Evening star., 1942-01-25
Athletes Of Britain
Take Active Roles
In Fighting Forces
Many, Well Known
In U. S., Now Part
OR. A. F. and Army
By BLAIR BOLLES.

OF UQe men WlCn great sporting
names are departed heroes, killed in
action, like the r. A. F. bombardier
Bryan Black, who won fame in
peacetime as rugby player with
the Blackheath team. Some of
them have been wounded. Many
have been decorated for gallantry.
One of the latest to be decorated
Is 1t. Robert Everett of the Royal
Navy, the gentleman jockey who
won the Grand National on Grega-
ZACH in 1929-the year the Ameri-
can horse Billy Barton was the
early pre-race favorite. 1t. Everett
was gazetted D. S. o. with this
citation:
For bravery. skill and tenacity in
many hazardous operational flights
In protection of shipping"
He operates fighter airplane that
Is catapulted from a merchant YES
sci, and he won his award for send
Ing into the sea an enemy airplane
approaching convoy he was pro-
tecting. His own aircraft fell and
sank. but he was rescued from the
open ocean.
Have Given Up Play.
Golfers. fighters, track and field
men-the whole complement OF
athleteS-have given up their play
for the grim business of fighting to
the death. The complete roster of
professional fighting champions has
gone off to the wars. And the
women have not stayed at home
with their knitting. Pamela Bar
ton, the women's golfing champion
OF England, has a commission in
the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.
Among the golfers, Henry Cotton,
e5, twice the British Open champ
and the Ryder Cup captain in 1889
when the wars arrival forced
abandonment of the Ryder Cup
matches-is now a fight lieutenant
In the r. A. F. Early in the war
he gave a magnificent demonstra-
ton of control over his nerves,
which are supposed to be jumpy in
golfer, when he played a. beauti-
ful 18 holes during an air raid.
Since athletics are an mterna-
tional affair and never recognized
the philosophy of isolation, Eng
lands sporting famous are pretty
well known in the United States.
There is Don Finlay, for instance,
the high-hurdler, who ran in the
Olympics at Los Angeles 10 years
ago.
Finlay, as an officer in the R.
A. F., led the fighter squadron which
won the race to be the first to
bag 100 German planes. He is an
acrobatic flyer. Now he flies for
blood, but in less lively fighting
times he liked to be the middle man
In a three-plane loop-the-loop.
Finished Third in Hurdles.
He has had a soft spot in his
heart for America since he ran in
the 110-meter hurdles at Los An
geles In 1882. The judges placed
him fourth, behind Jack Keller OF
Ohio State, by whisker. But mo-
ton pictures showed that he had
finished third. The judges reversed
their decision. Keller handed over
The medal without murmur.
The fifth man in that race was
Lord David Burleigh, who now is a
colonel In the English Army. An
old man for the track-he set the
high hurdles mark at Amsterdam
IA years ago. He pulled couple
of charley horses recently when he
ran in a hurdles relay for the Bri-
gade of Guards. He fell over the
last hurdle and had to get about
with two canes for while. Lard
Burleigh could run at sea as well
as on land. He held the informal
record for running once around the
deck of the Queen Mary.
OF more recent track vintage, Sid
Wooderson, whose half mile mark
set at Princeton in the summer OF
1888 was accepted officially as the
English record, has been in the
Pioneer Corps of the army. The
corps members do jobs vaguely re-
lated to the work Of our c. c. G.
They make up the army's labor
battalions and are subject to army
discipline.
Wooderson, one of the best dis
tance runners of the last decade,
tried to join the fighting forces.
But the medical men turned him
down on account Of his weak eyes,
which he keeps covered always with
thick glasses. Apparently his run
ming days are over. 1t is said that
he has put on weight, and he has
trouble with both Achilles tendons.
Fighters In Service.
The athletes like adventure. Prob
ably that is why so many of them
have Joined the R. A. F., especially
the prize fighters. Len Harvey,
heavyweight and light heavyweight
champion of England and the en-
pire, is an R. A. F. officer. R. A. F.
non-comS are Ernie Roderick, well
ter champ; Eric Boon, lightweight
champ, and Mel Tarleton, feather
champ. Jock McAvoy, who holds the
middleweight title, Is doing indus
trial war work Capt. Jack Peter
sen, former heavy champ. is a staff
officer for physical training among
the anti-aircraft crews.
Another man lending his athletic
skill to military physical culture en-
terpriSe Is Walter Beavers, the old
Yorkshire distance runner. He tried
to set the pace for Paavo Nurni,
the tireless, in the 5000 meters at
Amsterdam in 1923. Poor Beavers.
Nobody ever tried that stunt and
succeeded.
Tommy Martin, the British
heavyweight who fought a couple of
years ago in Los Angeles, is ranker
in the r. A. F. He would like the
title held by Officer Harvey, but 1t
is unlikely that the ranker and the
officer will have a bout before the
war Is over. England has some
other fighters 1t fancies, but the
chances are they will all be too old
for much action by the time the war
Is ended and they can 60 back to
fighting each other instead Of the
Germans.
The titleholders don't care now
for hastily arranged title bouts be-
cause thev can't make the mOnev