Colliers tor July 18, 1931 17 The Sports'-Eye View By Grantland Rice

HARLEY MORAN of Horse It all depends on the competition you Pop Warner: "You're Cave, Kentucky, is one of the face. In 1911 Shoeless Joe Jackson doing fine; you're best umpires in the National batted .410 and finished only second be­ just getting their C League. He was also head coach cause that same season Ty Cobb batted confidence" of Centre's famous Bo McMillin foot­ .420. However Jackson's .410 would ball team. But few fans remember that have led the league in twenty-three out Moran was also Pop Warner's assist­ of the last twenty-five years. ant at Carlisle when the Indians were running amuck. Tape Measures Pop had remembered Charley as a star with the Massillon Tigers, one of During one of the big summer track Referee Tiny Maxwell the greatest of all professional football meets a certain shot-putter used adhe­ got in the way and teams. Charley then weighed one hun­ sive tape to protect an injured finger. completely broke up dred and ninety pounds and could run A protest was made and the athlete a Harvard play the 100 in 10%. was ordered to remove the tape. "Can you still do the things you used His coach then appealed to to do?" Pop had wired Moran. Re­ Keene Fitzpatrick, the veteran ceiving an affirmative answer, Warner Princeton coach who had been wired Moran to report at Carlisle for in the game for forty years. a job as trainer and assistant coach. He selected the wrong man. "The first day out," says Moran, "I "I'm sorry I have to vote against noticed Pop was a little backward in you," Keene said. "But I hap­ white stakes marking the bound­ telling me the duties of my new job. pen to be the cause of the rule. ary line. - Finally Rube turned Finally' he said to me: 'You know, You see, a shot-putter needs to his opponent and said: "That Charley, these Indians don't like to strong fingers that can keep caddie of yours gets my goat." tackle and block each other.' They seem their places. Over twenty years "What's the matter with to get more fun out of tackling a white ago I invented leather finger him?" asked the opponent. man.- So I want you to show them guards and then tape guards to "Nothing," said Rube, "except something. It won't be bad.' that his mouth looks like out of "On that Carlisle team," Moran said, bounds." "were such men as Guyon and Calac The other golfer looked again and a brave named Hawk Eye who and saw his caddie had but three stood six feet four and who weighed shining upper teeth left, each all of two hundred and fifteen pounds. about an inch apart. I might as well have been a'prisoner at the stake. They just about murdered With the all-time home-run me. I had lumps and knots all over me record at his mercy, who remem­ from head to ankle. bers that Babe Ruth's lifetime "That night I told Pop I wasn't ready pitching mark is the highest for that type of work and needed about average yet turned in by any ten days to get back in shape. 'Oh, pitcher, right-handed or left- you're doing fine,' Pop said. 'You can't handed, the same being ninety- stop now. You're just get­ improve my giip The officials two games won and forty-five lost for ting their confidence.' " later passed a rule against a percentage of .672? And that his this practice and so I was the best performance was against the St. The Missing Hie fiist one to sufl'er." Louis Browns, where he won twenty- one games and lost but three? Al Jolson tells the story How many lecall that at of a golfer whose caddie sud­ Baltusrol in 1926, at Mini- Just Another Yale Man denly started hiccuping. The kahda in 1928, at Winged caddie's staccato accomplish­ Foot in 1929 and at St. An­ In a recent fanning bee Ed Thorpe, ment preceded each stroke drews in 1930 Bobby Jones the well-known football umpire, told for eight holes. Then, at a had to sink four sloping, Jess Harper of Notre Dame the story of critical' moment coming to the ninth twelve-foot putts to win each Tiny Maxwell refereeing a Harvard- green, there was complete silence on match by one up and tie Al Yale battle. Harper and Maxwell •the caddie's part as the dufl'er missed Espinosa when a slip would played on the same Chicago team years his shot completely. He promptly have changed the course of ago. turned and knocked the surprised cad­ his amazing golf record? "In this game," said Thorpe, "Tiny, die down. weighing about three hundred pounds, "What did you do that for?" asked And how many know that got in the way of a Harvard runner the astonished club carrier as he began the most runs ever scored by and completely broke up the impending to pick himself up, "I didn't hiccup that two clubs in one big-league play. time." baseball game took place Au­ " 'What are you going to do about "I know you didn't," said the enraged gust 25, 1922, between the that?' howled the wrathful Harvard player,!"but I allowed for it." Cubs and Phillies in Chicago? captain as Tiny finally emerged from Ring and Weinert pitched the mass. for the Phillies against Kauf­ " 'Send for a blue sweater,' remarked man, Stenland, Eubanks, Maxwell as he got back on his feet." "What did you do that for?" Morris and Osborne. Here asked the astonished caddie. "I is the score by innings: I wonder if you recall, back in 1902- didn't hiccup that time!" Chi.—1 10 0 14 0 1 0 0 X—26 or 1903, when Pittsburgh had one of its Phil.—0 3 2 13 0 0 8 6—23 greatest teams, Christy Mathewson, pitching for the second division Giants, Tooth Pickets beating the Pirates in'.eight starts? There was a pitcher. Rube Goldberg was playing in an Artists and Writers You hear a lot about- "golf shots golf tournament recently bought in the shop" through the de­ when he hooked two shots off signs of certain QIUIDS, but no dufl^er has the course, just beyond the ever yet stumbled on one.

To "look before you leap" is sound advice if you don't mind losing the Bobby Jones, the American impetus of a running start. marvel of the links, has set a record for tournament play To be able to take it is all well enough which may never be equaled —until it becomes a habit.

PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED 18 Colliers for July 18, mi Before the Flight

Colonel Lindbergh has checked the facts in this story of the preparations for the Paris flight—a story of infinite I pains inspired by daring and justified by the event

By Leila Warren .•»*• iSlf.j^jj g •^ Acme Lindbergh—snapped before his historic flight to Paris

T IS strange that in the search for Lindbergh lore that small group of men who cooperated with him in I preparing the vehicle for his flight should have been overlooked. In their minds there lie the intimate details and cherished memories of that, famous ac­ complishment. This account is gath­ ered from these men. And consequently it is not a matter of guesswork or con­ jecture. For each fact has been checked by the participators, so that the narra­ tive may stand in the midst of grandiose romancing and petty gibes as a frag­ ment of tested truth. This, then, is a setting down of plain facts. And the first plain fact is Irony. In December, 1926, a tall boy with a shock of almost sandy hair and eyes that were a quick blue twinkle came to Paterson, New Jersey, and asked to be shown through the factory of the Wright Aeronautical Corporation, which manufactured the now well-known Whirlwind engine. At the end of his tour of the plant ^is youngster, whose name was Lindbergh; made it known that he hadn't come solely as a sight­ seer, but rather as a shopper. In short, he wanted to buy a special airplane that had been designed by Giuseppe Bellan- ca, whom the Wright people had im­ ported from Italy to design a plane particularly suited to their engine. Lind­ bergh wanted to buy a specific airplane called the Columbia,' which had been built with the idea of breaking the world's endurance record for sustained flight. Lindbergh wanted this plane be­ cause it was unexcelled by anything else on the market, because its test flights Fueling th^ Spirit of St Louis And naturally negotiations for his place­ with Levine. He was hurrying home to had been notably successful and, most at Roosevelt Field, before the ment could be more easily consummated get a certified check to close the deal of all, because it was capable of carry­ take-off, the morning of May when backed by actual demonstration and he now had high hopes for an early ing enough gasoline to get to Paris. 20, 1927 of one of his products. In short, to sell start. And he needed an early start, for Enough gasoline to get to Paris! the Columbia to Lindbergh for that un­ by that time Commander Byrd had an­ Who was this youngster who so calm­ dertaking would deprive Bellanca of his nounced his flight and Commander ly planned so venturesome an undertak­ Exhibit A. Davis and Lieutenant Wooster were ing? He was the Lindbergh who had couraging such a risky enterprise? The So for two varieties of ethical reasons nearly ready for their actual tests. barnstormed in aviation, had later been serious minds of the industry had dis­ they said "No." The business reason graduated from Brooks Field and who, cussed the Paris flight many times and gave them ample excuse to refuse to Lindbergh's Second Setback in the course of his flying, had had to were convinced that its dangers dic­ make a sale which would forward an at­ "bail out" four times to save his life. tated the use of a multi-motored plane, tempt that they wished to discourage as Then—Columbia Airliners decided Now he was a night-mail pilot on the equipped with a radio and with room involving too much risk. Consequently that.the ship was more useful as a dem­ route between St. Louis and Chicago. for ample relief personnel for perform­ the young pilot left the factory without onstrator than as an entry in the race A lot of experience, true. But even so, ing both navigating and piloting duties. the coveted ship. to Paris, with its attendant hazards. why take the risk of crossing the At­ There were several other attempts being Not long after that Bellanca, whose To break the'world's endurance record lantic behind :a single engine and— contemplated at the time, but contem­ sympathies he had stirred, apprised at a modest risk to pilots and ship would above all—alone? It was unheard of to plated with the aid of what seemed the Lindbergh of the fact that Charles bring enough publicity. dream of facing, single-handed, nineteen' logical vehicle—a multi-motored ship. Levine had taken over himself and his So the certified check journeyed back hundred miles of bleak Atlantic Ocean ship,' the Columbia, and formed the to St. Louis. with only one engine and no navigator. "It's Altogether too Risky" Columbia Airliners, Incorporated. Fur­ One of the oflncials of the Wright Such were the thoughts racing ther, Bellanca influenced Levine to company had not been present at the through the minds of Charles Law- Business was business, but gentlemen negotiate with Lindbergh concerning time of Lindbergh's visit to their plant. rance, president, and- Guy Vaughan, in business are subject to certain ethics. flying the ship to Paris. Pending dis­ He was J. T. Hartson, sales manager manager of the company, as they lis­ It seemed scarcely humane to sell this cussion with his associates, Levine made —an old-timer in commercial aviation, tened to Lindbergh's ofl:er. youngster a craft which would lead him the proposal that Lindbergh pay his as tall, lean and wind-tanned as a hero Business was business and they had into disaster. company the $25,000 guaranteed him by from the Leatherstocking Tales. ofl'ered the same model ship to a public Also there was another purely busi­ his St. Louis backers, out of which Le­ On FebruaryJ,28th Hartson received a that remained unresponsive about buy­ ness matter involved. The Wright com­ vine would contribute $10,000 toward wire from lfranlilin;Mahohey, the owner ing it at a price as low as $12,000. But, pany had an obligation to see that the other expenses of the flight. of a small air-transport and plane man­ they wondered, were the long-range in­ Bellanca was well placed elsewhere, now It was a happy boy who took the train ufacturing company in San Diego called terests of aviation best served by en- that they no longer needed his services. back to St. Louis after his conference the Ryan Air''Lines. "Where can I

PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED