Show speaking of sports county fair gave start stal to track ace by GEORGE A BARCLAY BREAKING track records for the mile and other distances and winning tight races is old stuff to glenn cunningham ace mil miler ter of the present generation glenn gets a kick out of his victories all right hes mighty proud of being the man who ran the fastest mile ever recorded ded in the worlds history that amazing performance was recorded recently at a meet at dartmouth college the time was four minutes four and four tenths seconds this was four seconds under the kansas stars own indoor record of 4 for the mile set in 1934 and two seconds under the outdoor mark made last august by syd Woo dersen of england only a few days before this epochal feat cunningham had broken another worlds record at madison square garden new york running the 1500 meter event in those ose were performances calculated to thrill even the most victory laden champion but if you asked cunningham about the biggest thrill of his career hell probably tell you he experienced it in his first race that was a long time ago the story trails back to a county fair grounds and an obscure schoolboy school boy track meet on the plains of kansas when glenn was about eight years old he was severely burned la in a school house bouse fire and for a time it was feared he would lose one of his legs but pluck and a rugged constitution pulled him through and soon he be was learning to walk all over again by holding onto the end gate of a wagon later to strengthen the crippled leg he would run up ar and d down the roads surrounding the old home place never saw shorts A few years later while he was still in grade school glenn entered a county school meet at the fair grounds at elkhart kan the track was just a dirt road built for automobile races the youngster had never had on shorts and a sweat shirt and yet seen spiked track shoes so in his ordinary shoes and ev ery day clothes he be ran around the W I 1 K tl glenn cunningham track and surprisingly enough won that mile winning miles has been a steady habit with him ever since and he admits he has never had any relish tor for getting beat in any race since that unnoticed little race out in elkhart kan glenn has won any number of brilliant track battles in high school at home and in college at the university of 0 kansas and clear down to the present day when he is run running ning under the auspices of the new york curb exchange he has streaked through track events like a comet c cunningham lost his last race last year to his fellow kansan archie san romani the younger archie has been handicapped by a game leg so far this year while cunning ham has been running in the greatest form of his bis entire career future of track the champion sees a great future for track events in the united states provided communities that have neglected them in past years will join in a revival track he says is one sport all youngsters can and should take part in it returns untold dividends in health physical development and the building of self rell reli ance and morale glenn believes that any school no matter how small or pressed tor for ready cash can put on track events for its students if it really wants to he pointed out that hundreds of schools are actually making the equipment in their own manual training departments rural schools particularly he believes can sponsor a track tt if they are not already doing so playing managers 0 three major league man agers who can also take their turn playing in the field or facing opposing pitchers in the betting box will be left in the big time when the season opens on april 19 they are jimmy dykes and joe cronin in the american league and jimmy wilson in the national league mickey cochrane pilot of the detroit tigers recently announced that he would not play again at one time not so long ago there were as many as nine active play ing managers in the big leagues that was when charley grimm of the cubs bothered with lumbago when frankie frisch of the jimmy dykes joe cronin cardinals was still a flash when pie traynors Tray nors throwing arm was working at pittsburgh when bill terrys knees squeak when he first based for the new york giants when rogers hornsby still took an occasional turn with the st louis browns and when cochrane was the outstanding catcher of the business so now only dykes cronin and wilson stick to their double chores and only one of them cronin is a day in and day out performer wilson gave up his regular job as catcher for for the phillies two years ago and dykes dyke yielded to a younger man last year cronin manager of the boston red sox Is among the stand outs cuts as an active ball player he was rated the best shortstop in the american league in 1937 ue he is only thirty one and will probably stay active after dykes and wilson have quit the passing of cochrane as a player marked marke d the retirement of a masterful catcher ranking among the greats of all time among hitting catchers none ranks in his class he knew how to handle pitchers he knew opposing batters weaknesses he hit to all fields rapping out frequent home runs bu bunted anted smartly and ran the bases with speed and intelligence cochrane spent 13 years as an active big leaguer before he was injured critically by a pitched ball last year here and there ALTER HAGEN JR son of athe WALTER the famous golf professional Is a sports commentator for the campus radio studio at notre dame the operation on dixie walkers shoulder was so unusual that the former white sox outfielder now with detroit his has become exhibit no 1 at medical conventions kid norfolk light heavyweight challenger of 15 years ago has not seen a fight since he retired he is employed by a philadelphia construction st company the american league record for most errors in a single game is held jointly wall of all people by george and hal chase pro tennis treat tto ENNIS fans may yet be treated to the spectacle of eusworth ellsworth vines and don budge and helen wills moody and helen jacobs fighting it out for supremacy in pro singles matches and budge and gene mako opposed to vines and perry in the doubles word from the west coast indicates that the fires are being stirred up under the tennis pot and it is helen wills moody reaching the boiling point rapidly budge who electrified the tennis world when he single handed won the davis cup last year is announcing unofficially that when he finishes defending the cup next summer he will be in a receptive mood about joining the pro ranks helen wills moody will not say she will and wont say she wont be interested in te fuming teurling pro but she has given her tennis game a stout test in recent months and it if it is as good as she hopes she is going back to wimbledon Wimble don to take another crack at the worlds title if she wins she will try for the national title at forest hills then she may be landed in the bromet pr onet the catch in the scheme for this troupe may be the landing of helen jacobs she appears to be not too anxious to play either amateur or professional tennis but a offer from the pros might land her Q western newspaper union |