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Show Thorpe Is Stronger for Diamond Than Gridiron Noted Indian Athlete Believe Baseball Has Greatest Hold on Him ewer that question In thla way: Pro-feaalonal Pro-feaalonal football enablea ma to copa with Huh t lone that did not extat when I waa at Carl tele, and conaequently I can give ! aa much effort to tha progama aa to my Intercollegiate stuff. (n tha other hand, however, tha college game. In the average man, brlnga out that something which la lacking In the progamI gueea you would call It spirit. The college player, of California, Htnnford. Yale, Harvard Har-vard and soon, will willingly sacrifice hla leg to gain the neceasary yards that spell victory for hla team. That'a apirlt. The proffsainal grtdder will play It aafe, tie- i causa he wants to ha In condition to earn mora money In hla next game. That's I biiNlneaa. I think that answers your1 difficulty pretty well. I PROOAMK GREATEST. "I !elleve tha profeaalonal players, be- i tng mora artlata In their Una than col-leglana, col-leglana, bveauae of the fact they have hnd more experience, and uaturally, becauaa be-cauaa tha pro teams ara practically all-star all-star from and to end and throughout tha back field, play a more technically perfect per-fect game than tha cotlegiatia. And they plav aa hard, no doubt, but with a different dif-ferent spirit." "If you had your career to live over, would you prefer to go to the Olvnipto games and compete for your country, or become a profeaalonal ball player?" I asked Thorp. "That'a a poser." he aald. "Of course now. I' asy baseball, no doubt of It. But 1 gueaa If 1 knew In 1912 what 1 know now, wild horsea couldn't have kept me from competing In the Olympic games." Thorpe haa played with and against tha greatest football players In the country coun-try since 19o4 and lus views on the merita of the Individuals Is Interesting. MAHAN GREATEST. He does not hesitate about naming hla "gmaieat of all time" plwyer. "K.l. lie Ma nan of Harvard Is tha best of them all," cay a Thorpe. "He was a great defensive player; ha could kick, run with the ball, knew all the tricks of the trade, and waa as near perfect a workman as It la pottalhle for a foot 111 S 'layer lo become. No one elae, In my udgment, haa ever approached him." Thorpe bellevea that football today la not greatly changed from tha game aa he played It at Carllala. "Kootliali always will have something," he says, "that baseball lacks. "In tMteebell you're up at the plate once every three or four Innlnga, un-leaa un-leaa there's a lot of hitting. Huppoe you strike out. You don't get another chance to get back your loai reputation for perhaps a half hour. No ao In foot-hall. foot-hall. If you make a mistake, you're liable li-able to have a chance on the very next play to rise to glory. You're aJways on edge. You hav to be. You don t have time to think about what s Just happened, hap-pened, you hava to worry about what's going to happen. ; "In football ou have a chance to alia up a play as It starts. ospeclaJly If you're In the backfiaid In baseball. In the1 outfield, where they've generally placed me. with a good hitter at the plate. ou don't know where he a golhg to alnm It. or where the play will have to be made." By John J. Connolly t THKK sports In their aeaaon. I 1 hut base I -a 11 always, if I had to V. make my choice. la tha answer an-swer of Jim Thorp, tha famous Indian athlete, to my qiieattou, "Whb-h sport laascbiiM. footlmll or track alh- i let Ire do you get the art-ate! 'kick' out of" Thorpe, of all profeaalonal bae-ball bae-ball play era who have ever come to the Pacific Coast league, la perhapa beat fitted to answer such a question. Aa a member of tha famous Carlisle Indians from lH to leOH. Thorpe'a activities ac-tivities on the gridiron stamped him In the opinion of niai y experts as (he greatest great-est football player of all time. Ills prowees In tratk and field athletics, ath-letics, hla phenomenal speed on tho cln-der cln-der path, and his ability to tackle all field eventa and turn In truly remarkable remark-able performance, earned him the right to repreeent his country at lha Olympic gamea in 1IH. In which he waa easily the IndMdual star. An unfortunate Incident In-cident of professions Ham prior to h ts competing In the Olympic games latr deprived nlm of his medals, but all the amateur rules and regulatlona tu the world do not prevent the fact from being established forever that Jim Thorpe of Carlisle In PH 2 was the world s greatest all-around athlete. GOOD HITTER. In baseball, while at Carlisle. Thorpe early showed claaa as a hliter. and hla tremendous speed, which heled hlin In hla daahea across the chalk marked football foot-ball flebla and around the cinder paths, also served him in this game, where speed above all la an asset to success. Thorp. I through hla playing, attracted tha at-1 at-1 tetitlon of the .New York tllanls. and Waa one of the few hall players of his day who stepped from lha college ranks Into a big leugue uniform and remained there. Ho was a member of the Olanta ' for aeveral veara. and while he did not (' Uy aa a regular, tha fact remalna that ia was one of the biggest attractions that 'ever wore a Olant uniform. Of Thorpe it la said he waa the only player In baa hall hlatorv who could fill the Polo Oroumls though he didn't get Into a ball game. HIS STANDING OFFER. In the fall and winter months, since becoming a proffSaloi.nl baaeball play- ' er, Thorpe haa organised and played with 1 his own proff esumal foottkall team, tha Carton HulLWs. Kor years he has made i a standing offer of 1 1 two for anv team Hgalnst which he cannot make lha requisite req-uisite ten yards. Thorpe today is no youngster. He admits lo Sit year. Yet only laat fall, when he brought his football foot-ball team to the polo Orounde In New i York to Play for the country e profea-atunnj profea-atunnj title, Sid Mercer, a nationally known expert, stated "the old boy was still there." and that Thorpe was the bent football player seen on any Kastern gridiron that season. GREATEST GRIODER. As an all-round football player, who could do anything The rule called for, and a lot they overlooked, Jim Thorpe a ill go down In history aa the games , grentct. "With ma sport haa always been a seaKomtl proposition.' save Thorpe. "I 1 got Into the hang of that at Carlisle. We I started offhe lull eeinetder bv playing i football. When that waa over turned our attention to basketball. Then 'came track and after that baseball ' We did not have the tremendous enrollment ' of the leading colleges, hence a lot of J ua had to go In for every branch of a port. That. 1 believe, waa accountable account-able for the fact that I enjoved more or leas,urcese as an all-around athlete. PRAISES WARNER. "Then. too. wa at Carlisle, when I win there, were lucky to have In charge of our athtctica the man whom 1 consider the area teat football coach that has ever taught young fellows the game In thla countrv. I refer to Olenn Warner, now at Pittsburg, but who. I understand. Is to coach your Stanford eleven out here aa eoon as his Pitt contract expires. ex-pires. Warner, (hough famous for his foot 111 teachings, la adept at every sport. Tf Carlisle whs a terror on the athletic fields to other ooltcgvs It waa becauae of Glenn Warner.. Kt an ford "1 know In a abort time how lucky she ts to have him In charge of her football players." In view of Thorpe's record In Intercollegiate Inter-collegiate foot ha II, and professional foot-bull, foot-bull, I a 'feed him which game he considered con-sidered the best. LIKES COLLEGE. 'Wall. now." smiled Thorp. "I'm a profeaalonal footlall player you're, talking talk-ing to today, and I'm not going to knock my own gams, am IT I'd Ilk to an- |
