474 AMERICAN SPORTS 



continue, although at times emphatically denied, and that after all the most successful 

 crews will always be those whose stroke, boat and physique are best correlated. 



Apart from intercollegiate rowing, an annual regatta is held of amateur oarsmen in which 

 crews and boats of many kinds from singles to eight oars are represented and which is grad- 

 ually gaining in importance and quality. In 1912 the Harvard-Yale race at New London, 

 Conn., June 21, was won by Harvard by about 5 lengths. At the Poughkeepsie meet on 

 June 29, in which for the first time the Far West was represented (by a crew from Leland 

 Stanford Jr., University), all the races were easily won by Cornell. 



Athletics. 'At the Olympic Games of 1912 (July 6-15) in Stockholm, Sweden, many 

 records were broken. In the event of perhaps greatest interest, the 800 metres run, the 

 record was broken by the winner J. E. Meredith (l min. 51.9 sec.) and by the second and 

 third contestants, all of whom were Americans. America was first in 16 out of a total of 

 31 events and scored 85 out of 184 points. The intercollegiate games, held at Philadelphia 

 on June i, 1912, were won by the University of Pennsylvania with a score of 28 points. 

 Five new records were established. 



Cricket. Cricket in certain quarters, notably the environs of Philadelphia and in some 

 of the schools like Haverford, has kept up a specific interest among those devoted to the 

 sport, but has not spread to any great extent. The Germantown (Pa.) Cricket Club visited 

 England and Ireland in 1911; they won five games, lost five, and three were a draw. 



Lawn-Tennis. Lawn-tennis has more than held its own, and although the Davis cup 

 matches have not proved sufficiently stimulating to draw new blood into tennis ranks in 

 sufficient quantity to build up young players to take the place of the old, the general spread- 

 ing interest in the game has been fully maintained. The chief events of 1912 were the win- 

 ning of the national doubles title by Maurice E; McLoughlin and Thomas C. Bundy, both 

 of California, in a challenge match with Raymond D. Little and Gustave F. Touchard at 

 Newport, R. I., August 21; and the winning of the singles championship by McLoughlin 

 on August 26; and the winning of the women's championships in singles by Miss Mary 

 Browne, also a Californian, at Philadelphia, June 15. An important change made in 1912 

 was that the holder of the championship in singles was to be required to play through the 

 championship tournament, instead of merely playing, in a "challenge" round, the winner of 

 this tournament. W. A. Larned, who had won the championship in 1911 (and in several 

 previous years), was prevented by his health from playing in the 1912 tournament. The 

 year was notable on account of the success, for the first time, of the Western players. 



Polo. Polo holds its own, even though the cost of equipment is high and the game, in 

 consequence, confined peculiarly to people of large means. Popular interest was greatly 

 stimulated in the spring of 191 1 , by the international matches between the American Meadow 

 Brook Club and the English Hurlingham Club, at Westbury, New York. The Americans 

 won two closely contested matches, the score being 43 to 3, and 4^ to 3^. 



Horseracing. Horscracing has been placed in an anomalous position in the United 

 States in the last few years owing to legislation. The truth of the matter is that in order to 

 stop the pool room betting, which certainly was a detriment to the youth who were exposed 

 to its influence and temptations, legislation piled up to such an extent as to affect the interest 

 on the track and the owners. As probably betting has never yet been entirely dissociated 

 from horseracing the attempt to carry through this divorce proved as usual to have un- 

 expected results and one of these has been the cutting down very materially of the interest 

 in this sport. 



Wrestling. In wrestling the important fact has been the still further victories of Frank 

 Gotch, his decisive defeat of the Russian, George Hackenschmidt, at Chicago, Sept. 4, 1911, 

 and his final retirement to his farm. The sport itself has been kept up very well in the 

 colleges, although there have been some defections from the Intercollegiate League. 



(WALTER CAMP.) 



