70t£^ e^. 



Haadllna llluttratlon *howt th» 

 hortethoa pitching tournamont 

 In progress. Man In undar- 

 thirt (center) It tarl Bemka 

 of Sangamon county, winner of 

 fhe men's tinglet event. This 

 Im the third year In succession 

 Bomke has been crowned men't 

 singles champion. 



By 



JIM THOMSON, 



Au't Editor, lAA Record 



HAIL to the Illinois Farm Sports 

 Festival champions of 1949 — 

 Will county! The farmers from 

 Will took first in both the folk 

 festival and sports divisions to 

 oust Champaign county, Sports Festival 

 leaders for the past two years. 



Taking frosting with their cake, the 

 Will county folks from the rich lands 

 surrounding Joliet. captured the Illinois 

 Farm Bureau Baseball Championship 

 for the second successive year by defeat- 

 ing Peoria 13 to 4. Will has won the 

 baseball title for six of the last seven 

 contests. 



The champions scored heavily in the 

 folk festival division with 780 points 

 compared with 380 by La Salle, their 

 nearest competitor. Will tallied 2.495 

 points in the sports division for a total 

 of 3,275. In second place was Cham- 

 paign with a total of 2.610 points. 



Less than one-third of the 92 counties 

 entered in the 10th annual Illinois Farm 



Sports Festival took part in the folk 

 festival where participation points and 

 points scored count the same as in the 

 sports division. 



Others among the top 10 in points 

 scored were Sangamon, 2.210; DeKalb, 

 2,165; Bond, 1,930; Whiteside, 1,845; 

 Henry, 1,745, McLean, 1,720; Ver- 

 milion, 1,695; and Iroquois, 1,685. 



District champions were (1) Carroll; 

 (2) DeKalb; (3) Whiteside; (4) 

 Henderson; (5) McLean; (6) Will; 

 (7) Adams; (8) Sangamon; (9) Cham- 

 paign; (10) Bond; (11) Fayette; (12) 

 Coles; (13) Randolph; (14) Clay; 

 (15) Franklin; and (16) Jackson. 



left: The Whifestde counfy' fug o' war feam 

 strains to victory over Clark county during 

 final tug o' war match. Right: A group from 

 Will county spread their picnic lunch on the 

 grass as they take time out from the Sports 

 festival. 



Spectator attendance at the nation's 

 greatest rural sports pageant, held an- 

 nually on the campus of the University 

 of Illinois, was cut considerably by an 

 outbreak of poliomyelitis in Cham- 

 paign-Urbana. Participation by con- 

 testants over 15, however, was near 

 normal. 



Because of the polio outbreak, the 

 Sports Festival committee met in 

 Springfield Aug. 12 to decide whether 

 or not the Sports Festival should be 

 cancelled. On the advice of Dr. L. 

 E. Schuman of the State Department of 

 Public Health and head of the Illinois 

 anti-polio campaign, the committee de- 

 cided to go ahead with the Sports Festi- 

 val with reservations. These included 

 cancellation of all events for children 

 under 16 and cancellation of track, 

 swimming, 4-H physical fitness, and 4-H 

 tumbling. The usual three separate 

 Thursday night programs of entertain- 

 ment, folk, and modern dancing were 



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