Evening star., 1941-12-28

have been won and more records
established. To New York ant
Brooklyn went the big league base
ball pennants. To Chicago went th'
professional football title. From
Pasadena to Durham moved thu
Rose Bowl.
Unouestionably there were years
when sports interest in washington
mounted higher and this was under
standable. The world champion
Nationals of 1924 and the title-win-
ming Redskins of 1887 would have
found less hysteria in the city which
in the ever-spreading theater OF
World War II became the center OF
the universe. The grim drama OF
the times showed sports and athletic
achievements into the background
but not completely.
Margaret Cotter, Rocksie Star.
Washingtonians still found the
time and impulse to cheer as their
little lady rider, Margaret Cotter,
lifted her great jumper, Rocksie. to
the national skyscraper champion
ship in Madison Square Garden
They could moan when the Wash
ington Baseball Club dropped into
the cellar early in the season and
succeeded in escaping to sixth
place tie only by an eleventh-hour
squirt. And they could jam Grif-
fifth Stadium on December 7 when,
unknown to the 30,000-odd thou
sands. Japan struck below the belt
at Pearl Harbor and swept the
United States actively into the war.
Perhaps if one were to try to
illustrate the relationship between
sports and the American people he
could find no more damatic episode
than on that Sunday afternoon
when. with the lowly Philadelphia
Eagles playing the lowly Redskins
in a game to determine nothing
more than which team was the sec
ond worst in the Eastern division of
the National League, a public ad-
dress system called Army and Navy
commanders, cabinet officials and
statesmen and newspaper editors
and foreign analysts to their desks
for the desperate business at hand.
Sports Show Increase.
While it is true that Washington S
athletes won no outstanding ma
tional titles. aside from Miss Cot
ter's crown while astride the horse
which over the year scared through
the air to clear a bar at feet 712
inches, sports in the Nations Capt.
tai grew in fair relationship to the
worlds No. l boom town A new
indoor theater, Uline's Arena. was
opened and last fall it housed the
first local professional hockey team
70 vie with the Washington Eagles
of the Eastern Amateur League. who
captured the pennant in their sec
ond season of existence.
Major league baseball under the
lights was introduced for the first
time as President Clark Griffith of
the Nationals invested we'll over
100000 to provide one of the finest
lighting systems in the country.
Midget auto racing which died with
few mourners a couple Of years ago,
arose again on a slightly grander
scale at a new location.
The first heavyweight champion
ship prize fight in the history OF
washington not only was an artiS-
tic success but. netting close to $780,
900. proved that not even the pres
sure of wartime business will keep
Americans from their fun. A new
wrestling promoter printed a stack
of almost free tickets, rounded up a
flock of bearded freaks, and opened
a stand.
If one were to list loosely the ad-
vanCes or revivals in local sports he
undoubtedly would start with horses
mot the fiat racing kind, although
they still are in vogue at nearby
tracks-but the jumping and show
types. Ice skating has been on the
upswing and, as a whole and con-
sidering the per capita angle, Wash
ington had rifle. pistol and skeet
shooters to match any. Despite the
poor major league baseball entry in
terest remained high and Redskins
followers stuck by their upholstered
heroes despite the fact that by losing
five of II games the Skins put in
their worst season since moving here
in 1887.
Hoyas Start Year Poorly.
From a local viewpoint the year
started, due to an amazingly order
ly scheme of things. last January /.
In the Orange at Miami a George
town football team that had tasted
defeat only once since 1937-and on
that occasion losing to Boston Col
lege 19-18-went down to defeat be-
fore Mississippi State, 14-7. That
seemed to strike the chord for
District teams. The Mats never
got started. The Redskins folded
in the stretch. George Washing
tons football team won its open
ing game and went without victory
thereafter. Georgetown had a COM
paratively lean grid season, although
the Hoyas still were the class of the
local colleges, and Maryland and
American University were far from
top-flight.
In basket ball, the Washington
colleges showed strength and weak
ness. Catholic University, which
abandoned football in 194l, failed
to win a single court game. Mary
land won its finale after loosing all
of the others. But George Wash
ington won 18 while losing only
four and was kept from making
a national bid for honors only by
GeorgetoWns crack quint. which
won 16 of 20 and which twice
downed the Colonials.
Golf Loses Its Ace.
Golf again failed to produce a
national figure, both in the anna
teur and the pro ranks. Bobby
Brownell, probably the best anna
teur. Joined the Federal Bureau OF
Investigation and probably will be
out of the game for some time.
Ralph Bogart, who won the Dis
trict Amateur for the third
straight year, may join the Army
early in 1912.
In swimming the standOut fig