The Super-Stars of Sport

GRANTLAND RICE

Wherein Jay Gould, Ty Cobb, Willie Hoppe and Babe Ruth are Awarded Chaplets of Gold

PHILIP OF MACEDON and George J. Gould of Lakewood had about the same idea.

Philip, while developing his Macedonian fighting machine, decided to have his young son Alexander trained for the job of conquering and ruling the world.

The proud father therefore took charge of the son's military education but, as a necessary precaution, he turned over the boy's mental training to One Aristotle, a philosopher and sage of no inconsiderable merit.

Under this combined instruction Alexander, at the age of twenty, was more than ready to carry on. He conquered everything in sight and then went out on a sight-seeing tour in order to meet new opponents, with the result that he "cleaned up" from Thebes to Babylon and from the Nile to the Khyber Pass.

Over two thousand years later, George Gould decided that his son Jay was going to be the Alexander of court tennis. The youth was none too robust at the time. He was slight of frame with no signs of the great athlete about him. But he had an inherent genius for the game and the will to get up and go.

To develop this young genius George Gould took Frank Forester away from the New York Racquet and Tennis Club. Forester was a professional of more than passing ability, a great teacher who, for material, had in Jay Gould a great pupil.

At the age of seventeen young Gould stepped out against Joshua Crane, of Harvard, then court tennis champion. Gould won decisively. And now it's a question as to whether he isn't the greatest super-star in the whole world of sport. He certainly is, among the amateurs. For no other amateur in any other sport has, in addition to outclassing all amateurs over a long period of years, also outclassed all the best professionals.

For something approaching fifteen years now he has been unbeatable. Through this long span the young Alexander of court tennis has swept the field back and forth so clean that no opponent is ever mentioned in connection with his name. He defended his title a.t least twelve times and on at least three occasions captured the British premiership. As far back as 1908 he won the Olympic title in London, and in 1915, by beating George Covey, the great English professional he became Open Champion of the world.

The Reigns of Amateur Champions

OTHER amateurs have been open champions in other sports, but their reign was always brief. John Ball, Chick Evans and Harold Hilton have all been open golf champions, but only for a year at a time. Rare skill, stamina, quick thinking, sound training and surpassing genius have all combined to lift Gould far above the rest of the court tennis players. He has been, to every opponent, what Alexander was to Darius the Third, an overwhelming conqueror.

There are just two types of champions, in the world of sport, who exhibit their wares before an admiring public and whose ears are accustomed to tingle and whose hearts are accustomed to respond to great rolling salvos of applause.

The first type is very largely in the majority. It consists of those champions who were barely able to batter their way to the peak by a slight margin of supremacy, or who, conquerors one year, were overthrown the next.

The second type is as rare as peace in the Balkans, or wistaria blossoms north of Baffin's Bay.

For this type only takes in those who are not only champions, but who also outclass the remainder of the field by margins so wide that the contenders are lost in the dust far back around the turn. These have no competitors. They stand alone.

Who are, or who have been the recent superstars of sport? There is Harry Vardon, for instance. Vardon won six British Open Championships at golf. But while he was winning six titles, James Braid and J. H. Taylor were right at his heels with five each, beating the eminent Harry almost as often as he beat them.

So Vardon wasn't, or isn't a super-star.

Chick Evans won the Open and Amateur Championship of the United States in 1916, to be hailed promptly as one of the Unbeatables. But, in his next championship he was beaten by Hagen at Braebum and by Ouimet at Oakmont and, while he redeemed his defeat by Ouimet, last fall, he merely holds his place in the sun as a really worthy champion.

The same thing applies to William Tilden, 2nd. Tilden won the British championship at Wimbledon; the championship of the United States at Forest Hills and both Davis Cup matches from Brookes and Patterson upon the other side of this depressed vale sometimes referred to as the universe.

Yet Tilden, no later than eighteen months ago, was beaten by William M. Johnston in a championship test, and it is recognized that the margin between the two Williams is extremely slight. So, you can see why it is that Vardon, Evans and Tilden, great as they are, hardly come into the super-star class.

But, for all that, Jay Gould doesn't stand quite alone in the realm of sport.

Cobb and Hoppe

NE might, for example, mention Ty Cobb. Cobb, as a youngster, blossomed into the batting leadership of the American League in 1907. One year doesn't mean much. But in twelve of the next fourteen years Cobb finished in front of the clan. In 1915 he was topped by Tris Speaker of Cleveland and in 1920 by George Sisler of St. Louis. But for nine consecutive years he had the parade at his heels, leading usually by a margin so wide that no further discussion was worth while. And, while leading his league at the bat, Cobb also contributed more than his share in stolen bases and runs. This is super-starring with a vengeance.

What contributed to Cobb's greatness?

A combination of rare physical and mental endowments coupled with the raw will to get there and backed up, in turn, by the capacity for a long, hard siege of early training. Gould lacked Cobb's physique, but in many other ways they were much alike, especially in their ability to travel at top speed over long stretches of time, a proof of great nerve stamina, which is the real foundation of unusual greatness in the world of sport.

About the time that Jay Gould was starting his career there was another youngster hardly tall enough to handle a cue at a regulation billiard table. It is hardly necessary to suggest that we are referring to Willie Hoppe, another super-champion, who has tied the field into true lover's knots for more than a generation.

When one mentions billiards one thinks of Hoppe. When one mentions Hoppe one doesn't think of any one else in billiards. Year after year, Willie the Wonderful has romped along the even tenor of his winning way with no one at hand even to check his speed.

He has been one of those marvels who moved along, year after year, without defeat, defending his title with such ease and superiority that he had to be recognized as something more than a mere champion. There are many champions who come and go, but not many Hoppes. What superior quality lifted the billiard mandarin so far above the crowd? Genius, knack, sound training, amazing skill and cool, controlled nerves; nerves that were always master of the situation. And, as some billiard expert put it, "Hoppe always played billiards while his opponents generally played Hoppe".

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To Sit With the Kings

COBB was stopped last season. And, after a great many years of super stardom, Frank Kramer, the cycling czar, has found Time setting him a swift pace. But in the list of superstars we come upon a new type, one who hasn't proved his worth by years but by a sudden burst of greatness after the manner of a terrific flare against the black sky of night.

This new type, a trifle different from Gould, Hoppe and Cobb, is Babe Ruth. Ruth was an ordinary being a bit over two years ago. Then, in 1919, he accumulated 29 home runs, using a lefthanded swing for this purpose. It was not until last summer, though, that Ruth made a record that is likely to defy the centuries.

For a great many years twenty-five home runs—produced by Buck Freeman some two decades ago—had stood as the major league limit. Su~h stalwarts of baseball as Schulte, Cravath, Baker, Davis and Crawford had hammered at this mark in vain. When Ruth, affectionately known in intimate circles as The Bambino, ran the count up to 29, in the year 1919, he was immediately awarded the main seat in the temple of American sport. But when, last year, he lifted this mark to 54 home runs, more than doubling Freeman's old mark, his greatness in the art of socking a baseball over distant walls and fences was acknowledged by even the most cynical of critics.

In just two years a new super-star has arisen, one who has travelled far beyond the heights held by any mere champion; a super-star capable of drawing 30,000 people to a baseball game at almost every appearance. Ruth, among professional athletes, might also be known as a super-superstar or even as a king-super-star, in view of the distance he has travelled beyond all past records. His 54 home runs were some of them driven nearly 500 feet, which established a new record in the sport.

So, as super-stars, Gould and Ruth might be said to rule their respective realms, one in the amateur field, the other in the professional. Gould rules both fields in his game, and, this spring, will again face another professional onslaught.

But whatever 1921 may have to offer, the stars I have mentioned in this article are certain to be remembered for generations to come.