Page:History of Oregon Newspapers.pdf/525

516 begged that he give no heed to the persuasive McMillan, the emphatic Lonergan or the indignant Jordan.

Mr. Hockenberry continued to make the noise like the speeding automobile; and when it was stilled Multnomah had been penalized 30 yards and Willamette by the cleverest blocking of a kick ever seen here, had made a touchdown, and the clubmen were robbed of the chance of wiping out by a decisive Something to Nothing victory their defeat of last year.

The score, however, was mentioned only as successive scores were made, and right at the end of the two-column account of the game came the "Final score, Multnomah 18, Willamette 5." The head, a three-column boxed affair, had said, simply, "Multnomah, in Hard Fought Game, Retrieves Honors Willamette Snatched Last Year."

In the same issue occurred a 300-word feature signed by Dr. Clarence True Wilson extolling football. "I admire the girls," wrote Doctor Wilson, "but not a ladylike man. I would make all such wear dresses . . . some people never make mistakes because they never make any moves. Football will develop a class of doers. It leads to quick thinking and quick acting. Its drill in obedience to authority is excellent...." Here we have virtually the survival of the old pioneer search for some justification of sport other than the mere enjoyment of it.

It will perhaps have been noticed that up to the turn of the century this chapter has made almost no reference to the subject of golf. The brassie-swingers, as a matter of fact, were slow to get under way in this part of the country, although Oregon cities now rank near the top in their interest in this game and in the proficiency of their players. Golf was no game for the pioneers. The country was, literally, too rough for that sort of thing; the game seemed too leisurely for the strenuous old-timers; and the pioneer attitude was more or less that of Bill Brown, New York state boxing commissioner, who growled that "golf was invented for expectant mothers."

The westerner, too, has been contemptuous of the costumes affected by some of the early golfers and bicyclists. Plus-fours doubt less did much to retard the popularity of the game among old-time he-men. In these later days, however, most of the birdies and eagles are made by men wearing long slacks, which the old-timers would not have resented. Gradually, the old basis for prejudice departed, and golf is recognized as one of the universal sports.

The Oregonian May 3, 1903, came out with a 5-column layout of Mrs. Frederick D. Warner and Roderick L. Macleay, Northwest golf champions, with a full column of interviews.

While Will G. MacRae probably was the first of the modern by-line sports editors, the first reporter to make a specialty of sports