Damon Runyon

The World-News/January 4, 1933

New York, Jan. 4.—I have just been apprised of the existence of the Adirondack Bob Sled Club for promotion of bob sledding in the United States, and I am thinking of applying for a charter for a chapter to be composed of the bobbers of West 49th street.

The headquarters of the Adirondack Bob Sled Club for promotion of bob sledding in the United States is located at Lake Placid, that gem of a village that nestles in yonder snowcapped hills. Well. that’s too far away for the bobbers of West 49th street, so the answer is a local charter.

We could then have our local bobbing meets in West 49th street, and send our champions to Lake Placid to compete against the best bobbers of the parent organization. The bobbing in 49th street has never been better, especially among the members who do their bobbing in and around Madison Square Garden.

Indeed, the third floor of Madison Square Garden, where the fighters and night managers hang out, is known as the West 49th street bob run, because the bobbing is always very nice. I am inclined to the belief that the West 49^th street bobbers are more versatile than the best the A.B.S.C.F.P.O.B.S.I.U.S. can offer.

Versatile Bobbers

Our boys can bob on land or sea, They can bob sitting up, or lying down. The members of the A. etc., have to have bob sleds for their bobbing. Can you imagine? Bob sleds! Har-Har-Har; Why, I can show you dozen bobbers in West 49th street who can bob on a postage stamp.

I learned of the A—what’s this through letter from Mr. George M. Lattimer, of Lake Placid. This letter gave me a touch of nostalgia. I got to thinking of the lovely snowy wastes of the Adirondacks, and of the pine trees mantled in white, and of the gals in picturesque skiing costumes, and of the wine of the frigid air. I got to wondering how Kunnel Tom Leahy, and Paul Stevens and the rest of the folks up there are coming along.

Finally I got a trunk out of the cellar and inspected the famous Alpine apparel that knocked ’em dead at the winter Olympics last winter. I mean to say my yennison for Placid was that strong. Then I discovered that moths had been boarding and rooming in my Lake Placid uniform. They hadn’t touched my Florida flannels, however. So I decided to go to Florida instead. But I must tell you what Mr. Lattimer said in his letter, anyway.

Run Cost $250,000.

It seems that bobbing Impends at Lake Placid on the Mount Von Hoevenberg run that was built at cost of $250,000 for the Olympic bobbers. They are holding the National A.A.U. championships there January 21 and 22, as part of a long program of winter sports that has already started.

I note with interest that among the bobbers will be Mr. Jay O’Brien and Mr. Eddie Eagan, members of America’s four-man championship team in the Olympics. In fact, Mr. O’Brien was captain of that team, with Mr. Eagan, Oxford-Rhodes scholar, and famous Olympic boxing champion in his day, doing a neat job of bobbing on the poop deck of the sleigh.

Mr. Tippy Gray and Mr. Billy Fiske were the other members of that team. I saw Mr. Gray not long ago, but the last I heard of the youthful Mr. Fiske he had gone bobbing off to Tahiti. Mr. Henry Humburger, captain of Saranac Lake’s Red Devil Bobbers, and Mr. J. Hubert Stevens, of Lake Placid, president of the A. So-and-So Club, will bob again during the title tilt.

Bobbing a Passion.

I can see now that bobbing is a more penetrating pastime than I suspected. I thought a fellow might have one or two attacks of wanting to ride down a bob sled run, and then, with a little rest and careful attention, entirely recover. But here’s Mr. Jay O’Brien, and Mr. Eddie Eagan, and Mr. Humburger and Mr. Stevens going right back after a summer intermission. One look at a bob sled and they were gone. In fact, I hear that if Lake Placid hadn’t built the Mount Hoevenberg run, Mr. Jay O’Brien would now be over at St. Moritz, sliding down the hills. With him, bobbing is an uncontrollable passion.

I don’t imagine that the Lake Placid season will be anything like it was year ago, because it will lack the attraction of El Runyon’s combination skating-skiing-bobsledding-rockey-dog-sleighing livery. Thousands of spectators came from distant points for no other purpose than to gaze upon this astounding sartorial display. Even the natives of Lake Placid admitted that nothing like it had ever been seen in that part of the Adirondacks.

But ’tis an ill wind that blows nobody good. The inmates of Florida will benefit by Lake Placid’s loss. They will get to the Runyon racing-bathing-jal- lai-golfing-shooting-coursing-faro-craps costume, the like of which no mortal eyes e’er yet beheld.