IN ATHLETICS
Some Man.
When a white star fames in football fray,
Three rivals at most against him play;
And he gets the cheers of every fan
For they feel for him no racial ban;
But when Colored star in white games set
Eleven “cave men” play him “to get”;
And when thro it all they can’t him “can”
He sure must be what is called “SOME MAN”.
—Harrison.
THE main thing every boy and girl should have or begin to acquire in early life, and then continue to keep during his manhood or her womanhood, is a clean, healthy, supple and well-developed muscular body that is guided and governed by a pure thinking and self-controlling mind. And such a body is mainly built up and preserved by taking plenty of out-door playful exercises in early childhood; by taking frequent parts in athletics games played in a fair and honest way against friendly rivals while in young manhood and womanhood; and by regularly and systematically going through a good drill of setting-up exercises, gymnastics or calisthenics throughout both middle and old age. These same childhood games and youthful athletic sports have their good effects upon the young and tender minds by early teaching them courage in times of facing big odds and developing self-control during the angry moments of an exciting game when temptations so often come up to strike an unfair blow or say some mean and rude thing. And these same out-door activities have their purifying results upon those minds in that they are nearer to Nature and thereby prompt more Godly thoughts, words and deeds among such minds than do certain in-door pastimes that are not so wholesome. No country in the world surpasses America in the general suppleness in movement, gracefulness of carriage and all-round muscular development and physical prowess of the bodies belonging to its people. And the following named records show that American Colored youths have played large and valuable parts in helping to build up the physical reputation of the United States that is today recognized as the leading country in international athletic sports.
In Football
W. H. Lewis (one of the ablest Colored lawyers in America today) before graduating from Harvard proved to be the greatest football center, Colored or white, in his college and of his time. Every fall when Harvard now faces her, Brown University heaves a loud sigh of regret that Fritz Pollard, a Colored All-American Half-back, is not on her football team to again and mostly alone carry the brown and white pennant to a crushing victory over the almost unbeatable crimson and white colors. Williams has since made such a football record at Brown that he was given a place on an All-American team by the New York World. It was Johnny Shelbourne, All-American Fullback, who was one of the four stars on Dartmouth football team that so smoothly steam-rollered the team of the University of Pa., with a score of 44 to 7 on Franklin Field, at Philadelphia, Pa., November 13, 1920. Shelbourne is also such a sprinter that he is able to “fade-away” over a 40 yard stretch in 4 4-5 seconds. Calloway not only made the Varsity team of Columbia but has proved one of its most valuable men. All football teams that have recently played against Northwestern University have felt the brawn and held the weight of “Buddy” Turner. Washington & Jefferson in their latest football games have fully relied upon the punting toe of their Colored player, West. Athletic writers and critics on the staffs of both the Chicago Tribune and Colliers Weekly have given Duke Slater, the Iowa tackle, a place on an All-Western football team. Leon Taylor was made All-Ohio Conferee fullback at Oberlin, Ohio. Smith’s tricks of going completely wild when turned loose on the gridiron of Michigan Agr. College caused them to put him on an All-American team for safe keeping. When knocking men right and left on the field of Minnesota University, Marshall acted so much like a Minnesota Indian on the war path that they had to do something to sort of tame him down, so they put him on an All-American team. Beside winning his letters in baseball, basketball and track athletics, A. Hamblin of Knox College was made captain of his 1918 football team. M. Richmond, on account of his excellent defensive and offensive playings was made captain of the Des Moines College 1917 football team. Sol Butler, when playing on the Dubuque College football team, came in such close contact with and made such lasting impressions on his opponents that they will until their dying days remember having met a Sol Butler at some time and at some place. W. E. Morrison and W. Brown were two of the outstanding stars who played on the Tuft College varsity eleven at the times it beat Harvard and gave Princeton one of the toughest battles and one of the worse heart-stop-beating scares it has ever had on a football field. In New England, the names and pigskin deeds of those two charging warriors, especially that of Morrison are still fondly remembered and always referred to with admiration and pride. Paul Robeson of Rutgers College was made an All-American End. Walter Camp (white) of Yale University in selecting his All-American Football Team of 1918 said, “There never was a more serviceable end, both in attack and defense than Robeson—the 200 pound giant of Rutgers. Defensively this team is remarkably strong with Robeson and Alexander backing up the line as secondary defense; Taking turns at this they would be employed in a line of work to which they are thoroughly accustomed and in which they have had no peers in many years.” (quotation from Work’s Negro Year Book, 1918-1919 edition, page 44). Other Colored youths who have won distinction as football players in white universities and colleges are; Taylor at the University of Pa., Bullock at Dartmouth, Gray and Pinkett at Amherst, Ayler at Brown, Chadwell at Williams, Craighead at Massachusetts Agri. College, Jones at Harvard, Ransom at Belout, Young and Wheeler at Illinois, Johnson and Ross at Nebraska, Tibbs at Syracuse, Green at Western Reserve and Roberts at Colorado Reserve, Niles at Colby.
On The Track and Field
Howard P. Drew, the present holder of the Official A. A. U. world record of 9 3-5 seconds for 100 yds, was selected in 1918 as a member of the All-American Athletic Team and in 1919 as a member of the All-American Track Team. In writing of Drew in the Philadelphia North American of July 17, 1920, Lawson Roberston (white) Coach of Athletics at the University of Pa., said: “Just before Drew broke down eight years ago in Stockholm he showed enough speed in his trial heat to warrant the belief that he could beat any man in the final by 3 yards. In the semifinal heat he “pulled” his tendon when he had covered about 80 yards and limped in the remainder of the distance. Even at that he won his semi-final heat by about eight yards from Thomas of Princeton, the 1912 intercollegiate champion.” The following quotation on Drew is extracted from Work’s Negro Year Book, 1918-1919, page 44: “At the 1918 Western Conference College Outdoor Track and Field Championship Events, Howard Drew, the world’s famous sprinter staged a comeback by winning against a very fast field the 100 and 220 yard dashes. A comment on Drews’ performance said: “By winning the 100 and 220 yard dashes from the fastest fields that the middle western colleges could boast, Drew demonstrated that his victories were not due to accident or lack of formidable opponents. If any further proof were needed, the time would amply attest the high standard of Drew’s sprinting as he ran the 100 in 10 seconds. When it is taken into consideration that Drew is 28 years of age and has been competing for thirteen years, during which time he has won numerous victories and equalled the world’s record time in both of these events, it can be seen that his latest triumphs are little short of athletic marvels.”
Beside being one of its best football players, Sol Butler was also one of the best all-round athletes Dubuque College ever turned out, and was holder of the American A. A. U. broad jump record of twenty-four feet and eight inches. In July 1919 Butler (now of Drake College) won the broad jump in the Inter-Allied Games at Pershing Stadium, France. He was one of the athletes selected to represent the United States in those games. Butler also won the broad jump event at the Relay Carnival of the University of Pa., by leaping 23 feet 5 3-4 inches. Even in his youngster frolics while attending the Hutchinson, Kan. High School, Butler showed his unusual speed by getting loose at Evanston, Ill., on March 28, 1914, and pushing 60 yards of air out of the way in 6 2-5 seconds. When he finally slowed down at the end of that affair and kept still long enough to listen he learned those boyhood runaway wild steps had established the best United States Inter-Scholastic Track Record for that event.
Edward Orval Gourdin
The field sensation among the white colleges during the past two years has been E. O. Gourdin, the Harvard all-round star athlete. This Colored athlete is at this writing unquestionably the backbone and mainstay of the Harvard track team, and throughout their competitions with other colleges, Gourdin has been in the majority of cases the highest individual point scorer for his college. And yet, his victories have been under the most trying conditions and circumstances. Being a star in many events and the chief one upon whom Harvard depended, in numerous meets he has repeatedly been called upon to skip from one event to another and back again without stopping to catch his breath or get a rest: even fates, especially during the spring of 1921 seeming to be against him, for it usually rained the day before or the day he had to perform. As his best work is done on dry ground, and he fully knows it, his wet, muddy and slippery events were of course entered with a certain amount of mental depression, but his courage never faltered nor his willingness halted. During the spring of 1921 when Harvard and Yale met in their annual track meet, the track was soaked from a former rain; yet, Gourdin won the 100 yard dash from Yale in 10 2-5 seconds. Although the runway was uncertain from dampness, the take-off risky for the same reason and the pit wet from holding rain, he won the broad jump from Yale by hurling himself through the air 24 feet and 4 inches. In the shot-put under favorable conditions he clears 41 feet and in the 220 yard dash he hugs 22 seconds so tight that it can’t get away from him.