| Show Sp eakin of sports champs pass in review as 1939 draws to close by ROBERT C COMEDY tragedy and pathos sometimes a combination of all three are written in the nations sports records for the past 12 months As the old year wanes the sports fan glances back over performances of bf individuals and teams for outstanding achievements some of those performances are great some are funny and a few are pathetic in heavyweight boxing its a simple thing to name the greatest per former who else can compare with lix champion joe JoeLouis louis yf the brown bomb ata 11 s er he has punched i his way through all opposition to be come one of the 1 of fight ight ingest kings I 1 i in ln the history of ey boxing many ring followers follone rs consider him the greatest heavyweight of all joe louis time one mans outstanding football performer is another mans dud but nile kinnick university of iowa halfback gets the call in most books kinnick was awarded the 1939 heisman memorial trophy given bac each h year by the new york downtown athletic club to the nations outstanding college football player the selection was made from the votes of sports writers and sports broadcasters throughout the united states tom of michigan was second paul christman of missouri third and george cafego of tennessee fourth dr eddie anderson of iowa kin nicks coach did a topnotch job preseason pre season dope gave iowa a second division rating remember how the Haw keyes defeated notre dame and minnesota A tie with northwestern kept them from sharing the big ten conference title with ohio state horse of the year the horse of the year was challe don he failed in the kentucky derby but went on to win all other stakes he proved his greatness when he outran autran kayak at pimlico bob feller of cleveland joe dimaggio and charlie keller of the yanks and ted williams of the boston 4 red sox were outstanding standing Ut choices tor for baseball player of the year dimaggio and feller finished in front dimaggio is classed with the all time greats and feller only 20 years old managed to win 24 games for cleve charlie keller land keller and williams two 1939 rookies are the main main challengers for next years laurels byron nelsons belsons Nel sons two way victory in the national open and the western open rates as one of the years best performances as was dick powerful stroking to win the st paul open either byron nelson or ralph guldahl are expected to win the united states open in 1940 guldahl is back in excellent physical shape last year his health was none too good As for teams the yankees left little or bothin nothing to be desired they had little to lear tear from american league teanis teams and won the series in four straight though the question is open to debate many baseball enthusiasts hail bail them as the greatest team of all time tony galeotos Ga lentos flattening of joe louis for a short count might well come under the head of comedy roly poly tony was considered nothing more than a clown he amazed the fisticuff world by really jolting the champ ch amp and then further disrupted affa affairs irs by whipping decisively lou nova most promising of thie the immediate heavyweight hopefuls diamond tragedy under the head of pure pare tragedy comes ernie lombardes Lom bardis arna amazing zing antic during the world series ernie die cincinnati reds backstop conducted a phenomenal one man sit down strike while the yanks scored the three winning runs in the last game of the series saries it was by tar far the most unusual performance in the annals or of 1939 sports history top performances for women must include alice alicd marbles rise to her position as queen of the tennis courts she met and disposed of good opposition to reach her present status then too theres the record made by betty jameson of texas lexas who replaced patty berg as national floal amate amateur golf champion ri lizabeth elizabeth hicks deserves an orchid for her play in winning g the women ens s western derby sports in general have been mo more re prosperous than they were a year ago age increase of interest in au all events has been marked which is a good sigr 61 for 1940 and f for or ameral ica the greatest erea test sport arta na nation t ion in the world |
