AMATEUR. Up to the middle of the 19th century this now ever-recurring word was used exclusively to define those who for the love of the arts, and not for the profit to be derived from the exercise of them, painted, or engraved, or sang. In such of the recreations and sports as were then in vogue and which some men engaged in for pleasure and others for pay, the phrase used to distinguish the two classes varied. If a man of means rode a horse in a race or a steeplechase for the pure love of equestrianism, while others rode for 'fees, the one was called a 'gentleman rider: and the rest were "jockeys.* So again in cricket, those who participated in matches were designated by two titles: 'gentlemen,' denot ing those who participated con amore, and 'players,* those who played for pay. It was always easy to recognize one from the other, for in the list of published names one class was always designated "Mr.,' as "Mr. Somer ville," while the."players" would lack that pre fix and appear as "Thomas Sadler.' Golf of that period was more democratic; neither the word amateur nor any other dis tinguishment had appeared; cobbler and prince played together, and for stakes too, without a thought of one or the other losing caste. James II, King of England, while still Duke of York, chose an Edinburgh shoemaker as his golfing partner to play two Scotch peers for a goodly stake of money which he and the cob bler won. The Prince did the honorable thing by giving up his half of the stake to the shoe maker, with which and his own share the latter bought a house in the Cripplegate of the city.
The ancient exemption ofgolf from the dis tinction between amateur and professional per sists even to this day; according to the rules formulated by the United States Golf Associa tion, amateurs may play in contests against pro fessionals, even for a prize, provided only the prize is not cash.
Football at that period was largely in abey ance, except among schoolboys, and the need of definitions had not arisen.
The word amateur in sports first appears in connection with rowing. Up to the year 1835 such rowing contests as had taken place had been on the one hand confined to watermen, who at that time had to serve apprenticeships and could not ply their trade without ; and on the other hand to inter-collegiate and inter university crews. Neither class needed defini tions. But at that time an open regatta was organized at Henley, in which it would have been manifestly unjust to allow watermen and others who had had a lifetime's experience and of hardened training to enter and compete against those for whom the regatta was really intended, that is, those who loved aquatic sport for its own sake and followed it only as a recreation at seasonable times. Hence rules were formulated and have ever since been in operation which distinguished the professional from the amateur and precluded the possibility of the one contesting against the other. So strong is this feeling still in rowing at Henley that in 1902 a further restriction was made against the entry of any crew that had within a month from its entry been trained by a pro fessional.
When track athletics, about 1850, first crys tallized by the impulse given it by colleges and clubs, similar conditions existed. The only representative of this form of recreation at that time was the old and hardened trotter around-the-track, sometimes for the gate money derived from it, sometimes for the benefit of the betting men. Ostensibly it would have been unfair to handicap young collegians by permitting their intermingling, even if for eth ical reasons it had not been desirable. Rules were here again formulated which had the ef fect of barring the professional and defining the amateur. The rule of the Amateur Ath letic Association of Great Britain may be quoted as expressing the then prevalent feeling: " An amateur is one who has never competed for a money prize or staked bet, or with or against a professional for any prize, or who has never taught, pursued or assisted in the practice of athletic exercises as a means of earning livelihood.' Football added another temptation on ac count of its possibilities in city centres of at tracting large numbers and much gate money. Here, too, the barrier was raised, in both the association and the Rugby games, along lines which America has followed. But the United States authorities in all recreations have gone a great deal farther in the strictness of their definition of the word amateur, and in safe guarding against persons who receive any por tion of their traveling or hotel expenses: a notable example of this occurred in 1902, when the National Golf Association precluded from the amateur ranks any player who participated in the generosity of railroad companies or hotel proprietors.
A more recent illustration of this tendency in the world of American athletics was the case of James Thorpe, the Indian student from Carlisle, who won the all-round championship in the international Olympic Games at Stock holm in 1912. Some months later a statement was published in some obscure paper that the young Indian had been a paid member of a baseball team in North Carolina some two or three years previously. Thorpe frankly ad mitted this to be the truth, whereupon the American Olympic Committee and the Amateur Athletic Union repudiated Thorpe as an Amer ican amateur athlete, contending that he had no right to the honors he had won. Thorpe re turned his trophies and has since become a pro fessional baseball player.
It would seem an easy thing, from the fore going facts, to be able to formulate a phrase which should generically and yet accurately de scribe an amateur, but it is not, as the story of the endless definitions adopted and aban doned, or amended, though made by experts, attests.
The spirit is the old spirit °for the love of the art or game and not for personal gain); even if a present literal definition were at tempted, it might be rendered obsolete by new legislation in a short time. Those who are purposing to enter any particular recreative contest in which the status of the amateur is material must consult the last rules of the or ganization governing it.