J. Borotra And Brugnon Are Soldiers

Southland Times, Issue 23987, 30 November 1939, Page 12

J. Borotra And Brugnon Are Soldiers

Jean Borotra, the “Bounding Basque” of France’s best Davis Cup teams, is delivering a different type of cannonball drive these days. As the commander of an artillery battery at the front, he is using a real cannon instead of a tennis racket. Another member of the famous “Four Musketeers,” Jacques Brugnon, also is an artillery captain in another part of the line. These are only two of the French sports celebrities who exchanged their sweaters for khaki when the war broke out.

Georges Carpentier, veteran of the 1914-18 war, and former world lightheavyweight boxing champion, has left his Paris bar to become an aviator.

“Gorgeous George” has kept in perfect physical condition since his retirement from the ring, in spite of a life of ease made possible by the profits from his bar—a rendezvous for cafe society off the Champs Elysees. Marcel Thil, who held the world middleweight championship of the International Boxing Union, is using the

husky forearm which battered his ring opponents silly to good advantage in an artillery factory in Champagne. In appearance, the man from Marne looks as if he already has been through a war. His cauliflowered ears, flattened nose, and scarred face bear mute witness to approximately 100 bouts which he has fought since he began his ring career in 1925 at the age of 21. It is not surprising to see Thil in war service. It always has been his proud boast that he never dodged a fight. George Speicher and his sponsor in sport, Andre Leducq, parked their bicycles and marched off with the infantry, Ledecq to become a machinegunner. Both have won the celebrated Tour de France, the marathon through the provinces which is probably the most famous bicycle race in the world and rivals all other sports in the affection of French fans. Jules Ladoumegue, France’s “wonder runner” who broke Paavo Nurmi’s mile record and hung up five other world marks, has become an infantry liaison sergeant in Lorraine. One paper, recalling his prowess as a runner, observed that, with him in the job, the rapidity of liaisons would be “brilliantly assured.”