Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/297

 THE FIRST YEAR 259 being held to decide the championship of the University. Although there were no courts on the campus the followers of the sport got out early in the spring, doing their playing where they could. Four courts were begun, however, by the authorities and the Tennis Association was organized in June, 1893, to maintain and manage them. The temporary gymnasium was finished in December, 1892, and eager candidates for basket-ball began to appear. The first team was organized in March and the games awakened great interest. In April the first track team got together, though there had already been track practice and contests on the new running track of the gymnasium. It was to be expected, from Mr. Stagg's fame as a pitcher, that the boys would be eager for baseball under his leadership. The nine was organized in April and played fourteen games, ten of them with college teams. Of these ten Chicago won seven. In the dis- organized state of western college athletics, no objection was made to the playing of Mr. Stagg. It was understood that the new Uni- versity was just beginning its athletics. The conditions prevailing were described in an early song called " 1893," by Steigmeyer, '97: Then Stagg was catcher, pitcher, coach, shortstop, and halfback, too; For in those days of "Auld lang syne" our good athletes were few. The final baseball game was played in June, during Convocation week, and was especially noteworthy because it marked the dedi- cation of the new Athletic Field, a victory of 8-3 over the Uni- versity of Virginia and the triumphant close of the first baseball season. In those days bicycle races were a recognized part of inter- collegiate contests, and in January of the first year the University Cycling Club was organized and developed some champion cyclists "for the glory of the U. of C." When the author of "1893," quoted above, perpetrated the following verse, he not only uttered a gross libel but falsified history: Oh, the girls were mostly twenty-eight, and after Ph.D.'s. They took four hours in those old days ; there were no extra fees, And the men were mostly married, which proved a great hoo-doo To all society events. What could the poor girls do ?