New Britain Herald Newspaper, February 26, 1916, Page 10

NEW, BRITAIN DAILY HERALD, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1916. Photos by American Press Associatlon. 1~—Shows winter bathers tossing the medicine ball on the beach. 2.— Winter bathers tossing a newcomer in the air. 3.—Bathers coming out of the icy surf. 4.—One of the vet- erans of the winter bathing club. A snow ball fight among the winter bathers after a plunge in the ocean. 6—Winter bathers shoveling snow. By TOMMY CLARK. ITH the thermometer hov- ering around the zero mark, how would you like to don a bathing suit, take your ax in your hands, saunter out on the ice and chop holes big enough to are persecuting me; you are torment- et you dive in and swim around for a few minutes, and then after your iey bath ¢ome out and roll around in the snow for a few minutes more?’ Well, this is required of ‘évery member of a winter bathing club in New York: Several years ago there were a few men who took their daily dips in the fcy surf, but during the past two years hundreds have taken it up. The well recognized fact that pneumonia, rheu- matism and tuberculosis are unknown allments in the arctic and that the Es- kimos never catch cold are the foun- dation stones upon which these bathers base their belief, but any one else should of course consult a physician before attempting this heroie cure. Recently the writer met several of the winter “surf bathing flends” as they were “warming up” on the beach | sand at Brighton Beach, N, Y., pre-|i paratory to going in for a dip. It was|l a bit chilly, even though the sun was | i shining brightly, and some of the bath- ers seemed to be trying to conceal a shiver by hopping around and throw- ing a medicine ball from one to anoth- er. The bathers stood in a big circle, each man about ten feet from the oth- | er, and they kept throwing the ball about vigorously. The bathers have access to the bath- ing pavilion, and they dress and un- dress in the same rooms that they used | in the summer time. Two men first| made thelr appearance on the beach| about 11 o'clock. They stalkéd about! cerned, these two, and soon half a dozen hardy | citizens, attired in the regulation bath-| ing suits, {were at | Quite a crowd had collected on the beach to watch them. but they soon got the nto action to try to stop the chatter- ng of their teeth, which had been mak- ng a noise like castanets. Throw Medicine Ball. In a few minutes another joined with ~sweaters over them,| work on the medicine ball. Some of the cu- rious had come in automobiles, and these stood around in greatcoats and furs and were none too warm at that. After tossing the medicine ball around for fifteen or twenty minutes an elder- ly man with gray hair and closely trim- for awhile trying to apnear uncon.)med beard broke out of the circle of ing platform. as do those who bathe al all the ocean as if he w. anxious about Another followed his example after a|fury of the winds and waves of the little while, and finally the whole half| winter. dozen started for the surf. tossers and edged slowly toward sn't particularly its delights. sampling Those who had remained to watch shivered a little more, and some but-|cramp, staggered out on the beach. toned their overcoats under their chins. But the bathers, well warmed by this time, gave a vell and dashed into the surf all together. out some distance before striking wa- ter deep enough to swim. All were ap- parently good swimmers, and they splashed about in the chilly February water like porpoises. They could not swim out to the atv- They had to wade| there in summer, for there was none|the work of the water. there. It had becn s shed to pieces Rubbing to Restore Circulation. | and scattered in all directions by the| ©ne man rubbed another vigorously, circulation was active a n. It was rumored among the watchers that a bottle had been seen in the possession of one holsted at an angle which would indicate that it was doing the work intended for it, but this could not be verified. For some years various persons have taken dips in the ocean in the coldest weather. Dr. W. E. Crockett of Boston, Dr. Boise Small of Brooklyn and Ed Manley of the New York A. C. haven't missed their dally plunge in the seas in the winter for many seasons. George Bothner, the famous and soon their The swimmers did not remain in very long. Ome, who said he was getting a He was quickly followed by another and another. They did not say they were| getting cramps, but it certainly looked | as if they were getting cold feet. All | were shivering. Did they stand around and throw the | ball again to warm up before dressing- They did not. They went as fast as their shivering limbs would carry them to the dressing rooms in the pavilion light- and with heavy towels began to undo| weight wrestler, once astonished sev- | eral hundred people by diving in among cakes of ice in the Hudson river and remaining in the water almost an the hour. heart. In many cases this is true. ter recently witnessed a bad case of this sort. pion. Some doctors are of the opinion that winter bathing has a bad effect on the A | person who does not possess strong lungs and a strong heart should not at- tempt to go winter bathing. The wri- The person was Dave Mur- phy, one of the best swimmers in New York city and a protege of Henry Eli- onsky, the famous long distance cham- Murphy had been competing In an indoor pool meet, and at the request of several friends he decided to swim a hundred yards in the lcy surf He started, but failed to finish. Murphy dove into the water and started to swim. He had gone but a few yards when his arms and legs stiffened. FHe was helpless. His friends rushed to his rescue. It was an hour or more befors Murphy was restored to consclousness. It is said that he will have to forever quit competing in races, due to & weak heart action. Murphy was one of the most promising young swimmers de- veloped in New York in the past twe seasons, but now his career is ruined. One of the most remarkable feats in connection with winter surf bathisg was that performed by Ford Welp, a husky young Brooklyn swimmer, at Brighton Beach, N. Y., a few weeks ago. Mr. Welp swam nearly a mile with the temperature of the water around 45 de- grees. He finished the swim in remark- ably fast time and none the worse for wear. Welp has been indulging In winter bathing for the past three years, and he states that he has felt no ill effects from the sport. However, we'll give Mr. Welp the once over a year from now and we'll bet dollars to doughnuts that his heart action i{s not as strong as it was twelve months before. 4 BASKETBALL TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OLD ¢PLAY BALL!" cried Eve, tossing, the apple to Adam. And ever| since their descendants have been do- ing so. The instinct to evolve games in which balls of various kinds fizure seems to be universal, and its history is, as the highbrows say, lost in the mists of an- tiguity. The earth itself is a ball, al- though slightly flattened in spots, as if it had been pasted on the trademark by some celestial Ty Cobb. When the first palefaces invaded this now well known continent they found Poor Lo amusing himself with a ball game which the French afterward call- ed lacrosse. Baseball, which is a de- velopment of the older games of round- ers and “town ball;” football, which | was first played by the English with the head of a captured Dane as the| ball; cricket, billiards, tennis, golf, nockey, polo, bowling, basketball and various other games are played with balls. Youngest Game. Youngest of the popular ball games is basketball, which passes the quarter century mark this year, having been invented in 1891 by Dr. James Nai- smith, thén director of physical train- ing at the Springfield (Mass.) training | school, but later with the University of Kansas. It was twenty-four years ego on Jan. 15, 1892, that the first match basketball game was played at | Springfield between two class teams. In the previous month, at a meeting | of the facuity of the Springfield school, the need of some new mode of exercise was discussed. It was agreed that HELP TO ENGLISH MOTORCARS. The famous Brooklands track, in Eng- land, is maintained by a gentleman who is a devotee of speed. There are no meetings there such United States, but nearly every day ewners of fast cars go out, pay a fee sand then see what speed they can maintain. There is no doubt but the information manufacturers and inven- {ors have derived from the work of en- gines and cars on the Brooklands track | has had much to do with the develop- ment of English motorcars. RAH HKAH BOWLING. s we have in the | there was a demand for a sport that would provide plenty of action without brutality and which would serve the purpose of scientific physical develop- ment. Dr. Naismith gave mueh thought to the problem and soon evolved the game of basketball. The first contest demonstrated that the new sport has a powerful appeal. Goals were made of iron hoops from which nets were suspended. The lat- ter were at first so woven as to hold the ball, but later it was found desir- able to change the nets so that the ball would drop through to the playing floor. Quick Popularity. The Y. M. C. A. was largely respon- sible for the immediate and widespread popularity of basketball. The game is now played by nearly 175,000 boys and men in the United States and Canada and probably has more devotees than any other sport, with the exception of baseball. Nor is basketball confined to Amer- fca, for it has been introduced with great success in several European countries and in the Philippines, China, Japan, Hawail, Argentina, Brazil, Uru- guay and Chile, In South America the newest of ball games is much bet ter known than is baseball, and in the Philippines and Japan basketball threatens the popularity of the dia- mond pastime. As a winter sport, bas- ketball has wonderful possibilities, and in the years to come it will doubtless play an increasingly important part in raising the physical standards youth, BUILD INDIANA GYM IN YEAR. THE University of Indiana hopes to bave its new gymnasium com- pleted by Jan. 1, 1917. Work on its erection has just begun. When the in- door stage and field are completed the entire cost of the new athletic head- quarters at the Bloomington institution will be upward of $300,000. CROKER DIDN'T NEED IT. RICHARY) CROKER’S winnings on the Irish turf last season, amount- | ing to $10,000, have been given to the Dublin Red Cross society. WISCONSIN-ILLINOIS LEAGUE TO REORGANIZE. IP'HE Wisconsin-Illinois league, which disbanded last year, will reorganize %7 ALF university bowling team will ~ “roll tenpin matches nagainst the Cornell and Princeton quintets this winier. in the spring. of | | | Tex Rickard, Promoter, Makes Big Name by SOK\IE of the gamest men that ever walked in shoe leather belong to the class of sports who promote box- ing. Dan A. Stuart, who pulled oft the fight between Jim Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons at Carson City, Nev., was the ploneer in handling modern Queensbury contests, and to him a worthy successor appeared when Tex Rickard bounded into the limelight with a $30,000 purse for Battling Nel- son and Joe Gans at Goldfield, Nev, in 1806. Rickard is coming back after years of inactivity in the promoting line. Re- cently he offered to stage a ten round contest between Jess Willard and Frank Moran in New York city. A glad hand should be extended this man, who is a credit to the game. Stages Gans-Nelson Fight. No guch a shock was ever handed the sporting world as the announcement of Rickard ten years ago that he would pull off the championship fight between 1ttling Nelson and Joe Gans for the lightweight championship in the little town of Goldfield, Ney. Tex was roast- :d on all sides, but he went through with the job, and that his judgment was right was proved by the fact that the contest drew over $69,000. Rickard quit a big winner and gained the repu- tation of being the greatest promoter in the history of the American prize ring. Rickard's second play that required the nerve and honesty of a real gam- | bler came in 1910, when he pulled off the fight between Jim Jeffries and Jack Johnson for the world's heavyweight championship at Reno, Nev. This match attracted people from all over the world. Pays Jeffries $117,000. It was fought in the hot sun on the Fourth of July, and Johnson won on a knockout in the fifteenth round. Tex had promised the fighters a king's ran- som for their share, and they got all that was coming to them. Jeffries re- ceived $117,000. Johnson got $120,000. The total gate receipts were $270,7 No better evidence is needed that Tex is the king ¢f promoters than these two fights. He is in a class by him- self and will make them all hustle when he gets back in the harness. ?aking’ Big Chances Photo by American Press Association. TEX RICKARD, ON RIGHT, TALKING MATTERS OVER WITH HIS SIDE \u% heavyweight, knocked out giant the latter fell on his face. laugh. | wrestling show has seen some funny duced equally laughable results. Tale of Peculiar Knockouts. before the American Athletic members, but it wasn't a “k. 0. be- cause the receiver was so tough he re fused to take the ten count. The con- testants were Billy Stift, who now is a park policeman in Chicago, and Jack Driscoll, one of the toughest Irishmen who ever drew on a glove. The two boys were of the rough toss sort, and exchanging wallops was really a de- lightful pastime to both of them. They did not allow cleverness to in- terfere with the joy they got out of slugging, and as the result both took many a stiff wallop that would have caused a fighter of less sturdy struc- ture to seek the canvas. For three rounds of that mill they went at each other like wildcats, and both showed plenty of evidence that the blows had landed. In the fourth round, however, Stift swung a right hander that started a couple of feet behind himself. The fist connected with Driscoll's jaw, and the impact could be heard all over the arena. Driscoll Keeps His Feet. But the strangest part of all was that Driscoll didn't drop when the blow con- nected. He stood like a statue in fight- ing pose, and Stift, who knew that he never had landed a harder punch, was so mystified that he didn’t follow up his advantage instanter. Bllly simply dropped his hands and gazed at his statue-like opponent. Finally, after standing several seconds, Driscoll PARTNER, SAM M’'CRACKEN. SOME PECULIAR KNOGKOUTS HEN Frank Moran, the Pittsburgh Jim Coffey in the ninth round of a recent bout in New York he remarked that every time he pinned the sleep pro- ducer on the chin of the Roscommon As it was their second meeting and Moran had scored a knockout in the third round of their initial combat, he is well qualified to know what he is talking about incidentally his remarks call to | mind many knockouts, some of which were funny enough—to the ringsiders| year or so ago looked like one of the and to the opposition, but not to the| knocked out scrapper—to cause a big | game, Every one who is inclined to | fame in the sport of boxing through the sporting game and has attended a | hig hitting ability. Y | Matty packed an awful kick in each of bouts, burlesque and otherwise, but the effect of a clout on the jaw has pro-|he suddenly shot Into the limelight by One of the most peculiar knockout blows ever landed happened in a Chi- | cago ring more than a decade ago when | manager, and no less a managerisl a pair of husky middleweights clashed | personage than Tom Jones, who looks club | after the management of heavyweight started to straighten up, and then-he dived to the canvas. When his head hit the floor he was still standing on his feet, and his feet started going around in a circle. He did a whirl on his head that set the house wild, and finally slipped face downward to the floor. Driscoll took all the count allowed and got up to continue the remainder of the bout of six rounds. McCue Packs Vigorous Kick. Matty McCue of Racine, Wis, who & | | most promising featherweights in the gained his greatest claim to For a little fellow his hands. From an obscure position knocking out his opponents as fast as the promoters could set them up for him, McCue got so good that he quit his champion Jess Willard, took him under | his wing. Jones, however, found out & lot about McCue that he didn't lshow before he became his manager, and the principal one of these was that Matty | was sadly lacking in boxing ability, McCue turned out to be a faflure undet the Jones regime. Matty Fails as Boxer. But, while McCue dldn't have the goods as a boxer, the credit for his ability to deliver the knockout &¢iff cannot be taken away from him. He put a number of his opponents away in. one and two rounds, and finally was | hooked up in a match with a British scrapper by the name of Jeff O'Com= nell. O'Connell had a pretty good rec= ord, but his reputation was made more through cleverness than through hit ting ability, The finish of this bout also hjd funny side, for the count of ten wa tolled off as O'Connell lay on the floot in the second round. Three times Mo- Cue knocked him to the cahvas in thal session before winning the scrap. Th first time it was a right hook, a O'Connell, although badly dazed, res) gained his feet at the count of nine, left hook floored Jeff the second tim and as one of his seconds saw his head going toward the floor he stuck hi hand through the ropes and puf®it om the canvas so that it made a pillo for O’'Connell's head. L -~