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Show THORPE MARVEL AS AN ATHLETE (By Edward R. Bushnoll.) There is really no physical explanation expla-nation of Jim Thorpe's remarkable eklll In all around athletics, who scored 7.47G points last Monday In New York. The Indian Is almost i champion in every ovent he takes up. not because he possesses an unusual build for any particular event, but because of his natural cleverness, which makes him so expert In everything every-thing to which he turns his hand. A study of Thorpe's physique will best Illustrate this. He is 5 feet 10 Inches In height, welghB 175 pounds stripped and is about 23 years of age. To look at Thorpe one would not pick him for a sprinter, but he can run 100 yards In 10 1-5 seconds and 220 yards In close to 22 seconds. Tho calves of his legs look too heavy for a sprinter and he has not a pleasing stride. For much the same reason ono would never pick him for the expert high and broad Jumper that ho is. But as a matter of fact, Trainer Murphy rather expected Thorpe, on account of tho form ho showed in the preliminary training, to be one of Amorlca's best men In the running high Jump at tho Olympic meet And so he was, for he was one of the five to get into the final, and here ho cleared 5 fcot 2 Inches. Similarly ho Jumpod close to 23 feet in the broad Jump, Gutterson and Mercer being tho only men who outjumped him. At first glance tho ordinary spectator specta-tor would consider Thorpe best for tho weight events and here he is unusually un-usually good. He can put tho shot In tho neighborhood of 45 feet likewise he can throw the hammer a respect-ablo respect-ablo distance, and for the novice that ho is in throwing the discus and Javelin Jav-elin ho is really wonderful. At Stockholm the event In which Thorpe mado the most unexpected dhowlng was tho mile run. He ran this distance, twice, once In the pentathlon pen-tathlon and again in the decathlon, and both times he won decisively. Neither time did ho show any evidence evi-dence of distress, 'and he displayed form that makes tho prediction safe that properly trained he could havo run the rallen 4:35. After a careful study of Thorpe's career In athletics in the country and a close handed view of him at tho Olympic games the writer Is convinced convinc-ed that the proper explanation Is a wonderful, perhaps abnormal, combination combi-nation of strength, poise and mental alertness. In other words, he has what Mlko Murphy terms an unconscious uncon-scious co-ordination of mental and physical strength, a sort of reflex action ac-tion which makos a man clever. Not Surprising. In view of this It is not surprising that Thorpe ia Just as wonderful on the gridiron and diamond as he Ib on tho cinder track and In the field. Indeed, In-deed, his athletic fame he owes principally prin-cipally to football, for ho Is probably ono of the best halfdozon players that the great college game ever developed de-veloped He has always shono as a back field player, because hero ho could bo of tho greatest use to his team, but there is no doubt ho would have fih S3 equal ability on the end or at any position In the lino. He was so good a baseball player that tho agents of several major league teams have endeavored to sign him for more than a year. Thorpe likes baseball and says that when his career at Carlisle is finished ho will probably enter professional baseball. However, he haB one more year at tho Indian Institution and ho will complete com-plete that before deserting the amateur ama-teur ranks. There are 10 events which make up the all around championship program They are as follows: One hundred yard dash, running high juihp, running run-ning broad Jump, pole vault, 16 pound hammer throw, 16 pound ahot put throwing 56 pound weight, 120 yards hurdleB, half mile walk and ono mile run. The method of scoring is simple. Each performance Is measured by the world record for that particular ovent, a perfect performance counting 1,000 points. Thus a perfect score In the 10 events would amount to 10,-000 10,-000 points. |