GIRL LOG ROLLER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 191, 15 August 1939, Page 7

GIRL LOG ROLLER.

COMPETES WITH MEN.

PRETTY BETTY BERKLEY. ACROBATIC DANCING HELPS

(By GORDON M. QUARNSTROM.) LONGVIEW (Wash.),.Tuly 15

So good ahe has to compete against men to find any opposition! That's Betty Berkley, sensational Lnngview, Washington. High School senior, who. experts declare, is headed for the world's women's log-rolling championship. Betty, who is just lfi. right now can roll h log from under any other girl or woman birler in the extensive Longview district, home of the world's two greatest Kawmilla and headquarters for most of the nation's log-rolling talent. fn order to get in condition for the world's championship event, which will be a feature of the Longview Rolleo in August, Betty must compete against such experienced birlers as Jim Herro 1. present world's log-rolling and blockturning champion, his brother, Eddie Herron, Pacific Coast junior amateur men's log-rolling champion, and Bob Craig, of Kelao, Washington, who wen fourth place in the world's champio'i*hip log-rolling event at Escanaba, Michigan, in 1938. Miss Berkley last year won the Pacific Coast junior women's amateur championship; this year she already is showing form which is making Long-! vipw birling fans—and they don't come any more ardent—lay bets that she'll «*op most of the silverware in the 1939' competition. One thing that helps Betty in her log rolling is that she also is an accomplished acrobatic dancer. Consequently. whpn an opponent is making a log do all sorts of tricks calculated to upset her, she relies on her acrobatic skill and rides the gyrating stick to a thrilling finish. Finding a woman log roller who can keep up with a good man i« rare, for birling is a strenuous, gruelling eport, which demands stamina as well a*

ability. Consequently, when a girl like Betty cornea along (especially a girl with her attractive looks), the oldtimers do all they can to assist her. That's one reason Mine Berkley has improved so much in the past year. The men birlers have adopted her as their protege, and spend countless hours teaching her the tricks of the trade. But, while her instructors are so sure she'll reach the top this year, she is modest about the whole thing. "Maybe I'll win," she declares, "and maybe I won't. After all, you can't forget girls like Cylvia Winters, of Astoria, Oregon, ami Mary Jean Mallott, of Bloomer, Wisconsin, both of whom probably will be on hand in August." Miss Mallott. at the age of 18, won the women's title at Kscanaba last year, defeating Winters in the finals. Both are splendid birlers, and if Mirfs Berkley runs up against either of them, she'll have to employ every trick her men teachers have taught her in order to win the championship.—(N.A.N.A.)