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Show I Mi HISTORY PRESENTED BY EMLNNOE With interest at high pitch among the local lovers of athletic sports anent the wrestling match to be staged at the Orpheum theater, next .Monday night, with Pete Visser of Ogden and "Strangler" Joe Lewi of Kentucky as the principals, to know that this game offers the greatest amount of upbuilding exercise known to man, might not be amiss. Concerning this ancient "royal sport. T. Earl Pardoe. a local authrri-ty. authrri-ty. says: "Wrestling bas been known as an art and pastime since the beginning of man's history It is instinctive for man to reveal his physical prowess, to feel the power within himself. What man cannot remember the time when he romped with his boy companions and the leader of the band was be who could "hold down" any of the crowd. That satisfaction of being moat power-ful power-ful never dies in man. It is ho pres. ent desire, to feel physically fit. The sight of two men physically equipped to endure in an athletic contest, is so unhersally rare among us, th3t we are obliged to pay huge sums to have champions" compete "Wrestling reached its greatest per. fection during Grecian supremacy. No nation since has developed the super?) J manhood and womanhood of the old i ideals of Greece. Culture was the educational aim of the great pre-Christian empire. Culture, in its hiqhest sense to the Greeks, meant more of body gTace and art attainment iha it did of intellectual appreciation and statistical memory Culture meant 'doing" for the Hellene, more than mere appreciation. It is significant to note that no other nation has yet attained the development of thes classic lovers of the body beautiful. Many wars had taught them fhe great lesson, that good bads must be supported sup-ported by efficient bodies The Greek gods were emulated by their worshipping worship-ping adherents The national recognl tion of superb body and beauty of form gave Grecian sculptors the greatest great-est incentive the world has ever known. The superlative are of marole and chisel follower! in ihe ur.il,-p nf symmetrical form and love of the beautiful. "Every Grecian city of any size had its theater and stadium. At Ephesus annual contest was held in honor of Diana, goddess of the hunt and sports. Tho only reward was a crown of wdld olives, as at the Olympic games, or of pine and ivy at. the Isthmian contests. Grecian contests were divided into two classes, the "pancratium," consisting of boxing and wrestling, and tho "Ponthalon,' consisting of leaping, running, qur it. ing, hurling the spear and wrestling. Whatever the contest, wrestling vas the chief test of the participants claim to honor. "The games were very popular, even in the early Christian epoch, as we have many references from St. Paul in his writings. In 1 Cor. 0:25, we read, 'And every man that btnvcth for the I mastery is temperate in all things' I Every competitor underwent a severe I course of training. Fairness was the I law of the game. In H Timothy 2:5, I we read another reference, "And if a I man also strive for masteries, yet be is not crowned except he stnze law. fully.' The judge was selected fcr his spotless integrity. The boys early learned, that to succeed, they must De gentlemen in every manner. All mea were honor bound as representatives of their cities or countries, to d!e. Paul uses the simile, 'But I keep under un-der my body and bring It inro subjection' sub-jection' Until the tyrannical emperors emper-ors ruled the Mediterranean, wrestling was the royal sport, taught io all men, and a compulsory part of the Greek's education With the cry tot suffering and blood, came the later sport, boxing, iron bound fingers were toughened to accomplish their deadly mission. Iron bound f'nger were toughened to accomplish tneir deadly mission. And soon the sword followed in the arena, to make more sure the work of the leaden or brasi knuckles. Duelling was but a blase at tempt of being polite in the method of killing. "Wrestling today stands as ho ideal sport, the one sport where man's strength is pitted against his rival's full strength, with danger to Fatality reduced to a minimum. Boxing, baae-ball baae-ball and football claim their yearly , toll. The wrestling toll for the Giirn I Reaper is so low that any intoreated statistician can remember all cases of death in the last century. Nor 19 this because of relative numbers. The wrestling team of any modern -ollece is usually larger than any football training squad. American colleges have not reported ten fatalities in Us i entire history of wrestling. The si( rr I of wrestling is the most economic cf all gymnastic activities. If equires the minimum number of participants, two. The floor spaco required is smaller small-er than for any other ccntt An ordinary football field would make more than eighteen wrestling mats of standard size, and the mats can be used 3G5 days in the year. Twen'y-two Twen'y-two footballists, at part time, to thir ty-six wrestling, throughout the sea. son. A tennis court space would make two mats. A baseball dlamon-l. one need not estimate the great difference dif-ference economically and numerically. How many wrrestlers could be staged on the Polo ground area, "Barring the strangle and toeholds, wrestling offers the greatest amount I of upbuilding exercise know to man A good wrestler gets all the benefits of running, jumping, climbing and lifting. He must be alert and aggressive. aggres-sive. The proximity of the ;po tatora precludes any desire of unfalrnesn, unless un-less he be void of sportsmanship and honor. And such a man suon nas no backers, not even his "home town" folks. "Commerriallr.ing the sport is not! regulating the merit of the game it-! self. Any "sport" even to the preaching preach-ing of religion, can be commercialized. And It is to the honor of the wrestling game, that it has been put upon a commercial basis less than any other1 great sport, aside from track athletics. I A person who goes to a boxing con-! test to see a man knocked our and ! the farther into unconsciousness, rhe better it pleases the patrons. The same fellow goes to a wrestling match, keen with contempt if such a stato of; unfairness arrives. "W restling is the one sport that deJ mands keenness of eye, quickness of every limb and muscle, extraordinary strength, inexhaustive breath ar.d genj tlemanly conduct It is the least dan serous sport to permanent injury and best teaches the ethics of real sports- j manlike conduct. Its imperative law; is clean living. The sport is now being be-ing taken up in some of the high schools of Utah and the intermouniaiu country and it can well be recouj. mended to all " .Mr. Pardoe, now a member of the 1 i acuity of the Weber academy, where Pete Visser has been giving spec.al instruction in wrestling for several months past, was a student A toe sport at Leland Stanford University, j Cal.. and at the College of New Vtrk. |