XLVII. Student Life—Physical Side, Continued
About 1910, a strenuous series of swimming races for
the championship of the University took place; these
were held in the pool of the Fayerweather Building; and
two of them extended over respectively forty and one
hundred and twenty yards. The regular gymnasium
contests in April of that year were limited to tests of
skill on the horizontal bars, and in tumbling, wrestling,
and boxing. The editors of College Topics complained,
in 1911, that, during the previous five or six sessions,
all indoor athletics, with the exception of basketball,
had declined in importance; and that it was the infatuation
for basketball which had caused this deplorable condition.
The players of that game. it seems, had been
practicing at all hours: and this fact had interfered with
the prosecution of other athletic exercises under roof.
After a period of cessation lasting for several years,
a public exhibition was given, in 1912–13, by a team,
which had been laboriously instructed by an expert trainer
obtained from Princeton University. The first performance
took place in the Fayerweather Building, and the
second in the Jefferson Theatre, in Charlottesville. On
December 6, of this year, there was an additional exhibition
in Cabell Hall which consisted of somersaults, hand
to hand balancing, high combination tumbling, and swinging
drill. About two sessions later, a triangular meet
was held by the gymnasium team with the teams of the
Naval Academy and Vanderbilt University, and a dual
meet with the team of Washington and Lee University.
Now, as in former years, every student was entitled to
a physical examination by the director; and in accord with
the conclusions of this diagnosis, he received advice as to
what course in the gymnasium he should pursue for his
bodily development. Besides the work of the individual,
there was the work of the classes in light exercises,—
such as marching and running, and the play of dumbbells
and clubs. The steps followed in the instruction were
gradual and progressive. The training in winter related
chiefly to those branches of athletics which called for
great strength and agility. A credit of three hours
towards the academic degree was, in 1917, granted to
all students who had elected physical culture, provided
that they had matriculated previous to the session of
1917–18; but no credit was to be allowed to the same
student for both military science and physical training.
During the session of 1917–18, a course in physical culture
and hygiene was established and a definite credit was
attached to it in the acquisition of the baccalaureate degree.
The basketball team comprised a full complement of
players. Its record between 1905–06 and 1916–17 consisted
of ninety games won and about twenty-two lost.
These games seem to have been played chiefly with Southern
teams,—indeed, only nine games were contested on
ground situated north of Washington City. In 1916,
the team was declared to be entitled to the award of the
V. There was a spirited exhibition of cross-country running
in the autumn of 1911 over a course extending from
the University to Fry's Springs and the reverse, taking in
one lap around Lambeth Field,—a total distance traversed
of four miles. The opposing runner had been sent
to represent Washington and Lee University. Twelve
months before, there had been twenty-seven entries. The
successful contestant in this trial was H. W. Brigham,
who covered the ground in twenty-one minutes and
twenty-two seconds. The boxing class in April, 1910,
plumed themselves on their competence to such a degree
that they actually visited Lynchburg to give an exhibition
before one of the clubs of that city; and in addition to the
boxing bouts, there were tumbling and wrestling matches
on the same occasion. The University of Virginia was
said to have been the first Southern institution of learning
to organize a pugilistic association.
In the physical preparation of the divers teams and individual
champions for the numerous branches of sport
which we have previously described, no officer of the University
had a more useful share than H. H. Lannigan.
In the course of his early career, he had displayed remarkable
endurance and speed as a runner; had taken
a conspicuous part as a professional in a baseball league;
had trained the great Fitzsimmons for the ring; and
in putting the sixteen pound shot, had never been surpassed
down to 1911. So high became his reputation for
athletic skill that he was appointed the junior director
of physical culture at Cornell. During many years previous
to his translation to the University of Virginia, that
institution had placed teams in the field only to see them
lose in consequence of the superior physical preparation
of their opponents. "In all the Northern colleges,"
said a critic of this shortcoming at the time, "the trainer
has to do with the physical condition of the men, and the
coach with their methods of playing. Our lack of training
is shown when we meet teams like those of the Navy
or Carlisle Indians. For the first half, Virginia plays
them to a standstill, only to lose out in the second. We
cannot finish strong."
In order to remove this weakness, something more
than a general director of the gymnasium was required.
In 1905, Lannigan was appointed associate director, and
his services proving to be invaluable, his temporary nomination
to that office was converted into a permanent tenure.
"With the exception of Dr. Lambeth," said the
editors of College Topics, in 1911, "Lannigan has done
more for athletics at the University of Virginia than any
man ever connected with the department. It was he who
introduced basketball not before practiced here. He put
track work on a different footing. He is the life and
spirit in every branch of athletics. He developed Marbury
and Staunton, Martin and Rector."
An essential accessory to Lambeth Field, where all the
outdoor sports that we have mentioned so far were practiced,
was the new stadium, which was constructed of
solid concrete and extended around three sides of the
open play-ground. In the rear of the seats, there was a
covered colonnade to protect the spectators in case of
rain. The plans of this building were drafted by R. E.
Lee Taylor, of Norfolk. The first unit,—which accommodated
twenty-five hundred people,—was completed in
1911, and the second and third in 1913. The whole
structure had a seating capacity of eight thousand persons,
and cost thirty-five thousand dollars.
The lacrosse team was so self-complacent in 1905 that
they challenged the veteran team of Harvard University
to a game on Lambeth Field; but the result did not justify
the confidence indicated in the invitation. Indeed, the
score in favor of the Harvard visitors stood eight to zero.
The club, in reality, had not enjoyed the advantage of
an expert trainer; but, in 1906, with the financial assistance
of the General Athletic Association, the members
were able to employ one.
During the interval between 1904 and 1915, the tennis
club had, from year to year, enrolled a full complement
of players, who, each season, exhibited their skill in a
domestic tournament. This tournament began on October
15, both in singles and doubles. A series of games
with the representatives of other institutions were also
arranged, in annual succession, for both the autumn
and the spring. In October, 1909, the largest and
most spirited event of this kind in the history of the
University came off. On this occasion, there were thirty-four
single entries and fifteen double. At that time, the
courts were sixteen in number. During 1913–14, three
games were played with foreign rivals, in two of which
the champions of the University won. The membership
of the club, as reorganized in 1913, seems to have been
limited to about twenty-seven members. Its activities
now reached a degree of energy never before observed in
the history of tennis at the University of Virginia.
The golf club was placed on a new footing in September,
1905, but its membership continued to fluctuate,
reaching as high a figure as seventy-three in 1914, and
falling as low as thirty-two in 1917. Few years passed
bv without the episode of a golf tournament. In 1914,
one was celebrated, in which the clubs of Lynchburg,
Roanoke, and Lexington competed with the representatives
of the University of Virginia.
