Show Importance of Coaches I Discussed by Paddock Theorists Builders and Inspiration Coaches Cited Many lUany Great Mentors l Now in Action to Develop Stars By CHARLES W. W V. V PADDOCK Famous American Sprinter American Olympic success is primarily marily manly dependent upon good coaching coaching coach coach- ing and a sound knowledge of the fundamentals of ot track and field ath ath- The United States would win relatively few points i she had to depend upon stars who possessed natural ability an and nothing nothing noth noth- in ing else The Thc science of coaching however it seems to me as one who v has been through the mill has ben beer sadly neg neg- Certainly it has no not kept pace with the improvement in other fields of development I made the statement several weeks ago that Boyd Comstock of ot the Los Angeles Athletic club is the only coach Inthe in inthe inthe the country who thoroughly understands understands under under- stands what he is doing That remark remark re reo re- re mark brought forth a round of ot answers answers an m and criticisms Possibly it St was a bit hard on the theother theother theother other great track coaches I did not mean as us some people evidently thought that Comstock was the only man who could develop champion athletes COMSTOCK IS THEORIST There are many other capable coaches coaches so so many in fact that it would be impossible to single one out and say that he is the greatest However However How How- ever I do believe that our coaches can be classified Boyd Coms Comstock ock represents the theorists' theorists schooL He figures out what a man can do on paper and uses his athletes as a skillful skillful skill skill- fu ful chess player moves his pieces Mike Sweeney the old high jump champion who coaches at high school in Pennsylvania instructs in a similar simi lar manner Sweeney is the real reason reason rea rea- son for tor Gene sudden success sue suc cess as a miler Harry Gill of Illinoise Illinoise Illi- Illi noise university is another coach of the same school Then there are the builders those builders those men who can develop all around team strength from raw material Dink Templeton of Stanford university Jake of Cornell Keane FitzPatrick of Princeton and W. W I I. I Stanton of the California Institute o of Technology are leaders in this field Templeton has enjoyed the greatest success in the past ten years of any coach in the country Yet few of his stars have come to him ready made He has discovered and developed such athletes athletes ath ath- letes as Ben Eastman the late Ward Edmonds Harlow Rothert Bob Harlow Harlow Har Har- low Kim Dyer Miller Morrison and many more Fox Stanton of has done even a better job when his handicaps handi caps are arc remembered Few athletes ever enter this splendid engineering school and they have little inclination inclination tion and time lime for training Yet Stanton Stanton Stan Stan- ton always has at least a few good goodmen goodmen goodmen men and very often outstanding teams Along with the theorists and the builders there are arc the specialists those coaches who can take good athletes and mold them into champions cham chain Dean Cromwell of Southern California ornia Tom Keane of Syracuse Harry Hillman of ot Dartmouth Bob Simpson o of Iowa State college Johnny Magee of Bowdoin and Jimmy Curran of Mercersburg arc are leaders in this class Each has produced his quota of brilliant record breakers and each was an athlete himself and understands understands un un- un the competitors competitors' viewpoint view view- point There are also team makers like Walter Christie of California Joe Pipal of Occidental Eddie Farrell of Harvard and Henry Schulte of Nebraska Nebraska Ne Ne- braska who arc annually bobbing bobbin up with stars in different events and occasionally with teams of great reat strength They build for the sake of the team and are dependent upon school spirit to see them through As Asa a class they are arc most successful USE INSPIRATION Finally there are the spirit coaches who rely almost entirely upon their powers of eloquent leadership lead lead- and inspiration to see their teams and their stars through Alonzo A. A Stagg of or Chicago is like that as aswell aswell aswell well as the greatest diplomat in coaching coaching coach coach- ing ranks Lawson Robertson of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Penn Penn- sylvania university our Olympic head man The leaders in their respective groups have contributed the most to our Olympic teams since the war and I would name Lawson Robertson Robert Robert- son Dink Templeton Dean Cromwell Henry Schulte and Boyd Comstock as our five greatest track coaches of ol today Copyright 1932 Sper Newspaper Syndicate |