Sometimes I Wonder

French Baron Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympics (1896), made a noble argument for reviving the ancient games: "The cause of peace will have received a new and powerful support." Just the opposite is likely to happen at the 16th Olympiad in Australia this fall, says the Naval Academy's veteran Crew Coach Russell ("Rusty") Callow--unless someone beats the whey out of the Russians. A Russian victory, Rusty told a Baltimore men's club last week, "would bring on an arrogance that would endanger the peace of the world."

Rusty (whose own never-beaten varsity eight whipped the Red rowers for the Olympic title in 1952) was not worrying about the Russians only. "Something is creeping into our own athletic setup which is not good," said he. "Our youngsters no longer go to the schools that their daddies went to, or to schools that they have a great admiration for. They mostly go to those which make the best offers.

"The trend to professionalism tends to destroy the one thing which made America a great nation; great discoveries and inventions are made primarily for service and not for monetary gain." Rusty said that somewhere in The Decline and Fall Historian Edward Gibbon listed the professionalizing of athletics as one of the five reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. "And we are moving in that direction here. When we were youngsters, we played games because we wanted to, and won because we were the best, not because we expected to receive any extra rewards. Sometimes I wonder whether the average young fellow is as interested in athletics as his father was, whether he is quite as willing to make the sacrifices that are necessary to become great."

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