Illinois News Index

Wilmette Life (Wilmette, Illinois), 19 Jul 1934, p. 17

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W 1LJE T TB LIFE 1 By one of tbûse strange contradic- tions tbat occur so fi-equently in life the man wbe took part in tbree Olyni- pic games and was scheduled for the fourtb bas neyer even seen the Olym- pic games since be stepped competing. One tbing and anothen bas kept bim froni attending altbough be nearly got to Los Angeles for tbe games in_1932. That man is James D. Ligbtb-ody, 450 Drexel avenue, Glenc oe, wbo at one tume beld more world's recoi-ds ini middle distances than any othei- man. He says these records are unimpontant now that they bave been surpassed in recent years, but one- of theni still stands because tbe event was discon- tinued later on. Champ in "Huai-diager" In typical American fashion this event was a "buni-dinger," arranged especiaily for tbe Olympics at St. Louis in the exposition year of 1904. It was the steeple-chase race with a 10-foot high and foot-tbick stone wall te scale at the. enid f -the first 50 yards, thiel four hurdies cf the usual 3.6or 4-foot height, a 15-foot water jump 25 yards after a hurdle-some 500 . yards ai- together. It hadtô' be i-un five tumes, and I.igltbody did it ini seven minutes. No one was , more surprised - that Lightbody won this race than the -youtlî hiniseif,. accordung to M.' Ligbtbody. "I* had neyer done.any hurdlung at ail,"' he.admitted. "I wa>-then a student at the University cf Cbicago and I had spent about three. days getting ready for this paiticular race. 1Iwçnt out with one coachi one day and picked up some of 'the tricks cf hurdlung. Tbe next day I went out with another coach and tried the bnoad jump a few times. ;The, thirci day I ýpracticed the hand vault à littie, and then I took the train for St. Louis. "There was a big.crowd entered for this eveftt, -about twenty fello%ves, ini- cluding an Inishman named John Daily wbo everybody thougbt would wun, a couple cf New' Yonk fellews, and ýa lot cf other good nunuiers. Some cf theni were disqualifled at once because tbey couldn't get over the 10-foot wall. The water jump was bad foi- the short fellows. -I *tbink only'eigbt cf us fin- isbed, and I was .50 yai-ds ,abead cf tbe, Irisbman." Win& Trophy at Athe.. The bolder cf tbis unique woild's recoi-d cannot remember. now wbat tnopby lie won foi- it, but on -the piano in tbe living noom is a buge silven lovung cup wbich ie won for -anothen race at St. Louis. Alongside cf it is anotbei- gongeous tropby, a beautifully designed sballow silven bowl mounted on an exquisitely canved bronze base with ornamental bronze bandles. This he won at Atbens in 1906 at the Olyi- pics specially beld in honor of the dedication of the niew Greek stadium- "tlîe finest in the wo rid," averred Mn. Lightbody reminiscently. 'It holds 150,000 persons -aid is couistnucted of white niarble." Most of the objets dart in, the Light- hod!v homie are tr(>lhies. 'Ihey are the pictures on the wall, sonietiiles a pair doueini tapestry or. l)erhaps iii.umetal, sometinies a group of runniers carved in bas relief ini bronze, or a . lovely steel engraving of a woodland scelle. On the mantel are more trophies, one of them ni practical Amenican fashion, a vase with muner glass tube to hold the water. On the table is a beaten silver smoking set, -"Vuilderpreis.." Hobnobbed With Royalty In tbe deni thebock shelves. are as mucli filled with loving c ups: as thîey ai- wth books, an .international show as it were; ctgps f rom Gernmany, Aus- tnia. Denimank, Sweden, Finland, Eng- lanîd and Amierica. Mr-. Lightbody spent four yeans ini Genmany a .s a stu- dent of ecenemics at the University of Beilin> and whilé over thereentered mnany races and wonl innumenable ti-o- phies. Incidentallyv,*he aise coached the nephews of tbe Cnown Prnce witb whom lbe was very friendly. Being a fameus athiete ini tbe eariy 1900's, just as now, gave one social enti-ce evci-y- where. "Oui- American teanis bave been eni- tcrtained everywhere w'vc gone," said Mr-. Lightbody in speakmng of the Lini- teresting contacts lhe md, btthe mos elboateentrtlumnt Xhave ever scen 1in. my -liewa s given oui- group1 of thirty-six when we ari-ived in Athens. The mayor. and the king and everybody else turned out to gi-cet us and take us to the reception. We were there five weeks and bad. a. swell time. 1. became very well acquainted with Prince Constantin, wbo is now king." Ecouaters Irate Fare Busy as the enterprising young American abroad was in bis BerJin days witb his track meets and bis studies, bie found time to work the dog sbif t of the Associated Press and was fourth man on the staff. His most amusing experience bappenied one day whený his 'superior, pressed a bill .in bis,.haids anid said, "Jimmy, Geraidine Fan-ar doesn't know you, does she? 1 want you to go and sec, lber at the Adelon botel and get bier to answver these qjuestions about tbe jewels the Crown Prince gave bier f ronm tbe niuseum.. And 'if she doesn't answer them, v'ou take this 3-word -message andi ire it at once to New York." Young Jimmy was ail agog with. reportorial and detective instincts. He refused to con fess bow lie got into the hotel. and -discovered tbat Geraldine was just taking a bath or had just tak- en a. bath. "Neyer mind how I got in," urged Mr. Ligbtbody. "I -got in,,and I found that tbe outer door into the corridor, wvas uniocked. 1 stepped in and 'no- ticed two ciosets, one on each side of the muner bail, botb of wbich had wide-open doors. Tbey shut off botb sight.and sound f rom the corridor. 1 ktiocked at the door to the suite, and Miss Farrar opened it. 1 toid bier who 1 was, and sIle started to slam the door, but I stuck' one -foot and a knce. iii hetween the door and the jamb. There 1 staved, and the fireworks be- .She caIled nie everything she could think of and she -tbrew everything xvitlîn reach. g-er languiage %vas quite violent, and ber airn very bad. In fact. 'f told lier she was disgracing lier father, wvho happenied to he oe eof the best basebaîl pitchers ôf bis day. \Vell. she didn't aniswer the (1uestti(>s. anid 1- sent the wvîre. -rhat \vire said certaini cruvni jewels had disaîpeared fromn the museili. Their (isappearailce 1hàd l)èen. traced to the Crownî Prince. Geraldine Farrar ha(I the jewels. lErgc). he iiiist have givei theiii to hier."- .Pursued by Camel Another incident, about as strenuious, occurred to Liglîtbody when hie was refere eing tlhe Inter-Allied races ini Paris after the \Vorld war. Thle, Prince of Hadzik, a principaiity ret ed by the Treaty of Versailles, wired. that hie was entering some camels,. and enter them ihe did. Whts more., one of the smaiiler camels, i Ùstead of i-un- ning the .track,. took after Referee Lightbody, probahly ini a sense of re,-. venge at the allied dismay over copilig witb a camnet race. Mr. LightbodY said ýnootber refei'ëing job of bis bas developed as peculiar çcimpli.ations as that. To return to-the subjectof tirophies, there are so many about the-bouse tbat thée family'keeps sorne of tbem in the attic or the basement. For instance, thene are so many medais it takes a buge bushel basket to hoid tbem. And thene are bulging scrapbooks in the defi wbich Mr. Ligbtbiody bides under pil- lows s0 visitors won't notice theni. Trophies and medals are .commionplace te him.. He prefeis to, talk about bis collection of pipes:' Now tbere's a matter foi- i-al en - 78 altogether, mostdybriars I'vepidied up abi-oad or iCnad or, had given to me.',Se this '«38.".1That's one of the first pipesI bobught. AMd 1 have several Inverness, ý the Old louis mode!. He passedl a loving, band along the rack and picked up fi-st ýone, then another, to desci-ibe lus good points. "Tell you - a state secret," -lic remarked, "sec how this -stuif cleans pipes. Isn't it i-emarkable ?" Fromt a bottle. on the desk lie moistened the pipe cleaner and demonsti-ated. "And. sec this little gadget ini the bowl of this pipe? Tbat's a patent of mine to keep the pipe dry. It works fine." One of the bnians ini the rack was capped by a silver pecn foi-ated top. "Oh, that? It -cones fromn Germany, a de- vice te kecp the asb fi-cm blowing on othér passengers in., an automobile."' For the pipe'sophisticates wbo would like to know wbat, Mn. Lightbody smokes in, the two pipes bie carrnes with bum, usung bis collection in tui-n, it is tbe depressioti mixture of Grapger, rougb cut, and Old Cbum, an Englisl brand. Before prespenity ended, he bad a special- blend made up, Loan Jack, Perique, Latikia and Sun-cuned. Termed "Accumulator" Beung wbat Mrs. Ligbtbody cails an "accumulaten," the former Olympic star bas stili another collection, -a Rus- sian brass misceilany wbich lie picked up in bis travels. In it ai-e a bi-as3 lamp f rom Petrograd which looks like a tuny garden spiinkler, a Tunkish cof- fee-mill in tbe sbape of a cartridge., delicately carved, egg cups, candie- sticks. There is also a Funnish bunt- ing knife which gave him great trouble with the Russian autboi-ities in cross- ing tbe bonder. Weapons were for- bidden,hle said. .On the wall is an old pen-and-unk sketch of, tbe f umble ini tbe football game wberebyCbicago, beat Micbigan. Curiousiy enough,« tbree of the "C" men now live in Glencoe, Jimmy Hlenry, Ligbtbody's fi-st coachi, jimrny Sheidon, and Ligbtbody.huiscîf. ."Some difference between playing football at De Pauw and going in for tnack at Chicago," recoilected Mr. Ligbtbody, pipe in band. "Down there we- paid for our own suits and dug up the money for oui- traveling expenses. %N'len 1 first struck Chicago, I asked f oý permission te use the track and wvent out ini a striped red, green, and purpie bicycle racung suit! But Stagg soon got after me, kave me a suit and sent me to Spaulding's for shees, and what a fitting they gave me! And Mien our track teani went to Milwau- kee for tbe National A. A. U. meet, oui- fanre was paid and we i-ode in tbe. chair car and stayed at the Pfistei-. I neyer got over the tbrill of not bav- iug to pay, My own way." On Relief Dut1, Chronoiogicaliv, Mn. Lightbody's career goes like this.:. birtb and early scbooling in Pittsburgh; 1903-8 at the Univçrsity of, Chicàgo; ..Olympics -at St. Louis ini 1904,Atbensin 1906- Loni- don in 198, 1908 te 1912 in Blei-lin anîd attrack nîeets; back to.Amei-ica after t le death of bis father àt Indianaâ Harbon; marniage .un l1913 to. a class- mate; participàt.ion,:in' the Woi-ld war. as an officer, later as intelligence of- ficer wbo "snooped about Pais and the -village and tauglit German to tbe i-est of tbe staff"ý-"tbey thouglit tbey ceuid trust a Scotcbman to teacli Ger- Mani but they wouldn't trust a Ger- mati!" jokes Mr. Lightbody. He, bas been variously a buyer foi- Sears , Roc- buck and company, .member Of an ini- vestment firn, and for the past two. ye ars assistant to Dr. Mai-tin H. Bick-. hani, bead of the work pi-oject cf the Illinois' and Federal Emergcncy Relief. The evcning cf this interview lic was in tbe midst cf plans, for spending the

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