The Milwaukee Leader

OHIO BOY, "MIB" CHAMPION,
TELLS HOW HE BEAT RIVAL
BY JAMES T. KOLBERT
Staff Correspondent
The United Press

ATLANTIC CITY—Harlin McCoy, 14, Columbus, O., is the champion marble shooter of the United States.

He won the title here Friday defeating Sammy Schneider, 11, of St. Louis in the final match of the marble championship tournament.

Schneider won the first game, 8 to 5.

McCoy came back and won the second, 11 to 2.

Schneider rallied, however, and captured the third, 8 to 5. McCoy took the fourth, 9 to 4, the fifth, 11 to 2 and followed this up by winning the sixth.

McCoy and Schneider were the survivors of 40 competitors selected in elimination contests conducted by the Scripps-Howard and other newspapers in all parts of the country.

The tournament started last Tuesday on the sand here. Large crowds watched the play.

BY HARLIN McCOY
World's Marble Shooting Champion.
Written Exclusively for The United Press.

ATLANTIC CITY, N. J.—Of course I'm tickled and glad and proud to be marble champion of the greatest country there is anywhere. Why shouldn't I be happy? I am glad that I didn't disappoint The Columbus Citizen, which sent me here to play in the tournament, and I am glad, too, because my mother and dad will be tickled to pieces when they hear about this.

"The championship match was easier than I expected, and I was coached to play a slow game, and to take lots of time, because Schneider is a good shot. But he gets nervous, and my coach told me if I walked around the ring and took my sweet time on every shot I would get Schneider's goat, and it sure worked like my coach told me.

When I beat Schneider 11 to 2 in the second game, I could see he was weakening. He is a crack shooter. But from then on his shots began to get lots wilder than they had at any time during the tournament. I knew right then that I had his goat. I never thought for a minute that I was going to lose.

The other thing the coach told me to do was to pay no attention to the crowd. He talked that to me all day Thursday, and when I got out in the ring I could hear his words ringing in my ears, 'Take your time, take your time. Pay no attention to the crowd. There is no crowd here rooting against you. You just take your time, and play marbles'—and the funny part of it is I didn't hear the crowd yell when it was all over, and I realized that there was one of the biggest crowds I ever saw anywhere and when they boosted me upon their shoulders I was the happiest boy in the whole world. Believe me it sure is great to be a marble champion. I thank The Citizen for sending me here and for being so good to me, and I thank all the people who rooted so hard for me."