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l .  .  Never  BdCk”» ’ JOE Atelitymonats

E thick blue haae from a dozen
cigars sbtzled slowly down over the
festive board as members of the
uild turned from the holiday din-

 
  

im ' .. - - ' Christ-
«Extra, Extra! I\o tIme‘for a long

mas holiday for the 13°" ‘'‘’’° "‘“i'd: wig
‘day’: history.-events of W0l'1d~W 9° “red

ten.

This most recent of the Werkli dimefiflqfuaahi
Guild had been of interest for ?‘'° F‘, '°i
reasons, the most important finding its IMP 1?‘
tion in the factfthat it was Christmas 3”. “hue

the second had been the main topic 01 di9‘'“‘'.

_-you during the evening. and concerned the
chances of a famous and beloved old D!'_1-'-9°
£:ghter'to make a successful comebaclcagainst
tue strength and strongly-fired ambitions of his
youthful successor. Opinion ‘had been Pretty

well divided on the question and it .was not until .

-the newest addition to the spo“! 5993 3‘ ‘he
‘Times’ turned to the Oldest Member for a set-
tlement that the heated arguments Of Y00l~hf“1
c~:p€!'l.s died down. . _
rhc oldest Member slid a little deeper Into
mg heavy arm chair at the head of the table and
puffed rapidly at his cigar until all but his cf”
seemed hidden behind the thick grey smoke-—
cyes that still sparkled in a half-humorous. 11817-
dominccring way. that spoke of the joy and ex-
citement which this veteran newspaper man
f uund in his profession. It was a rare but cer-
tain signal that the Oldest Member had somy
tizing to say and in anticipation of one of the fa-
st.-Jus legends which the old fellow sometimes

c 'roni«.-led, the diners sank back in their chairs. -

.~. lent and attentive

They were not to be disappointed, for the
Oldest Member was now ‘living over again the
days when, armed with a blue pencil and an un-
ctnny news sense. he ruled the copy desk-the
c.ns ago when he directed the management of a
lively sporispage, and the time in the dim past
1:. hen college days were hardly over and the ha
t-tap: of a busy world were just impressing them-
2,-lver on his plastic and flimsy conception of
just what it was all about. And as he lived them
arain, he began thinking aloud.

“There's an old saying which has always
found favor among those who follow the color-
ful but treacherous trail of ' sport," _'
slowly, “which reminds us that ‘they never come
back.‘ It hasn't been true every time and the
e\fCemlOD£ probably go to prove the rule. I re-
member one Christmas Eve, a great deal like
this one, which is always brought to my mind
when that rule is mentioned. At least the event
culminated on the night before C istmas, al-
though it was spread over a‘ num r of years
of action.

“ crlzaps it might be of interest to you."

It was the of those thrilling suspcnses which
make 2. porting contests worth while which swept
me and through the thousands who watched in
’1LlSh(‘(l silence on that all-important night as
two figures balanced on the edge of the Pander
College tank and waited for the star-ter’s sig-
nal. Perfect looking men they were as they
i.-‘sitaicd before the plunge, long slim muscles
drawn to steel under glistening brown skins,
tense and nervous as they trembled under the
strair. cf the start. (-

The ~'igr.al broke the silence. Like a flash the
indie: streamed to the water and were battering
at tint choppy waves. That crowd wasn't the
l. nd that kept still very long at a time and they
let loose all their noise as Dan Kee flung him-
self against the surface just a fraction hf a sec-
ond ahead of Bob Murray. international record-
holder who now defended his title against the
funds: captain, '

With fee: fluttering the water into~ white
foam and with long arm pulling with furiously
strong strokes, they fought toward the finish.
Stroke for stroke they churned their way until
cub‘ a few yards separated them from the final
mark. beads half visible. half submerged, as they
surged along side by side. Jt was then that Kce
found the power and courage which only a cham-
pion can possess as he gained the lead. and when
he stumbled up the short ladder to the edge of
the pool a moment later the pleasant tune of
clicking_telegraph instruments was heralding him
as the new champion all over the country.

His strength was gone and he dropped ex-

to .

off:-antic undergrads and insane grads who
shouted out their tribute to -Dan Kee. champion

of the wax-Idiailxso yards. freestyle. and more
famousthanfl1ep'residentofthatHth1¥I'O¢0¢-
nlzededucationalinttntioninwhlchbevlsfl
student. ~

I was ahalf-timecub  on the Express

nearly lost my 50b because I stopped to

the wet hand of the new champion before I
sprinted the four blocks to the Express office
with my story. I «had known Dan Kee for a long
time-since we were in grade school together.
in fact. and things hadn't always been so pleasant

for the captain of the Pander team as they were .

the night that he out-gamed Bob Murray. His
family history had been an unplcakant 9913069
and the consistent way in which his father vio-
latcd the city prohibition ordinances had handi-
capped his son's early years and nearly caused
the ruin of an amazingly strong mind and fer-
tile brain which had been the boy's heritage
from the mother who had died while he was yet
a youngster. .

Someone had put the idea into his head mt

ti

conviction—to the extent that all of the boys of
the town brought injured pets to him for atten-
ion and his skill grew so that wine cuts healed
and broken bones mended under his efficient
hands.

There really wasn't much chance for Dan,
Doctor Dan they called him. to ever become one
of our town's so-called leading citizens, because
his father had left a feeling of recklessness and
glamour surrounding him which the boy couldn't
live down. no matter how hard he tried. Dan
was truly born of a family of horse-lovers, and
the family, from which his mother had been

old lines of Southerners whose love of high-bred
horse flesh and clean, hard racing has made tlv
sport of kings an honored institution in America.

A father who had found the love of the paddock
rush, the chatter of the bookies and the frenzied
beat of racing hoofs too much to withstand, even
for the love of his youthful swecheart; and a
mother to whom the crushing fury of the final
drive down the track and the flash of silks under
the wire meant age-old tradition and honor. gave

Dan Kee a great right to thrill to every flick
of a thoroughbred's ankle. to respond to each
toss of a racer's head.

But someway, as e handsome. clean young-
ster grew into ma ood, he missed the lure of
the oval track and only a normal love of boy for
animal friends was noticeable in his actions to-
ward horses and racing. Although every move-

ment and'every line of his face and figureseemed

to say that he belonged with the aristocracy of
the sporting world, he seemed to care little for
strenuous exercise or outdoor spo givin
most of his time to hard and concentrated study
of his profession.

So it was a boy who held no resemblence to
his race-mad father who entered Pander Uni-
versity in my freshman year and started prepa-
ration for a life of service‘ to others. It wasn't
until after Doctor Dan had been in the college for
three years. with a treasured key of Phi Beta
Kappa nearly within his reach. that he sudden-
ly realized that a strong and healthy body was
the first step toward success in his profession.
Like the good student that he was. he turned to
his instructors for advice, and one kind-hearted
o d professor who had never done anything more
strenuous than take the pulse bent of a patient.
advised him to take to golf, or make long walks
a practice each day.

But Dan wasn't the kind to do things in any
half-way inanner. He was looking for exercise
and he didn't want anything easy_ so after hnlf
a day's thought on the Subject he made a call on
Tad Dugan, head coach of football. It was in
U1” "8? a new figure, clad in ill-fitting shoes
and ragged sweater and pants, took the field
with the varsity that afternoon,

I watched my class mate's first attempt at
rugby from the top of the rlckity old bleachers.

 

Three Wise Men
Only a star had they.
But a star sufficed. _
They followed the gleam, where lay
Our Lord, the Christ.

Only a thought have we
I ascen-

other players managed to bring the runner down
after a 20-Ylrd sprint, but that incident lighted a
strange fire in Dan's eye. It was two plays later
that the varsity piledriver came at him again
and this itme the slim arms of the tackler found
their mark with a fury and power which was
undeniable. But they had to carry Dan from
the field that evening and though he returned
to practice for a month o hard knocks, he
proved to~the coach that his awkward body and
slight strength could never make a football
player of even the poorest calibre. .

But such courage couldn't be stopped, and
after being permanently stricken from the foot-
ball list. Den turned to the college tank. It was
there that I really came to know him and formed
a lasting friendship with the boy who should

twisted life had handicapped him with a wcaklinp;

body to match his valiant and brilliant mind.
Ponder had a good tank team that year and
had a regular run there, so I used to talk to

Doctor Dan every day as e rested on the bench

I saw he possessed one of those temperaments
which won't be downed. With a body such as
he pouesaed. it took constant determination and
great will-power to bring about the development
neglected for twenty-one years. But slowly the
strength and swing of the natural athlete took
possession of him and a love of the game which
had lain dormant for so long sprang up within
him as he fought his way from clumsiness to a
stage of mediocrit, and then began a steady
ascent toward fame.

The next year when we all gathered back at
Pander to take up studies and athletics again.
Dan Kee surprised the whole crowd and brought
joy to the varsity coach by being a good swim-
mer. Long hours of practice during the summer
and hard work to develop his muscles had been
rewarded and Dan stuck on the varsity and was
given plenty of attention. From then on the
coach said that he just naturally developed. But
I knew that it had been the hardest kind of work‘
for Dan to be a swimmer and my admiration for
his limitless will-power and courage was greater
than over during the year that he fought his
way to victory in the conference sprint and was
elected captain of the team.

I saw him in the dressing room just after he
had flashed to his famous victory over Murray
the first night of commencement week at Pander.
Wet hair matted against his forehead, eyes
glistening happily and drops of water rolling

mm the smooth tiger-like muscles of his arms
and legs. the flush of victory gave him the bear-
ing of some young god who gloried in the free-
dom of the skies and the power of a Hercules.

A boy pushed into the room and shoved a
note into his hand. Dan read it, smiled and let
it flutter at my feet where the hurried hand-
writing of a girl stared up at me: “I’m so
proud of you. Dan. Hurry or we'll be late for

' ' ‘ Ann "

\\'hile the crowd outside screamed tribute to
his name, the champion dropped down on the
bench where his coach sat silently but immense-
ly happy over the victory. and threw an arm»
over the old fellbw's shoulders. _

“Well. that's the last one.” Dan said slowly.
“It's a great game, but not half as hard nor as
exciting as the one I'll face tomorrow after
graduation. I hope my luck doesn't fail me then,
coach."

That was the easy way in which Doctor Dan
could dismiss events of great significance and
bear straight ahead toward tomorrow’s.battle

had fought to out-stroke Bob Murray that night.
. As for Ann MacGregor, who playedsuch a
brief but important role in Dan's life, I never
saw her. but later I heard of her part in the
story of the most courageous figure I have ever
had the good fortune to know.

College days ended far too soon for me, and
for a while Dan Kee was forgotten as I struggled

eeveralyearrlaterbeforelagainheardofmy
finest college friend, and then it wasn't through
(Continued on Page 8)

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