Show Sport light dight ry by Gra rice every sport clah claims is number of Alag magnificent clit fidgets midgets Mid Alid gets obrien gets rices laurel wreath award for durability NANA service LOS I 1 OS ANGELES who were the AJ A J little giants of sport the smaller fellows who have outmatched brawn and bulk with brains and speed in football the first of tile the little giants was frank blinkey of yale tile the disembodied spirit who at poun pounds ds was tearing and pound backs apart with his cyclonic tackles ask any survivor of har bards faraway and lo 10 long ng ago 9 ott team around the lie early nineties blinkey practically exploded when he hit you and so did the party of the second part the ball carrier the hardiest handiest Har diest in one way young dave obrien of T C U and the philadelphia eagles gets the main sprig ot of laurel I 1 talked with texas davey just be to fore the packers all star game short in stature and nono none too stocky weighing around or pounds lie he looked even sin smaller aller outlined against the two sets of masto J 1 4 s INI M ewh TEXAS DAVEY OBRIEN dons and mammoths mam moths on each side musso at baby ray bay at and others at or perhaps ile iio Is a needle in footballs haystack yet dave obrien has ban never had time taken out la in three hard years yeara at T 0 U and this last year his first as it a pro with the E agles As a forward passer they have bounced his head and slender body oft off the ground more than times but he has always bounded back with a grin he has been the rubber ball of the gridiron and dont forget lie he can split a line as well as throw a pass baseballs share baseball has also known its share of these magnificent midgets fidgets mid gets what about johnny evers the human splinter evers wins a stout in his early cub days but johnny was a pound thorn in the side of john mcgraw and his giants and there was rabbit maranville of the cubs and braves another chunk of guncotton who was about the size of a baseball bat and there was dicky kerr of the white sox one of the few small pitchers who could make the grade grada to keep from b eing being waylaid and assaulted ill also alsol give you wee vee willie X keeler from a lost decade who was smart enough to hit lem em where they aint I 1 saw keeler play 40 years ago f po i and I 1 still think he stands out as the most scientific hitter of all time an old timer by the name of denton tecumseh i cy young agrees with me willie keeler willie was one you fool cy says and cy fooled most of them in boxing who was the all time top of the little fellows in boxing there was jimmy wilde the great atom a pound fly weight who for years whipped men who were 15 to 25 pounds heavier I 1 saw wilde near the sunset of his career when he bob edgren jack wheeler and I 1 played golf together before his fatal battle with pancho villa the pound pounding fig filipino who nailed him after the bell had rung wildes trail frail system was loaded with disaster for his opponents until villa caught him on the downward trail and id like to give you harry greb who at was whipping gene tunney and tom gibbons and who mauled hauled jack dempsey au all over the ring in a workout he almost wrecked pound jack dillon the killer greb thought nothing of giving away 20 30 anc ana 40 and he would still win in a common canter going away they began to beat greb when he was blind in one eye and half blind la in the other the all time top in tennis for the little men was little bill johnston of california now living quietly along ue the pacific little bill once told me his normal weight was around pounds yet in 1919 ho he beat big biff bill tilden three out of four sets for the championship pion plon ship and always carried big bin bill head and head into the stretch johnston had a forehand drive worthy of someone who weighed ov over er pounds it was terrific amok ing hot and that from a man whose normal weight was considerably less then pat ads |