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Show Athletics and the Press i By AMOS ALONZO STAQO. v-8-'-1-- ," ' ' 11 1 11 1 ai'1' - Mr. Sttnjg, since 1900 has been profeeeor and director cf of the department of physical culture and athletics at tha University cf Chicego. He wae the preeident of the Society of Directors of Phyeioal Education In Cellge In 1911-12, and aerved e a member of the American commit to for the Olympic gam In 1906, 90t, 1912 and 1919. The influence of the a porting news columns of tha daily newspapers on the making of cltlsonshlp. for good or for 111. la In my Judgment little realised. That there le auch an influence, that It la very great, and that, whether tha sporting editors and their readers realise it ar not. It Is setting; Its mv continually on tha youth of the country- , the arc fcts to which Ions experience la athletics, coupled with observation, bears witness, - The area teat fight that amateur athletic, -with all Its vast poeni. bllities for the forming of "manhood and cftlsenahlp, haa on its hands Is to win Its proper basla. The great commercialised sport interests, such as baseball, fighting; and wrestling;, unintentionally are th greatest enemlea of amateur eport. They create the chief setbacks we have in acurlng the large character building values out of sport. You cannot possibly gt the fullest results In th developing: of character from a sport that la tainted with commercial tnteresL The roots of commercialised sport reach far do wit into the schools, and Ita Influence penetratea much deeper Into the public thought. It la able to do th! because so much Is made of It In the daily press. It Booms aa tf the a port Ing departments of most of our newt paper exist chiefly for the purpoee of backing the commercial Interests In sport. The vaat maaa of the influence of the sporting departments is centered there. When you concentrate columns of dally matter on profession sport, the effect cannot be otherwise than to make It the acme of ambition in the hearts of countlese boys. see Now tome might argue tftat this Influence will be stimulating In the youth and therefore a, real blessing-. On the contrary. If the newspapers would center on amateur sports they would get the same reeulta without the evils. I have a theory that If we could rt the support of the newspapers on amateur sports ws coald thereby do mora to make at rang, aplendid cltlsena than through almoet any other ancy. - 1 have a, very trong belief In that. Of course, we shall never . succeed In doing1 It because this not Utopia, but I believe In shooting for those things. Just the same. Unless a whole lot of us struggle to counteract the Influence of commercialised sport. It will have a positively damaging Influence on the life of the youth of the nation. I cannot Imagine a more powerful agency for developing strong and right minded cltlsena than to have the concentrated Influence of the newspapers of tha country In setting up the amateur Ideals. If there could be an exchange of the relative polsltlon of the professional and the amateur In the columns of the newspapers. It would be no more than a decade, In my belief, before there would be an enormous vain In the type of cltlsena that we had particularly In the- matters of fair play, square dealing1 and common every day honesty. It la notorious that the fundamental Idea of professional sport Is to get all you can. no matter how you get It. That la why It is professional. There may be nothing Illegal, there may be nothlmc dlshoneet about IL The fundamental idea of amateur sport la to give that la. to aive the best that one haa. In order to produce a worth while accomplishment purely for individual honor or team success On the one hand there le the development of the acquisitive side of human nature, on the other the development of the "give aide. wnirn BIIRH tn Dettvr Cllikenor Th. fl.ld of imilliw athlollc. Inelud-s both school and eoll.r. athletics, as woll aa oth.r amateur aporte. Betwe.it achool and coll.se nthlt!re. th. former I. vaatlr more tmportanL TSero ar. oo verr many mora boy. tn th. public acboola than thoa. who get to cttlleire. and they are then at tha more formative aire. The relative Importance numerically of school and eolleire .porta tn tha Ufa of tha nation ml(ht be twenty to one In favor of the former. College athletlca le. however, tremendously vital. Tta Importance la that It hlta the futur. leaders of the nation. Th. educational and the moral value, of college a port, are of the ut moot consequence. More then that, they furnlah the Ideala and atlmulat. the ambition, of thousand, of hitch achool boys who aoplre to make the college teama. College football geta excellent publicity. Vnlveralty of Chicago teama receive very good notice from the preae, which t greatly appreciate and vwhtch t am glad to acknowledge. Th. newopaper publicity which the college team, receive undoubtedly helps school atkeltlcA great deal. ... However, the groat majority of boys, who do not expect to go to college, loat moat of the value of thla impetua. Their own port, are largely Ignored or crowded out by th. column, of profeaelona. sport newa. It would certainly do a great deal of good-lf tha paper, printed more news about tha school, teama. Then there am playground leagues. Indotrtal and church leagu... and a hoot of other amateur athletic activities that would be Immensely, helped by greater n.wapaper attentton. Tha field of amateur athletics la Immeaaurably bfgg.r than the public has any idea of. From the alight gllmpee of It given in moor of the dally panera, th. publlo can gain B. conception ot the volume of amateur athletic In this ormntry. . e o e In th. spsi-tlng page, of th. press, for three -quart era of ths year, there are two big force. the force of commercialised profeaolonal athletics and tba tore, or college athletics. They ore- two glome. Commercialised athletics Is meaourbly the bigger giant from tha standpoint of Ita power- through publicity. But the giant of collec athletics is mora powerful from tha atandpolnt of affect on th. youth for good. ! For that reaaoa we must not tot evlla com. In to dominate our college athletlca. It would apell dlaaater. Th. two groat .vile, of , eouree, ore, first, th. creeping In ot the profeoalonal thought, largely 1 due t. th. influence of commercialised athletics, and. aecondly, unfotr recruiting in order to produce winning teama. Thta la a practice that 1 hits al the foundations of fair play. Bnthualaatio friend, and alumni ! who aponeor It do th. collec ee an 111 aervtca. If wo could gat th. preaa on our aide, to recognise the fundamental Idea of amateur athletics aa tha moat worth while Influence In the 1 porting world, and to give It tha predominating position in the , porting celumno ef the newspapers )uat because of what It can do for the upbuilding. of tha youth of our country, th. newapapers would 1 be making an extremely valuable contribution to our republic By permission of the Chrlotlan Science Monitor. , |