The Wyandotte news-herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1943-1963, 1945-12-13
1OIay's
Sport
Parade
- By Oscar Fraley -
United Press Sports Writer

NEW YORK. UP)-Trying to re-
cover from smorgasbord poisoning
track and field officials looked to-
day toward England and France for
the antidote which once again
would make the mile run the
crowd-pleasing glamor event of the
board track campaign.
The event was all set for high
pressure comeback this winter with
Arne (4:02.6) Anderson and his
Swedish shadow, Lennart Strand,
readied for a trip to the American
saucer. Then came the revelation
that the Swedish swifties had been
padding their expense accounts far
more than the amateur lawallowS.
II provided a fast case of American
indigestion.
So with the Swedes sidelined by
monetary charley-horSeS, the home
folks have bid for the spruce
cushioned strides of Sid Wooderson,
former British world record holder,
and Marcel Hansen of France.
Neither would be as bad a bet
as he sounds. This despite the fact
that it has been pretty close to nine
years since Wooderson whipped his
sangling legs to F. 1904 world
mark. Sid showed last spring that
there still was plenty of bounce in
the old pins when he ratified fast
4:O4 behind Anderson.
Marcel. despite his last moniker,
is no Swedish importation. Yet he
has been doing some fine running
on the other side of the pond and
figures to be quite an attraction.
The mile, to maintain its slipping
place on the program, is going to
need some sort of shot in the arm.
The fans didn't take too kindly to
our indoor mile king" Of 1874
although Jimmy Gron Nike Raj
ferty is swell little fellow. 7af-
ferty swept the boards as he took
every major mile title indoors last
winter, besting boat-weary Gunder
Hagg on several occasions.
But the fans have been reading
SO much about the SWedes and
their attack on the mile mark-noW
down to 4:014-that they had a
kind Of empty feeling when they
looked at Rafferty's best, not too
scintillating abb Many Of them
intimated they could do that good
Just scrambling for the 8:l5 in the
morning rush.
1t was a far cry from the old
days when such as Glenn Cum
bingham, Gene Genzke. Chuck
Fenske and Chuck HornboStel were
carrying on feud that shamed the
Martins and the McCoys of Ken
lucky fame The times weren't
much better than Rafferty's but
they had that indefinable some
thing charted proSaically as col
Or That one little item was not in
Rafferty'S repertoire.
One saving feature is the return
o. Leslie MacMitchell, the former
N.Y.U. star and 1912 indoor king
recently released from the Navy.
That in itself is enough to end Raj
ferty'S unappreciated reign, be-
cause MacMitchell could hold up
his pants with one hand and carry
the U.S.S. Pennsylvania in the
other and still best Iron Mike"
at 1,76O yards; eight furlongs, or,
To put it simply, the mile.
Several times Mac ratified off a
4:08 without breathing deeply, some
:O5.l better than Raffertys best,
and he thinks the Swedish mental
conditioning" will give him the edge
to crack Gil Dodds' board track
standard of 1904.
He'll get his first crack at Phil
adelphia, Jan. Is, followed by the
Boston relays. Feb. 8; NY A.C. Is;
National AAU, %; ICAA special,
March 2; New York K. of c., 9;
Cleveland %, and Chicago, 30.
Whatever the result of all this
huffing and putting, it seems GER
tain that Rafferty's reign is over
and that MacMitchell'S prospects
are good. The advent of old man