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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1899)
i ‘” MI DSUMME R NUM BE RP=TONDO N GAMES. Vow! Vou. VIL No. 40. Copyright ‘ by Yale Alumni Weekly, 10 CENTS. PricE NEW HAVEN, CONN., AUGUST, 1899. z THE LONDON GAMES. With a detailed Account of each _ Eventin an uncertain and exciting Struggle, in which Yale could do no Point Winning—Trip across the Water and Incidents of the Stay in England, including Verbatim Report of Speeches at the Ban- quet, by Ambassador Choate, Lord Jersey, Mr. Wendell, Mr. Camp and others, (By Preston Kumler, the Staff Correspondent o the ALUMNI WEEKLY.) ; é ’ Lonnpon, July 24. The grounds of the Queen’s Club, West Kensington, London, presented a beautiful and picturesque appearance on the afternoon of, July 22. Flaring post- ers on the busses, in the railway sta- tions and on the boards borne by cock-. ney isandwich-men had combined with the press and conversation of the pre- vious weeks to tell the British public. and the visiting colony from “the States” of the Oxford-Cambridge—Harvard-Yale sports, arranged for the day, and when the royal carriage conveying the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of York, entered the grounds at four o'clock, and the first competitors went onto the field, about nine thousand people were present. The sky had cleared after the showers of the night before, which had only served to make more fit the finest cinder track in all England and brighten the firm green turf of the irregular oval which it enclosed. The’ Britishers said the day was too warm, but the Ameri-— cans, who were willing to undergo the slight ‘discomfort of the heat for the favoring conditions which it brought their athletic representatives, were well pleased at the eighty degrees registered by the London thermometers. ATTENDING ROYALTY. The privileged people occupied the West side of the grounds, for there were located the Royal Box, draped in scarlet and gold with the Royal Stand- ard floating above, and closely adjoin- ing, the pavilion and special enclosures, crowded with club members and “Old Blues,” as former Oxford and Cam- bridge athletés are known. Along the South side of the three-lap track, which is of peculiar shape, best described as an irregular quadrangle with the corners rounded off, stood the gaily-decorated stands assigned to the Yale and Har- vard contingents, bright with the Stars and Stripes and the crimson and blue. At the opposite end of the enclosure were the other ten-shilling seats, filled with dignified representatives of the middle class, while along the remaining side, facing the pavilion, were packed the. thousands of sport-lovers who had paid half a crown for admission and a place to stand. Bees The crowd was rather quiet during the earlier part of the afternoon and the Royal Victoria Band, stationed in front of the Royal Box, had things much its Own way so far as noise was concerned, But as the well-managed events followed quickly one after another and the rais- ¢ = Pos cee OX FORD-CAMBRIDGE TEAM. si ag [Photo. by Byron, New York.] = ing of the national flags in the middle of the oval denoted a win now for America and now for England, the en- thusiasm became intense and the start- ling cheers of the American university men and the exclamations of “bravo” and “well-run” by the Englishmen be- came mingled in one terrific uproar. ENGLAND'S GREATEST ATHLETIC MEET. The English papers united in declar- ing this the grandest athletic meet ever held in the country: surely none of the Americans present had ever seen any- thing to equal it. The result is too well known, a victory for Oxford and Cam- bridge by a score of five points to four. By a fortunate arrangement of the pro- gram, the final outcome of the games depended on the three-mile run, the last event of the day. For fifteen minutes the Yale man and the Cambridge man fought each other around the track, amidst the shouts of the excited specta- tors. This was the glorious climax of _ an afternoon of the keenest sport, and when Workman, the little Cambridge runner, crossed the line winner over the exhausted but plucky Palmer, the Brit- ishers surged about him by hundreds, followed him to the Pavilion and cheered long and frantically when he appeared on the veranda above them. CALCULATIONS WERE WRONG. All the performances of the afternoon were well above the average, most of them remarkably good. The results of “many of the events were the source of great surprise to those who had at- tempted to calculate the chances of vic- tory. It was generally conceded that the hammer-throw, high jump nad_half- mile run would go to the Americans and that the Englishmen would win the broad jump, the mile and the three-mile runs. Boardman of Yale was thought to be almost a sure man in the quarter mile run, so the average American felt that a victory in either the hundred yards dash or the hurdle race was all *t that was required to win the meet, while: those who foresaw a triumph for Oxford and Gambridge counted on winning both of these events. » But Burke and Adams, the American half-milers, were both easily beaten in a race much slower than their recent performances, and Davison of Cambridge surprised both English- men and Americans by running the quarter seconds faster than his best pre- vious record and beating Boardman, who covered the distance in time which it was thought would assure him first place. Thus, with the two most doubt- ful events to their credit, defeat came to the Americans by one point, through the loss of two places on which they had counted as sure. It was thought when the Americans entered the games that all were in prime condition with the-excep- tion of Burke. The comparatively poor showing of their renresentatives in the four long races, however, justifies the opinion that some of the distance men at least, suffered from the climatic change. GREAT ENDURANCE OF ENGLISH RUNNERS. The magnificent judgment of the Eng- lishmen in the four long runs was a prominent factor in gaining them their well-earned victory. A critical review of the sports indicates that, in each of the distance events, a carefully laid plan to run the Americans off their feet dur- ing the early part of the race was carried out with marked success. But the Britishers must be credited with something beside head-work, for they ran gloriously. Whether it be due to heredity or to the vigorous outdoor life during their early years, certain it is that these Englishmen are natural run- ners. In general the Americans ran more gracefully, in better form, but the Oxford and Cambridge men pounded about the track in a sturdy, uncultivated way which gave evidence of the won- derful strength which won their races for them. | At just four o’clock the competitors in the hammer-throw and: broad-jump ap- peared on the field and were greeted by — z hearty cheers. These two events took place simultaneously, the jump in front of the pavilion and the hammer-throw- ing contest in ‘the northest corner of the enclosure. While they were watched with interest and the good performances . were applauded, there was little excite- ment, as the result of each was a fore- gone conclusion. BROAD JUMP. C.D. Daly and Captain J. Te Roche- of Harvard were the American repre- sentatives in the broad jump, with G. C. Vassall of Oxford and L. R. O. Bevan of Cambridge as opponents. As a con- cession to the Americans, a six-inch take-off had been substituted for the narrower block prescribed by the Eng- lish rules, and each man was allowed five trials, a compromise between the six allowed in America and the four to which the Oxford and Cambridge men were accustomed. The distances were reckoned according to the English system, the first imprint counting, in- stead of the first break, as in America. Vassall cleared 22 feet 5 inches on_his first leap and on the fourth trial in- creased his mark to 23 feet, at which he won the event. Daly did not appear to be up to his American form, but improved on each successive attempt, finally jumping 22 feet 3 inches. Roche’s best distance was 21 feet 9 inches, and Bevan, who took a long, laboring run, did nothing better than 20 feet 4% inches. The raising of the Union Jack, which announced the completion of the first event, brought forth considerable ap- plause from the British element. HAMMER THROW. The hammer throw was easily won by W. A. Boal of Harvard, with 136 feet 8% inches to his credit, his college mate, H. J. Brown, securing second place with 122 feet 9 inches. The Englishmen were completely outclassed, for J. D. Green- shields of Oxford did but 108 feet 9 inches and none of the throws of L. O. T. Baines of Cambridge were considered good enough to measure.
