SCOTLAND'S ATHLETE: DONALD DINNIE.

NZ Truth, Issue 117, 14 September 1907, Page 6

SCOTLAND'S ATHLETE : DONALD DINNIE.

His Wonderful Career.

Made £400 m One Day's Sports.

Still Hale and Hearty.

3V; figure of peculiarily outstanding and striking personality passes along I the street m a well-known centre of the city of Glasgow, and as he stalks majestically and with easy, graceful mien wayfarers turn round and admire the great, fine man clad m loose-fitting cloak, with legs encased m the tartan hose, wearing the strongly-made but neat-fitting. Highland brogues or shoes, and with an OLD-FASHIONED, SHAGGY. HEAD COVERING, m shape somewhat resembling a Kilraarnock bonnet. The pose of the figure is natural, but indicative of groat power and agility. There is an earnest fout pleasant look on the ■face, and the keen grey eyes arc alert and full of healthy life and vigor. The figure is that of the great athlete, Donald Dinnie, Scotland's accomplished and skilful man of muscle power, sinew, and agility, whoso name and fame has been 'sung whereever on the face of the globe the people admire deeds of daring, power and manly accomplishment. Tfoat man has. earned greater, fame and performed deeds of 1 physical prowess such as have never been recorded of any one individual m the history; of i human •LITHENESS, MUSCULARITY* AND DERRING-DO. Yes, -this ■■■is Donald Dinnie, at- the present time resident m the "Second City," "bs.it whose personality haa been th© admired oC countless thousands m his own country and of America, Australasia, Canada, and the Continent, and whose- fame and deeds are recounted wherever physical prowess, endurance and skill 'have a place m the history of the. country or the people. Donald Dinnie is now m the- seventieth year of his age, and for upwards of half a century has 1 ' heea winning the highest laurels m all parts of the world and m every branch of athletics against the most famous of athletes that the world has known. Our Scottish bero is ' : ■ r A NATIVE OF ABOYNE, /-' . . m Aberdeenshire by the side of the Dee. He stands 6ft. lin. and scales 2201 b. He measures 49 round the chest, his biceps when m his teens measured ICiin m circumference, the calf- of his leg 17Jin. and "his thigh 26£in. 'In the course of his jourueys' through Australia, America, Canada, etc., he has gained hjs laurels not only by his powers m outting the stone, throwing the hammer, throwing the weight, tossing the caber, but at wrestling m its several methods— lrish. Scotch., Cumberland, and Westmoreland. Devonshire, and , Cornwall, catch-as-catch-can. and the more classic GraecoRoman, as well as the Irish- and collar and elbow styles. Dinnie's list of prizes— ELEVEN THOUSAND OF r A~ TOTAL —is one that has never "been reached by any one other maii, and many of his performances and records have never been equalled. It is no disputed assertion that no twenty athletes who ever lives have had such a career ol victory and ap•plause, and withal so chequered or so full of the changes of fortune and the vicissitudes of life, as the hero of these lines, who still at his advanced age is a splendid specimen of the grand old Scot. Trusty, hard-headed, independent, unyielding, and uncompromising m temperament;., straightforward arid truthful m: his every transaction, a hater of humbug, intolerant of the sycophant ;• intelligent and well-read m the world's wisdom, and with a memory for detail m results and measurements of distances and performances seldom or never met with, m the ordinary or extraordinary athlete. His achievements with the '['.'" CABER, HAMMER, WEIGHTS, and stone-s are matters of history, and his measurements and records that have long ago and often appeared m reliable prints of our own time, are the surprise of all who.' read them even at the present day, and all are respected by the great- : est athletes, from Sandow to Hackenschmidt, from Apollo to the Cannons, the "Terrible Greek," the Carkeeks, the Muldoons, the MacMillans,' the Rosses, not to speak of Ms long-ago fellow-competitors and rival a, the Taits (Gavin, George", and William), Jas. Fleming, George Davidson, Kenneth Macrae, John George, Captain D. C. Ross, G. H. Johns-' ston, Owen Duffy, and the Dresentday giants, Alex Munro, A. A. Cameron, Beaton, McCulloch, etc. Dinnie surely made his mark m his own country, but it is doubtful whether much as he was PRAISED AND WORSHIPPED m the United Kingdom; he was ever so popular or achieved such distinction as m Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and. South Africa. Donald gained the highest honors against the mighty wrestlers in^ the United States and his ma tohes and victories with 1h& champion, W. Muldoon, D. A. McMillan (George Ross). On one occasion m the great Central Hall m the Me&tourne • Exhibition Donald Dinnie and Tom Cannon wrestled, a combined match. The large place was .crowded) to suffocation although the lowest price of admission was ss. The greatest excitement prevailed, and from 7 o'clock m the evening watil midnight the two giaats struggled a qikl the frantic shouts of Ihe onlookers. The conditions were to wrestle five styles. Each gained a fall m two methods, but iha fifth hadto 'l:e left undecided, and the rivals have not met since that time of 20 years ago. Dinnie lms many times emtoarked m fc}'jsiiK?ss, but co-mfciiina-' lions of circumstances seem to have interfered to prevent him amassing-. I.he wealth he .should have accumulated. He has earned m a flay at suo-rts meetings as. much as £300 and £100. He has had hotels and restaurants. In Melbourne he kept A STUD QF HORSES FOR RACING PURPOSES, antli his hostelry wo.s live centre to which all sportsmen and athletes gravitated, and where , all sporting. mat-

ches were incepted and) ratified. The money made was laid out m the purchase of property, which was at that time booming m the Victorian capital, but later the inevitable slump came, and with it went Donald's accumulations and savings of years,at a time of life, too, when the athlete was no longer the y (June;- giant. Dinnic was too independent to accept of any offers of assistance. He preferred the sturdy Scottish independence, and resolved ere all his money • was done to face the" world and retrieve to the best extent possible. v Heleft the Australias, where he had, as he ■thought, settled down to pass the . • REMAINDER OF HIS DAYS m comfort! and made his way to the old country, where now he seems to be. once more the old Donald Dinnie, minus the -power, the sinew, the muscle, the youth and agility of the lojie: ago. Some of Dannie's records are well worth a place m the history of all that is possible m the world of open and field sports and weighty, doughty deeds ; but to many readers the figures of distances and measurements carry but medium interest. Enough, however, to again repeat that no athlete, no disciple of muscularity, 1 no one man has m this or any a/ge earned so great distinction m his peculiar and manly profession as has the great Donald Dinnie— the one, the only, -the true Scottish Heicules and world's grandest specimen of all that is handsome m manliness and strength. ' ' , * ''