Evening star., 1950-01-15
Crowd Of $500
Acc|aims Barry
And Thresher
Distance Race Finish
Top Thrill of Night;
Gehrmunn Takes Mile
By MerreII WhittIesey
BY MerreII WhittIesey

A 17-year-old newcomer to
major track meets and a red
faced Irishman who made his
American debut a winning one
co-starred in the third edition
OF the Evening Star Games last
night before crowd of $500 in
the Armory.
The youngster who forced the
Nations track greats to take a.
back seat was Henry Thresher-
Yale-bound Long Island speed
ster from Mercersburg Academy
who won the 70 and 80 yard
dashes and finished second in the
100 in the Evening Star Sprint
Series. He might have won the
latter but for a poor start.
The Irishman who won the
hearts and cheers of the biggest
crowd ever to attend a District
meet was John Joe Barry, whose
tremendous kick overcame Horace
Ashenfelter of the Shanahan
Catholic Club of Philadelphia In
the Acacia two-mile run.
Featured Mile One Sided.
The mile run, touted as the
feature of the 27 events, was an
ALBION Gehrmann production az
the Wisconsin miller, tops in the
Nation last year, led at every lap.
1t was discovered that the track
was short" one for all distance
events and Gehrmann's time of
4:0l.6 was for a short mile"
Meet Director Dorsey Griffith es-
tlmated the track was about 81
feet short.
This was Thresher's first ap-
pearance in the sprint series and
thus he could not overtake the
Washington boys, Bill Mathis and
Marcellus Boston, who between
them were in contention for the
trophy. Mathis won with third
place performances in the 80 and
LOO, while Boston's best was
fourth in the 70 and 100.
Hailed AS Coming Champion.
Thresher pounded down the
stra1ghtaWay in IL in the 10
and 7.9 in the 80 to edge Robert
Tyler Of Morgan State in the
first event and Jim Fielding of
Georgetown Frosh in the second.
Fielding won the 100 in 9.8. In
the dash events. the times were
official as no turns were necessary
and the track was measured coz
rectly.
Thresher. a 6-foot, 163-pound
youngster with closely cropped
halr is the next world dash cham
plon in the opinion of the experts,
Ihe crowd saved its biggest roar
OF the night for Barry's finish in
the tWo-mile. His time for the
abbreviated distance was 8:274.
The blonde red-faced Irishman
remained couple yards back of
they circled the board track. They
had company for more than a mile
put IN the later stages of the race
had it all to themselves and lapped
most of the field.
The crowd was on its feet az
the gun sounded the last lap. The
distance artists stepped up their
pace and it appeared that Ashen-
1elter would hold off the driving
lrlshman, but with only a few
1eet to go, Barry made a tremen-
dous squirt and his chest barely
nit the tape ahead of the second
place Ashenfelter. Curtis Stone.
also of the Shanahan c. c. was
a poor third.
Gehrmann Just Too Good.
Gehrmann was just too good for
the Junior Board of Trade invita-
tion mile field. He trailed Carol
Joyce, the Georgetown freshman
sensation, for quarter of a lap at
the start but soon took over and
led the rest of the way. He was
at least a dozen yards ahead of
George Wade, the defending
champion from Yale, at the finish.
In defense of the foreign stars,
ALT Holmberg of Sweden, winner of
the Sugar Bowl mile, and Per An
derson OF Norway, it was their first
start indoors and they never were
IN contention. Holmberg, now q
freshman at the University ~
(See STAR GAMES, Page BID