United States Military Academy West Point - Howitzer Yearbook (West Point, NY)

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CAVANAUGH FROM the standpoint of actual enjoyment of a sport, boxing leads most all of them, in the opinion of the Corps. There is that thrill of an actual man-to-man en- counter to a ring bout that appeals. This is not a ten- dency that parallels the love of Nero and his contempora- ries for t h e battles in the arena, but is rather a legiti- mate respect and admiration for two men that go inside the ropes and match skill, strength and cunning against those same qualities in a prac- tically unknown opponent. It is not only the hard wal- lops, it is the exchange of blows, the dodging, the quick thinking, the rushing in and retreating — in short, the real finesse of the sport that is so appealing. Mr. Cavanaugh, aided materially by Lieutenant Cranston, has built up a team that is one of the most successful of all Army teams. Indicative of the team ' s real ability is its record for the past two years, during which time only one meet lias been lost. This was lost to Toronto this year, 1 to 3, principally because we had no real heavyweight entry. In order to meet our Canadian opponents in this entry, we m o v e d up our last four men one file, standing m o r e t h a n a chance to 1 o s e four bouts instead of j u S t one. lint, we a r e more than satisfied with the work of our leather pushers. Fight- ing at all times a clean, fierce, g e n t 1 email 1 y fight, they have conducted them- selves in a man- ner that is at o n C e a credit and an honor to DcSHAZO, Manager the Academy. 1 GRIZZARD. The team was handicapped all through the year by being deprived of the services of Grizzard, the captain. He did not get to fight in a single meet, because of sickness and a slight incapacity brought on by his dickerings with the Academic department, notably Engineering. However. Grizz lent his counsel and presence to the squad all year, helping out whenever it was possible. The outstanding boxer of the year was Watlington. the Colorado gentleman from A Co.. and vice versa. He not only never lost a bout, or even came near losing one, but he scored four knockouts ere the schedule was completed. He has a very long reach and uses it to keep the other man at a respectable distance. His footwork is excellent, enabling him to use his reach to the best advan- tage. He carries a powerful wallop around with him, and, (the discussion being about boxing), that of course, helps him a trifle. Above all. he has a head on his shoulders, and feels no hesitation at all about using it for other things than as a target for his opponent ' s punches. Other men who were particularly good are Frit- z c h e . Beattie and Lovell. The first two did not lose a bout during tin- year. and Lovell lost only one. This defeat w a s in the Toronto meet, when he was boxing one e 1 a s s heavier than his weight called for. He a n d Fritzche scored three K. O. ' s, and Beat- tie two. during the season. All the men on the squad improved t remen dously as meet follow- ed meet. Most

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IN the days of old, when some of the older gratis were Kaydets, the Army w a S unbeatable in fencing. The Army swordsmen literally eut their way through all opposition, winning every meet, all places in tin- Intercollcgiatcs, and every other fencing honor in sight. Other colleges accepted tin Army as superior in this respect without pro- test, probably figuring that an Army officer ought to excel in the use of the tools of his business. Things have changed somewhat since those days of our fencing monoply, until now our season is no more successful than that of any ordinary college. Just why such is the case is purely a matter of con- jecture, but it is probably because of the greater interest being shown in other sports by all the cadets, thus lessening the number of men com- peting for the fencing team. In the old days when General Pershing was a cadet, a tremendous interest was displayed in all forms of fencing by almost every m a n in the Corps. It is said that some time after General Pershing graduated, he was called up to see Mr. Roosevelt for some reason or other. Young Black Jack had heard that Mr. Roosevelt was very fond of fencing, and that he was especially adept at a particular phase of the sport, so the general dili- gently boned up the President ' s pet tricks and, at their interview, when Roosevelt suggested a round of fencing. Pershing agreed. He completely surprised and overwhelmed the Colonel by meet- ing his every rally, and foiling his every trick. This incident alone was no doubt a very great fac- tor in cementing the friendship that existed be- tween this Colonel of Rough Riders and General Pershing. The impression must not be gained here that we are discounting the work of our present fencing squad. They are all very hard workers, and are excellent fencers. It is very likely that present tition is much more active and vigorous than it u s e d to be. and more col- a r e taking up fencing as time goes on. Even Wellcslev and other female in- stitutions are becoming (yes. very becoming) interested in the sport. So it has ' eased to be simply a soldierly ac- complishment, but has b r a n c h e d out and grown enormously in popularity. 1 dcr in any fencing cir- cle in which he may find himself. He is, in addition to being captain of t h e team with all of its leader- ship requirements, the star sabre wielder on the squad. He has been unfortunate this year in that he has been able to take part in only half of our meets. For two of the meets he was in tin- hospital, a n d two of the colleges that we fenced had no sabre teams at all. Thus Dick has been de- prived of a lot of val- uable experience. The other men on the squad who have lunged and parried with much success are Smith, C. R., Munson, F. P.. Osborne, Harris, S. R., Doyle and Ford, H. 1 ' . Smith is Mayo ' s partner on the sabre team. The two of them, with Bixcl and Glasgow as likely subs, have constituted our sabre entries throughout the year. The foil team is composed of Munson, Harris and Osborne. These three men have, had their ups and downs during the season, but have steadily improved under stress of competition, local and foreign. Munson is probably our best foil bet for the Intercollegiates, hut, at the time of writing, it appears that the Fngineering department has foil- ed him. so he will probably draw a stay-back when the team leaves for New York. Doyle and Ford are our regular duellists. Ford especially having given good account of himself during the year. In addition to Bixel and Glasgow are Breckin- ridge. Zeller, Hinrichs and Olds, who have done real well. A glance at the sea- son ' s results so far will indicate that winning meets has not been our chief occupation. How- ever, the team has ap- parently j u s t struck its stride and, like a lorse that h a s been running under a n, is now ready to push out ahead of the field and come across the finishi ng » hundred

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of tin in were subs last year and lacked ring ex- perience at the beginning of this season. How- ever, it did not take very long to make their blows come harder, their feints more subtle, and their strength more lasting. The opening meet of the season was held on January 1(5 with N. Y. U., after only about two weeks of training. All of the bouts except the last one. (in which Elias was knocked out by Lassman, an extremely clever boxer), were very close, show- ing that the men were hardly in their trim so early in the season. We managed to win, 4 to 2. The next ring encounter, (not considering a miniature engagement or so by some of our love sick brethren), was with Toronto U., in which we were defeated t to :!. Watlington was matched against the Canadian ace, veteran of many battles, including some Olympic work. Wat cooly set out to win the bout by outpointing the Canadian without giving him a chance to use his much herald- ed knockout smashes. The result was that Wat ' was the decisive winner over the experienced vete- ran. V. M. I. was next met. The sting of defeat by the Toronto team was still felt, and all men were anxious to avenge it if possible. It was possible, V. M. I. coming out on the short end of a 5-2 score. Excepting the heavyweight and the 11 classes, the team at this stage of the season seemed to be past the experimental stage, being well able to more than cope evenly with any team on the schedule. The last three meets against Syracuse, Wash- ington and Lee, and Penn State were won decisive- ly. Against Syracuse the team did not lose a single bout, winning four out of the seven via the knock- out route. The most even bout of the Syracuse affair was the one between Bcattie and Cordasea. Their styles wen similiar. and both were aggres sivc. Beattie was in a little better condition, enabling him to outpoint his opponent in the second and third rounds. The features of the Washington and Lee meet were the decisive victories (both K.O. ' s) scored by Watlington and Fritzche. These same two boxers featured in tin- victory over Penn State, also. In addition. Ilornisher avenged his defeat at Prim State niits last year. The victory over Penn State ended the season. With the team intact for next year, it is expected that many completely successful m e e t s will be fought, under the direction of Mr. Cavanaugh and Lovell. the new Captain. Page two hundred fifty-i