Evening Star Newspaper, October 13, 1926, Page 35

SPORTS. THE EVENING - STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1926. SPORTS. " 857 Tunney’s Culture Not “Press Agent Stuff” : Wills Well Beaten Before Fouling WILL IRWIN FINDS GENE A CONTRADICTORY FIGURE Learns New Champion, Handsome Physical Speci- men, Is Widely Read Phrases With Vivid Slang of Prize Ring. BY WILL IRWI by North American Newspaper Alliance in United States. Great Britain er (Copyright 1926, and all ENE TUNNEY had been cha and he was putting a climax royal progress to the stadiu _his crown. The management of the Philade!phia Sesquicentennial Exposition, doing the thing in regal style, sent to New York two special cars for the king and his court. Tunney made up the party himself. in America, he invited just those part believed in him, and liked him in his night preliminary fichts, of unemplo: The benevolent McCabe was there, for example, he who saw promise in the raw young boxer of the American Expeditionary Force; the fighting chaplain, perhaps the best-loved figure among our veterans; Jimmie Bronson, who directed the corner on that rainy night when the challenger hecame champion; George Ransberry, who, though a | man of means, came down to Strouds- burg to direct the cooking for the training table; Bernard Gimbel, Dud- | lev Field Malone, Big Bill Edwards, | sporting reporters who had followed | his old fights, albeit only one of them had picked him to win the | championship from the unbeatable | Dempsey. They had not met as a body since | the night of the bhig fight, and the | train had no sooner slipped into the | Pennsylvania tunnel than they were fighting the battle over, illustrating | the blows on each other. | In the smoking compartment, the | king had set up his throne, and all | the way to Philadelphia, the court crowded it to suffocation’ while they kept Gene Tunney talking. I. who had been sent to interview him, de- spaired of getting him alqne best T could do was to edge a_seat | heside him and cling to it seifishly | while questioner after questioner did | my work for me. Handsome Physical Specimen. Tunney as a physical speci- men is handsome, even beautiful, the cinema had proved to all the world. But photography even when it moves, does not quite convey any face. { Seen for the first time, the cham- pion’s good looks have points and con- tradictions which the camera misses. | Beneath his mole-colored hair, brush- ed back pompadour fashion, he has a forehead as straight and as cleanly | carved as a pillar. The frontal ridges | under his eyebrows, however, are heavy—just a little heavier, and they would beetle like Jim Corbett’s. His eves are of that cool gray-blue which we have come to associate with force of character. They are long eves, which half close when he smiles: at such times they look, for all the pleasantry of his mood, a little Oren- tal. But they are get in an ample eye- socket, an essentlal. sculptors say, to heauty in man or woman. 1lis nose has that clean gunstock cut which only the Celtic face shows | to perfection. The lip beneath it curves upward as delicately as that of pretty girl on a magazine cover— and then your eye follows on to a full- lipped mouth, firm and aggressive. The curves of his jaws fit the clas- sical pattern of male beauty as close 1v as do those of his forehead; but they come together in a square chin, built to absorb punches. Gene's Face Never Still. ace he is a Celt, nelther his ex- on nor his hands are ever quite In certain moods of conversa- That debonnair figure of Gene Tunney which the director has made up for the movies; in others, he is merely a humorous boy, glad to be alive and, by some miracle, to be fulfilling the cdream of a boy: and in still others he can look powerful and even hard. But always, he radiates personality and charm, part of which resides in his engaging smile, which always is coming and going when he talks; and part in a certain little trick of the pose of his hand which suggests, when he shakes hands with vou, that you are the very person he has waited all these years to meet. There are other contradictions about him, even on first meeting. His pas- sion for books, as I was to learn in the course of that day, is not an in vention of his press agent. And he speaks with the wide vocabulary and the turn of literary phrases which mark the men who has read and ab-| sorbed: all day long he was dropping words which 1, in my daily job, hesi 1ate to put on paper for fear not every reader will understand Mixed with these were and direct slang of the y of his native Greenwich punctuat 1l 2 that emphatic Townsend put 35 vears ago Into the mouth of his Chimmie Fadden, the Bowery boy, and which still survives on the sidewalks of New York. His volee that morning, had not quite recovered from Dempsey famous blow on the Adam's apple—it still was a trifie husky. But under- neath all that it had a resonance like a violin: a man with a nose and a frontal structure like that could not possibly have a dull or drear | voice. It is low, but penetrating and well modulated, yet he speaks in the accent of ‘the third-generation Irish who inhabit New York's lower side. Dempsey Encouraged Gene. the vivid e ring and illage. He atives with which Ned t Cornelius Vanderbiit. perched on the washstand in the corner, had asked a | question which touched on the popu larity of unpopularity of Jack Demp- | sey: and at the moment, Gene Tunney { Father Duffy | | one thing. | zentleman. The |5 | ing how they'd feel against my jaw— | , But Mixes Literary countries. ) mpion of the world for 10 days now. to the coronation festivities with a m where. by trial of battle, he won Passing over half of Who's Whc icular friends who had stood by him days of obscurity, of ten-dollar-a ‘ment and financial embarrassment was on the subject of his late opp nent. “I've been gratified,” he said, “t see how the public attitude ha changed toward Jack since he los the champlonship. There never wa any really good reason for his ur popularity. He didn’t go to the war— ves. Rut others that were of military age didn’t go either: people that have become prominent since—and nobody has remembered it on them. 1 never could quite understand why he didn’t; probably he was badly advised. But you can be certain of | It wasn't because he was afraid of the war. There isn't a yellow streak as wide as a hair in Jack Dempsey. He took his defeat like a man and a sportsman and a And the public is begin- ning to understand him—see! A fine fellow-—a better man in every way than half the men he beat. The championship—and his popularity. It's curious—when he had it he didn’t have it, and now that he's lost it, he's got it.” “Did_you know him much before the fight?” asked Rill Edwards. who, occupying as he does the space of three men, had planted himself con- derately in the doorway. “Oh, sure! And a lot more about him than I knew first-hand—See! For vears I was following Jack Dempsey like his nem lways dropping in just after he'd left. The room I took for my first fight after the war, Jack had just left. One accumulates a lot of information about a man under those circumstances. And I never heard anything at all that wasn't to his credit. Had to Fight or Starve. “But the first time I ever met him —1 was only fighting preliminaries then. 'Twas after I'd come back from the war and couldn't get a job and had to fight or starve. 1'd been champion of the American Expedi- tionary Forces over there. But the public has & short memory for the war. Nobody remembered that. “They'd introduced Jack Dempsey in the ring that night. I'd come through the ropes after my bout and he stopped me and shook my hand. ““He sald, ‘'I've heard of you. You fought a nice fight. You'll do well and I wish vou luck.’ “That's how he always was, as I've known him—genuinely kindly—trying to lend a helping hand. “The mext time I saw him, it was different. 1'd got the best of Greb at last. I'd realized for some time that I couldn’t make the light-heavy class any more. I was going on into the heavies and at the top of the class T had to meet Dempsey. “Fate threw us together—a railroad Jjourney up from Atlantic Cit There 1 sat, with him, talking and sized him up. T wonder if he guessed what was going on in my mind? He'd hurt his hand in his last bout. The skin was peeling off. He'd grab a piece of skin now and then as he talked and jerk | it off. like that “And 1 wasn’t listening much to his conversation, but just watching that big pair of maulers and wonder- see! They stuck in my psychology. 1 suppose because it's my weakness in | this game that I have small hands.” He stretched out one of these mem- bers on his knee. “Well, Pike's Peak 1s a small mountain, too—compared to Mount Everest. “That was my only handicap in the | fight. The gloves were made for Dempsey’s size hands and not for mine. Admits Rain Handicapped Him. “Aw, Gene,” spoke up Ed Van Every—who was_the only major sports writer in New York to pick Tunney before the fight and who sits therefore very near to the throne. §. ‘HAIR-GROOM Keeps Hair Combed,(jlcrssyg | Well-Groomed all Day ; “Hair-Groom” | is a dignified | combing cream | which costs only | a few cents a jar ' at any drugstore, Millions use it be- cause it gives that natural gloss and well-groomed ef- fect to the hair— | that final touch to good dress both in business and on social occasions., Even stubborn, un- ruly or shampooed hair stays combed | all day in any style you like. “Hair- | Groom” is greaseless; also helps grow thick, heavy, lustrous hair. COLLARS A TRIUMPH OF THE COLLAR MAKER'S ART. IT iS5 THE BEST LOOKING,BEST WEARING STARCHED COLLAR EVER MADE 35¢ each 3 for $1c0 CLUETT, PEABODY & CO. INC. MAKERS HEMPSTEAD A NEW STYLE in \ “you don’t mean to say that the rain didn’t slow you up?” ‘“‘Certainly it slowed me up,"” sald Tunney. “And my feet were slipping so that I couldn't get set. Further, it made the gloves slide off the surface of the skin. But it did the same thing to Jack—see?" Then his Celtic mind snapped back to the sentimental aspect of the story. There he was at the end, punch- blind. And he heard them yelling out the verdict. What was the first thing he sald to Gene Normile? Remember he's just lost the championship of the world."” “‘Gene, T can't see. Take me to ‘unney, will you? And there he me, groping for my shoulders. 1 uldn't put him out, but I'd been aurting him eruelly. I can tell you I ‘elt sorry that I had to do it.” “Was he just a shell of himself, Gene?" asked one of the sporting re- porters. This brought a laugh, both m the retinue and the monarch. henever a champion falls, of late, 1se who have picked him to win— are in the majority—al- i themselves by _ that shrase “a shell of his former self.” It's a household joke in the Tunney . Tunney joined in the laugh. smiles constantly, but I should v from a day’s observation that he the kind of man who laughs sel- m. It is a low, agreeable rumble. ‘I wish,” said Tunney “that some the malicious detractors who said at could have been in the ring with .~ and taken some of the wallops the shell of Jack Dempsey. This he put his hand on his throat— all but tore out my Adam’s apple. ind that one in the body—he poked rimself just below the left-hand edge his waistcoat and gave a little mace—"right here—see! Ten days ince the fight, isn't it? Well, it catches me still every time T make an unexpected movement. What Tunney Told Jack. “That one doubled me up until T} thought my forehead was going to touch my toes. It wasn't the hurt of | it. Curlously, it didn't really jar me or slow me up at all. It should have, in | that spot. There's a great deal we don’t know yet, I suspect, about the powers of resistance in the human anatomy. It was just the force of the thing—like making connection with the end of a pile driver. If Dempsev's a shell then it's loaded with T. N. T.” I put these remarks—quoted liter ally—onto white paper; it may seem that the champion was convicting him- self of conceit. If Dempsey was a hollow shell on the night of Septem- ber 23, then, of course, Tunney was not so much himself. But no one who heard him say it carried away that | thought. Tunney was merely defend- ing the honor or an honorable ad- versary. “Tell me what you told Jack when vou called on him next day,” said one of his seconds. Tunney dropped his long eyes; and his ruddy-tanned skin turned for an instant a little redder. “T guess T won't,” he said But I heard the anecdote later. Tun- ney, setting a precedent of the ring, made a call of condolence on his esteemed and defeated adversar: Dempsey, of course, was in the dumps. | Annoying legal troubles had piled up during his training period. Champion though he was, he was made to feel that all his kind stood arrayed against him. He had gone into the ring fully confident that he would turn the ta- bles on the world. And he had taken a dreadful mauling. He sat on his bed, virtually blind. “And at first,” said my informant, “he took no interest at all—not at all. Finally Gene began talking—as well as he could talk with his Adam'’s ap. ple hurting so—about the blows he'd taken, and especially that right hook | into the short ribs. | “It was the hardest wallop I ever stood up to." he sald. And Jack's eyes filled with tears. He said: “Did I really hurt you, Gene?" And Gene said, “Wors other man ever hurt me. “After that, Jack began to chirk up.” than any OntheSideLines With the Sporting Editor -BY DENMAN THOMPSON: PECULATION as to the base ball future of George Sisler, just deposed as manager of the Browns, probably will occupy stove leaguers until the Winter meeting in Chicago next December. When the magnates get together for their annual off-season pow-wow most of the talent-shifting for the campaign ahead is accom- plished, and it is likely in the case of Sisler that nothing definite will be announced till then, but in the meanwhile his status sure to occasion keen interest among the fans in several cities, including Washington. Rumors that Sisler would not be retained as helmsman in St. Louis became current just as soon as it was determined.that the Browns were headed for nowhere in particular during the campaign just ended. and one of the most persistent of these had him slated for the Capital. On more than one occasion the local ownership denied there was any truth in reports that title to Sisler was either sought or desired here, and this has been reiterated since President Ball announced that the first baseman’s contract as pilot would not be renewed, but follow- ers of the Nationals continued to discuss the possibility of Sisler join- ing Stanley Harris’ brigade, and most of them are heartily in favor of it. What the Sisler boosters over- quiring club would have to go look in hoping that the one-time high to assure genuine enthusi- king of all firstsackers will wear asm in the work of the ex-leader a Washington uniform next sea- of the Browns. son, even if at the expense of As field general for the past losing Joe Judge and Roger Peck- three years, Sisler has become inpaugh—as the latest gossip has accustomed to commanding, and it—is that George's value must be being reduced to a private in the reckoned, not solely on his rec- ranks and taking orders from ord as a player, but with the cir- some one else is not calculated cumstances attendant on his to act as a cheering influence on acquisition also taken into con- any mortal grown used to riding sideration. in_the saddle. In the first place, Sisler is no- Then having the sizable salary where near the bulwark on both he received in the dual role of attack and defense that he was player and manager cut more than before illness came close to end- half, as it logically would be, is ing his athletic career. After another item not provocative cf a being awarded to the Browns blithe. buoyant frame of mind. after a dispute over his services Not that Sisler wouldn't give his with the Pittsburgh Pirates in best and work his hardest to fili 1915, the year he graduated from any contract he made; the normal the University of Michigan, Si: reactions of human nature would ler for two scasons served in the just govern, that's all. triple capacity of pitcher, out- All who are acquainted with the fielder and first baseman before fine sportsmanship of George Sis- | settling into the latter job, where ler, his integrity and his earnest, | he quickly established himself as | unflagging devotion to duty will | a star of the first magnitude. sincerely hope the future holds Almost yearly he boosted his nothing but the best for him, batting figures until in 1922 he but it is more than unlikely it established the phenomenal mark | will have any direct connection of 420 and was adjudged the most | with the Washington ball club. | \va“ual’}lc play(trg:lr;"ni.xtd\i?aiu :‘I:: | &4 - s following yeur-that | 'EASTERN BASKETERS HAVE BUT TWO VETS following year that he was un- able to play because of trouble Eastern High School, that last ason divided titular basket ball with his vision due to an attack of sinusitis, and since returning | honors with Central, hopes this year | to earn a clear claim to the cham-| to duty in 1924, when he first assumed direction of the Brow the effects of his ailment, with his managerial burdens doubtless also a contributing factor, became ap- parent-in his successive batting D £ 305 345 jonship. However, the Light Blue percentages of 305, 345 and 202 | BN, L TREC ok us omly the latter being his figure for the |two veterans, Capt. Hogarth, campaign - recently ended. who, upon the advice of Coach Guyon Granting that his prowess on | has foregone foot ball, and Harry | MeAllister, are at hand. | Fssex, Skip Faber and " Quinn_are members of last squad being counted upon. Quinn. however, may not be avail- defense has suffered little and that he still has few equals in the iable because of a broken collarbone suffered some time ago. art of guarding the initial corner, it nevertheless is true that Sisler's ability as a base-runner has steadily declined with his hitting and that he is a long way re- Others expected to put up a stout | moved from the super-star class |battle for berths include ‘“‘Little” he had attained before he was | Cappelli, brother of Ferdinand Cap- pelli, of last year's team, and Shapiro, who last season played with the Boys' Club Flashes, one of the stronge: the vounger teams in the city. stricken. Depro. who has had experience It is not on the score of his ability as a player alone that the Eastern Preps. and Wilson Zam- breny are prospects. makes his acquisition an invest- . | i vea ment of dubious value, however. No matter what team Sisler might g0 to, whether it be to the Tigers for Blue or Neun, or, as also More than 2,000 foot ball games will | rumored, to the Athletics for 5 he played on American college grid- | (Continued tomorrow.) Just a CUSHION SHOES Oxfords 7th 414 9th 3212 14th 1914-16 Pa. Ave. 233 Pa. Ave. S.E. Lamar, Welch and Pool, the ac- |irons this season. the Thermos Bottle Keeps Coffee Hot and Lemonade Cold ~~ —s0 a hidden layer of cork in the sole of Dr. A. Reed Cushion Shoes keeps your feet cool and refreshed on ablistering summer day—and snug andwarm when wheels creak on hard snow. And this cork “insulator” is anly one feature of the exclusive construction of Dr. A. Reed The Cushion Sole Does the Trick! —it’s like walking on velvet! FOX' Men Exclusively in the D. C. at “Hahn’s” or High Shoes—$10, $11, $12 Other Hahn “Shoe Leaders™ for Mcn $5, $6, $7, . $8, $10, 12 & $14 “Man’s Shop”—14th at G DRAKO LAMBASTED BY YOUNG DEMPSEY Young Jack Dempsey, one of the leading challengers for the world welterweight title, gave Billy Drako of Germany a lanibasting in the fea- ture hout of 12 rounds before the Kenilworth Club last night. Drako | gave a game exhibition, but was out- classed. He absorbed terrific punish- ment. but was in there to the end as hard as he knew how. s superior hoxing kept him out of the danger zone, as the much slo Drako was unable to reach ais man with effective blow In the semi-final Eddie de Simon ' Fort Myer, although considerably outweighed by an Bass of Balti-| more, put up a fair exhibition. As 1 fight it was a good gvm workout ind the crowd voiced its disapproval. Teddy Watkins of Baltimore was ut to sleep in the third round by 'aul Bruen of this eity. Billy Strickler of Washington hung he old K. O. on Mickey White of | ‘altimore in the third round of their sur-round go. Willie Manley of this city. fight- ng his first bout in the ring, put ammy Walker of Baltimore away n the second round, while Sailor \McKenna caused Jack Nelson of Saltimore to take the long count in he third round. DENNISEY EASILY BEATS JULIAN MCRAN OF SPAIN ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., October 3 (P).—Jack Dennisey, Winnipeg, ‘anada, took a decisive victory over Julian Jim Moran. Spain, in their 15 round bout here last night. Dennisey had Moran on the floor five times once for the rount of eight. Dennisey weighed 143 and Moran 138. Young Lewls. Tampa, won a de- ston over Aramis del Pino, Havana, in a 10-round semi-final. The men are | lightweights. HOWARD TO PLAY MOREHOUSE Howard University, which opened its foot ball season Saturday with a 31- to-0 win over Livingstone College of Salisbury, N. €., now is hard at work | in preparation for its clash Saturday | with Morehouse College, in Howard | stadium. The game will begin at 2:30 | o'clock. BAi‘TLE IS POéTPONED. i ST PAUL, Minn.. October 13 (4). The Bud Taylor-Vic Burrone bantam- | welght fight, scheduled for Friday | night, has heen postponed until Oc tober 22. | RISKO THRASHES HUFFMAN. LOS ANGELES, October 13 (#) Johnnie Risko, Cleveland light-heav: weight, decesively outpunched Eddle Huffman, former Navy boxer, to win a decision in a 10-round bout here last | night. - i Dog races held at night are popular | in New Orleans. The sweetest tobacco grown is sun-cured. It thrives and comes to perfection as nature intended, bringing out all the best substance of the leaf. From its rich brown wrapper to its choice filler El Verso is 100% sun- cured tobacco. It means better cure—better burn— better taste—better quality. This specially selected leaf fully matured and expertly blended is what makes El Verso the sweet and mellow cigar. That's why it has a character all its own. Don’t miss smoking one today. | Sharkey owed his chief claim to SHARKEY WINS 11 ROUNDS OF BOUT ENDING IN 13th Young Ex-Sailor Had Harry on Verge of Knockout Three Times Late in Fight—Was First Loss for Big Negro to White Opponent. By the Associated Pres EW YORK, October 13.—Graduates of Uncle Sam’s sea-going out fits stand today in supreme command of America's heavyweight fighting forces. Less than a month after Gene Tunney, ex-marine, battered Jack Dempsey and won the heavyweight championship, Jack Sharkey of Boston, erstwhile jacktar, scored a decisive victory over Harry Wills, negro and ex-longshoresman, before 45000 spectators at Ebbet’s Field last night The downfall of the “Black Panther,” who during seven years of Demp sey’s reign challenged unceasingly for the outstanding crown of pugilism came on a foul. Wills, 37, was a bleeding. almost helpless figure, stumbling about the ring in an effort to stem the two-fisted attack of a 24-year-old, when the reieree, Patsy Haley, stepped between the fighters in the thirteenth round of the 15-round match and disqualified the negro for illegal use of a back- hand blow. Wills had been warned repeatedly by Haley for unfair tacti Pro- longed holding in the clinches, whip ing of his glove backward across Sharkey’s face and Wills' old trick of holding with his left hand while he pounded away at the body with his right all had brought their warnings. | y The wave to his corner meant the end | ton, N of all championship hopes for Wills. | It was the first time Wills has met | e e s white 0| EIGHESIEASHNIGERF: ponent in his 15 vears in the Fing. | Be the Ascociated Press Wills Sluggish in Ring. BROOKLYN.—Jack Sharkey, mer | ton. wen on a foul from Harry Wil s, showing none of his former| sy, — George Courtney, Oklahom aggressiveness and slow from a Yeir)scoreq a technical knockout ove of ring iactivity, was battered about |5iin ‘barral, San Francisco () the ring from the start. From the |y ™ (o ol el o Mheat Jack fourth round on the negro fought |l o oFR. (HEER Br et de purely on the defensive. At the close | pONIFIG FREm On O blood spurted from a gash over Wills' | T . A (HUBE) Goldheres Ha right _eve, from cuts about his nose | 1¢HeC JoT0E Cotoh B I and mouth and his left eye was near- | PETERSBURC la. — Jack Iy d. | Dennisey, Winnipeg, beat Julian Jim Sharkey, weighing 188, conceded [Moran, ~Spain (15). Young Lewis. 26% pounds in weight to his gigantic [ Tampa, won from Aramis del Pino. rival. Although Wills failed to fall |Havana (10). under the fusillade, he was on the| SAN FRANCISCO.—Johnny Riske verge of a Kknockout in the tenth eveland, beat Eddie Huffman (10). eleventh and twelfth rounds. Ring side critics could award the n only one, the third, by a close ma The second was even and the mainder. including the 43 second: the thirteenth, were all in Sharkey's favor. Sharkey's Win Surprise. Wills had been a favorite in ting. Victories over Jack Re Eddie Huffman, Jim Maloney, Solomon and George Godfrey, all by | minutes to a draw, decisions in the past two rs, had | disclosed none of the punishing pow ‘ — { Wire and Disc Wheels er and brilliant offense that marked Sharkey's triumph. = W. S. Kenworthy & Co. {1617-19 14th St. N.W. North 441 Sharkey's victory sensational becaus Service and Parts ‘Tires, Tubes and Repairing vears of vouth in offset the negro's ad. in height, weight and Sharkey is only 24 years old inst Wills' 36. - is of Lithuanian ancestry, name bei Josef Paul u He was born in Bingham ~ to r coskey STECHER TOSSES PAXON. AN FRANCISCO, October 13 (#) Joe Stecher, claimant of the world's vyweight wrestling championship, defeated John Paxon, Greek, in two | straight falls last nigat. He took both with_a body scissors. Wladek Pole, and Nick Lutz, for Kin Notre Dame, wrestled 45 in. re. was all the more he had not fig ured prominently for any length of time as a_heavyweight contender. A fistic product of Binghamton, X ame to triumphs over Godfrey, Huffman, King Solomon and Malon Choose Your Favorite Size Puritano 10c; Ambessador 15¢; Perfecto Extra 2 for 25¢ The Deisel- Wemmer Co., Makers—Established 1884 ELVERSO The Sweet and Mellow Cigar GEO. W. COCHRAN & CO., Distributor