THE CLUB HOUSE.
It must not be supposed for a moment from the foregoing remarks about the novelty of athletic training in Detroit, that there are no members of the club who are above the level of mediocrity. That would be far from the truth. There are quite a number of athletes who were drawn almost directly from the teams of the colleges in which they were educated to the new movement at home, and these are among the very active workers. The captain of the club is Nathan C. Williams, Jr., who was a Yale graduate of ’84, and is now in business in Detroit. He has charge of the field sports of the club, is responsible for its property used in gymnastic work, and arranges, with the aid of his lieutenants, the various exhibitions and field days which are given from time to time. Mr. Williams was manager of the Yale baseball team in his college days, and had an enviable record at New Haven. He has two lieutenants, Sidney T. Miller, a young lawyer, a graduate of Trinity College, Hartford, and Benjamin S. Comfort, Principal of the Tappan School, who was also inducted into the spirit of athletic work in one of the Eastern colleges. The club’s secretary, George J. Bradbeer, is an excellent hammer-thrower, an allround athlete, and was a good ball-player in by-gone years. The club’s president, Mr. Eddy, is a sprinter and ball-player of local note, and rarely misses a daily jog in good time on the cinder track. The University of Michigan, which is located so near Detroit, has furnished quite a number of young athletes, among them Royal T. Farrand, who held the University light-weight championship in boxing; Fred T. Ducharme, who has won a score of running races in good, if not fast time, and who promises to develop into a great jumper; Geo. P. Codd, a Michigan sophomore, the crack pitcher of the University ball team, and a good single player in lawn tennis; and Albert E. Miller, a young lawyer, who is the best tennis player in the club—so much so, in fact, that he is generally required to give handicaps to contestants. Mr. Miller was first lieutenant and manager of the club’s events last year, and is this season catcher in the club’s regular baseball nine. So far none of the runners have made startling time, except in base-running, which is hardly a recognized feat. In this, however, W. H. Reidy has equaled the best time made by professionals, 14 4-5 seconds, and the feat has been time and again duplicated by members of the club in 15 seconds. Ben. S. Warren, a recent accession from Yale, has developed into a fast sprinter, having made the 100-yard dash in 10 2-5 seconds, the best record for the feat being 10 seconds even. In last year’s sports Warren won the quarter-mile dash in 60 1-5 seconds, and has since made it in 54 seconds. This year a fast runner has been developed in Ed. Sanderson, a young student, who with ten yards start made the quarter on a slow track in 57 seconds. W. A. Chope and M. W. Sales, all young athletes, are among the more promising of the fast ones.
THE RECEPTION PARLOR.
JOHN COLLINS, TRAINER, DETROIT CLUB.
The baseball team is a strong one. The regular nine is made up as follows: A. E. Miller, catcher; Charles T. Miller, pitcher; Ed. E. Swift, third base; W. H. Reidy, short stop; Wm. C. Johnson, second base; Wm. H. Reid, first base; Walter A. Chope, left field; Mart. J. Root, centre field; Charles K. Foster, right field. Of these Chope has the reputation of being a phenomenal left-fielder for an amateur; Root is a man who had a good deal of practice with his fellow students at Yale; Reidy is a good pitcher, and Reid is a player who made a name with the Class Club, one of the strongest local amateur teams. Besides these, there are substitutes innumerable; so many, in fact, that the team has rarely played together as named.
The team is managed by Principal Comfort. It has already won a majority of the games played against the State University team, and the strong local nines with which the city abounds. The ball club’s uniform is gray and blue, the Athletic Club’s colors being gray and black.
Football has a good number of devotees. Sidney T. Miller, Professor Comfort, Strathearn Hendrie, a Trinity College man, Albert E. Miller, Edward E. Swift and R. Humffreys-Roberts, the latter a well-known English player, are among the leaders of the sport, but they have been unlucky in their weather. The coming year will be utilized to the best advantage, however, when some interesting games are promised.
The tennis players include A. E. Miller, H. T. Cole, Jerome H. Remick, Geo. P. Codd, David S. Carter, Sidney T. Miller and H. E. Avery. Codd and A. E. Miller represented the club at the tournament of the North-western Lawn Tennis Association, at Chicago, in July, 1887, tying for second place in the doubles.