It may be well to state, therefore, that whatever has been said in this
Department about grounds for next year's National meeting has been said
without any intention of reflecting in any way whatever upon the
Knickerbocker Athletic Club's position at this year's meeting, and
without any consideration whatever for what either Dr. White or Mr.
Freedman may think of the advisability of leasing their grounds next
season to the N.I.S.A.A. The question of advertising or of personal
interest does not come into this discussion at all.
As to whether it is a good plan for the National games to be again
conducted by a club, or by any organization other than the National
Association itself, is a question that cannot be decided without the
most careful thought and serious discussion. It was undoubtedly well to
have the first meeting of the N.I.S.A.A.A.A. managed by a club, for if
this had not been done, it is very probable that there would have been
no field day at all, or, at best, an unsuccessful one.
There was considerable opposition among the school-boys of New York
against having the Knickerbocker Athletic Club take charge of the event,
and I know that there is considerable dissatisfaction now over the way
the meet was conducted. The complaints, however, all come from those who
took no part whatever in the contests, and who had no further interest
in the games beyond being spectators; and their complaints, therefore,
deserve but little attention. The question is not so much to find where
the club fell short in its efforts, as to point out where matters may be
mended on future occasions. If the Knickerbocker A.C. did not carry out
the school-boys' ideas in the way the school-boys think this should have
been done, or if they believe that they themselves can do better, they
should attempt the entire management of the games next year.
It would be very much better, of course, not to have the games managed
by a club, if the officers of the National Association could spare the
time to look after the preliminary details of the meet. But there are so
many other things that must take up the attention of school-boys in the
spring months that it is difficult for them to spare the time necessary
for the successful management of so great an undertaking as a National
meet. We all of us recognize the fact that studies should come first.
But after the studies there is always plenty of time, and there always
should be plenty of time, for young men to indulge in other enterprises.
It is good that they should have divers interests. It is excellent that
they should go into the management of athletic organizations, and that
they should indulge in sports of all kinds, for in both these pastimes
they are gaining valuable experience,--experience which some people rank
equal in importance with book knowledge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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