Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 64, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 March 1914 — ENDURANCE OF GOTCH [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ENDURANCE OF GOTCH

GIVEN SUPREME TEST IN FIRST MATCH WITH HACKENSCHMIDT. Champion of AIL Wrestlers Telia of Bout With Russian Lion—Want * After All Europeans to Defeat Them Quickly as Possible. There are four requirements of a great wrestler who can keep a title for years without having his shoulders pinned to the padded canvas: Strength, endurance, speed and skill. Probably no man in all the annals of wrestling has had these elements so mingled in him in the proper proportions as Frank Gotch. 1 have heard men of giant stature and seemingly unlimited strength assert they could do nothing with Gotch because he was too strong for them. Others have pronounced the Humboldt Hercules the fastes t t big man in the world. His endurance was given the supreme test in his first encounter

with George Ilackenschmidt. When the mat (gladiators had tugged and pulled and shoved for more than two hours, and both were supposed to be at the end of their tethers, Gotch showed a flash of his wonderful speed and marvelous power of endurance* He picked the Russian Lion oft the mat and hurled him to the canvas as though he were a child. “When I met Tom Jenkins at Bellingham and won the American belt 1 was. up against a wrestler of great strength and superior experience," says Gotch. “However, I was more durable at the end of thirty minutes of wrestling. The wear and tear of the battle had its effect on this old mat gladiator. He had wasted more energy than I. Inasmuch as I was as strong as Jenkins after thirty minutes I had him at my mercy and he resorted to fouling tactics. “The fellow who can travel over the long route and remain fast and strong always has it on the other fellow if their strength is anywhere near equal. “In the case of Hackenschmidt 1 have often been asked why the Rus-

was able to put up such a strong front in our first battle and yet seemed so inferior to me in our match at Comiskey baseball park. “The answer to this is simple. I had been told of the wonderful strength of the Russian Lion. I was told that he would tear me limb from limb. I was coached to play a careful game. I was sure I could stand Hackenschmidt off and retain the strength to defeat him. I was disillusioned in that match and since that time I have gone after all those Europeans to defeat them as quickly as possible. The defeats of Mahmout, Zbyszko and Raicevitch are examples. “I confess that I tore into Hackenschmidt in our second meeting in harder fashion than I ever ripped into an opponent in my career. His misstatements of facts concerning our first match, his treatment of our party when we toured England and his misrepresentations in America only served to make me wish to humiliate him the more. I didn’t want him to have a leg to stand on. This talk about his having a bad knee is only an alibi at the most It was I who had a bad knee. Hackenschmidt was Injured in the heart. When he saw that he was a goner, he begged for mercy, and that showed Us true colors.” (Copyright, 1914, by Joseph B. Bowles.)

Gotch With Bar and Arm Lock Holds.