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Show A I V, ACE J '"INHERE was driving, winter rain beating down, blown by a wind from the barren lands or j "somewhere north of 53." Stepping Into a half-guarding niche, who should we run into but Eddie Eagan, probably the best light-heavyweight i college boxer of all time. At least, ; wearing the color of i Vale's blue, he was good enough to ; work out with such heavyweight fight- ! ers as Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey and hold his own : He was also good enough to bring an : offer from Tex Rickard of $25,000 to fight in the semifinal semi-final of one of the Dempsey Tunney Grantland Rice ! fihts, which is pretty fair pay for a semi-finalist. , EaRan, who is now a succefsful New York- lawyer, began talking abouj a recent story I'd written concerning con-cerning the Inability of college fight- i ers and other athletes to make good I in pro boxing heavyweight ranks. I I have always believed that Eddie , Eagan, a first-class boxer, smart : ' and game, a good puncher on the ' side, could have traveled quite a way In the professional game. He was smart enough to pick another career. "This matter of the college boxer in the pro arena is a hard thing to explain," he said. "It isn't a matter of the social . side of life, social equality, etc., in which I have never been too much interested. But it does mean a matter mat-ter of dropping down Into a pretty tough racket where you are suddenly sudden-ly surrounded by a group of people you'd just as soon keep away from. The lower sector of the fight game is something few people know about. But I can tell you it is pretty low. It is packed with rackets, double crossers, chiselers, etc. and ypu must work your way up through this group. It Is a tough road up. Ask Tunney or Dempsey." "This reminds me," I suggested, of George Phair's famous lines "Hall! the conquering hero . . comes Surrounded by a bunch of boms!" Eagan laughed. "That's about the way it is. And that's one reason a lot of good college boxers or college athletes don't care to enter the fight game as a profession." Another Angle "Here's another angle," Eddie Eagan offered. "The crowd only sees, the few survivors who get to the top or near the top. It rarely . sees the wreckage of all the thousands thou-sands who started out, to finish punch drunk or walking on their heels. Few of these have ' ever learned how to protect themselves. Too many are rushed forward too quickly. "I recall talking with Gene Tunney in his earlier years about this angle. "'I'd made up my mind to do three things,' Tunney told me. The first Is to learn how to defend myself, my-self, to protect myself. I don't want to find myself punch drunk about the time I have a chance to get somewhere.' ' 'The second Is that I am going to take my time. I know this requires re-quires a lot of patience. But I am not going to be crowded Into any ring fight I am not ready for.' -. "The next Item was the matter of condition hard work hard training. train-ing. 'After that,' Tunney said, 'I wUI be ready to take op the matter efffense of learning not only bow but also where to punch.' "You must admit that Gene followed fol-lowed this program faithfully," said Eagan. "He made himself into a good defensive boxer. And he took his time on the way to Dempsey. From, the day Gene won the light-heavyweight light-heavyweight championship of the AEF in France he used up seven years before he thought he was ready for a shot at the big title. Sev- . en years of long, hard training is a longf tlrrte to wait. Few would eve'r have wited half that long. ', Gene was always a fellow of tremendous patience. In those seven years Tunney Tun-ney -never broke training. 7 4 ."I- recall later the time', and thought Tunney spent on Increasing his punching power. Also the time he spent on locating the spots where a . punch would , hurt mos And don't ever forget that while Gene was, no - killing puncher, he could hurt you a lot. - Ask Jack Dempsey Jack'U tell you. I know, rveboxod with him a lot. Gene never, threw wild punches. .There are certain nerve centers which he knew all about and he was accurate ac-curate enough to land Just there. , .. Golfer an Athlete? Several people have brought up the point that a golfer isn't really an athlete. I wonder how many know what an athlete really is? By the old Grecian standards, and it was Greece that originated the word, an -athlete is one who trains for war. Golf happens to be a game that demands the top In concentration en the Jab. This Is a vital part ef "any competitive sport Golf Is alee ' a game that requires coordination in the way of mind and muscle. |