Step Up and Call Me Speedy!

It is hard to say definitely where all the nicknames and epithets of athletes come from. Undoubtedly, the vast majority are coined by newspaper men, but to trace these monickers back to their original inventor would demand far more real labor and exacting research than the problem is worth. Alton Kimball ("Special Delivery", "Arlington Al", etc.) Marsters comes to the Stadium today. He is the hostile nicknamed star in the position which last Saturday was taken by C. K. ("Onward Christian") Cagle, the hula-hipped.

Harvard has a back of her own who comes in for more than his share of christening. T. W. Gilligan '31, as he is known in the chaste columns of the CRIMSON, has been called "Gone Again", "Off-Again-On-Again", and "Giddy-Ap" Gilligan. Wallace Harper, who will be missed from the Harvard lineup today, has been dubbed the "Ioway Dutchman", for reasons unknown. In general the nicknames are amazingly apt. "Gentleman Gene" and "Tiger Jack" just about describe those two ex-heavyweight champs. The local pugilistic comedian, one Mr. Stone, has been happily termed "Rocky" (Crushed) Stone.

Harvard's star half-miler of several years back, J. N. Watters, was quite naturally called "Soapy" ever since his Exeter days, and every man with a name like Rhodes might just as well be christened "Dusty" at birth by his parents. All freely given names are not so obvious as these two, however. Bill McGeehan, probably the dean of American nicknamers, has almost single-handed run what he calls the cauliflower industry into the ground with his nicknames and epithets. "Horizontal" Joe Beckett, Phil Scott, the Leaning Tower of London, Signor Campolo, the Gyrating Gyraffe of the Andes, do not add much dignity and importance to the leather-pushing game.

"Truck" Miller, "Honeyboy" Finnegan, "Newsboy" Brown, "Gloomy Gil" Dobie, Fielding "Hurry-Up Yost, "Cannonball" Crabtree (who will be seen in action when Florida comes to Cambridge a week hence), Paolino Uczudum, the Bounding Basque of the Pyrenees, are some of the more common handles that come to mind. Time Out is just waiting, though, for the day when Harvard will have a star who can be called "Rain Or" Shine.

You Tell a Couple

The latest story going the rounds about the Army game--barring the rather absurd charge about the game being two minutes too long--is about the Bowman-Gilligan collision, in which the former was knocked-out completely for an hour or so, being hit on a more vulnerable spot on his cranium than was Gilligan, who recovered in a minute or so. Just before swooning the plucky Cadet signal-caller is alleged to have said "Leave us sit down a minute, Tommy." We will not go bail for its absolute authenticity, but it is a nice little addition to the saga; and if true, it goes to prove once more that history repeats itself. Tommy Loughran, out on his feet in his recent fisticuff with "Boston Jack" Sharkey, is reported to have said "Leave us sit down a minute, Jack". Like Bowman, he did.

The Weak Link

The University has built the Briggs Baseball Cage and the new steel stands. The new indoor athletic building is going up a little higher every day. Many acres of land have been reclaimed on Soldiers Field and behind the Business School, and converted into playing fields for various intra-mural and minor sports. Since Mr. Bingham became athletic director about three years ago, the changes and the improvements in the development of athletics at Harvard have gone on steadily and consistently.

In looking over the University's athletic equipment, however, there is one very obvious weak link, the Soldiers Field Locker Building. This fall the facilities have not been up to handling all the undergraduates who sought to use the building. It is hard to imagine a greater obstacle in the successful development of the athletics-for-all policy than insufficient facilities in such indispensable requisites as locker rooms, showers, etc. Dr. Richards and his assistants, the visiting teams, the coaches, not to mention all the minor sports and class athletic teams, would benefit from modern and enlarged quarters. We can hardly expect perfection immediately, but it is heartily hoped that before many moons pass the University authorities will be announcing plans for a new field house.