ATHLETICS, or ATHLETISM, is the exhibition of man's physical prowess in games of skill and endurance, and though in passing centuries it has undergone many phases, it is practically the same to-day as when the Olym pian games, which were resumed at the Pan American Exhibition at Buffalp in 1901, were originally given 2,500 years ago, and Greece was in her prime. Then not only Greek met Greek, but the influence of the Olympian, Pythean, Nemean and Isthmian games was felt to the farthest extreme of Asia. After the fall of Rome, the mantle of physical prowess which that nation had inherited from the Greeks fell upon the shoulders of the sturdy Norseman, whose chief glory was in his individual capacity to bear unflinchingly the stress and strain of contests and the elements. They bred into the bone the hardihood and love of personal achievement which in turn carried the current through the Dark Ages, even into those of the exaggerated chivalry, which Cervantes killed with ridicule in 'Don Quixote.) The spirit of the Greek, Roman and Norseman planted its seeds in the hardy Anglo-Saxons, who in turn transplanted them into Virginian and New Eng land soils on the northern continent of Amer ica, where its influence has been felt, even to the entire disappearance of the softer Latin races' supremacy. It is not surprising, there fore, that, with the disappearance of the earlier modes of life of the first settlers, calling for all the physical strain that the human frame was capable of, and the return of the compara tive leisure.which in early youth now surrounds the American universities and colleges, there has reappeared a yearning after opportunities to supply, artificially, if so it must be, the stress and contest, physical effort and the proof of supremacy of the earlier ages, when such con ditions were compulsory. It was in the blood, and it came out, much to the nation's benefit. First in the form of isolated college and club contests, and subsequently in such a volume as to need a separation of contests into classes and the creation of an especial federation of the separate units, to regulate and control it.
In the beginning, athletics developed in this or that college, or university or club, acting separately and indiscriminately in its scope. Ultimately the lines of natural cleavage forced athletics into its two great branches: one out doors, commonly known as track-events; the other, those carried on in a gymnasium. The outdoor events are those which are now usually meant when the term athletics is used. The de velopment of these came tentatively. First one college, or university, or club, then another, organized outdoor contests, until at length the net was spread over all the rising generation, and the Amateur Athletic Union was formed, whose fundamental rule is that '‘no person shall be eligible to compete in any athletic meeting, game or entertainment given or sanctioned by this Union who has (1) received or competed for compensation or reward, in any form, for the display, exercise or example of his skill in or knowledge of any athletic exercise, or for rendering personal service of any kind to any athletic organization, or for becoming or con tinuing a member of any athletic organization; or (2) has entered any competition under a name other than his own, or from a club of which he was not at that time a member in good standing; or (3) has knowingly entered any competition open to any professional or pro fessionals, or has knowingly competed with any professional for any prize or token; or (4) has issued or allowed to be issued in his behalf any challenge to compete against any pro fessional, or for money ; or (5) has pawned, bartered or sold any prize won in athletic com petition; or (6) is not a registered athlete. Nor shall any person residing within the territory of any active member of this Union be eligible to compete for or to enter any competition as a member of any. club in the territory of any other active member of this Union, unless he shall have been elected to membership in such club prior to 1 April 1891; provided, however, that this restriction as to residence shall not apply to undergraduates connected with any allied college athletic organization.