The Wilmington morning star., 1940-01-25
TRACK QUESTION
DIVIDES A. A. U.
Metropolitan Body Plans To
Punish Athletes Who
Enter Boston Meet

NEW YORK, Jan. 24.-LP-From
a position safely out of the lire OF
fire, it seems the Metropolitan asso-
citation of the A. A. U. has left itself
without a leg to stand on in its
present fight with the national
body, and is doing its best, besides,
to amputate that leg with a sharp
saw.
The Met association, in an under
standable effort to boost the impor-
lance of its own indoor track
championships Saturday night, de-
cided to withhold travel permits
from all local stars who wanted to
compete in the Prout games at
Boston the same evening.
On behalf of three of his men,
Charlie Beetham, Harold eagle and
HOWE Borck, Capt. Bill Lynch Of
the 69th A. A. took the case to the
highest court, appealing to A. A. U.
President DiBenedetto. "B n y"
came right back and, pointing to a
similar A. A. U. decision of a year
ago, said no sectional association
had the right to withhold a travel
permit from an athlete in good
standing.
1t would be perfectly all right,
said Benny, for Beetham, eagle and
Borck to run in Boston. To this
the Met" rejoinder was. to al. in
tents and purposes, an inelegant
and very positive nuts" Pat Kelly,
Met association president, said that
if the three ran in Boston, upon
their return they would have to
stand trial. before the registra-
ton committee, which would have
the power either to suspend or
reprimand them.
Like all sectional associations, the
Metropolitan must subscribe to the
constitution and bylaws of the
national body and the rulings of its
executive committee. Last winter
that executive committee had two
Slllllldl CdSCS-Ol1S lIlNOlNliS q ~
western basketball team, the other
involving John Woodruff and a Pitt
relay team hal was denied pe1mis-
sion by the Allegheny association
to come to a New York meet.
In both instances, the executive
committee handed down the same
rulins-all qualified athletes were
entitled to travel permits. To back
this up, the executive committee
subsequently, had Secretary-Treas.
urer Oar Ferris send a copy of this
Interpretation to all sectional as.
sociations and their registration
committees.
That alone would appear to leave
the Met A. A. U. out on a limb. But
it has made its position ever more
precarious by it's Inconsistency.
1t refused to issue permits to
Beetham, Borck and eagle. yet is
sued them to Manhattan, Forlham
and New York U. relay teams.
Capt. Lynch feels there is just as
much justification for letting Bee
than and eagle run in Boston,
since they have trophies to defend.
AS for Borck, the former Manhat.
tan college star now works in
Providence, r. l., and would be I'M
able to go to New York in time for
the Met championships in any
event.
"Besides," said Capt. Lynch, II
don't feel our runners are particu.
larly indebted to the Met A. A. U.
We kept them here for last years
meet, when the boys also could
have gone to Boston. In spite Of
that, and although the boys ran
very we'll in all tt indoor meets,
the Nc association didn't make any
effort to send them to the outdoor
nationals in the summer, a trip
which they certainly had earned"
There's also a definite feeling
that the Met association, or at
least some of it's officers, are look
ing for trouble. They had their
choice of dates for the champion
ship, but chose this Saturday in
spite of the conflict with the well.
established Boston meet.
The next move will be up to the
Metropolitan A. A. U. If either OF
the three decide to run in Boston.
Beetham, at his home in Columbus,
Ohio, said today he did not plan tc
compete in either meet. Borck
however, announced he would run
In the 1,000-yard event at Boston
and eagle in the 900.
II the Met. association takes any
punitive action, it is likely to start
a pitched battle between the sec
tlQnal n national bodies.
That might bring about the sus
pension and complete reorganiza.
tion OF the Metropolitan association
SAID Ferris, who pointed out that 6
sectional association can be sus.
pended by a two-thirds vote of the
national board of governors.
RAG-RUG CLEANING