ATHLETES HAVE BETTER CHANCE FOR LONG LIFE

Mr. W. H. Geer, Director of Physical Education at the University, has accepted an invitation from Mr. L. I. Dublin head statistician of the Metropolitian Life Insurance Company, to cooperate with him in compiling detailed statistics on the longevity of college athletes.

The question of lasting benefits and injuries from intercollegiate competition has been dealt with chiefly in generalities in the past, but Mr. Geer has investigated the situation scientifically. At the annual conference on December 29 at Atlanta, Georgia, he announced the results of his investigations. He gave figures showing the percentage of deaths among the 528 "H" men in rowing football, baseball, and track who were engaged in competition prior to 1900. These he compared with the figures for the average young man accepted for life insurance over the same period. His statistics, limited though they are to Harvard University alone, give fairly conclusive proof that the average college athlete has a higher life expectancy than the average young man accepted for life insurance.

Mr. Geer's figures give the actual deaths of the group of Harvard athletes and their comparison to the expected deaths, as revealed by life insurance tables. In every sport the rate favors the athlete. The statistics are as follows:   Number of lives  Number of deaths  Expected deaths  Ratio of actual to expected deaths Pct. Crew  159  67  96.52  69 Football  130  48  49.32  97 Baseball  123  38  55.29  69 Track  116  26  36.04  72

"I happen to know," said Mr. Geer, "that there were several early deaths in the football group where the cause of death had no possible relation to the individual's participation in athletics. This probably accounts for the higher ratio of actual to expected deaths among the football men. The important point, however, is that the ratio even in this group is in favor of the athlete."

Mr. Geer's work is only a beginning. His field of research is admittedly too limited for very definite conclusions. He has, however, given the impetus to an investigation which will doubtless produce most illuminating results. The statistics contemplated by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company will take in seven or eight leading colleges over a period of twenty-five years prior to 1905. If these statistics substantiate those of Mr. Geer, the charges against intercollegiate competition as detrimental to its participants should be quieted, and the tendency toward the so-called athletic heart should be reduced to a myth.

"I happen to know," said Mr. Geer, "that there were several early deaths in the football group where the cause of death had no possible relation to the individual's participation in athletics. This probably accounts for the higher ratio of actual to expected deaths among the football men. The important point, however, is that the ratio even in this group is in favor of the athlete."

Mr. Geer's work is only a beginning. His field of research is admittedly too limited for very definite conclusions. He has, however, given the impetus to an investigation which will doubtless produce most illuminating results. The statistics contemplated by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company will take in seven or eight leading colleges over a period of twenty-five years prior to 1905. If these statistics substantiate those of Mr. Geer, the charges against intercollegiate competition as detrimental to its participants should be quieted, and the tendency toward the so-called athletic heart should be reduced to a myth.