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Jeffries ’ Backers Have Strong Argument in Ranking All-Timers Jim Had Flock of Qualities to Consider in Rating of Best Heavies. BY GRAXTLAND RICE. LOS ANGELES. March 22—Fight fans like to argue—among other things—about who was the greatest heavyweight cham pion that ever lived. In all the argu ments on this score that I’ve ever heard—and I’ve heard plenty of them in the years I’ve been pounding the sport trail—the three leading candi dates for the distinction were John L. Sullivan. James J. Jeffries and Jack Dempsey. Bob Fitzsimmons, Jim Corbett and Jack Johnson have their adherents, too. But, in the main, the vote is pretty evenly distributed among John L., Jeff and Dempsey. The fact that each of them was a ! puncher may have had something to j do with this, because the fellow with ; the grand slam always has the crowd i on his side. And I don’t mean only in fighting. Babe Ruth in base ball, Bill Tilden and Maurice McLaughlin in tennis. Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen in golf—they’re the fellows you’ll re member after you’ve forgotten mast of the others, because they had the skill plus the wallop. But it couldn’t have been only on punching power that Sullivan; Jeffries and Dempsey drew the most cheers. In the matter of sheer force wrapped up in a boxing glove, the bald and freckled and spindly-legged Fitz was pretty good, too. Sullivan a Diamond Star. ^jOLOR? Well, they had plenty of that. But, in addition to punch and color, they had speed and brawn and courage—and just about every thing else that could go into the making of a great fighting man. Each dominated his era. The ultimate an swer—which is almost impossible to get, stripped of prejudice—hinges then on which was the greatest era. When I speak of a Sullivan who had speed, I speak of a Sullivan I never saw, because the Sullivan I knew was a paunchy old man, slowed down by the years so that he moved ponderously. But I have sound testi mony concerning him from those who —like Jack Doyle, for instance—knew him when he was in his prime. That is, when first he came roaring out of Boston at the age of 22 or thereabouts, he was just under 6 feet tall and w-eighed about 195 pounds. He was musicular. but lithe. He was hard as nails. He had the making i of an all-around athlete, because he j could run the hundred about as fast as any man of his time and he could play ball so well that if he hadn't turned to prize fighting instead he might have been a big leaguer. Corbett Found a Shell. 'THE thing chiefly remembered ! about him was the terrific force with which he belted out his oppo nents with his right hand, but those [ who saw him at his best talk, to this day, of the blinding speed with which j he threw his punches with either hand. Whom did he lick? Well, maybe some of them were fat old men W’ho wouldn’t be allowed in a ring to day. But they were all he had to fight, and the record is that he did pretty well with them—and the evi dence that comes down to us is that on hny given night he would have done just as well against better men. He was beaten at last by the great est boxer the heavyweight division t ever has known. But that night at New Orleans John L. was 34 years old, had been living at a fast pace for j 10 years—and hadn’t had a serious ring engagement for four years. Against Corbett, Sullivan had noth ing left but courage, and that wasn’t enough against a young, fast and superbly conditioned opponent—not after a few rounds had been reeled off. Dempsey—and Big Jeff. 'T'HE Dempsey of the years from 1919 1 to 1923 was a magnificent figure | In the ring. He overwhelmed the j men who fought him, and beat them j down with his furious punching. He I was a primeval fighting man to whom nothing—including the rules—mat tered, save the urge to stretch his foe on the canvas in the shortest possible time. He swept through the heavy weights of his era and stood alone for seven years until, past the peak, he was impaled on Gene Tunney’s left hand at Philadelphia. It always will be difficult to make any one who saw j him in the full flush of his career ! believe that there ever was a heavy- ■ weight who was his superior. But what of Jeffries? Not, of course, the fat and faded Jeffries whom John son dropped in the scorching Reno heat in 1910. But the Jeffries who won the championship in less than a dozen fights. The Jeffries who, at 22, was 6 feet 1! .> inches tall, weighed about 200 pounds, had a terrific punch in either hand—and could take a punch so well that Fitz, a mighty hitter, cracked both hands on him, trying in vain to bring him down. Undoubtedly, there were more good heavyweights around in Jeff's time than in any other time in the history of the ring in this country. Fitz, Corbett, Ruhlin, Sharkey, Choynski and a half dozen others were all active, all at their peak—or close to it. But Jeff went through the pack, beating and ruining the best that could be tossed into the ring with him. He was easy to hit—but hard to hurt. He could fight all night—and no matter how far behind he was In some of his contests with better boxers, he could win in a punch—as he did against Corbett at Coney Island. The best of the three—of the lot? I don’t know. But it seems to me that there is a lot to say for those whose choice is Jeffries. (Copyright, 193?. by the North American Newspaper Alliance. Inc.) GIANTS’ROOKS QUAKE Jackson at Hand, Ready to Grab Talent for Jersey City. GULFPORT, Miss.—New York Giant rookies will be watching their step for the next few days. Travis Jackson, manager of the Jersey City farm club, which trains here, has both eyes peeled for talent, and he expects to get it before the Giants move on. A Feature Fighter TEDDY LODER, New York welterweight, who collides with Neio York’s Wer ther Arcelli in top spot of card at Joe Turner’s Arena tonight. SCHMELING OFFER RECEIVED COLDLY Braddock Spurns $350,000 Inducement to Battle Max in Germany. By the Associated Press. NEW YORK, March 22—Max Schmeling sewed another patch on the heavyweight crazy-quilt today with a $350, 000 offer for Champion Jim Braddock to defend his title in Berlin, but for all the stir it created among those con cerned it might as well have been 50 cents. The champion, through his manager, Joe Gould, turned dowm the offer be cause it wasn’t up to his previously set minimum of $400,000. Madison Square Garden, which was offered $50,000 by Schmeling to release the fight to Germany instead of pro moting it here on June 3, cold shouldered the proposition pending completion of its plans for legal action against the Braddock-Joe Louis bout in Chicago. Schmeling accompanied his offer with an ultimatum to both Braddock and the Garden. Tomorrow Is Deadline. ‘THITHER it is accepted by tomor ^ row," he stated through his American representative, Joe Jacobs, “or it will be withdrawn. In that case, we will go into training for the June 3 fight, and will stand on our contract rights.” The new offer, made by Schmeling on behalf of the Deutsche Halle A. C. of Berlin, was $100,000 more than the first guarantee offered when Der Maxie arrived from Germany. The money would be deposited in any bank outside of Germany or the United States stipulated by Braddock and would be free of tax in Germany. Schmeling explained the German gov ernment has no interest in the fight and that its only concern is in per mitting the guarantee money to leave the country tax free. Gould said that in addition to $400,000, the title holder would insist on an American referee and an Eng lish judge. Garden Waits on Court. “gCHMELING also will have to straighten things out with the Garden and Promoter Mike Jacobs so there will be no legal complica tions,” the champion's manager added. The Garden, however, held to its policy to have nothing to do with the the matter until its court action is set. The Garden holds contracts of both Schmeling and Braddock for the June 3 fight. After those contracts were signed Braddock disregarded them and signed to meet Louis in Chicago late in June. Col. John Reed Kilpatrick refused comment on Schmeling's lat est move except to say the Garden's suit is not yet ready for court filing. If the Berlin deal falls through, Gould said, Braddock wdll follow his schedule of opening his Wisconsin training camp in about 10 days to start conditioning for the Louis fight. O’DONNELL PINMEN HIT Take Final Block for 10-Game Match Win at Baltimore. Special Dispatch to The Star. BALTIMORE, Md.. March 22.— O'Donnell Grill bowling team from Washington won the final block and with it the 10-game intercity match from the local Kelly-Buick team here yesterday. The O'Donnells had a 10 game total of 6.250 to Baltimore’s 6,229. In the final block the Grill team shot a five-game total of 3,078—27 more than Kelly-Buick. Krauss led the Cap ital contingent with 643. MACK SEES A’S IN TRIM Cuts Drill After Win in Which Turbeville Hurls Route. MEXICO CITY—Satisfied that his Athletics were rounding into playing condition. Manager Connie Mack ex cused all the players from practice today. George Turbeville became the first Mackman to pitch a full game, twirl ing a 7-3 victory over the Agriculture team yesterday. ROUGH ON RUFFING Must Prove He Is Ready Before Yanks Will Let Him Sign. SEBRING, Fla.—Col. Jacob Ruppert, who hasn’t had a word from his hold out pitcher, Charley Ruffing, has added another line to his ultimatum. If he reports, Rufus the Red will have to prove he’s in condition be fore he will be allowed to sign, Rup pert says. Arcelli, Loder Promise Hot Bout, but Attendance Outlook Is Dark. BY BURTON HAWKINS. TWO out-of-town fighters will mix tonight at Turner’s cauli flower crucible in an experi ment, which Matchmaker Goldie Ahearn hopes will unveil a discovery, but which might explode into a financial fizzle. Peeling Washington’s fistic family is eager to focus its collective glimmers on new talent, Ahearn has imported Teddy Loder from New York and Werther Arcelli from Boston to blend in an eight-round feature fight which might set a new high for action here this season, but at the same time may strike a new low in attendance. Ahearn has violated the first rule of matchmaking in neglecting local color, but then again, that's necessity, since there isn’t any local welterweight able or willing to argue with either Loder or Arcelli. He believes action instead of names will entice customers and he's gambling on it. Looms as Hot Scraps. VlfHILE neither you nor I are con cerned over whether Mr. Loder beats Mr. Arcelli or vice versa, the fight nevertheless stacks up as a rather hectic debate if Arcelli's one recent ap pearance here and Loder’s record testify to their respective prowess. Arcelli at least has impressed one native with his fistic ability. Phil Furr, originally slated to scrap with the Italian, elected to take a ring vacation. Phil's temporary retirement is believed in most quarters to be merely good sense, since Werther disposed of Sid Silas in three rounds and the best Furr ever could accomplish against the Jew ish lad was a knockout in the twelfth round. If Furr chooses to stick to the busi ness of plastering walls instead of attempting to paste beaks, which is un likely, the quaint District welterweight title automatically will be left vacant. So, if that's any added incentive, Loder and Arcelli may be fighting for some sort of championship. Loder a Hard Puncher. ^ STIFF puncher, the German American Loder indirectly is managed by Joe Jacobs, who is get- 1 ting nowhere rapidly at present in maneuvering Max Schmeling into a title fight. Doug Swetnam, w'ho seems to have hit his stride after many years as a so-so preliminary boy, will square off with Nick Camarata, Richmond featherweight, in an • eight-round semi-final. Camarata held Petey Sar ron to a draw in Richmond before the world featherweight champion sailed for South Africa. In a quartet of four-rounders, Frankie De Angelo, local feather weight, will meet Joe Letto of Balti more; Joe < Palooka) Mathews of Richmond will face Bill Temes, local lightweight; Sam Bracala, Baltimore welterweight, will swap swats with Steamboat Bill Robinson of Alexan dria and Norman Cohen, Richmond welterweight, will trade blows with Young Tony Ross of Baltimore. The first punch will be launched at 8:30 o'clock. NEVER WRESTLED Principles of Engineering Used by Oklahoma Coach With Great Success. By the Associated Press. STILLWATER. Okla., March 22.— Edward Clark Gallagher—the coach who learned his wres tling is an engineering labora tory—still is the miracle man of amateur wrestling. Gallagher—he never wrestled a match in his life—brought his Okla homa Aggies back today from the national intercollegiate tournament at Terre Haute, Ind.—as he has done with monotonous regularity the last 22 years—bearing the team champion ship and boasting four individual champions out of eight. This latest victory is all but lost in the almost endless string that has made Oklahoma in general—and Gallagher in particular—names to be feared in amateur mat circles. Protege is Rival Coach. 'J'HE team they dethroned, Okla homa University, is coached by Gallagher-trained Paul V. Keen. Keen's team took second place this year and two other Oklahoma teams broke into the scoring. This perennial domination by Okla homans has been going on for years— ever since Gallagher finished engi neering school and decided that the principles of leverage could be applied to prove the power of brains over brawn. He took his engineering into the wrestling ring and today his pupils are spread over Oklahoma like a blanket, coaching in high schools and colleges. Gallagher's teams have gone through 17 undefeated seasons. They have won eight national intercol legiate championships in the last 10 years, six national A. A. U. team titles and 58 national collegiate and A. A. U. individual titles. Always Keep Ahead. /~)NE of Gallagher's former pupils— Coach Art Griffith of Tulsa High —whose teams have won 8 State championships out of 10 they entered, and won national high school tourna ments at Northwestern in 1928, 1939 and 1930, sums up the situation like this: "Oklahoma boys are just about a year ahead of the rest of the country in technique all the time. Oklahoma teams will show one brand of wres tling at a tournament. All other teams will watch and say, 'Bv golly, we’ll dote on their stuff, beat ’em next year.’ But when Oklahoma teams show up next year they will have changed their technique or developed it just enough to make the year's work of their competitors useless. It’s their superior technique that does it." CUBS LIKE ROOK TRIO. AVALON, Calif.—Manager Charley Grimm of the Chicago Cubs has de cided to keep three rookies, Outfielder Joe Marty, from San Francisco: In fielder Hank Majeski, from Eau Claire, Wis., and Bob Garbark, catcher, from Toledo, at least until the May 15 deadline. andSTEEA BY GEORGE E. HtBER. __ ALL fishermen have their fa vorite fishing grounds. One locality in particular is their idea of God’s country. It may be a bass hole in an old mill dam; it may be an icy cold mountain stream, slippery underfoot and with overhanging boughs to foul the rod, but it still is the best spot in the world for their money. Or It may be an offshore section of the coast where their favorite salt water game fish is found. We have such a spot. It’s really God’s country. Down in the southwest corner of Florida is a section known as the Ten Thousand Islands, and the name is descriptive enough. There literally are thousands of islands, some containing only a few square yards of soil and some stretching mile after mile. They are of shell con struction and covered with dense growth of semi-tropical vegetation and mangrove trees. It really is an offshoot of the famous Florida Everglades, extending out into the Gulf of Mexico. Aside from the scenic wonders of the country, the waters contain a variety of fish seldom found else where. Twice a day the tide roars in and out between the islands, bring ing with it practically every kind of fish which swims in the gulf, chief of which is the famed silver king, the tarpon. Fishing Club at Everglades. TT IS, in fact, the best place along the whole west coast of Florida to catch tarpon. They arrive there early in the Spring, hang around through out the Summer, and then dash on around the coast to Texas. They are caught both still fishing and trolling and hardly a day goes by that some silver beauty is not brought in to be weighed, inspected and. sometimes mounted. The Ten Thousand Islands have barely been touched by civilization and they are about the only place in the country where commerce has not robbed fishing of its sporting aspects. The jumping-off place for this beau tiful bit of creation is the little town of Everglades, situated on the edge of Collier County. There sportsmen from all over the country gather dur ing the tarpon season in the Rod and Gun Club, the walls of which are lined with panels of tarpon scales. On each of the scales the name of the lucky angler has been written, to gether with the date, weight and other pertinent information, not forgetting the name of the guide. Practically every State in the country and the District of Columbia Is represented. 'J'HIS is the place from which the popular trips around the kej’s are made, and the Shark River anglers also start here. Shark River is the tarpon grounds, as many local angler will attest. Among those who plan a trip down there this month is our own Walter McCallum, who is switch ing for awhile from golf clubs to his second love, fishing rods. With him will be Dr. Alex Preece, Dr. Paul M. Stewart and Dr. Paul M. Stewart, jr. Yes, we envy them. Tarpon, while being the main attraction, are not the only fish caught. A hundred other species abound there, many of which can be caught on a bait casting rod. Jerry Sappington was down there once, fishing when the tide was right, and made 26 consecutive casts, catch ing a fish each time. He missed on the twenty-seventh try and called it a day. That’s just an example of what can be done, and is only one of the reasons why we think this is the best place in the Eastern U. S. A. for salt water enthusiasts. A slight drawback is the mos quitoes, which come hot and heavy at certain seasons. To give some indi cations as to the size of these flying rapiers, the natives down there tell of the angler who went out fly fishing. The larger the fly he used, the larger the fish he caught, so, seeking the ultima thule of his trip, he tied on one of the mosquitoes which he had captured by lassoing it with a 36 thread line. Using this enormous bait, he brought in a 110-pound tarpon. IHH^awa RELINED Four Wheels Complete FORDJ 78 to '36 CHEV. '30 to '32 Plymouth a Chrysler $ De Soto, 6-8 Dodge, DD-DH Essex, ’29-’35 Willys “77” Other Car* Proportionately Low FREE ADJUSTMENTS! BY PAUL J. MILLER, Jr. LITERALLY swamped by the strong aggregation of amateurs that made up the team of 17 boards for the Agricultural Chess Club In the recent interclub tourney, the War Department Chess Club keenly feels that it has endured a public massacre which the soldiers will have a hard time living down, especially after copping the team championship for 1936-7 of the Metropolitan Chess Association. Alexander Sturges has whipped the Aggie boys into a smooth playing club of chess enthusi asts that is the envy of lesser groups in the District. Dr. George W. Hervey and D. S. Burch have developed team competi tion to the point where there exists *TWAT *^5ULDNT the maximum of interest with a min imum of personal friction. All in all, the Aggies have done a swell job, and it bodes ill for any local club that without careful prep aration engages them in a team match in excess of 15 boards. Local-National Comparison. JT IS true that the United States has the greatest players in the world as a small group. But the largest number of class A and master players probably may be found in a foreign country. In recent years America has produced no world champion, but the United States, with a team of five, has won consecu tively the last three interna tional team tourneys of the In ternational Chess Federation. In Washington the Munitions club nay have the best five-man team, but when It comes to the largest number of strong amateurs In the N^etropolitan Chess Association, then no doubt the honor lies elsewhere— probably with the Department of Agriculture Chess Club. _ 1 Other Clashes Planned. j-^LATED with their victory against the war champions, the Aggies contemplate other Interclub battles. ! Meantime, within their group a club championship tourney is in prog ress. The club is divided into three sections, and within each section there is a tourney. Winners of the section tourneys will meet in a final match for the club title. Undaunted by their defeat at the hands of the Aggies, Capt. Earl Kunkle says the War C. C. plans to meet every chess group in the District in an interclub fray. The next match will be against the Omar Khayyam Chess Club of George Washington University, headed by Mahmood Taher and Jean Henderson. The college unit is relatively new, but in its short duration has enrolled threescore players. Individual scoring: Fine Scores Against Russians. Agriculture C. C. vs. War Dep't. C. C. Shepard _0 Kessler _1 Siurges _1 Neufeld _n Burch _1 Morey _0 Nixon _ 0 Naid<d _ ] Hirch-1 Sutphen _0 McClure_1 Martinez _0 Hervey _ __ 0 Bard - _ 1 McDowell _1 Saporito _ _ o Ward -1 Powell _<i , Schwenger_1 Benjamin _n Vivian _] Kunkle _ _ o , Hamilton _o Dunn _ 1 j Sabin _1 Rothgeb_0 ' Wing -o Bennett. S. B._1 ! Cosgrove _1 Lind . _ 0 Richardson_1 Bennett. E. J. __ 0 , Lineweaver_] Camden_0 12 5 J^EUBEN FINE, youthful New Yorker who is playing chess among the Soviets by invitation, con Master Villain Will Vent It Upon Giant Davis in Thursday Bout. LAVERNE BAXTER, who caught the sit-down strike fever re cently at Turner's Arena, and who rapidly is making local mat fans forget such comparatively tame figures as Dillinger and Karpis, will unveil his villainy here Thursday night against Wee Willie Davis. Baxter’s brief strike was the result of a feud with Tony Wakeman, WOL sports announcer, who nearly came to blows with the snarling pachyderm during the course of an interview at the WOL studio. Baxter became childish about it and refused to budge until Wakeman was removed from the ringside. * Baxter Pleases Promoter. MEDIOCRE journeyman until he decided to display a total disre gard for whatever rules are in vogue tinues to add to his long string of foreign scalps. At Moscow, Fine encountered six Russian masters and the Hungarian internationalist, Andre Lilienthal. to wine five games and drop two. The Moscow' dispatch does not say whether the losses were draws or clear-cut wins by Soviet players. The tourney score Players. W. L. Players. W. L. Pine _5 ~ Alatorzew .'i 4 Kahn-4‘2 V12 Judowitsch :i 4 Pannw _ 4 3 B darewsky *.'l2 4'2 Belawenetz 3>2 31 a Lilienthal r;t2 4'2 1 In the open championship tourney for women at the Marshall Chess Club. New York City, Mrs. Mary Bain of Astoria and Mrs. Adele Rivero, champion of Manhattan, have gar nered three straight victories. for grapplers, Baxter now Is consid ered one of the foremost villains in ihe game, if that's any distinction. He has revised the usual climaxes completely and the altered script is paying dividends at the box office. As a drawing card, Baxter cur rently is Promoter Joe Turner’s fav orite, having jammed the grapple cen ter on three successive occasions. His unorthodox tactics surpass any em ployed by the other bad boys of the cauliflower world and both he and Davis recently have been disqualified for carrying things a bit too far. Davis a 265-Pounder. J^AVIS, with 265 pounds draped over his frame, is a former V. P. I. foot ball star and wrestling promoter. He was disqualified for treating Ed Meske too roughly and last week easily disposed of Jim Coffield. Four preliminaries complete the card, with Chief Little Wolf meeting Matros Kirilenko in a semi-final re stricted to 45 minutes, and Hank Barber facing Marshall Blackstock and Henri Piers tangling with Floyd Marshall in 30-mmute matches. An other match is in the making. The first elbow will be crooked at 8:30 o'clock. 20 YEARS AGO IN THE STAR. QEORGE JAMES, captain of Co lumbia Country Club's golf team, is in the semi-finals of the first annual invitation tournament of the St. Augustine Club in Flor ida. He now meets Col. J. E. Smith, who eliminated the med alist. If the proposed trip to Panama next Spring falls through, and Manager Griffith decides to train the Nats again at Augusta, he prob ably will rent a large house and take his own cook along with him. He also will have meat for the training table sent direct from Washington, as he did at Char lottesville. Griffith has no fault to find with Augusta, save in the matter of food. pi"' ' i ’ 1 use 1PWAB lilP DE I nvil R E SINCE PREMIUM WAS REDUCED - as much a* Sonly 2pf mart than gisolincj Why ? Make this Mileage Test T^HOUSANDS of motorists in Maryland and the District of Columbia have switched to Betholine. Why? They have found that, because Betholine weighs half a pound more a gallon than gasoline, it gives extra mileage that makes up for the slight extra cost —that Betholine’s extra performance is FREE. Make a mileage test. Prove to yourself that if you are now using straight gasoline, you pay no more for , Betholine’s extra performance. If you use a premium motor fuel, prove Betholine actually saves you money. ; g g g ^ | g EXTRA PERFORMANCE • -ebee ■ IS PIECE Ask for FREE Test Chart “How to Make an Accurate Test of Motor Fuels”—at your neigh borhood Betholine Dealer.