Show speaking eol 0 sports fl champs pass in review as 1939 9 draws to close by ROBERT mcshane COMEDY C 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 individuals and teams for outstanding achievements some of those performances are great some are fut funny anny and a few are pathetic in heavyweight boxing its a simple thing to name the greatest performer who else ma can compare with champion joe louis the brown bomber he has punched his way through all opposition to become one of the fight ingest kings in the history of boxing many ring followers consider him the greatest joe louis heavyweight of all 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 Ale memorial morial trophy given each year by tho 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 harmon of michigan was second paul christman of missouri third and george cafego of tennessee fourth 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 red sox were outstanding choices for baseball player of the year dimaggio and feller finished in front dimaggio is classed with the all time greats and feller conly only 20 years old managed to win 24 games for cleve charlie keller land keller and williams two 1939 rookies are the 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 r As for teams the yankees left little or nothing to be desired they had little to to tear fear from american league teams and won the series in four straight strai lit though the question is open to debate many baseball enthusiasts hail them as the greatest oest 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 and then further disrupted affairs by whipping decisively lou nova most promising promis mg of the heavyweight hopefuls diamond tra tragedy 0 edy under the head of pure tragedy comes ernie lombardes Lom bardis amazing antic during the world series ernie cincinnati reds backstop conducted a phenomenal one man sit down strike while the yanks scored the three winning runs in the last game of 0 the series it was by far the he most unusual performance in the annals of 1939 sports history top performances for women must include alice marbles rise to ter 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 who replaced patty berg as national amateur golf champion elizabeth hicks deserves an orchid for her play in winning the western derby sports ui in general have been more prosperous than they were a year ago increase of interest in all events has been marked which is a good sign for 1940 and for america aca the greatest sports nation in in the world |