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Sunday,
July 29, 1928
It's a
funny thing. One never knows when he is shaking hands with a coming
champion, a future king.
Just a year ago this summer a man and a boy walked into The
Register sports department. The man, gray-headed and dignified,
introduced himself: "I'm Mr. Bagg" ... "And this is Frank
Wykoff, my nephew," he introduced the boy.
The lad offered a bit self-conscious ..."Glad to meet you.,"
and held out his hand. And we shook it -- the hand of the boy who
today has blazed a sensational trail across the horizon of American
athletics. Who twice in one day conquered the great
Charley Paddock,
the "world's fastest human" that WAS. And now Wykoff is a
representative to Amsterdam, Holland. He goes with the title of
national 100-meters champion, won in the final trials at Cambridge,
among his many other laurels.
To get back to Mr. Bagg, who by the way, is still a resident of Des
Moines (Iowa)...
"Frank is a former Des Moines boy - born here and reared here
until he was about 5 years old"
"Well," we mused out loud, just trying to appear interested
in what we thought was going to be a lot of hooey.
"Frank is quite a runner for a 17 year old lad; says he's going to
beat Paddock in another year or so," the man continued.
"Well! Well!" we pretended to enthuse over the lad, but
think to ourselves: "It is hooey!"
But it WASN'T. The prediction has come true. No man is being
followed with as much interest - north, south, east and west - as
Frank Wykoff, the brilliant Glendale youth. He still is receiving the
plaudits of the multitude. His winning a berth on the Olympic team is
a wonderful accomplishment, but probably his race against Paddock on
the coast overshadows even that. Certainly those 52,000 "Race of the
Century" mad fans who clung to their seats in amazement while
'Wykoff
zipped into the tape ahead of Paddock will remember, and for a long
time.
Wykoff was never better according to experts of the press who had
been watching his rise. The boy had received a lot of publicity prior
to the race, but none of the ballyhoo had affected his cool head. He
responded to the starting gun quicker than ever. Paddock was behind
at the start. He was farther behind at the halfway post, and two
yards back at the tape.
It was the same story in the 200 meters- Wykoff was out in front
with his deer-lice, pace-eating stride; Paddock back.
Last evening the writer visited Mr. and Mrs. Bagg at their home
southwest of the city. Both are proud of their nephew, the son of Mr.
Bagg's sister. They didn't exactly say so, but actions speak louder
than words. Yes, they are proud.
Mrs. Bagg recalled Frank Wykoff when he was a mere youngster,
running around near his parents' home on Park Avenue. She showed us
his baby picture, another when he was 10 years old, and another as he
is today. A Fine Looking lad all the way up, too.
"What a talker that youngster was," said Mrs. Bagg.
"He used to nearly pester us to death talking -- he wanted to
talk about something continually, and someone had to humor him.
He WOULD talk.
"Then he began to beg his mother to be allowed to run errands.
Given such a task, he would set out - and return so quickly that he
actually gave his mother a fright until one day as she watched him."
He was running, we learned. -- And how!
Then Mr. Bagg told us about the beginning of the lad's career.
And Charley Paddock might still be the fastest human if the
employees of the Omaha Gas Company hadn't decided twelve years ago
(1916) to have a picnic.
The picnic was one such as employees of various companies the
country over hold annually, but a result of that picnic has been an
upset in the athletic world which placed a young high school lad on
the pinnacle of fame.
Among the children at the picnic was a 6 year-old boy, Frank
Wykoff. His father was a gas company employee, and had taken Frank
and his mother along for the fun.
"Foot races" were on the program. Young Frank decided he would try
to win the 50 cents to be awarded to the winner of the 6-year-old race
of twenty-five yards. He slipped off his shoes and stockings, folded
up his coat, and just walked away with that race, and the half dollar.
From Omaha the Wykoff's moved to Glendale, and Frank reached the
sixth grade in grammar school. About this time Paddock became "IT" in
athletic circles, and Frank became, in a way, a disciple of his.
Frank watched Paddock and decided to copy him. He watched his
starting and figured that that had a lot to do with his victories.
He practiced that start day in and day out. And his speed Increased.
"The funny part of it is," explained Mr. Bagg, "Frank
really learned to start from Paddock, but Paddock had changed his
style so much that it was Frank's start (maintaining Paddock's old
start) that won his (Frank's) races against him
(Paddock)."
So it looks as if Wykoff has Paddock to thank - for his victory
over Paddock!
Is Frank Bagg proud of the lad? Well --
"The boy was named after me," he said.
The boy will "burn himself out," the critics have warned.
Well -- if he looked burned out beating Paddock twice in one day,
and in equaling the Olympic 100-meters record four times in one
afternoon, then Mussolini is only a court jester.
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