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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 26, 1922)
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAX. PORTLAND, NOVE3IBER 26, 1922 - ... - . . 1 .'''''''' ' rc SSN " ' ii' "f" i O' . ; ; ' . ; , ; Local Instructor 4 . ' XMv n TT WT -14 W ' ' -i " Jack Cody, Maker, of Cham- WmSk Pl ; Has World Record 'mlmlmF vHW' ' for Producing ' ' lf?h VL "-mu- Jm-J.:-: Glass on Springboard" ' . f.. 7a k I -sr. ' A yfcsS ' ssrr rw s i v -r- I; :7 Y'VtUX- k f ?Happy"Knehn, World's Cham pion Fancy Diver. BY DeWITT HARRY. ORTLAND is the fancy diving center of the country and the . Pacific coast the recognised in- enbator for kings of the nation's swim-' mers and divers," stated a well-known national sporting authority, and then he went on with the real important part of his little speech. "Jack Cody of the Multnomah Athletic club is the one man more than others who is responsible." So, people of Portland, 'let's render homage where homage is due, let's see what, manner of man is tnis Cody and what he has done. Of all the proud records of world fewimming coaches none can excell that made by dody. He has shown the goods, his pupils have brought home the bacon, he has' set the world the latest styles in diving and Cody -trained swimmers and divers have annexed the .most sought after honors.'oiympic championships, not once, but often. Cody has brought Port land -to the fore in countries where they never knew before whether Oregon was a fruit or a disease. - AVorld's Highest Honors Held Here. National championships. Why, for five Sears Cody's women divers held them all! Cody divers, Portland products these, hold the highest honors in the world. "Happy" Kuehn, world fancy diving champion, is a complete Cody product. Thelma Payne, three times national champion and one of the point winners in the Olympic games, is another. Nor man Koss, the most famous of swimmers, Is yet another. Constance Myers Dressier, twice national champion and admitted the grittiest and most daring amateur woman diver, is yet another. "Johnny" McMur ray, northwest 50-yard sprint champion et a few years back and holder of numer ous other records, is yot another. Louis Bahlbach is another. . The list is an al . most endless one. L. DeB. Handley, the most authoritive expert on swimming in America, does, not hesitate to pay tribute to Cody. For several years he has recognized Cody's crack women's exhibition team as the best In the country. It is an admitted fact t.bat Cody's teams could invade any terri tory in the country, with the possible ex ception of New York, and carry off the major portion of the honors in competi tion with the best they have. His haa been a pio,nering work, for he Is an originator, not one Who imitates. Diving Styles Set by Cody. Prior to 1917 diving technique was largely a matter of happy chance. There vas no precedent to guide the com petitors, they began their diving any time it suited them. Cody changed all this, reformed the entire diving game at the 1917 national championships. At this meet the experta of years received the jolt ot their lives. They saw, for. the first fr-' center of the country and the ' ,J fl Ntt ' ?'?f 'rffV- ? J I . ' Jack Cody and, Three PapUs Virginia Pembrooh, Helen Hicks and Orenet Thelma Tayne," Three Timei National Champion : Fancy Diver Third Best in World. time, a finished product, a set of divers who began to dive as soon as they made their appearance near the pool. Every move was a picture, for Cody, a stickler for form, had trained his competitors in every move in public. They had nothing to guide them in prior competitions, but the Cody-trained divers began their div ing as soon as they stepped on the spring hoard. All slovenly work had beenbro gated, their approach was faultless, every motion studied and perfection. It was a splendid sight, more impressive because it was novel, and the result was that the Portland dlver3, thanks to Jack Cody's work, carried off nearly all .the high honors. However,, this sort of a performance is so unusual now as not to attract any more than passing notice. When any Portland diver appears in outside competition these oays the judges and spectators are primed to witness something new that Cody has developed. Since the 1917 show-up of the diving game the other coaches In the country have not hesitated to make use of Cody's system and style development. Louis Kuehn, the world champion who has shown his wares in all of the biggest poolsin the. country and is now in New York, writes that there are but three real aquatic coache3 in America Cody, L. DeB. Handley and Ernie Brandstein. , Daring and Grit Essential. Cody's diadem of swimming stars is plentifully studded- with water jewels. These pupils all. unite in praising Cody's bplendid work and attribute their success where it rightfully belongs, to the Mult nomah club coach. This man owes his success to a thorough and persistant study of his own particular game. That it is a fascinating one goes without saying. He is not addicted to publicity and it is doubt ful if many Portlanders, even if members of the Multnomah . club, realize what a , rotable asset they have in Cody. He ex plained some of the diver's work like this: . . "In the world war they found that al most any fancy diver would make an aviation act. It was all due to their sense Jack Cody and , of balance and their fearlessness in the air. No one can become an' expert fancy tiver, you ,know, unless he has grit. Otherwise he'll quit when he is hurt and they all get hurt while practicing. The women are as gritty, if not more so, than - the men. They come back again and again for more, even when bruised black and blue from the impact with the water. The good ones go on taking chances, despite'lheir ' bumps, ;or they'd never learn the different dives. . Tribute Paid Women Experts. "The women of Portland have shown that they have the determination and the riaring to dive and they have proved it U the world along with the men. There's no secret to diving or methods of teach ing. After I teach a pupil . the crawl, the up and down leg drive, the arm stroke and breathings, I let every man find his own stroke. I never force any one into a cut-and-drled pattern! No two people swim the same crawl style. Each one develops his own peculiarities and in dividualities. -When you see the same man swim a thousand times you notice these .things. If they're faults I try to correct theni, otherwise not. . "How close aviation comes to diving was illustrated during the war, when so many Portland boys made a success in the air. Borne people,, of. course, despite all the training and practice in the world, would never become star divers, and these same fellows would never make success ful aviators either. Conversly, any crack aviator would inake a good diver. Youthful Daring Makes Champion. "The youngsters make the best divers, they do better than those who are older because tbey have the recklessness of outh. They do things on the spur of the moment, almost instinctively. An older . person would stop to reason before diving and there's no time for that in the air." Just to show how close this sense of . balance in the air is allied' with, diving, aviation and youth, a letter from Norman , Koss should-be quoted. He wrote: "A loop is a half Gainor, an Immleman is a i 1 alf twist, a tail spin is a corkscrew straight down, and it's all done from 5000 to 6000 feet in the air." And Jack proved this, for he was one of the best trainers of ' aviators in the American service. An other illustration of this sense of. .balance Three Papits Virginia Pembrook, Helen rembrook. in the air comes from an experience of Louis Bahlbach,- who first attracted at tention by winning the Panama-Pacific ex position fancy diving indoor champion ship. While trying a back dive from a high tower "Louie" realized that he was turning over too far and would strike flat' on his stomach. Instinctively he rirew his legs up in a "tuck" and lit on ' bis feet, saving himself from a bad fall. Divers or aviators never lose control. . Cody's Career Varied. Cody first broke into the limelight in Portland in '1912y when he-developed a E,ang of swimmers and divers at the Port land natatorium, then in the old Y. M. C. A. building at Fourth and Yamhill streets, that wiped up on the best the city could produce. After this bunch had defeated the Multnomah club aggregation, Cody accepted an offer to take charge of the ( club tank and the most of his stars folr lowed him there. Jack himself learned to swim in Los Angeles and just sort of developed himself, -for there were no coaches in those days. Earlier in his life, when he was 9 years old to be exact, he vl'.ad lived in South "Carolina and paddled about Sullivan's island off Charleston, the isle Poe put on the map in "The Gold Bug." After graduating from the surf at Los Angeles Cody gave swimming and diving exhibitions with Gene McClure in Kansas City and later managed Electric park there. In 1911 this pair "debutted" into vaudeville with a "tank act," not one of the inebriated comedy kind. Cody coached some, unimportant teams' in i Kansas City and burst- into the public spotlight when a slight little 14-year-old "kid" pupil of his, "Eddie" McCarren, won the annual Missouri river marathon r.gainst a field of some 80 entries, in-, eluding all, the "sharks" of that terri tory. Jack himself had won that mara thon two years before. Cody's String of Notables Impressive. . Since 1912 and 1913, when he went to the Multnomah club, Jack has prospered in wonderful shape in accumulating swim ming and diving honors through his pupils! Clair Tate, later Pacific coast fancy diving champion and then a his torical figure as the coach of the famous Hawaiian swimming, team that toured the Hicks and Orenet country, was a member- of the Portland Swimming association eam with which ' Cody made his western debut as1 waterdog ' kingmaker. On this team were, besides the two named above, Norman Ross, then Eumost a "dub" who could hardly swim with the rest of the crowd, "Johnny" Mc Murray, "Colly" Wheeler, who was later coast 500 open water champion, and Chet Wheeler, who was no slouch. Some of the other notable performers : of Cody's early Portland days were Ernie Spawmer, Davie Welsch, "Ted" Preble, a ' fine high diver and spring swimmer, and Ernie Rosengreen. Then came Louis Ealbach, Don Strieker, Locke Webster, lius Douglas, Earl Smead, Happy Kuehn, Dave Fall, "Doc" Roller and Jim Mistrow, who turned profess! orfal.Vall of these to conjure with in the water and names fre quently mentioned in the sporting pages and news, columns of American news Iapers. Cody's first real excellent women's team was composed of Virginia and Irene Pembrook, Helen Hicks, Grace1' Berkey, Thelma Payne and Connie Myers. This team was unquestionably tbe cream of the American tanks and a national tour was held out to them on several occa sions. '-: Woirten's Team Is Excellent. The new women's team, fully as good as the first one and even more finished, is composed of Gladys Stansberry, Lillian -Knutson, Constance Myers Dressier. Fran cis Huntington, Virginia Pembrook and Helen Hicks. In training women swim mers much discouragement Is met, espe cially when the members of teams, after being trained and given weeks of careful coaching, get married or quit for-some other reason. - . Thelma Payne has , been a consistent winner for Cody in almost every competi . tion she has entered. In 1918 Thelma eet the pace for the national champion ships that were held ' in Portland, and repeated her success in 1919 and 1920. In the second year every woman diver in the meets had copied her style and in the third year open threats were mads that they would "get her," but with all that Thelma came through with the goods and raptured the meets. In 1920 Thelma put in, a busy year. She won the national fancy diving title at Detroit in March, and in June entered and qualified In the Grace Berkley, in Vaudeville and Movies. Olympic tryouts at the far-western cham pionship meet in California. The same month she went to New York for the finals in diving and won ber place on the team. At Antwerp she won one of the first places and her team-mate, Louis Kuehn, took the world's fancy diving title for men. Stage Stars Sent to Success. Cody, with his own experience on the stage, has turned out some fine stars for vaudeville in' the persons of such girl I'ivers as Gladys Watton, Georgia Cor mancy, Grace Berkey and Vivian Mar shall, now in the movies. His other suc cesses have been notable with such fine women stars as Myra Gammie, Virginia Miller, Constance Myers Dressier, the na tional champion in 1916 and 1917; Helen Hicks, Who has been the runner-up in the national and Pacific Northwest associa tion championships, and others. Cody's men's team that is now ready to meet all comers is composed of such sterling per formers as Daren Fall, WTarren and Frank Lossiter, WreeIdon Hyde and Frank Riggs. With all his laurels Cody's head rests tasy, though be has been frequently crowned, in the news columns, as the king o? diying coaches. He can be found any day at his job, as he likes to call it, in the club tank, and is constantly on the lookout for new material. Hp has done Portland, the west, and swimming notable services and is a man who can produce' the goods. Science Gets Results. Organic chemistry is known as the chemistry of the compounds of carbon. A church clock is. used in Brussels, Belgium, wound by atmospheric expan sion induced by the beat of the sun. . Carbon dioxide is 15. times as heavy as air, and can be poured from bottle to bottle like a liquid. It is an invisible gas. - For the production of automobile tires, one and one-quarter ounces of sulphur is used to one pound of crude rubber. , Searchlights of the type used on battle ships at sea, are now used to mark the landing fields for night-flying airplanes. In South Africa mining dumps' are being worked by improved machinery to recover metals discarded when gold is being recovered.