G. B. FEARING'S FORM IN HIGH JUMPING.
The picture printed on this page is a reproduction of a photograph taken of G. B. Fearing, the Harvard high jumper, in 1892. Fearing held the record of the N.Y.I.S.A.A. until Rogers and Baltazzi broke it in 1894. His form was entirely different from Baltazzi's. As he clears the bar in this picture, both his feet appear to be curled up under his body, and his head is thrown forward and down. He seems to be almost reclining on his side, whereas Baltazzi makes the leap with his body practically perpendicular, although he necessarily bends forward in the motion which lifts the torso over the stick. Fearing's form as displayed in this photograph does not give the same idea of power and assurance as that shown by Baltazzi.
The prospects for record-breaking in the N.Y.I.S.A.A. next year are not very bright, for most of the record-breakers are leaving school. Besides Baltazzi, Tappin, the mile runner of Cutler's winning team, will go to Columbia. Yale will get Meehan, who is a clever half-miler, Ayres, the hammer-and-shot man of Condon's, Powell, the bicyclist, and Hackett, the mile walker. The first three in this last group hold United States interscholastic records in their events. Princeton's track team will no doubt secure three of Barnard's best athletes, Syme, Simpson, and Moore, whereas Harvard will only get one good man from the N.Y.I.S.A.A., Irwin-Martin. Cowperthwaite, broad jumper, and Beers, who holds the high hurdling record, will also leave school for college. This will make room for new men, and ought to be a good thing for the association.
A correspondent suggests that the schools of New York—and I don't see why it would not be just as good an idea for schools of other cities—hold an interscholastic bicycle meet this fall. At first thought this sounds like a very good scheme. There are few scholars, comparatively, who are strong enough, or who have the inclination to play football, and now that use of the bicycle has become so universal these could devote the fall season to preparation for a bicycle contest. Far be it from my intention to suggest to even the weakest football-player that he give up the gridiron for the bicycle; but I have seen so many young men standing around football fields watching the game, with no ability or desire to participate in it, that I welcome the suggestion of making the autumn a bicycle season too.
It is very probable that the inter-collegiate association will do away with bicycles at the Mott Haven games next spring. If they do, the interscholastic associations will no doubt follow suit, and then the wheelmen will find themselves, to a certain extent, out of it, if they have not already prepared for separate contests. It is right that bicycle events should be excluded from track and field meetings, because a running track is not the proper place for a bicycle race. Bicycle races, however, ought not to be given up entirely or left to professionals, because such racing is productive of good sport. The best course to pursue under the circumstances, then, is to have a meet especially for bicyclists. I am sure there are enough wheelmen in the schools to make it worth while, and the fall season with cold days and bracing air is just the time for such sport.
If a bicycle field day cannot be gotten up this fall, there is no reason why there should not be an interscholastic road race. The executive committee of the N.Y.I.S.A.A. could easily arrange such a contest, and offer a pennant to the winning school. Let each school of the association enter two riders, and let the managers of the race adopt a course. This can be easily done by looking over the back numbers of Harper's Round Table, and choosing a good road from one of the many bicycle maps of the vicinity of New York that have recently been printed. This would be a novelty in the way of school contests, in this section at least, although it is quite a common event with the California school associations.
The Graduate.
