also KV\ownas tR~tl{ NOts11:rrER (orrlCll\l PU\3uc;,..i\ON OF iRACI<. NiJ1S Or ii-IE '{-/QR\.\)) \)\'-l\1-lC.} Vol. 8 , No . 3 Sep t. 6, 1961 Semi-Monthly $6 pe r year by first cl ass mail Ed ited by Hal Batem an Page 17 Memorable Meets That Funny Man from Australia (Reprinted fr om Athletic Rev iew.) Part XII of a Seri es By Wally Donovan By Jimmy Plat t 1932 Fi na l Olympic Trial s It was a drizzly August m orning in 195 8 and most of tl1c Europea n Champ ions hi p at hlete s were ha ving an extra With the Olympics in Los Ang ele,:; a s th ei r goal , th e cr eam of half hou r in bed. Stockholm isn' t the best c ity in the wor ld Ame r ica's tr ack and fie ld sta rs battled for places on the U. S. tea m at when it s ra in ing. the I' ina l Oly mpic Tri a ls, held in co nju nc tion with the Na t ional AAU Reports had been t rickl ing through that "The A ustra - cha mpi ons hi ps, on July 15- 16 , 1932 , at Pal o Alto , Calif. li ans" were in town, how ev er , an d Melb our ne, Sydney an d Lett in g go with a salvo of wor ld records and grea t perfo r mance s , Brisb an e we re as kin g wha t had happened to tl1em s in ce Herb th e a thl e tes procla im ,xl to the world that America was sen ding it s great­ Elli ott last show ed hi s heels to a crow d of stru ggling· milers est tr ack and fiel d team t o Los .Angele s in th e fir st full -tim e Oly mpic s in En gland 10 days be for e. to be held on .Ameri can soil. Compet iti on for be rths on the team was So I dro ve out to Boson, the Swedish A. A. A . train ing keene r than eve r before beca use of a n ew Olympic r ule which per mitte d hcadquaner s beautifully pe rche d on the edge uf an isl and, well each c ow1try only thn:e entrie s in tl1C indiv id ual events. Thu s , man y a om in to the great arch ip e lago . As I parked by the hug e gymn as ­ \___., ski lled per for mer wh o mi ght have qualifi ed in prev ious year;; as tl1c ium and the well -l a id rw min g track, I th ?ug ht tha t perh a ps only fou rt h U. S. entra nt, fa iled to make tl1e 1932 teac, . ii1 North Wales could we combine at hleti cs and nature so pleas­ One who fail ed was Ge ne Venzk e, th e popukr Pcrms ylv anian whu antly; but felt every big British city would_ be much tl1c be tte r fin ishc.J fourth in th e 1500 meters . ~orwood Pemose llall owell of Har ­ •for such a center within easy reach. That, perhaps, was a bit vard , Fran k Crowley of the t\ ew York A . C . and Glenn C wmin gha m of of ea r ly 111on1:ing drcamiJ1g . Kan sa s qualif ied ah ead of Ven zk e in th at or de r . Hall owc ll 's winning tim e .Ancl I thought I was st ill dr ea min g when I saw a sli ght, of 3: 52. 7 was only one -tenth of a seco nd off tl1e new,\ me r ic a n record bony - kneed, white -hai red gent le man s udd en ly leap into the air, which Venzke had estab li shed in the Eastern sem i-f inal try outs . shout lik e a dervish, and go prancing ex aggerate dly round th e Powerflll Ral ph Metca lfe of iVarquctte won both spr ims, defca t­ trac k. He was dre ss ed in a thin pair of white sho rts and an in­ _ing Eddie .T olan of Iviichi gan and Geo r ge Simp son of Ohio State for a ad eq uat e green ves t. No sho es , no so c ks . lt was ra ining quir e midwest ern sweep . Uph old ing hon ors for the West Coast , usua lly a hard. hot be et for U. S, sprinters were Fra nk Wyk off of Soutl1ern Cal iforn ia , Hudclleci on the grass was a group of perhaps 15 athl etes, Hec tor Dye r of the Los An ge les .A. C , and Bob Kiesel of Ca lifornia. we ll mu ffle d a gai ns t the morning ra in and wiJ1d. I re cogn ized They , a long with Emmett Top pino of Loyo la of New Orle an s , wer e named some of the m: Ell iott, Der ek Tubotson , Geor ge Kerr, To rn R ob ­ to the 40 0- meter r elay team. in son , :-1urray Halb erg, some top Swedes. All six s tart ers in th e 100 meters finish ed w ithi n a spa n of a A rn icldlc -a ged lady came out of the gymnasium beh ind yard . At the star t, Top pin o an d Wykoff we nt out fast an d l ed for the me and ask ed, "Who, ca n you tell me , is tha t fUJmy man?'' first 50 . Si mpso n, in the lane between them, was only inches be hi nd "It must he Percy Ce :rutty, " I an sw e red. "It must be, with Tola n fourth a nd Metc a lie fi fth. Over m e last 50 mete rs , T olan because it ca n 't be anyone else . " and Metca li e c l osed wit h terrific bursts of sp eed and hit th e ta pe a "Cc rutt y?" sh e sa id, "yes, that i s th e one the y ar e foo t apart. Si mpson was only in ches behind th em in third . Topp ino ta lking abou t . · · bea t Wykof f for fourth in a photo finis h. The ti me was 10. G into the wind. She look ed at the "funny ma n" again , and went off. l Metca lfe won the 200 in 21. 5 lca diJ1g T olan an d Sim pson to tl1e ta pe a s joine d th e a thl ete s in the m idd le in ti me to hear one Swede Dye r nipped Kiese l for fourth in ano th er c los e finish decided by the whi sper: ''He mus t be crazy, that Ccrutt y." Robinson whippe d ca 1nera. a r0t md: "Don 't let Elliott hear you say that," the braw ny Ba­ Just as he had a t Berk eley, Ca lif . , in th e IC4.A Cha mpi onships , haman mutt er ed. Bill Carr took the measure of Ben Eastman in the 400 . Eastman's follow ­ But to look at Cerutty r W111ingaround th e track like Pop­ e r s were certain th at the tall, blond Stanfo r d star wou ld beat Carr on eye cha sed by the' bulldog, a ll knees in the air and terrifying hi s hom e tra ck. Th ey wer e di sa ppo int ed as Ca rr st ayed in bac k of East­ shr iek s, one could see what the Swede meant. .After 300 yards man's fas t early pace and beat him in the s tr etc h by two yards in 46 . 9 he sl owed clown and circled to the grou p, drawing in air with wh ich broke Emerson Spencer 's recognized world re co rd by one-ten tl1 gTea t gasps . He didn 't giv e himseli a chance t o recover. "That' s of a s econ d. James Gordon of th e Lo s .Angeles .A,C. got th e thi rd spo t how you tra in ," he said , " if yo u' re going to win races, you've by two feet over Southern Ca lifo rnia 's Edg a r Ab lowich . Named to th e got to fight, an d• you' ve got to make yourself fi ght in tra inin g. 1600 - mcter relay team , along witl1 Ablowich , we re Ivan F uqua of Indiana, It 's no u se jog gin' row 1d a track like some of you do. You've Arn old .Adam s of Bates and Karl Warn er of Yal e , wh o trail ed in this got to make yourself hate . You la ugh at me, don't you . Well, stu nnin g 400. what do I ca re ? What do you ca re so long as you win your ra ces? Ohio State's Jack Kell er tied th e world record of 14.4 iJ1 tl1e high I 'm 64- vca :rs- old ancl I've done ten 300 yards th is rnon 1ing and __.,__ ,,.,hurdle s a s he outst eppe d Geor ge Sa lin g of Iowa, hi s conque rer in the I 'll clo a'no ther 10 .