The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-12-29
Coach Nal Stevens Strong Booster In
 Paralysis Fight
BY CHARLES E. PARKER (Noted Football Authority and Widely-knowN Sports Writer)

widely-knowp Sports Writer)
 New York, Dec. 29.-"You can knock down 220-pound tackle" said Nal Stevens, football coach at New York university today, That's proved time and again in every football game. But there's one little fellow nohody's knocked down yet. They call him Polio.
 Polio is short for poliomyelitis- and poliomyelitiS is better known as Infantile Paralysis,
 That's why" Coach Stevens add ed, I'm for this l94o Fight ln- fantile Paralysis" campaign one hundred per cent, That's why the focusing of public attention on this fight by the National Sports Council in cooperation with the Committee for the Celebration of the Presidents Birthday is so tre- mendiously important"
 Coach Nal Stevens knew whereof he spoke. Outside the football world he Is addressed as Dr, Marvin Stew ems. He Is e person who splits his time between the healthy and the hampered - coaching the one and curing the other. When away from the gridiron he may be found at the New York Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled or at New Haven, Conn, where, among other activi- ties, he serves as advisor to the Crippled Children's Aid society,
 The battle against 1nfantile Par alysis Is especially close to his heart, This Is so because, scarcely had he completed his inetrneship following his graduation from the Yale Medi. cal school when, as assistant to pr. Winthrop Phelps, chief Orthopedist of the New Haven hospital. he found himself in the midst of New Haven's worst infantile paralysis epi- demic.
 More than 200 cases of this dread disease came under his direct obser- vation ct that time. And, because the body crippling after-effects of the disease require protracted care and sometimes Involve many opera. tons, his active concern in many of those cases still persists.
 Early Worker
 As Q efootball coach he was one of the first to enlist this year in the Sports Council of the birthday committee,
 Let us play so that cripples may walk" was "Mal" Stevens slogan for those athletes who are taking part in the hundreds of benefits sports events arranged by the Ma tional sports Council for the Fight Infanti!c Paralysis Campaign.
 As Q coach, dealing daily with rugged and healthy athletes. he was thinking In terms of those who could not run and leap and play because rnfantile Paralysis had warped their arms, their legs. their hands, their foot, He knew the process of restor- ation and rehabilitation was Q long and costly one. Operations were necessary in many cases. Braces support, crutches were needed in all With them. too, must continue the orthopedic messages, baths ana other requirements to bring new life to deadened muscles. Such re. uuirementS, he was aware were not for a day or Q week, but for week after week through long years.
 An expensive proeram--a program which the average family would find too costly to carry on and which the poor family could not undertake,
 It was as e doctor that he spoke of "the little fellow nobody's knocked down yet"
 "The plan by means of which 30 per cent of the funds derived from the sports events, the March Of Dimes" and the benefit birthday celebrations are left in the county where raised, while the remainder Is turned over to the National F'oun. datlon for Infantile Paralysis is, l believe, the best possible arrange ment," Dr. Stevens said.
 "By means of 1t each comtnun- lty receives funds with which to care for It's victims and the Foun- dation is supplied with the where. withal to continue to fight the most baffling enemy medical science has yet encountered.
 Although the disease was identi- fled a century ago. we know less about its cause, It's avenue of att tack, its treatment during its acute phase, than we know of any other plague, and consequently remain ig- norant of Q sure means of preven- ton or control.
 Research
 "These things must be discovered. Many already have devoted their lives to that end. Many now are devoting their lives to it. Research research which will reveal the mysteries of the polio vlrus-.is most essential. But research is expensive The best men In science can't give their best If forced to work on s,,,s.sf., ak.s..mnYsn Th.~Rl, n.,...s.,ss aY.n,,