Evening Star Newspaper, January 7, 1929, Page 12

sSP ORTSS THE EVENING &TAR. WASHINGTON, D. €. MONDAY. JANUARY 7, 1929. Rickard Leaves Unparalleled Record of Achieve DREAMER, BUT DARING, TEX MADE SPORT BIG BUSINESS | | GREAT FIGHT PROM | | Visionary Yet Practical Man, Who Lifted Ring Gamel From Muck, Kept Faith With Public, Enriched | Associates, Ever “Square Shooter.” ) be Tucky to get inside some of the old arenas, much less get the seats their tickets' called for, came to realize and | appreciate that at Rickard’s shows they could depend on getting the space their pasteboard specified and actually see | what was going on. 'Tex had a care- | | fully trained corps of aides who became | expert in_the handling of big crowds | quickly. He spent hours on the seat- ing plans himself and was quick to | remedy any complaints. | One of his biggest disappointments was in the famous Dempsey-Firpo fight | in 1923 at the Polo Grounds, where | thousands who held ringside seats fail- | ed to see much, if anything, of the brief ring action, because of the confusion and sloping character of the base ball field. Rickard returned thousands of dollars to dissatisfied patrons as a re- | .:;ut of this and did it without hesita- | tion. Boyle's Thirty Acres, the famous Jer- | sey City bowl, erected for the Dempsey- | Carpentier fight in 1921, was Rickard's | own model. From a spectator’s vh:v.-‘ point, it was as near perfect as any. | This fight was in many_respects Rick- | ard’s most successful piece of promo- | tion. He induced the principals to sign for a $500.000 purse, an unheard of | amount, but the gate receipts from | 90,000 spectators exceeded $1,600,000. | 1 RY ALAN J. GOULD, Associated Press Sports Editor. EW YORK, January 7.—A dreamer whose dreams came true, yet a man of action with the born spirit of a gambler, passes on with the death of George Lewis (Tex) Rickard. The most dominating as well as most daring individual promoter in the his- tory of professional sports leaves behind him, at the age of 59. after over 22 years' connection with boxing, an un- paralleled record of achievement and success. Rickard entered boxing when it was generally taboo, ah outlaw sport, for the most part, harried by the law. Yet | even then, in 1906, his flair for the spectacular prompted him to offer a purse of $31,000 for the famous Gans- Nelson fight at Goldfield, Nev. He leaves the sport on a big busi- ness scale, a hobby of society and fashion, in an era of million-dollar purses for its heavyweight principals, and of costly. almost luxurious arenas for its setting. Rickard needed rare courage of his convictions, the vision of a pathfinder and the skill of a diplomat as well as the chance-taking spirit of a gambler to {lfl. boxing above its rowdy. disreputable * Jevel of years ago. He had them all, He could not separate from the game | all its undesirable elements or features. | But he developed it in New York to a point where white shirtfronts and eve- ning gowns became conspicuous at the ringside; and where the stock of its Madison Square Garden Corporation obtained standing in Wall Street. Visionary, But Practical. { The general public knew Rickard as| & keen-eyed, keen-sighted promoter of extravaganzas, a lean. bronzed figure with cigar and cane. His business asso- ciates knew him as a visionary who also had. practical ideas: boxing managers as a shrewd handler of situations and keen analyst of boxoffice values. To newspapermen, Rickard's door, whether to his old tower quarters in the original Garden or in the more Juxurious suite of the new Garden, was always open. To old-time boxers and old associates, men with their fortunes gone, Tex was a ready-handed friend. Rickard always was more interested in the spectacular side of his ventures, in the size of his crowds and magnitude of the undertaking than in the actual fights themselves. He possessed an un- canny ability to anticipate popular in- terest in his match-making, especially among the heavyweights. He was a past master at what is now recognized 4s the art of the ballyhoo. But it was the arena and its human inpouring that chiefly interested the promoter. Rickard got his biggest thrill out of the crowd of around 130,000, that paid nearly $2,000,000 to see the first Demp. sey-Tunney fight in the rain at Phila delphia. Philly Crowd Thrilled. “T shall never forget that sight,” he | sald often. “As I looked back from the ringside over those thousands, tens of thousands, it sends the chills up and down my back.” The chief reason Rickard took the second Dempsey-Tunney fight to Soldier Field, Chicago, for the greatest of all heavyweight extravaganzas, was his de- sire to attract the biggest crowd in . He succeeded and the mark of nearly $3,000,000 for the “gate” from some 145,000 spectators may stand in- definitely. From the time he came to New York until the new Madison Square Garden was completed and opened, in 1925, Rickard envisioned this modern sports ‘palace as a monument to his achieve- ment. Years before it was realized or even considered more than a dream, Rickard poured over plans and specifi- «cations. It took years for him to con- vince hjs financial backers and part- mers that it was worth while. Rickard was intensely proud that the dig men of Wall Street supporied him and that important people in all walks of life came to boxing matches as he ‘raised the standards of their promo- tion. He often spoke of this as one of his outstanding achievements. His slogan, when he first undertook to promote the game on a big scale in New York, was “a seat for every customer and every customer in his own seat.” To this, perbaps more than 1o any other idea, was due his success in the great outdoor spectacles he put on. The patrons of boxing who used to Carpentier was “built up” as a real con- tender, when as a matter of fact he was | not a match for the smashing Demp- | sey. i Asked for Good Show, Rickard himself with so fearful of the ossible outcome that he went to Demp- sey’s dressing room before the match and pleaded with Jack “not to hit the | Frenchman too hard.” and to let the fight go a few rounds at least so that the record-breaking crowd would get something of a run for its money. “I was afrail Dempsey would kill Car- | pentier if he hit him too hard,” the promoter admitted later. Rickard regarded Jim Jeffries as the greatest of all heavyweight champions, but his interest in and admiration for Dempsey's fighting qualities was greater. For one thing, Dempsey's and Rickard's fortunes were closely entwined. Rickard promoted six of Dempsey’s eight championship fights, made the Mauler a millionaire and the greatest drawing card of them all. Some idea of the influence of Demp- sey in Rickard’s promotion scheme may be gained from the fact that of the something over $10,000,000 in gate re- ceipts from all the big fights Rickard has g:::loted, approximately $8,000,000 has realized in the six Dempsey battles—two with Tunney and one each | with Brennan, Firpo, Carpentier and Sharkey. It is a strange turn that takes Rick- ard from the arena at & time when he planned Dempsey’s farewell to the ring, the old mauler’s last effort to tegain the heights and be the only modern champion to win back the crown. A “Square-Shooter.” ‘The “racket” will miss Rickard—he fought it, bargained with it and out- witted it from the time he came to New York. He made enemies as well as friends. But what a manager, who had reason to be antagonistic to the promoter, once said of him is signifi- cant: “A tough bird, Rickard, but a square- shooter.” KNIFE FEAR OF TEX MAY HAVE COST LIFE By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, January 7.—If Tex Rickard had not feared a surgeon’s knife more than he did appendicitis, he might be alive today. He had suffered attacks of ap- pendicitis from time to time for the last 12 years, dreading an operation. He avoided it by repeated applica- tions of ice packs during each at- tack. Finally surgery was necessary. Just before the Dempsey-Carpen- tier fight at Jersey City in 1921 the promoter was stricken with a par- ticular violent attack. Physicians eased the pain with ice packs, but advised him to undergo an operation. He refused. “They’ll never get me with their bowies,” he used to say. “They can shoot me but not cut me‘." Rickard, Just “Dink” to Texans, By the Associated Press. ORT WORTH. Tex., January 7.— The wide world knew George Lewis Rickard as “Tex,” but when the telephone in his New York office rang and a voice said, “Hello, Dink,” he knew it was some friend from Texas. “Dink” Rickard left Henrietta, Tex., more than 32 years ago, and 30 years later he paid his first visit to bis old home, and came as “Tex” only to within tailing _distance of those who had known him as operator of a neighbor- ‘hood flying jinny, as cowboy on the Ed East 1anch in Archer County and as pity marshal of Henrietta. Rickard obtained a month's leave #rom his duties as city marshal 34 years | @20 and set out to find out about flour selling for $1 a pound in the Klondike of Alaska. “If it is that high, must be © lot of money there” he told a friend in leaving, “and I am going to get me a stake and buy 1,000 yearlings.” In the Klondike he made a stake of $60,000 and wrote back to the friend to tell of having enough money to buy the bank. The first money went quickly and he set out again to get the year- lings. He kept his ranching ambition, but instead of coming back to Clay or Archer County, both of which lie along the Red River in Northwest TeXas, he | turned his eye io South America, where be purchased a ranch of 418,000 acres. Rickara's samiy moved from Kansas City to the Cambridge community, Clay County, when the late famous ' prize | fight promoter was only 1 year old. The house in which he spent his childhood ‘was built by his father from logs sawed in the county. On his visit in 1926 to the old home, Rickard found it in need of repairs and occupied by a woman whose husband had been sent to the penitentiary, leaving the family some- What reduced. Before he left, Rickard had remedied the family finances and had bought the land on which the homestead stood. Maintained Cemetery. His father had moved the house three miles from Cambridge when Henrietta won a fight for the county seat. A short distance away was & cemetery in which are buried many of the old settlers. Rickard paid & visit to it and stopped at the family plot and before the stone aver his father’s grave on which he read the insription, “Robert W. Rickard, | ture of Jack Dempsey for a prize fight. | oublisher. a friend in Henrietta to see that the cemetery, no longer used for burial, re- ceived attention and that the fence be kept up. Another grave he visited was that of J. C. Curtis, who was killed in 1881. “I liked him because he was good to me,” Rickard drawled. ‘To his old friends on that visit he told of his first fight. It took place at a revival meeting that was being con- ducted between Cambridge and Hen- rietta. Rickard, a small boy, was standing on a watermelon wagon when a boy from Henrietta challenged him for a fight. It was a phase of the rivalry between the two communities, Rickard explained that betwcen the boors he wore and his long fingernails, the fight honors went to Henrietta. Rickard rode back home ‘“scratched from head to foot. I told my father I had fallen out of a grapevine,” he reculled. “Dad just remarked that ‘it was some grapevine’” Rickard also pointed out the Van Epps place “where I stole peaches when I was 6 years old.” He also recalled that he was never ahle to make his New York friends be- lieve that the famous Jesse James “used to come down to visit his sister, who lived across the street from us.” Beloved by Old Town. Rickard visited Henrietta after com- ing to Fort Worth to obtain the signa- The papers were signed in the office of Amon G. Carter, lifelong friend of Rickard and at present a newspaper “He was always a square shooter,” | Carter said today when informed of Rickard's death. “Rickard was a man | cool under fire,” Carter said. “He never became rattled and he attended to the smallest details on the eve of a great athletic contest with calmness and effi- ciency.” Rickard was extremely fond of his Texas friends and never failed to extend courtesies to them. Among those who knew Rickard as a cowboy is Dayton Moses, attorney for a cattle raisers’ association. Moses said that Rickard used to send tickets to big prize fights to his friends with whom he punched cattle on the East ranch. “We finally told him that it was just so far to New York that we couldn't get there and if he would just send GEORGE L OTER COUNTED OUT RICKARD, Picturesque career of man whose sports extravaganzas were the gzreatest ever staged, ended yesterday al Miami, Fla. By the Associated Press 1871—Born in Kansas City, January Tex’s dcath resulted from complications | following an operation for appendicitis. 2. 1875—Family moved to Sherman, Tex. 1881—Cow-puncher on range near Cambridge, Tex. 1894—Town marshal of Henriett. 1895—Joined gold rush to Klondike. Tex. 1896—Gambling hall proprictor at Dawson. tablished gambling hall at Nome. tablished gambling hall at ( 1906—Staged Gians-Nelson fight at ( 1910—Staged Johnson-Jefiries matc ioldfield, Nev. ioldfield for purse of $30,000. h at Reno, purse $101,000. 1918—Staged Willard-Dempsey match at Toledo, purse $125,000. 1920—Moved to New York to take charge of old Madison Square Garden. 1921—Staged Dempsey-Carpentier fight at Jersey 1923—Staged Dempsey-Firpo match Staged first Dempsey-Tunney ', purse $500,000, ‘at New York, purse $700,000. fight at Philadelphia, purse $900,000. Staged second Dempsey-Tunney match at Chicago, purse $1,500,000. RICKARD'S MILLIC 1 irpo, $1,838,822. 1926—Dempsey-Tunney, $1,892,733. 1927—Dempsey-Sharkey, $1,083,529. 1927—Dempsey-Tunney, $2,658.660. REGRET OVER RICKARD’S By the Associated Press. HICAGO, January T7.—Chicago boxing promoters, who often | fought and lost promotional battles with George Lewis “Tex” Rickard, today mourned his death as the most staggering loss the ring could have received. Every one connected with the sport, | from the lowilest boxer to men of | | wealth, who were connected with Rick- ard in the presentation of the Tunney- Dempsey battle on Soldier Field in 1927, felt a personal loss. James C. Mullen, Chicago promoter, | who often came out second in skir-| mishes with the New York boxing im- | presario, was profuse in his laudation. “Rickard was more than a promoter,” Mullen said. “He was a matchmaker and & business man. I always ad- mired his nerve. He has done more for boxing than any man ever connected with the game.” Mique Malloy, Jack Art, Joe Coffey and Paddy Harmon, other prominent Chicago promoters, paid tribute, say- mx“boxlnx has lost its greatest friend. ““Chicago has lost. a great friend and leader and the boxing world has lost & genius of promotion,” said Mayor William Hale Thompson, who aided Rickard in staging the Dempsey-Tunney match, which drew a record crowd of 148,000 and a gate of nearly $3,000,000, LONDON, December 7 (&).—Great regret over the death of Tex Rickard was expressed in boxing circles here. C. B. Cochran, British promoter, said: “He was a brilliant organizer and what Westerners would call a ‘square shooter.’ ;‘erd him much as did all who knew B 1 | | | Harry Preston of Brighton, who visit- ed America a few years ago, said: “He IN-DOLLAR GATES. arpentier, $1,626,580, was one of the finest promoters the world has ever seen and his loss will be widely mourned. PARIS, January 7 (#).—French box- ing circles mourned the death of Tex Rickard. “He was the greatest boxing promo- ter in history,” said Francois Descamps, manager of Georges Carpentier, the French idol, who once fought Dempsey for the heavyweight title under Rickard's direction.” BUENOS AIRES, January 7 (). Luis Angel Firpo, Argentine heavy- weight Tex Rickard brought from South America in 1923 to create a sensa- | tion 1in fistic circles, was visibly affected of the promoter’s death. “Rickard was a man in whom | placed the utmost trust,” the erstwhile | “wild Bull of the Pampas” said. *The | world has lost the foremost figure in boxing circles and the game has suf- fered a great blow.” Firpo intimated that his plans for a comeback in the United States may be @bandoned because of = Rickard’s eath. MACON, Ga., January 7 (#).—W. L. (Young) Stribling and “Pa” Sbribling, his manager-father, today expressed deep regret at the passing of Tex Rickard. | | Miami Beach, Fla, on February 27, will be held as planned, in all probabil- ity, “Pa” Stribling said, “but without Tex Rickard there, it won't be the same.” “Rickard was one of the first men to see my son as_a champlon, and steadfastly had he held to the belief that W. L. has the goods. He was instrumental in placing Strib where he iz, and we will certainly miss him.” Jack | when informed by the Associated Press ! “The fight with Jack Sharkey at | NEW CARDEN BOSS. " DFFRILTTO RN Dempsey May Get Post Left| Open by Rickard’s Death, ‘ New York Rumor. BY HERBERT W. BARKER, Associated Press Sports Writer. EW YORK, January 7.—Boxing in general, and Madison Square Garden more_particularly, will have to look far and wide be- fore it finds another Tex Rickard. The one-time cowhoy, gold miner and sambling _hell proprietor found the Same in disrepute, looked upon askance | by those he himseif would call the “best | people.” He leaves it now a thoroughly | respectable sport, patronized alike by | upper and under crust. | “His uncanny ability to foresee whal | the public wanted enabled him to hang | | up purses previously undreamed of and | still clear huge profits either for him- |self or the Garden corporation. The | Garden, indoor home of boxing, hockey, | bicycle 'racing. track and field meets and other sports, stands almost as a | personal monument to the man. It is | the House that Tex built. He was the | brain_that made it pay huge dividends. | Whether another can succeed as well | remains to be seen. | Vice Presidents to Direct. For the present at least, the Garden probably will operate under the joint | direction of William F. Carey, vice | president #nd treasurer, and Col. John | S. Hammond, vice president and assist- ant general manager. One or the other of this pair may eventually be selected !to become Rickard's permanent suc- cessor. But in the event that neither chosen, there are others whose names alrezdy have been linked with gossip | concerning the management of the Gar- | is den. Not the least often mentioned is the | { name of Jack Dempsey ‘The old Ma- | nassa mauler, ready to fight once more | | for his friend, Tex, probably will never enter the ring again. He has often said | that he would fight for no one but Tex. | | Dempsey’s rise in fortunes was synony- mous with Rickard's. They were bound | by strong ties, not only of business, but | | of personal friendship. There is no | | denying that his sclection to head the | | boxing end of the Garden's business | | would be a popular one. But Rickard's | success was not due simply to popular- | ity. Most of it can be attributed to far- | | ightedness amounting to absolute ge- nius. = | . Another nominee for the vacant chair | | is John M. Chapman, czar of the six- | day bicycle race game and a former | assistant to Rickard. Chapman is no | novice in the gentle promotional art | and he had the benefit of long tute- | lage from Rickard, acknowledged as the greatest master of that art the | world has seen since P. T. Barnum. Whoever the successor, it may be written definitely that the Garden will | complete all the projects Tex had in | mind before his death. The Stribling- | Sharkey match at Miami Beach, Fla., | arrangements for which Rickard was making when he was stricken by acute gangrenous appendicitis, is to be staged on its scheduled date, February 217. For the rest, the Garden is hanging out a “business as usual” sign. That, Garden officials feel, is as Tex would have had it. FLYERS’ EFFORTS TO AID ! RICKARD PROVE FUTILE CAMAGUEY, Cuba, January 7 (®). —Eight Americans flying against time, made a futile attempt to bring medical aid to Tex Rickard. After landing on a precariously small field at Manzanillo and getting Dr. Wil- liam Mayo, famous surgeon, for whom they had flown 1,200 miles, the party arrived at Camaguey yes- terday only to learn that Rickal had died. Dr. Mayo dined last night with Ca J. M. Batterson, Gloyd Gib- bons and Basil Woon, and expressed regret that the attempt to obtain his aid had been made too late. The members of the party were unani- mous in their praise for the doctor, who, when told that Rickard was dying, said: “Where’s the plane?” Although the plane was in a cane- field, Dr. Mayo climbed into it, but dusk forced the fliers down at Ca- maguey. . i RICKARD WAS FINE SON, AGED MOTHER DECLARES SEATTLE, Wash., January 7 (#). —The 81-year-old mother of Tex Rickard, Mrs. L. J. Adams, was dry eyed when told of the death of the sporting promoter at her modest bungalow here. “He was one good son if there ever was one,” Mrs, Adams said. “He mever brought me anything but happiness and joy. We had some good times together, and he thought his mother was a good sport.” TEX COULD HANDLE By the Associated Press. WICHITA FALLS, Tex., January 7.— Tex Rickard’s ability to handle men, which made him the greatest boxing promoter of all time, helped him to keep the peace as city marshal in Henrietta, Tex., near here, without gun play in the hectic days of 30 years ago. Oldtimers say that they can recall no stories of Tex beating bad men to the draw and add that he was better at drawing a full house than a gun, but Henrietta was a peaceful town, as peaceful towns went in those days along the Texas-Oklahoma border, while Tex was city marshal. His chief ocupation in those days was seeing that skylarking cowboys missed innocent bystanders when they decided to cut loose with their “ar- tillery” and make some noise. Tex’s father died when he was 10 years old and the support of the family devolved upon the only son, George L. Tex met the responsibility by be- coming a cowhand, and for several years he rode the range in Clay County, Tex., and adjacent territory. ‘While serving as city marshal he met and married his first wife, Leona Bit- tick, who died a few years later and ‘was buried here. Rickard was known as a poker player” long before he left Henri~ etta to seek his fortune in the Klondike. He enjoyed any game of chance and his decision to go to Alaska was largely based on his love of taking a gambler’s chance, RICKARD GOT NICKNAME ON JAUNT TO ALASKA FORT WORTH, Tex., January 7 (®). —Tex Rickard’s nickname, by which the world knew him, was acquired in from Seattle to Alaska during the Klondike gold rush. A sailor on the ship called Rickard 1840-1881.” Nearby were the graves of his grandparents. For a number of s before, Rickard had sent funds, to us a Chrisimas card once in a while, we wonl be his friends, anyway,” Mose added. ¥Tex,” and the name was taken up by members of a theatrical troupe on the boat. THEM WITHOUT GUN| “smart | 1895, when he was on a steamship going | By the Associated Press. fortune, which had b2en im- of the Northern saloon at Crook and and Nome. the desert. “The sky” was the limit, the turn of a card. { himself as he went off shift. More than ONOPAH, Nev., January 7.—Tex Rickard came to the Nevada gold flelds in 1903 to retrieve his paired by a streak of bad luck at_Nome, Alaska. Rickard threw together the framework Main_streets and with Ole Elliott and Kid Highley he reproduced the gam- bling houses he had owned in Dawson The Northern resort was the scene of what old-timers sald were the great- est gambling plays' ever witnessed on and promoters and “wild-catters” were said to have “got all the excitement they craved,” frequently laying $10,000 on Eight bartenders were employed on a shift, making 24 for each day. Each man drew $12 from the till and pald 50 dealers were employed, and visitors sll? champagne flowed more freely than water. Stages First Fight, ‘Through Rickard’s efforts, the Gans- Nelson fight was staged in Goldfield as a community affair. Oldtimers deny that Rickard concelved the idea, saying John Mateer, a reporter from Santiago, where he had served under Theodore Roosevelt, wrote the first message to the Gans-Nelson fight promoters on his own responsibility, saying Goldfield cit- izens would put up a purse of $30,000 to stage the fight on Labor day. ‘The story is that Mateer showed the message to Rickard, and that the latter | Joined heartily in the movement. The offer was accepted, and when a com- mittee arrived from the East seeking some assurance that the camp could fill the purse, they were shown, in the win- dow of the Northern, a pile of canvas ist‘m(:k.l containing $30,000 in $20 gold aleces. The sacks remained in the window, unguarded, until the day of the fight. The display proved good advertising, and newspaper correspondents Wwho came to cover the fight never tired of telling about the reckless display of treasure in that ‘big room, which thousands visited daily. Fortune smiled on Rickard and he decided to give Goldfield its first real home, one which contained all the fur- inshings of an Eastern mansion. The result was a brick house which, rhiners id, “stood out like a bonfire in Rag- town.” The bricks were sent in from Reno by express, and almost cost their weight in silver. The house had a bathtub, steam heating plant, and a lawn, and cost $75,000, although San Trancisco visitors at the time said 1t | i \Nelson-Gans Battle Was First Promotion Venture by Rickard could have been built there for $5,000. One year’s water bill for irrigating the Jawn was $1,300 because water cost more than beer in the blaring mining camp. Miners relate of the period that hottled beer was used after the manner of hand grenades to fight the fire which destrcyed the first Goldfield hotel. One feature of the Northern saloon was a bank of deposit, where miners and business men took their pay checks. Deposit. entries were made in a small grocer’s pass book, but the saloon gave the depositors no receipts. The bank was convenient for gamblers who went broke, as they could get their money at any time. Old Timers said hundreds deposited money at the hank and never claimed it. After the 1907 panic_business dwin- dled at the Northern. Rickard left the saloon to Highley and Elliott and moved across the street to the Palace Bar, where he tried his fortune, but without success. His new Northern, in Raw- hide, built almost overnight, caught the crest of the boom trade there, however. Always a Diplomat. When the Rawhide boom ended, Rick- ard went East, and his friends in Ne- vada next heard that he was promoting a cattle ranch in Paraguay. Old Nevada residents sald Rickard | was always quiet, careful to avoid of- fending customers and never coun-: tenancing “rough stuff” in his resorts. | He had ‘a reputation for charity toward | individuals and ready response to civic | appeals. His habit of keeping his own counsel was described as “playing the lone wolf.” One story old-timers Yold to illustrate Rickard's “hair-trigger” action was that when he saw his saloon was doomed in the fire which destroyed Rawhide, ‘he called John McCormick, carpenter, and induced him to draft an order for every- thing needed to rebuild the place. e | Northern was ablaze before McCormick finished making out the order, but when it was complete, Rickard seized the paper and ran to the Western Union office. There he found the operator locking his records into the safe, prepa- ratory to abandoning the office. Rick- ard induced him to stay long enough to send the order, which he finished 10 minutes before the fire caught the tele- graph office. GRANDEE WINS RACE. NIECE, France, January 7 (#).— Grandee, 5-year-old belonging to Jean Racine, 'won the Grand Prix de Monaco from a field of 10 starters yes- terday. Jules Fribourg’s Petit. Bob was | second and Jean Lieu’s Yarlas, the {a-l vorite, third, é ment in Promotion | most of his career. | Harvard and other universities, HOT SACK OFFERS THE SPORTLIGHT y Grantland Rice Rating the Dazzler. 2 HERE are more than a few from the fanatical crop following base ball ‘who refuse to let their favorite dish slip out of range even in Midwinter. One of these wants to know just where Dazzy Vance of Brooklyn should | be rated among the greatest pitchers of all-time. The answer is prac- tically as follows: Just about as good a pitcher as any crowd ever cheerec Vance hasn't been working with pennant winners or pennant contenders He hasn’t had any great amount of run-making support to let him ease up and drift along now and then. Any pitcher who can lead the strikeout division for seven consecutive years is a great pitcher— one of the greatest. ‘Vance belongs with Mathewson, Waddell, John- son, Alexander and Walsh—f{rom the more or less modern wing. Rating the greatest—or the three greatest—is a job that is politely passed along to some one willing to tackle an impossibility. But when any select group is named, the Dazzler has to be one of the collection. How dys like those birdshot I'm throwing at you?” Vance asked Pittsburgh one day as they were riding him. He comes pretty close to being the Birdshot King. He at least can make a base ball look smaller as it skips across & corner than any pitcher in the game—and you ean go back to the top days of Waddell and Johnson and Rusie to R jp | match him, Those who have batted against both Johnson and Vance report there is little difference—that sizing up the speed of a rifle bullet at close range is a half step beyond the limit of the human eye. When you can't see ‘em they must look pretty much like the same thing—which is blank space. A Mystery Solved. The Judge replied with ire: “No wonder you inquire! They double-crossed my buyer. He got the wrong Maguire; He thought it was his sire.” JOHN LARDNER. Holiday Cheer for Blue and Green. Dear Sir: Little is heard outside New England of two of America’s greatest and oldest preparatory schools—Andover and Exeter. For this reason the general sporting public is unaware of the fleld and track activities of three Andover alumni, now just started on their college carcers. Their names are Ted Avery, Bill Hoffman and Fred Weicker, and if they fulfill any of the promises they displayed in school, Yale and Dartmouth may count themselves fortunate so far as track athletics are concerned. Besides, both Avery and Hoffman starred on their respective foot ball teams this Fall, and Avery can play basket ball and almost any other game you care to mention. Every time he goes back to his home in Three Forks, Mont., Ted is given the key to the city. I don’t know what he does with it. Here are a few facts about Avery's prowess: He pole vaults in the immediate neighborhood of 12 feet, he high jumps 6 feet 1 inch, broad jumps 22 feet, runs the 100 in 10 flat and the 220 in a trifle over 22, and is a consistent placer in the high hurdles and discus throw. He has specialized in the last two events at Yale and in a recent inter-class meet in which varsity men were entered, he secured first places in both. At Andover, the strain of running from one event to another was too much for him, and in the meet with Exeter last Spring, he limited himself to six events and amassed & scant individual total of 26 points. Weicker, now in his second year at Yale, distinguished himself by making the Olympic team as a discus thrower. He captairied the track team at Andover A party sent a wire ‘To Emil Fuchs Esquire: “How did you come to hire A young and full of fire Infieider like Maguire?” and consistently tossed the disc over 125 feet, and in the Olympic tryouts was | only a few feet behind Bud Houser’s mark. Bill Hoffman, who was captain of the Dartmouth freshman foot ball eleven this Fall, is one-of the kind you hate to bump against on & dark night, or even on a clear afternoon. He put (or putted) the 12-pound shot (the official interscholastic weight) over 50 feet, and held the interscholastic hammer throw record with a toss of just under 200 feet. Andover alumni have rightly attributed the great track teams of recent | years to the ability of Ray Shepard, generally recognized as one of the foremost coaches in the country, who has been offered the position of head coach at Just keep an eye on the men he turns out and particularly on the Three I have mentioned. JOHN LARDNER, Andover, 29, Two Specialists. “If you had to name the two star specialists from the last foot ball season,” asks L. G., “who would get the nominations?” Harpster and Scull. Harpster is the best passer the game has shown since Benny Friedman. Scull is the best all-around kicker of many years—one of the best foot ball ever sent on any fleld. Friedman and Harpster are the two most accurate passers I have ever seen in foot ball—and this doesn't mean long distance throwing. Scull is the best all-around kicker—punting—drop kicking and place kicking —since Jim Thorpe. These are merely personal opinions that may not agree with those held by several thousand others. (Copyright. 1929.) winners. His 603 earned ninth position. One-Game Roll-oft of Tie. But one tie will have to be broken before the prizes are awarded. Oscar J. Oehler, the Petworth alley manager, and J. F. Doyle, veteran of the drives, are tled for tenth place. Tournament o 1s have %e;lded 2 shm)t;fl 1'1:2 necessary. e game W rol before Thursday to determine which shall gain tenth place. Doyle is the only old-timer and independent bowler to figure in the awards. High-game records for the initial tour- nament are held by Harold A. Neft of the Masonic League and Rena Levy of the Washington Ladies’ and Ladies’ District Leagues. Neff gave promise of threatening Taft’s high mark when he opened his tournament set with & 170 | count. This figure is just one pin better than Charley Lyons' 169 last game.! Rena finished Wer set with a 131 count after a poor 89 at the start. Success attendant to the first Evening Star tournament assures the renewal of the affair each year during the Christ- mas holiday season. The tourney has assumed a ]lwmmlnent lace on the local duckpin calendar and promises to be- come the lu{ut individual duckpin tournament held anywhere. Time and place for the distribution of prizes will be announced later. and woman champions of The | 393, big tourney was ready to open, Clar-| Mandley, who finished third, were the stars of the game failed to monopolize ding star to finish among the en’s section. game of any of the woman bowlers Taft’s Record Remarkable. five-game score registered this season, Georgetown Church , Taft Conn. He is quite a youngster and 1?': Georgetown Church League he holds there are no upsets to disturb the Na- endeq in deadlocks, and contenders for though both are being crowded. RANK-AND-FILE BOWLERS Evening Star duckpin tourna-| Glenn Walstenholme, whose 627 set ment, which came to a close | earned second place, regained ence W. Taft nor Margaret Miltner, | only members of the “big ten” here the ultimate winners, were considered | to push into the prize list. Jack Wol- the prizes. But.three of the front-rank pinmen finished among the first twenty, Mrs. Miltner, who carries an average under 100 in the Washington Ladies’ during the tournament, negotiating a difficult spare in the final box of the ‘Taft's remarkable set of the opening night of the tournament is likely to but is one of the few sets over 650 ever rolled here. gained immediate remnl;fin as a great prospect by his sensational per- ently has a great future ahead local duckpin circles. Although he RANGERS, AMERICANS ‘lonal Hockey League standings, tie games always are present to cause the top places in the two divisions fig- ured in all of them. The standing: International Grouv. SHINE IN THE STAR MEET F Saturday night at the Lucky|much of the gfil’eosnfl‘e he has lost in stars in their respective leagues. stenholme, who is battling for a rank- while the same number of top-notchers ague, was a real champion Saturday last game to give her a decisive mar- remain on the record books here for Rolling his first season in this sec- formance in The Star tournament. He hoasts an average of bu the trouble for the leaders. 1wo New York teams, the Rangers Won. Lost. Tied; Polnts, ROM obscurity ‘come the man|the high set mark for that circuit at Strike drives. Two weeks ago when the | recent compel He and Brad ‘True to expectations, the ranking ::1{! n'.lvn this season, was the other finished among the first 10 in the wom- {'nfaht. She shot the most consistent gin over Elsie Fischer, who was second. some time. It is not only the largest tion with the St. Alban’s team of the recently came here from Naugatuck, it 106 NEW YORK, January 7 (#).—When Five of the 14 games played Jast week | and Americans, still set the pace, Americans Toronto Maroons Canadiens 2 ttawa, 15 Tied; Points, 5 5 3 Rangers . Detroit. Boston Pittsbury Chicago . D. C. NETMEN BEATEN AS LEAGUE PLAY ENDS BALTIMORE, January 7.—Washing- | ton’s team was beaten, 3 to 6, by Clifton Park in the final match of the Balti- more Winter Indoor Tennis League here yesterday. ‘The victory enabled the winners to retain the league title. Bob Considine, George Washington University luminary and captain of the District of Columbia indoor team, and Frank Shore, District junior champlon, were the only Washingtonians to win in the singles. O'Nelll and Yeomans triumphed in their doubles match. Summaries: . 63, | Geteated" Tavior: . o e 63, 63 Parber (CP. 4 . @ | DOUBLES. | Jacobsen and La Fleur defeated Mitcheil | SINGLES, " PRO BASKET BALL. Brooklyn Visitauons, 32; Trenton, 2. id Buchi . d 3 fison” deten éfl'fi.fin‘.:m:e"fi?'%%:r}f' 3 o 6 eamans ] Rudy and Fachery 0-3 3-8 g Detroit | hawks, 0. SPORTS. of Boxing Fans Debating as to Whom He Will Play There in Coming Campaign. BY BRIAN BELL. Associated Press Sports Writer. NEW YORK, January —Miller Huggins, mite manager of the world champion New York Yankees, may know who will play third base for him next season—no one else does. Huggins apparently is more interested at the moment in keeping a golf ball on thy confines of St. Petersburg greens. Joe Dugan, who has played thir{ base for the Yankees in five world series, will not be among those present when “Hug” calls the roll at St. Pete. To replace “Jumping Joe” on the face of available returns, the little strategist has Gene Robertson, who played 70 games at the position last year; Mark Koenig, if another shortstop is de- veloped in the Spring, and Julian Wera, who has been acquiring experience in A. A. leagues for two years. Leo Durocher can play shortstop, and Lyn Lary comes well recommended from Oakland, but has yet to earn his big league spurs. ‘When Manager Huggins is conceded only one infield problem it is assumed that Tony Lazeri will be himself again | at second base. He was troubled with a bad shoulder last year. If the in- jury should persist “Durocher would | bave to be thrown into the second base | opening. { There will be no argument at first | base with Lou Gehrig playing the bag {and pounding out home runs and George Burns in reserve to hit doubles. There will be no outfield revision Babe Ruth, Earle Combs and Bob Meusel are intact and the two substi- tutes of last year, Ben Paschal and Cedric Durst again will stand and wait. Benny Bengough, John Grabowski and Bill Dickey will be the club’s trio of cafchers unless Arndt Jorgens, an Oklafloma City recruit, can fight his way in. Pitchers include five left handers. Herb Pennock, Tom Zachary and Fred Heimach are holdovers and Ed Wells, former major leaguer, but later of Birmingham, and Lee Craig, another Oklahoma City product, are additions. Waite Hoyt, George Pipgras, Henry Johnson, Myles Thomas and Al Shealy are other vetcrans who will be back. Gordon Rhodes, Hollywood; Tay Thomas, Oklahoma City; Roy Sherid, Montreal, and Floyd Van Pelt, Mont- gomery, will make bids. |INTERCITY BOWLING LOSING FAVOR HERE Inter-city bowling matches are likely io be confined to doubles and singles competition in the future. Five-man team matches have lost their popularity, Al Gardner, Convention Hall mana~ r, declared after the matches with St:m- ford, Conn., and Brooklyn bowlers w:re completed Saturday. Doubles and individual matches = much less expensive and more populr. Gardner believes. It is probable that team matches with Baltimore and Rich- mond pinmen will continue, but five- man team matches with Brooklyn and New England bowlers are a thing of the past so far as Convention Hall in- terests are concerned. ‘The present campaign has brought unusual popularity to doubles competi- tion. Al Fischer and George L. Isemann have done much to make the two-man matches popular. The fact that they have offers to shoot in numerous citles, including Philadelphia, York and Lan- caster, Pa.; Baltimore, Richmond and other places irdicates just how popular they have made doubles battles. Man and woman doubles leagues have been organized here for the first time and both nave proven big attractions at Convention Hall, King .Pin and Arcadia. George Lang and Ray Von Dreele, the Baltimore alley aces, are ready to meet the best doubles teams of the District. They have challenged the Paul Harrison-Max Rosenberg team of the District Doubles League, and in- dications are that a home-and-home match will be arranged for the near future. These two pairs are about as formidable as one could find anywhere in the country. Von Dreele is especially strong in doubles competition. During the past week he shot two five-game sets above the 600 mark while paired with Eddle Rommel. One of his sets was near the 660 mark and two days before he hung up & 625 set. BOWLING WINNERS HYATTSVILLE, Md., January 7.— Winners in the annual Prince Georges County championship singles bowling tournament, which ended on the Arcade alleys here Saturday night, will be pre- sented prizes tonight, starting at 8 o'clock, by Myles Quail, president of the Count Duckpin Association. Gold pieces will be awarded Atwood Bassford, class A winner, who_ rolled 613, and Carroll Garrison, class B, who rolled 560 in the men’s competition. Mrs. Pauline Ford, who triumphed in the women's division with a 314 set, will get a similar prize. Gold pieces also will be presented runners-up as follows: Tom Walker, class A, who had 594; L. Walsh and E. Aldridge, class B, who were tied with 557, and Mrs. Mary Eaton, who was second among the women with 284. Other leaders will be awarded prizes in merchandise offered by merchants of the community. ROETTGER IS READY TO PLAY FOR CARDS 2 Associated Press. Wallie Roettger, star St. Louis Cardinal outfielder, who was forced out of the game last July 4, is raring for the call to the Red Birds’ training camp at Avon Park, Fla. When Roettger broke his leg, many pigdicted he was through with base bail and that he would never be as fleet. The leg has healed completely. however, and ;umudm say his speed will not be af- ec Roettger is coaching basket ball at Tlinois Wesleyan College, where his charges have won the Illinois Confer- ence champlonship three seasons run- P.ROFESSIONAL HOCKEY. New York Americans, 0; Neg York FORMER UMPIRE IS DEAD. CHICAGO, January 7 (#).—Calvin 1. Stambaugh, real estate dealer, and at one time an umpire in the old National °L1§:¢ue, is dead here, He was 70 years