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Show A SWIMMING enthusiast, of which there happen to be several millions, mil-lions, wants to know more about the Yale-Kiphuth swimming combination combina-tion and what they have done. "Also," he writes, "can you give me the history of the 100-yard swimming swim-ming record? I've been in the navy i for two years where swimming is a big part of our training, and where ability to swim has already saved thousands of lives. Not only every navy man, but every army man who sails on transports must be interested inter-ested in swimming. It can easily mean life or death to us." Well. Bob Kiphuth has been with Yale 28 years. Yale has won 32 col lege swimming championships in the last 36 years. In the last 27 years, Yale has won 35C college meets, losing los-ing only nine, one of the greatest records rec-ords in sport. Certainly Cer-tainly no football coach or football team has even approached ap-proached this mark. And it must be ad- GramIand Ri( e milled that swimming swim-ming is not only one of our great- ! est sports, but our most important sport in war. No one can deny this, especially when you consider the i vast spread of the Pacific ocean. Now concerning the change in swimming records that have taken t place in the last 47 years in the 100 yards free style the greatest test in speed here are the records. World's 100 Yard Free Style Record: Seconds '9760 J. H. Derbyshire . .Scotland 02 59.6 F. C. T. Lane England 0158 Richard CavtU Australia 04 57.06 Cecil Healy Australia 0656 C. M Daniels V. 8. A. 07 55.04 C. M. Daniels U. S. A. '10 54.88 C. M. Daniels U. S. A. '1553.8 Duke Kahanamokn. . .V. S. A. 2252.6 Johnny Welsmuller. . .V. 8. A. 2751 Johnny Welsmuller. . .U. 8. A. 4350.6 Alan Ford ... .(Yale) V. 8. A. 44 40.7 Alan Ford. . (Yale) U. S. A. These records show a change of more than 10 seconds for the 100 yards in these 47 years. They show a drop from 60 seconds to 49.7, which is further proof that about 99 per cent of modern athletes are better than the old timers. It was not until 1906 that the United States began warming up. Before that Great Britain ruled the water and the waves. But in the last 38 years the U. S. A. has dominated the water by a wide margin with C. M. Daniels, Duke Kahanamoku, Johnny John-ny Weismuller and Alan Ford In front not overlooking other TJ. S. swimmers who were close alongside. along-side. Swimming is not only one of our greatest, but one of our most important sports. For it is a sport every young American should learn. Above all else, it is a life-saving matter, which few other sports ever are. No 'Greatest' There is always an Insistence, year after year, from the general sporting public that the word "greatest" should be brought in. There is no such word in sport. Not even the Greeks had a name for it. This has been brought to mind by the number of letters that have come in lately asking us to compare com-pare the Red Blaik army squad with the best college teams of the past. Several have asked if Army wasn't "the greatest college team" of all time. Once again we'd like to repeat-there repeat-there is no such animal. The Army backfield with Blanchard, Davis, Kenna, Minor, Hall and Lombard! was magnificent. So was the Army line. But we call your attention to the fact that some of those Bernie Bierman Minnesota teams were also terrific also a few in other years belonging to Jock Sutherland and Pittsburgh, Rockne and Notre i Dame, Howard Jones and Southern California. The Leahey-Notre Dame squad of last fall with Bertelli as , quarterback was as good as any I I can remember. Considering what Army did to such good teams as Navy, Notre I Dame, Duke and Pennsylvania it is quite possible that Army was the most destructive of all football I forces. It was certainly too de- ! structive for any competition col- I lege had this fall. Red Blaik of Army doesn't agree ! with me In ranking the Notre Dame team of 1943 over the Army 1944 outfit. Rip Miller does. So does Ed McKeever, who was Leahey's assistant last year who turned in such a fine job this season after being be-ing completely outclassed in material materi-al by Army and Navy. 1014 Summing Up Giving Army and Navy due and i full credit, it must still be remem- I bered, in justice to other colleges, j that they had the pick of over 20 I fine backs from 12 colleges. Few schools had even one man who could ' make the grade on an Army or Navy team this season, Ohio State being the outstanding exception. In time of war it was a fine thing to have Army and Navy as good as they wee. They belonged up front in what is known as a "morale way." But thev still had the pick. |