OCR Text |
Show WMr Mm& Champions '' - r' , - JtJi - ' By ELMO SCOTT WATSON ""T WAS Mr. W. K. Henley lie of the "In- tj vlclus" verse who once wrote sonie- M thing to the effect that "Into the night j go one mid all." Hint wiis a gi'e:t numy jf " " years niro, but lie niiglit have heeu talk-M talk-M ing about American sport champions JT and 1920. For the past year has so.en Kj' more crowns Jan-ed off athletic brows than has been the case in many a year. One by one the hitherto-invinciblcs went mkJI down in defeat and the dawn of the new year linds a whole flock of new champions cham-pions bowing to Hie populace. And at the same time they're casting apprehensive glances over their shoulders to see what formidable contenders for their honors are tolling up the slope to push itiem from their positions of eminence during the next twelve months. Look over t he record presented in another column col-umn and you will see that in nearly every branch of sport, the title changed hands once and In eome cases more than once. llaseball is proverbially the national game and It saw a new champion acclaimed in one of the most thrilling World Series ever played in tills country. The Pittsburgh Pirates of the National league, 1925 champions, lost out in the (lag race to the St. Louis Cardinals who had never before be-fore won first honors. The Washington Senators of the American league, 1924 champions and con-Vstants con-Vstants In 1925, lost out to the New York t'ankee?, who have been league champions three times n id who held the title of world champions as lately as 1923. For that reason they went Into the seven-game series with the Cardinals lavorites. P.ut Manager liogers llornsby and his men won a thrilling eleventh-hour victory which gave St. Louis her lirst championship in many years and a chance to stage a celebration by her cllb'.om which was strongly reminiscent of the scenes of wild joy which prevailed all over the country on November 11. 191S. Even though Rogers llornsby did lead his Cards to a team championship he lost an individual title. He has been batting champion in the National Na-tional league for many years, but in 1920, lie 'had lo ban 1 over his crown to Rubbles Ilargrave of the Cincinnati Kcds. In the American league a similar change took place. Harry Heilman of the Detroit Tigers lost his title of batting champ In that circuit, lint, at least, he had the satisfaction of seeing it remain in Detroit, for he ws dethroned de-throned by Heinle Manns!), a team mate In boxing more than in any other sport was the toppling of thrones and the falling of crowns In evidence. From early spring until late In the (all the prize ring saw a steady procession of old " champions stopping down and new ones stepping up. It began when llurrs Grcb, the middleweight champion, was bealeu by Tiger Flowers, demanded de-manded a return match, got it and with it another an-other defeat. In the welterweight class Mickey Walker had held the title for three years. Dave Shade aspired to the title but Mickey disposed i.f him. T'.en along came Peto Latzo, whom Walker bad beaten once. When their second bout ended, the welter crown was on Pete's head and not on Mickey's. Kooky Kansas held the lightweight championship champion-ship which Penny Leonard had vacated the year before, but before Rocky could enjoy it long, Sammy Sam-my Mandell took it away from him. The snme ihing happened in the light heavyweight division when Jack Dclaney outpointed Paul Berlenbach. In the featherweight class, 1925 saw the abdiea-lion abdiea-lion of Kid Kaplan, the champion, because he wi'S growing too heavy to make the required weight and Charley (Phil) Rosenberg lost his bantamweight crown when he was suspended from tihting in the state of New York and his title declared vacant in Illinois ufter a dispute with the l.nNlng authorities So 'as 1925 came to n close there was only (ne boxing title held unilNpuled by a champion of 10'M That was In the heavyweight division whore" Jack Dempsey still reigned supreme, part-lv,o part-lv,o those not especially friendly to him said -' because be was shy about g-ing Into the ring Kiih a contender. Put Ihmll.v the jingle of Tex i IvsVc 3oiby xo&kS xm,twn.t. HERE'S THE 1926 CASUALTY LIST . ItOXI.VG Jack Deinpsey, world's heavyweight charu- " " pion, beaten by Gene Tunney. ii Paul Berlenbach, world's light heavyweight .. .. champion, beaten by Jack Delaney. Harry Greb, world's middleweight cham- pion, beaten by Tii?er , Flowers. " Mickey Walker, world's welterweight .. champion, beaten by Sieve Latzo. ltocky Kansas, world's lightweight cham- pion, beaten by Sammy Mandell. Kid Kaplan, world's featherweight cham- J pion, resigned title. 7L Charley (Phil) Rosenberg, world's bantam- -. weight champion, title declared vacated. T uoi.F Robert T. Jones, national amateur cham- " "" pion, beaten by George Von Kim. . Willie MacFarlane, national open cham- .. .. pion, beaten by Robert T. Jones. Jim Barnes, British open champion, beaten "" by Kobett T. Jones. " It. Harris, British amateur champion, beat- .. I! en by Jess Sweetser. Glenna Collult, national women's cham- - pion, beaten by Virginia Wilson. (Championsliip won by Mrs. G. Henry Stet-T Stet-T sou.) TE.NN'IS William T. Tilden, 11., national amateur champion, beaten by Henri Cochet. tCham- 'm " pionship won by Utne L.a Cosle.J Suzanne Lengten, worlds amateur woman .. champion, turned professional. Helen Wills, women's amateur national ' champion, defaulted. (Championship won by '. " Mrs. Molia Mallory.) T B.1SE8.U.L Pittsburgh Pirates, National league cham- piuns, and 1 i 2 5 world seriea champions, lost j" tu St. Louis Cardinals. .'. Rogers fiornsby. .National league batting .. champion, lost to Bubbles Ha'grave. Cin- - cinnati Reds. " Harry HeiUnan, American league batting champion, losl to Heinie Manus-h, i'etroil .. Aniei'i'jans. I WtlKSTLI.Mi Wayne Munn. world's heavyweight cham- " pion. beaten by Sti angler Lwis. " Straugler Lewis, worm's heavyweight .. champion, beaten by Joe S..ciier. Ivan Podubno, luropea.i cliampion, bealen by Joe Stecher. Bll.l.lMttlS I' Willie Hoppe, v.ui.vC.s cuimpion lS.t balk- .. .. line, beuten by J.i ... :- ...... -i. Jake Schaefer, v, "-li'. ch.iinpion 18. S balk- ' line, beaten by Kric ll.iircn lachcr. Francis S. Appleby, :ottional amateur 18.2 .. !! baiktlne. beal-:l by J. A. Clinton, Jr. Bob Caniu-faK, three-cushion champion, " suspended from competition. Frank Teborski, pocket champion, title .. declared vacated. " TIIACK Taavo Nurmi, world's distance running " " champion, beaten by various runners several " times. Douglas Lowe, world's middle distance run- ning champion, beaten by Doctor Pelzer. swnoinr, Johnny Weismuller, record holder in varl-" varl-" ous distances, records broken by Arne Borg .. and Kric Rademacher. Helen Wainwright. women's national cham- olon, turned professional. " SlSCKl.I.AEOlS j. Paul Costello, national rowing champion. beaten by Walter Hoover. Cla3 Thuiibersr, world's nmateur skating champion, beaten soveral times. '. American Flag, champion running horse, J. won no Important races. Pompey. champion two-year-old running T hc-ae, won no Important races. " Baby Bootlegger, motor boat speed cham- .. pion, beaten by Greenwich Folly. . . , . . t t 1 T t t T t I T ,t,,t T I T, t ,T t I I . Rickard's dollars brought hlra into action against Gene Tunney, the ex-marlne, and on September 2H Gene won the decision over the Mcnassa Maule.-and Maule.-and the title of all titles In b.c-ing. Dempsey's defeat was . probably the biggest sporting upset of the year, but golf and tennis furnished two others and saw the dethroning of two champions almost as universally known as Jack Dempsey. They were Big Bill Tilden nnd Bobby Jones. In golf Bobby Jones, the Atlanta At-lanta (Oa.) youngster, had won a distinction never before attained by an exponent of the game He held three championships, the. British Open the American Open and the American Amateur. To win the first he had dethroned Long Jiit Barnes, to take the second he had beaten Willi? MacFarlane and when he came to defend his title In the third, everything seemed favorable for his continuing to' enjoy the unique distinction of triple champion. But on the field at Baltusrol George Von Kim of Los Angeles played superior golf and, when he finished 2 up and 1 to play, Bobby's reign was over. Just as Bobby Jones, the outstanding figure among men golfers, went down in defeat, so did Glenna Collett, the premier woman golfer, bow to another. Miss Collett had been amateur national na-tional women's champion twice and had held all sorts of sectional championships. Then . along came Miss Virginia Wilson, a twenty-year-old girl from Chicago, to "bump off" Glenna in the third round of the national play 3 up and 2 to play. And then Mrs. G. Henry Stetson defeated Miss Wilson and won the title. In tennis the fall of Big Bill Tilden was almost as dramatic as that of Bobby Jones or Jack Dempsey. Demp-sey. Up until this year he seemed supreme in his field. But the 1920 jinx for champions got in its work on him early. He lost the indoor national na-tional championship to Rene LaCoste, a Frenchman. French-man. Then Vincent Richards beat him iii preliminary pre-liminary tournaments and in the Davis Cup matches La Coste was again victor over Tilden. Then came the supreme test the national amateur ama-teur matches and In five hard-fought sets Big Bill was forced to bow to another Frenchman. Henri Cochet. When 1925 opened Suzanne Lengien was unofficial un-official tennis champion of Die world and she retained re-tained the title by defeating Helen Wills at Cannes early in the year. She continued her victorious inarch through the Wimbledon matches (for- appendicitis ap-pendicitis had prevented "Little Poker Face" from another attempt lo wrest the title from Suzanne) nnd then voluntarily abdicated her amateur ama-teur title by turning professional when C. C. Pyle, who first sprang In the sport limelight by commercializing the gridiron prowess of Red Grange, "the Galloping Ghost," persuaded her that many American dollars awaifed. her appearance appear-ance in this country. In wrestling the major title changed hands with considerable rapidity. As the New Year of 1925 dawned Wayne Munn, the big Nebraskan, wore the crown because he had tossed Strangler Lewis out of the ring and defeated him. Then the Strangler staged a come-back with his celebrated hcadlock and beat Jlunn. But before he could get the crown firmly adjusted. Joe Stecher of Iowa came along and lifted it from his head and hurried to a mirror to tnke a look at himself in his new chapeau. Ivan Podubno, the European champion, came to our shores and made an attempt at-tempt to adjust the same millinery to his head. But Joe wasn't ready to give it up yet and he still wears it. In 1925 Paavo Nurmi, the "Flying Finn," was the sensation of the running track and was hai'.ed as the world's greatest distance runner. But 192B brought an end to his victories. He was beaten by another Finn, F. Llevendahl and Edvln Wide, a Gei-man, has threatened his general supremacy. Doctor Pelzer, another German, not only beat' Nurmi in the 1.500 mter run in record lime but he also took another title when he beat Douglas Lowe, an Englishman, to the tape and Lowe had beaten the best of the American mid die distance runners. In motor boat racing. In horse racing, in skating, skat-ing, old champions gave way to new. Rut if these new kings and queens of sport look back oer the athletic trail of 1920 and are mindful of Its lessons, they probably will not face 1927 with much assurance that the new year will he any less a Jinx than the old one was for a champion cham-pion In sports. For, as Mr. Henley ret.cukrd. "h ti- the night go one and ail." |