Fifty Years of Progress 1880-1930

THEN AND NOW THE C. N. JACKSON MEMORIAL CUP It is interesting to look back and enter, in imagination, the rooms in Oxford where in r 880 three heads together planned and named the great Association of to-day. The wise head of C. N. Jackson is seen in the centre, in the prime of life, thirty-four, and Fellow of Hertford College. On either side we see the younger heads, the keen eyes of Montague Shearman and Bernard Wise. There they sit, debating, weighing, scheming, hoping, looking at the past, the present, the future, conscious of the need, foreseeing a day when amateur athletics would emerge out of the shadows into the realms of popularity and national recognition. The mighty tree was then a green sapling. Of the three gardeners who met, and planted it, and watched its growth, only Sir Montague Shearman was living in 1926, when an immense crowd of 30,000 assembled at Stamford Bridge in glorious summer weather to applaud the contests in which thirteen nations were repre– sented. But the survivor thought of the days at Oxford when he rose to address the visitors, "a sea of upturned faces," at the presentation of the Championship Cups, and explained the historical value of the C. N. Jackson Memorial Cup, competed for that day for the first time. Let us glance for a moment or two at C. N. Jackson, "Jacky" or "C. N.," as his friends called him. Shy in some ways, imperative and dominant in others; conservative in many things, yet in the formation of the A.A.A., democratic. The proof may be found in the report of the first meeting. Who pressed for the admission of the "mechanic, artisan or labourer," if he would play the game? C. N. Jackson was a master of finance, whether as College Bursar, Treasurer of five Oxford Clubs, or first Treasurer of the A.A.A. A powerful advocate of any cause he had at heart, his words could be winged with wit or edged with fire, though he was seldom heard in public. A judge of men, with an unerring eye for the right President, Secretary, Treasurer, Captain, Chairman, a Timekeeper, or even" a man at the gate," his vote was never given to the wrong candidate. Jackson discerned in Montague Shearman the future champion and gave him sound advice in training, pressed for his early election as O.U.A.C. President, and, moreover, prophesied that he would become the leader in Athletics, a leader at the Bar, with greater fame to follow. Fifty years ago Jackson helped B. R. Wise to win the Mile for Oxford in r 879 and r 880, and the Mile Championship in r 879, and 29