have on his side? Sure-but they
would have been useless without a
strengthened and perfectly trained
body and thorough knowledge of
this bruising business he had
adopted
One of the first things that he
had to do was to tougher his
hands, which were fragile and had
given him a lot of trouble III his
bouts in France. They were to give
him more trouble-but not for long.
Wood chopping and other exercises,
Systematically performed. made his
hands over into formidable weapons
that didn't bQther him any more,
particularly as he had learned how
to punch.
The day that Jack Dempsey
knocked out Georges Carpenter.
Tunney was in a preliminary bout.
That day, when every one else was
raving over the speed, power and
ferocity of the champion, Tunney
marked Dempsey out for his own
the man he meant some day to
beat. He didn't conf1de that to any,
body. He knew he would be
laughed at. But from that day
the I'd of July, 1921-he stalked
Dempsey-and caught up with him
more than five years later In Phila-
delphia.
Learning the Hardest Way.
The years between Boyle's Thirty
Acres and the stadium In Philadel-
phia we're long and arduous ones
for him. He fought frequently and
took on all types of opponents-and
learned something from each Of
them. Sometimes he learned the
hardwest way-as the first time he
fought Harry Greb. Greb gave him
a savage beating. breaking his nose
and couple of his ribs and cutting
has face to pieces. But that night
he learned how to fight Greb. They
fought three times after that. Tun-
ney won all three fights, and Greb,
approached by a promoter who
wanted to match them for fourth
fight, said.
Go get somebody else. I don't
want to fight that guy any more"
The night Tunney climbed into
the ring with Dempsey few be-
lieved he could win. But he believed
it. He knew-as few did-what
preparation he had made for this
fight. Now that 1t was at hand. he
wasn't going to fail. And he didn't,
of course.
Cobb Was Another.
Another great athlete whose road
W 4olilC "oo a 1OuSll hAIu publishing
one was Ty Cobb.
Il might have been just a 300
hitter and a fair base runner" Ty
told me not so long ago. THE
circumstances in which I broke into
the big leagues spurred me to do
better than that.
Cobb reached the big leagues in
rough era. The players on his
own club hated him because he was
young fellow trying to take some
body's job. They tried to browbeat
him and when he wouldn't stand
for that they hated him worse. No.
body would room with him or asso-
ciate with him of the field. They
did everything they could to run
him of the club, even to telling
enemy pitchers how to pitch to him.
Instead-because he was that kind
of boy-they made great ball player
of him. He studied the opposing
pitchers until he figured out a way
to hit all of them, including those