12 Sports Aces, January 1943 — page 102: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

100 12 SPORTS ACES + 8 100111 Ger Conor Ore Queer Pee breber Ore Prnd eres Or B1Gr1 G+ Gar Or Ges Orr Orr Bre Or aGer Par O-othor Gees +O OorGerGe: Serer Geer G erin GorGer Gee inGreGr: Orr Gre Oo Orr Por Gur GorGerGe: QrohorGers 8 he sees his boy come down the narrow lane to immortal sport fame. You’ve heard of Gene Venzke. eonsidered one of the great milers, Back in 1932 Venzke turned in a 4:10 mile, the fastest ever run by a human being, in- doors or out, up to the time, And it al} happened because of spooky footsteps. Before that momentous record-break- ing run Gene Venzke had been beaten out several times by last-minute dashes to the tape. He had been caught from behind so often he developed an illusion that someone was always. right on his heels behind him. And so it was that night of 1932 they staged a mile run in Madison Square Garden. Venzke was in great form. At the gun he jumped into the lead and held it against all opposition. Tearing down the homestretch he suddenly heard phantom footsteps drumming behind him. He erowded on more speed, but the faster he went the closer the footsteps seemed to tag along behind him. Venzke hit the tape in a wild burst of speed, stil] pursued by those pounding footsteps. But it seemed his hearing had tricked him, for his nearest rival was forty yards behind! Thus, in beating a ghost, Venzke handed Father Time a trimming, too, for the clockers caught him in a new mile record. Lou Zamperini is another fast lad who pounded the boards to fame. Funny thing about Lou, he’s the original hard-luck guy of track. While there have been great - Funners who suffered accidents in their youth, Lou Zamperini made them all look like pikers. His record of injuries read like a full hospital report. At three he severed a toe. At ten he ran an iron pipe into his thigh. At sixteen he tore the ligaments in his knee. At eighteen he ripped the muscles in his left leg in an auto accident, and at twenty he cracked an ankle in a ski jump. In spite of it all he’s been running great races ever since he came back from the last Olympic games. It was a hickory stick which actually made Lou Zamperini a great runner. He was a lazy kid and hated the grind of training. He had a brother who was a He’s © bit of a miler in his own right, and this brother would arm himself with a hickory stick and chase Lou around the high school track during practice, whacking him across the shoulders whenever he got within striking distance. — To avoid getting hit, Lou Zamperini would run faster and faster until he de- veloped such. skill he could always keep ahead of his brother’s hickory stick. That’s one time it might be said a run- ner was actually bulldozed into produe- ing results... . Archie San Romani is a stumpy little Kansan who for years has been a mighty midget of the mile. Great runner that he was, he always lived in the shadow of a fellow Kansan, the great Glenn Cunning- ham, But Archie kept on plugging away, waiting for the day he’d thunder down the homestretch as the mile king. Came the 1940 track season. Cunning- ham, the great Kansas Express, was defi- nitely slowing up. This was the spot Archie San Romani had waited for. It would be his year. Yet try as he would, he just couldn’t get along, and it was not he but Chuck Fenske who became the mile king. Desperate in defeat Archie went to see a doctor. The doctor looked him over and said: “Young man, it isn’t any won- der you’ve lost your speed. The miracle is that you’re able to run at all. You have a serious internal ailment and should hang up your shoes right now!” Tronic, isn’t it, that when Glenn Cun- ningham faded from the picture his shadow, Archie San Romani, was also forced to quit the track. How many remember the Kid from Kankakee? Twenty years ago he was the fanciest, most colorful runner of them all. A tough little egg from Chicago who climbed out from behind a taxi steering- wheel to become the darling of the track world, In his time he ran the mile under 4:20 forty-six times until he was finally stopped by none other than Paavo Nur- mi himself. The Kid was through, washed up. But the Kid had a game heart, he tried his flying feet at marathon run- ning. EOPMICLOOO KS (©)