Stoneham High School - Wildlife Yearbook (Stoneham, MA)

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GRADUATION NUMBER cept victory or defeat, as may be, with the satisfying consciousness that he has given his best efforts. These ideals applied in scientific pur- suits professional callings, or in the or- dinary routine employments will carry us on to the ultimate personal achieve- ment — to make the world a better place 111 which to live, “Let us, then, be up and doing. With heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing. Learn to labor and to wait.” Raymond J. Dodge College sports were started as volun- tary games by those who enjoyed them. Attracting more and more attention first among the students and later among the sport lovers of the world, they became more and more expensive. ' They outgrew the capacity of the stu- j dents to manage them. They became ' great spectacles, attracted vast audien- ■ ces, returned large gate receipts, and re- | quired elaborate coaching systems. Some few years after it began, foot- ball was abolished, because of its bru- tality, from many of the colleges of | this country. Popular demand was, | however, so pressing that the rules were modified, and elements were introduced to produce thrills and to regain for I football its immense popularity. It is | these thrills, brought about mainly by the forward pass, that have retained this popularity until at present with the occasional exception of basketball, ! football is the only paying college si3ort. Almost simultaneously with the be- ginning of intercollegiate rivalry arose a blast of pedagogic disapproval. This feeling has centered itself on football as the game most needing reform. The faculty’s disapprobation is not against the game itself but against the evils arising from and supposedly connected with the game. The evils with which athletics are charged are many and varied. The fundamental ones are over-organization, super-coaching systems, luxurious equip- ment, and chief of them all, the fact that comparativelj ' ’ few men receive the benefits fo the exercise. From these other evils arise: Organized scouting, hiring of players, distracting of atten- tion of team and students alike, stress and strain on the players, preposterous financial outlay, and the adulation of men simply for physical prowess. The blame for most of these faults may easily be traced to the interest of the alumni in their Alma Mater and not in any way to the students. When a man graduates, he takes it upon himself to personally look out for the welfare of the college. He feels that, in order to succeed, a college must have success- ful teams, and he will spare no time, money, nor effort to make them suc- cessful. For this reason some of the college alumni have considered inter-collegiate sports as a big business or commercial enterprise. To them, athletic teams are an excellent means by which to gain “new business ” and to this end they have overlooked these evils as merely part of the price of something desir- able. They maintain, in their own de- fense, that the salary grievance is uni- versal, and, moreover, that a coach, who brings in more “new business” than the gentleman who makes a first-class translation of Pindar, should, of right, receive more remuneration. And Pin- dar (whom most of you have probably never heard of) was an ancient Greek poet who gained much of his fame by his skill in celebrating the athletic tri- umphs of his contemporaries. It is on- ly fair to say that the professor, after years of preparation, receives a salary that is a mere pittance compared with that of a successful coach, who, until the last few years, required no special training. Gradually, however, the so- called thug coach is disappearing and it is now imperative for the mentor to take one of the many courses in coach- ing. Besides the several summer schools the University of Michigan has added a course in coaching to its curriculum. If the alu mni have made inter-colleg- iate teams a business proposition, the players certainly have not. There are few ill any sport who have a finer ama- teur spirit than the average college ath- lete. There are, of course, exceptions, but I am referring to the majority. And organized scouting, or hiring of players does not fit in any too well with the true spirit of the game. Most of the college presidents do not want sports abolished, but they do want to remedy the chief fault of present day sports, the fact that comparatively few are benefited by the exercise. The [ 13 ]

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THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC If you can force your heart and nerve ! and sinew I To serve you long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will whicli snvs to them : : “Hold on!” I If you can talk with crowds and keep i your virtue, i Or walk with Kings — nor lose the ' common touch, ! If iicither foes nor loving friends can ' hurt you, I If all men count with you hut none ' too much ; | If you can fill the unforgiving minute I With sixty second’s worth of distance run. Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, I And — which is more — you’ll he a Man, my son! pitumite | Anne E. Buzzell j In reviewing the world’s progress for the past few years, one is impressed and : somewhat bewildered to note the many lines into which progress divides itself. To mention only a few will recall to our minds with what great speed we are at- : taining the things which were consid- i ered impossible a few years ago. Some called these “fool ideas,” but we are now enjoying them and could hardly do i without them. Who does not enjoy the i radio, the automobile, the telephone, ] and the rotogravures of the daily pa- j pers? Soon, in all probability, we will i be able to see the party with whom we j converse on the telephone. Through the aid of science, therefore, new ideas are being sought and old ideas improved and perfected. As familiar illustrations of personal achievement let us consider some lead- ing persons in the various fields of sci- ence, business, athletics, and aviation. One of the greatest surgeons during the World War, Alexis Carrel, spent his life studying and discovering new aids to save human beings; AndreAv Car- negie, a prominent philanthropist, made millions of dollars through honest busi- ness investments and gave much to help mankind in establishing libraries. One of the famous Marathon runners of to- day, Clarence DeMar, has run the equiv- alent of the distance around the Avorld, and runs each year about twenty-five hundred miles to keep himself in condi- tion ; Charles Lindbergh, our popular air hero, entered the New York to Paris flight with the sole purpose of achieve- ment, unspoiled by the sordid thought of financial gain. There are many oth- ers, too, Avho have likewise achieved their goals through determination and endurance. Achievements are the results of the combined efforts of many men and wo- men. To my mind the thought or idea is 011I3’ the starting point. If the thought is left dormant, it does not ma- ture. It must be brought to a conclu- sion in order to be called an achieve- ment. To have the ability to start with a sketchy idea, to pursue it through to completion, and to accomplish a useful result is the purpose for w’hich our studies have been arranged. They pro- vide the means for clear thinking and broad conception. These two assets combined Avith good home eiiAuronment build a solid foundation for happy use- ful lives. It will not be given to all of us to ac- hieve the most useful accomplishments, but each of us can, AAuth this back- ground, become useful in whatever niche AA ' e choose for ourselves. Some Avill be satisfied in the future, as in the past, Avith trivial honors. The presi- dency of the class Avould appeal to a fcAv; the captaincy of the athletic team Avould appeal to others; the honor of Ijeing acclaimed the most popular pupil in school AAmuld appeal to a still larger percentage of the student body. These aspirations are commendable only when pursued Avith friendly riA’alry and in the spirit of the “best one wins.” Self- promotion at the expense of others is a Aveed that leaves neither room for ideals nor the healthy groAvth of a loA’able per- sonality. Whatever task we undertake, Ave must resolve to do it to the best of our abilities. Taking only credit that belongs to us, giving credit AA ' here cred- it is due, striving to correct our own faults, overlooking other’s faults are achievements Ave all can obtain. It is noAv strictly up to ourselves whether we progress or whether we discount our op- portunities. The outstanding point is that in phys- ical as Avell as mental achievements, one must first of all acquire the right at- titude, sense the true values, do all the work to prepare oneself, and finally, depend upon one’s OAvn efforts and ac-

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THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC alumni, in their demands have com- pletely forgotten that “the object of the faculty’s sanction of athletics is the greatest physical development of all. Devoting ones time and attention whol- ly to inter-collegiate teams is, however, hardly less justifiable than devoting at- tention exclusively to scholarship,” This has been the government’s aim in both Annapolis and West Point. They have introduced sport for sport’s sake for the whole student body with wonderful results. Let us picture Annapolis on a fall afternoon, after the classes and drills of the day are over. On Farragut Field the football teams are practising; squads A and B, the plebe team, and the teams of the eight companies that make up the regiment. On another field two hundred more midshipmen are en- grossed in the mysteries of soccer. On the Severn are the crews ; varsity, plebe, C ' lass, and company eights. Pound and round the track goes the cross country team, and on the courts the tennis play- ers are limbering up. In the gym the basketball squad is having early prac- tice and the pool is alive with human dolphins. The rifle and lacrosse teams come in to store away their paraphenal- ia, the hand’oall court is busAq and the wrestling and boxing rooms are crowd- ed wfith contestants. This is not an exceptional day; it is a regular occur- rence. Where else, except possibly at West Point do we find such a high av- erage in sport for sport’s sake and in the “greatest phj ' sical development of all?” To keep athletics and inter-collegiate rivalry in the university they must be reformed. The best colleges have recognized this in several ways. The Western ' Conference, that league of great universities, has shortened their schedules; nearly every day new agree- ments are being made to stop organized scouting; almost every college has placed scholastic requireiiients on its athletics. There are still certain col- leges which are more than shj ' in this respect, but they are getting to be known, and it is only a question of time before they change or find themselves dropped from most of the better sched- ules. The limiting of the season to four or five games would have a far- reaching effect. It would lessen the furor of excitement over the game ; it Avould decrease the attendance mak- ing possible a smaller stadium; it would lessen the coach’s importance and j of necessitj ' ' , his salary. If men were allowed to play only two years there would not be such a great incentive for hiring players, and there would be more time for study. The baseball fans want ' a reform of their own ; that the game be played between the teams and not betAveen the coaches. A radical reform, proposed recently by President Hopkins of Dartmouth, contained three main features; limiting of playing to Juniors and Sophomores; Senior coaches; two games played sim- ultaneously, one on each college field. The purpose of these was first, to give Seniors more time for study, and at the same time to give more players a chance; secondly, to reduce the expense of coaching systems ; thirdly, to have no “big” game, no Amrsity, and as a re- suit, less excitement. ! The “Dartmouth” replied in an edi- 1 torial that there was some doubt if the plan would be realized in its entirety, l)ut that some change is sure and that President Hopkins deserves praise for taking the lead. The consensus of opinion of the Big Three AA ' as that great benefit would be deriA’ed from such a plan, but that it AA ' as too radical to gain immediate suc- cess. By the first proposition a larger num- ber would be able to play. The second article received general criticism due to the fact that the student coaches Avere thought to be mediocre. The third Avould stop Saturday emigration of the student body, and AA’ould lessen the im- portance of the winning side. It was hoped that this proposal would arouse interest in the subject and Avould call forth an expression of opinion. Some such reform AAmuld end football as a S5unl)ol to the alumni; it Avould substi- I tute the game as a game for relaxation, in short, the English situation. At any [ rate, the American attitude must be made less serious and more sportive. I In a word, the extension of inter-col- legiate athletics brings out se ’eral i questions hitherto conceded to be self 1 evident. Does a college environmient I stimulate youth to labor ? Or do ath- letics urge them on through college? Do they fulfill scholastic requirements for the sake of football, or do they play football to better fulfill these require- ments? Is the game extensive because it educates or because it entertains? Is the stadium the center of university [ 14 ]