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Show WHO WILL TAKE LEAD IN FORMING ATHLETIC CLUB? Mention of Project Arouses Instantaneous Enthusiasm; En-thusiasm; First Step Apparently All That Is Needed. WHY is Salt Lake unable to boast a live amateur athletic club which would utilize the abundance abun-dance of athletic material now lying dormant in this city and which would bring publicity to the city through its participation in - sectional and national contests? Is Salt Lake large enough to support a club operated on 1 he principles of those established throughout the cast and on the Pacific coast and in Denver and Butte, and if it is, why is such a club not formed? These are questions which have boon arising in minds of Salt Lakers for sov- j oral years, and they have occurred not j only to men athletically inclined, but also to hard-headed business men who see the advertising advantage which would bo derived by the city and to others who see in such a club the physical phy-sical betterment of the community. Abundant Reason. The questions have been asked unite frequently during tho pant year by surprised sur-prised visitors and by citizens who have .suddenly given the nisei ves over to introspection. in-trospection. Here are some of tho rea-iona rea-iona which have aroused thought on the subject: A year ago the University Univer-sity of Ctah went back to Chicago and competed in a national basketball tournament tour-nament in which were entered teams representing clubs from all parts of the country. The university was victorious, victor-ious, testifying to the tvpe of men we have here. This year tlie B. Y. U. went back to the same tournament, and again tca'ns ropreseuthig numerous athletic ath-letic clubs were entered. These teams attracted attention to th cirics w hen.-e they came, just as wnutd teams representing repre-senting a Suit Lake u'hleti' club. The university quintettes did well in tiiee instances, but the universities cannot be expected to euicr veiy many big con t (j;ls of this nature, and moreover, the universities have not material which is as good as that now going to waste. After the men in this loeality I are graduated from university or often ' high school, as 1 he c;te may he, t hei r athletic career comes to a (dose, despite 1 the fact that tlno men are Then' nt their best. Hundreds of former athletes ath-letes say thev quit athletics simply bo-cause bo-cause they had no institution which thev could represent. Suppose all the basketball men, for (Continued on . Following Page.) 4 10 WILL TAKE LEAD Oil ATHLETIC CLUB? (Continued From Preceding Page.) instance, who have played in this state during the past few years were collected collect-ed together and a team selected. Does anyone doubt that from such a sound a 'quintette could ho selected which could beat any team in the country.' Fvoi-vhodv has hoard of the Illinois Athletic, club, tho Olympic ciud, the Irish-American club and evon the Denver Den-ver and Butto clubs. These clubs are invariably associated in thought with the cities in which they arc established. Then, the question arises, why not form a club here and bning Salt Lake before tho country f The material is certainly here. Who Will Lead? Tn peeking informntion yesterday as to tho feasibility of au athletic club here, it whs found that practically everybody ev-erybody believes that such a club snould bo formed and that it would be successful. suc-cessful. In fact, everybody appears to bo waiting for someone else to take the nnitial stop. All agree that the -itv is hi;, enough to support such a club. Tho only ditVeronce of opinion is on tho amount of money which should lio put into it. Incidentally, it develops that a campaign cam-paign was just ready to be launched last summer, hut was given up when the national guard was sent to the .border. .bor-der. William K. Day, Captain Freeman Basse! t and others have supported such a r'lan for years. Kstimates'of the amount of money required re-quired to start such a club vary from $'J00 to $LMtO,O0U tSomo think that the club could be started on a very modest mod-est scale and then developed. Others nelieve that at least $100,000 could easily eas-ily be raised when the advantages of such a club are realized and the work of similar organizations in other cities made known. Idea Finds Favor. .Major Wesley King yesterday said that he was hcartilv in favor of the organization of a club here which would represent the city and offer athletic participation for the youth of the citv. He did not think that the club should be organized on too elaborate a scale at firt. He could be counted a booster boost-er for the idea, he added vigorously. F. L. Klein viewed the matter iu a similar light. Simple quarters, he believed, be-lieved, would be sufficient at first. Then when tho benefits of the club became understood, as they were bound to, more elaborate quarters could bo " obtained. ob-tained. ' L think it would be a splendid thinir. I can see no reason wnv we should not have a bis athletic club. ' ' That was the expression of Penator t ari A. Badger. He added that he thought Salt Take was not taking advantage ad-vantage of its opportunities. The citv propertv at Warm Springs, he said, should "bo mado into a community center cen-ter where both athletic nnd social ac- j tivities would be encouraged. j Membership Assured. J Practically nl! agreed that at least one thousand young men in Salt Lake would be glad to belong to an athletic club organized on a firm footing and conducted in a proper manner, provided provid-ed th expense was not too great. There are figures to show just how sufficient suffi-cient money couid be raised from membership mem-bership tVcs and in othnr ways to build or buy a rirst-clns elubhoust', thoroughly thor-oughly equip it both for athletic purposes' pur-poses' and as a home for those who wished to live in it. So much enthusiasm is being dis-iea dis-iea rd lor the project that one would tcink the only thing necessary to bring V'Muit a ehib in this city would be for the advocates of the idea to get Together To-gether and take stock of the possibilities possibili-ties and the obstacles. Apparently ail the difficulties could be surrmountcd in short order. |
