The Globe Bethlehem Saturday, October 31, 1925 A Swing Along Athletic Row Echoes From Abroad Although spending his second season in British Isles soccer, local fans have not yet forgotten the brilliancy of Alex Jackson when he sported the colors of Bethlehem on the Steel Workers' front line and can readily understand why critics marvel at his skill and hail him as the greatest overseas soccer find of the past several seasons. Among the publications that reach this desk, one comes from abroad, the Sports Post, paying tribute to young Jackson with the following: "There can be no doubt that Jackson's early travels broadened his ideas and his ability. Experience is the hardest taskmaster of all, so that it was no surprise that when he returned from America in 1925 that he should be snapped up by Aberdeen and that he should play for his native country in all three International matches last season his first real effort in Scottish League football. Nor is it surprising that Herbert Chapman, regarded him as a player who, at 20 years, was worth any money for a team like Huddersfield Town. The writer has never heard the exact amount Huddersfield Town paid for Jackson, but it is known that another club offered Aberdeen 4,500 pounds for him an offer which was refused. It need not, of course, be inferred that Huddersfield necessarily paid more than, or even as much as, that amount. "What is this youthful prodigy like? Well, he's tall, straight as a cane; but with the resiliency of a young willow tree; when football breezes blow his way, Jackson bends to the work that is brought for him to do. One moment he is tall, straight, subdued; the next he is a thing of grace, of action, of fire, of he's just alive with every mortal picture which shows activity. He's light, too, as a player he lacks poundage. He doesn't turn a beam at much over ten stone, and he's slender. But he is like a kitten on his toes. | |
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