DONALD DINNIE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 183, 16 June 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

DONALD DINNIE.

PASSIM; OK SCOTLAND'S GREAi ATHLETE. TRH'MPHS RECALLED. _ Recently our cables announced the death of Donald Dinnic, Scotland's famous athlete, who was liai'ed as the greatest athlete of all time. "Dini'ie! Donald Diry.iie!" liurt' oltjn at the Highland games did tho mighty shout go up as the great " Donal" beat all comers in every contest in which strength, si. ill, and training counted toward* victory. Dinnic was undoubtedly the greatest all-round athlete the country has ever produced. In the course of his athletic career he won over 11 000 contests. and was awarded more than 1">0 championship cups and medals. In sheer feats of strength, in wiestling, and in hammer-throwing lie was never beaten, and unlike most heavy-weights, he was a jumper and a runner to hoot, and at his best he had few equals hi liurd'e running. In hammer-throw-ing, at Cotipar Angus in 187-?, with a lair stand, he threw a Kilbs. 2 oz. hammer a distance of 13Sft. Sin.; and at Stone haven in the previous year lie threw a "22 lbs. hammer 107 ft. 7 in. l.uleed. at all Highland sports for a long succession of years it was Donald Dinnie always first in wrestling, tnrowing the hammer, putting tho stone, and tossing the caber, with the rest somewhere behind: and when he visited America, Australia,'and South Africa it was the same tale over again. In his prime Din,.lie stood G ft. 1 in. in his shoes, weighed 220 lbs., measured round the chest IS-} in., with biceps IGi in., thigh 2ti|in., and calf 17i in. A NATIVE OF DRESIDE. He was born near Aboyne. in the middle Dccside Valley on 10th June, 1537. He was thus well advanced in his 7Sth year when he died. His first appearance as a competitor was at the age of sixteen, his last after he had turned three score a 1 .id ten, when he did some hammer throwing at the Scottish gathering at Stamford Bridge Ground. Donald's father was one of the Deeside giants of those days, and his mother was a fine specimen of womanhood, over 5 ft. 7 in. in height. HIS EARLY DOINGS. At six years of age he climbed trees to look over the heads of the spectators; at ten he could l>ent all his schoolmates, including all those older than himself, at running, jumping, and putting: and at twelve he was one of two hoys who could keep pace on loot with the Deeside coach from Ballatcr to Aberdeen in a two-mile race from

After muzzling the German submarine dachshund, President Wilson is going in tackle the British bulldog and ::is blockade, says the Nasi;v.llo "Tenm--sean." Kincardine O'Xeil to the bridge of Potarch. At fifteen Donald was apprenticed to his lather as i .stonemason, the work chiefly consisting :n buildi.ig farmhouses ami steadings. The st'<ne was granite, of coue-o, and before long the young apprentice could do the work of two full-grown men. ill addition to startling the natives by the huge granite blocks lie could handle as if they were loaves of bread, besides carrying on his back great boulders that might l ave oent tiie shoulders of a T:tan. FIRST APPFARAXCF AT AIM) Yl'I.K DAY SPORTS. "1 had b; en in to Aherd en about the New Year time," he once said when recalling his first appearance as a competitor at Hi years of ; ge, "and I saw a. bill stating that on Auld Yule Day (Christmas o'd style) there would be sports and gauK'-s at Fordoun. Auld Yule sport::, 1 should tell vou, were common sixty years ago. So I made up my mind I would try my luck at Fordoun, as thee. 1 was heavy snow on the ground and I couldna work at my trade. To my delight I won prizes fe.r wro-ili-.ig, hammer throwing, putting the stone., tossing the eai>er, high lean, and short race. It was hard work, I can t"li you, on the top of the frozen snow." After this Doinld won nearly everything he entered lor. HIS GREAT RECORDS. Dimiie did not actually give un his trade and devote himself exclusively to athletics til! ho was turned 30 years of age. and all his great records Were made wlreu he was approaching his forties. It was in when in his nth year, that he won the "Police Gazette" Champion Medal r or mixed wrestling iu the I nited States. 'lhe boute took place at Plainlields, New Jersey, in five different styles, and Dinn e threw all the best men of the dav, including Captain Daly ana Dir.i----i ail C. Ross. He was years old when he won in six sty'es out ot seven at the .Melbourne Tournament. When be first started hammer-throwing the implement we.s an ordinary blacksmith's fore-hammer with a thick wooden handle. Light handles and spherical hammers were introduced later, and Dinnie himself used a half-inch hickorv handle for his record tlirow ot a !'lb. '2oz. hammer to a distance of !•'>- ft. On< e when asked what he considered lo be his greatest achievement, Dmnie replied—--Oh. I could not say exactly. T have thrown the hammer at least i feet furl'ior than aiiv' on.' ever did. Only two Americans came up to me Ralph 1f.,.,, nil an athlete named Macdon-dd. I ,|i„oa reieemhev Id* lil-t name. I think Rose did intr more than I it 'va- af a private gaiiior-ng. and not in pu'.'ir." I>( ij'T WITH O'M MACK. i) (e,,k le-siius "n lioxin rai'u r ;■,) 'lie. luif ha v. a- m ve>' all e\,,: rf ~, ;-.;ii"■ m ■'eaeenient oi h's IU( I! . e«ed ~, |- -"11 w sth a cerlaoi -n ,-iii 1;:' on, e 1 vd « '! ■> .1 f , ": e', - nee'!;-: J "1 Mace "Jen.." l , ; W v ■' h a ' : r< 'is ••<>mi.a»v at S«.-ii< haven. and be"n blackguardr- Scotch fe'l.. lie \a- a'v-r.'

1 about something, and called u-i all the nasty tilings lie could lay his tongue to. I know I had not chance against Mace it ho got a t'ajr smack at inc. but I managed to slip in hchiiul him and got a good hold. Then 1 lifted him up like a baby, and dashed him lace downwards on ihe ground. That tattled Jem for the time lieiiig, and ho spoke quite civilly about Scotchmen when he got his wind again.''