Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 11, Number 8, DeMotte, Jasper County, 9 January 1941 — Sportlight [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Sportlight

by GRANTLAND RICE

“IF YOU care to look a few months ahead, or a year ahead,” writes one of our leading citizens, “I’ll give you the answer concerning sport. I happen to be in a position to know what is taking place. We will have more sport than ever before, but most of it will be in army caipps. I mean both baseball and football, especially football next fall. “By that time we’ll have around 2.000.000 in army or navy life. Their

main recreation will be sport. There have been so many turned down through physical disabilities that we will soon have a rush on athletes. It will not be a surprise to see an appeal made to all college athletes and to professional athletes of the right age to enlist. “Young, unmar-

ried athletes earning fame or money next year will not be popular heroes. Certainly not with the divisions scattered all over the United States. I think you can get their viewpoint. The luck of the draft won’t be taken into consideration. They will not be cheering stars who are young, strong and well fixed financially. It will be just as it was in the World war more than 20 years ago. The New Schedule “I think I can give you the new schedule, as army and navy officials think it will pan out. There will be baseball and football games, plus boxing matches, between regiments and divisions and armies. These men in camp wilFneed something beyond the average to break up their routine -existence. They won’t get this from entertainers, except in part. In fact, they can only get it from sport, and that will necessarily mean the top-ranking part of sport. “It will mean the best, of our football playeys, college and pros. It will mean many of our better big league and minor league baseball players. They will have to come in, either from the draft, or through the force of public demand. The old term ‘slacker’ proved very effective in obtaining recruits during the World war. “They won’t be extra money for this service. There will be no cashing in. It will be company against company regiment against regiment—division against division—army against army, and then you’ll see some real competition. l "This means we will suddenly have the greatest amateur swirl in our history. We will have games that will overshadow Michigan and Minnesota, or all the bowl contests. They will take place all over the map. But they will be army and navy contests in which Bob Feller may be pitching against Bucky WTal- ■ ters or Joe Louis may be facing Billy Conn—not for World Series money or 40 per cent of the gate receipts, but for the pride and honor of the regiment or the division. Just the way that Gene Tunney fought in France. "You may not believe mcj but this is what will tak;,e place.” The Right Angle This seems reasonable enough. In 'the last war I know the feeling en-' listed men had against those who were still cashing in on their physical ability to play some game. It was bitter. This time we are not at war. But in many respects camp life is worse than war, when it comes to the matter of dull routine. This routine will have to be broken up. The only answer is sport. W’ith a million or two million men in camp, averaging less than SSO a month from private to lieutenant, you can understand how they would* feel--and their people would feel about younger and stronger athletes mopping up financially. You may say this is unfair —that the luck of the draft is all that counts. Well, the luck of the draft won’t count with those fellows getting up at reveille and waiting for taps. Not unless human nature has changed completely. They didn’t ask for it, either, but they got it. They are not going to start cheering for some young fellow around 21 or 23 or 25, making the headlines or getting big money, through physical skill, while they are carrying a gun or driving a tank or flying a plane for a buck a day and no headlines. A Change Due So far the volunteer enlistment and the draft seem to be Unimportant. Just wait .a few months. It will be quite different. There will be a tremendous change in mental attitude on the part of the public, as well as those moving from reveille to taps. There still will be big-league baseball and college and pro football games. But I think there still is a big chance these will be secondary matters to army and navy sport.

Grantland Rice