Fifty years of athletics

FIFTY YEARS OF ATHLETICS
19
period of forty years
-
guided the destinies of the Association.
His legal training, scholarship, and above all, his retentive
memory, fitted him in a high degree for the duties of
Secretary, and whether in furthering the athletic contest
with Ireland or in conference with sister countries he
worthily upheld the interests of his own.
He was a golfer of more than average ability, being a
cc
scratch " player when he captained the R.H.S. Golf Club,
but he had a somewhat unorthodox style in driving ;
indeed, his method drew, on one occasion, from a champion
golfer and a friend of his own the following remark :
" Man, David, if you hit the ball on the back swing, you
would be the longest driver in Britain ! " For a time he
was captain of the ancient Royal Musselburgh Golf Club.
In the royal burgh by the sea members of the Club still
recall his eloquence, fine diction, and humour when he
presided at their annual dinner.
The
Gong
Annual,
of which he was editor, stands as a
memorial to his research and hard work. In laying the
foundation of this work he met most of the great golfers of
his time, many of whom became his fast friends. But he
was at his best during his visits to Ireland with the Scottish
International athletic team, and while always anxious for
a Scottish win, never failed to congratulate an Irish
opponent on a brilliant performance. As a timekeeper and
judge he excelled, and one recalls his indignation when in
19o8 at the Olympic Games in London an apparently
pre-arranged attempt to shoulder Captain Halswell off
the track 1n the memorable
400
metres race was made and
failed. It is no secret that in this race, which Duncan judged,
it was he who broke the tape when he saw the foul, and
" no race " was unanimously declared.
The sentiments of the writer, who met " D. S. D." for
the first time in 1883, and those of his numerous friends,
were well stated by an eminent member of the S.R.U.
" He was one of the whitest men I ever knew."
K. W.