The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-02-11

two-foot-high Tacoma Times
trophy. as well as his third
Times uristwatch. which alone
is worth a tidy half-hundred
dollars. He'll take a lot of
beating, and until somebody
else crosses the finish line
first. he's our favorite.
But there are at least dozen
who might outrun the great
Fraser. There is Don Amick. who
placed second last year; Carl Neu,
National intercollegiate slalom
champ; Paul Sceva. jr. Tacoma s
one bright hope. who defeated Neu
in an Oregon slalom race a week
ago; Bob Higman. Otis Lamson,
Phil Olsen. Bob Barto. all men,
bers of the crack University of
Washington ski team, along with
Neu and Sceva: Dick Nelson. Paul
Gilbreath. Bruce kehr. Washing
ton Ski club stars; Boyd French
Jr., surprise entry from the Cas-
cade Ski club of Portland. Mickey
Pogue, leader of the University of
British Columbia ski team. which
began its clash against Tacoma's
College of Puget Sound squad with
a cross-country race today; Hans
Grage and Scott Osborn, who won
the trophy in 1886.
Dark horses In the race will
practically blacken the mountain.
They include such skiers as Hank
Seidelhuber, Leroy Caverley. Pen
guin ski clubbers; Burr Anderson,
Harris Matthews. Tommy Heard,
Marsh Perrow. all of Tacoma; Bob
Kemp. Logger ski captain; Jim
Babson of the Multnomah Athletic
club of Portland; Bill Groseclose
Ralph Bramaghin. Jim Woods. Bud
Brady, all of the Washington Ski
club, and many, many others.
And we mustn't forget the Cas-
cade Ski club entry from the Rose
City. Besides Boyd French. jr.,
who has long been one of the finest
performers in the Northwest. the
Cascade organization is sending
Ross McJury, Lin Bowman. George
Henderson and Roy Tangen. The
Cascade, as you probably know by
this time. is the sponsoring club
for the National downhill and
slalom tourney. which will be held
in April at Mount Hood.
Should Sonny Sceva come
through TO win the Tacoma dav
slalom Sunday at Paradise. it
would not be a surprise, but a
really top-notch skier finally COM
ing into his own.
OF all the slliers we have known
he has had the most out-and-out
i'll fortune-that in sport in
which bad luck is the rule rather
than the exception.
The strangest illustration
of Sceya's luck" shows him
as a participant in the famed
F1S downhill race at Cham
onix for the worlds champion
ship In 1887.
A storm was blowing when
Sceva. side by side with the great
est skiers in Europe climbed to
the top of the course that morn
ing. In his turn. he adjusted his
goggles and set out for the finish
line several tousand feet below.
Quickly ice formed on his Cog
giles and. except for tiny Sits in
the glasses. his vision was nil.
Skiing practically blind he shot
down the course at top speed.
About two-thirds of the way down
the course. he struck something he
had not seen and fell hard.
Fighting against time. he
jumped to his feet, yanked off
his goggles and received
the shock of his life-the sun
was shining through the clouds
and the air was as clear as IL
could be.
He found out later he had skied.
almost blind, down better than
half the course when all the time
the sky was snowless. At that he
finished among the first 80. which
was not particularly dusty, con-
siderlng the field
P0LIN &c AROUND - \. o.
Waha,. supervisor of the Mount
Hood National forest, announces
that 10000 persons visited Timber
line lodge and adjacent ski areas
during January =. which is just
about on a par with the number
who entered Paradise vale, dur
Ing that month IL must be re-
membered. however. that practic-
ally all sloers In the Portland area
60 to Hood 3. !. around Tacoma
and Seattle, however. skiers keen
pretty well scattered, going TO
Cayuse pass. the Snoqualmie Ski
bowl, Snoqualmie summit and sew
ersl other skiing grounds
there'll be a loudspeaker furnished
by the Standard Oil Co. at the Ia
coma day races SUNDAY for a
time IL looked as though there
wouldn't be -. another oil COM
pany promised speaker. then
backed out "Skit' Smith Bah
son, former Tacoma girl. now of
Portland. probably will be on hand
for the women's slaiom SUNDAY
Tacoma merchants have come
through with some fine prizes for
the first four finisherS in each of
the three races Sunday -. worth
skiing for 80