issue 4// vol 45 news // no. 5 Creation myths and the Davis Cup » Douglas College Sport Science instructor reveals truth about international tennis tournament Katie Czenczek News Editor t turns out that a person’s lies will come back to haunt them. Even over one hundred years later. Robert Lake, a professor at Douglas College, and Simon Eaves, a professor from Manchester Metropolitan University, have done what Dwight F. Davis has failed to do—tell the truth about the origins of the Davis Cup. The duo, who gave credit where it was due when publishing their findings, published a paper titled Dwight Davis and the Foundation of the Davis Cup: Just Another Doubleday Myth? that exposed Dwight F. Davis as merely a rich man who donated the cup. In an interview with the Other Press, Robert Lake said what was more heinous was that Davis also took sole credit for the cup. “There were a number of different men who were working in this area to generate a competition between Britain and America long before Dwight Davis was around,” he said. “Not only did he not come up with the idea, but probably stole the idea from a bunch of people who were talking about it.” Of these men, James Dwight, was particularly invested in the tournament. With the United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USNLTA), James Dwight had previously pitched to the Lawn Tennis Association to form an international tournament between Britain and the United States. The British league rejected his bid. He even sent American tennis players to the UK to foster relations between the two nations and developed the structure and format for the tournament. “The British were considered by far as the leading tennis nation,’ Lake said. “They considered themselves so good that they didn’t even need to compete with other nations—almost like this God-ordained superiority in the sport.” Photo of Robert Lake by Billy Bui According to popular tennis legend, Dwight F. Davis came up with the idea for an international tournament after a trip to the West Coast, where he played the sport with a couple of friends when the idea suddenly struck him. Through Lake and Eaves’ research, they found this creation myth to be a fraud, similar to many other sports legends. “Tt just didn’t add up,” Lake said. “Tt’s obviously a myth that Dwight Davis came up with the idea for the Davis Cup” Davis, who had the financial means to back up the creation of the cup, anonymously donated the cup to the ‘Constable Scarecrow’ watching the roadways in Coquitlam » RCMP places metal cut-out of officer on roadside to trick drivers Chandler Walter Contributor e may not have a brain, but he sure looks like he has a speed gun. The Coquitlam RCMP has decided to place a metal cut-out of an RCMP officer on the side of the road in rotating locations around Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, in the hopes of slowing down would-be speeders. The metal cut-out, affectionately named “Constable Scarecrow” in a release from the Coquitlam RCMP, will be the first of his kind in Canada, though Coquitlam RCMP Traffic Section Sergeant Quentin Frewing said that a similar strategy has been used across the Atlantic Ocean. “We've seen this sort of idea used before in the United Kingdom, but we haven't seen it used here in combination with scientific monitoring,” Frewing said in the release. “We think it could work, and it’s a low-cost, good-humoured way to improve our presence and perhaps make people think twice about speeding.” The release wouldnt state exactly where the Constable would be placed but warned that it would likely be on hand at some of the more troublesome stretches of roadway throughout the two cities. Many of the chosen locations will be partly decided by data collected by the RCMP’s Black Cat Radar system, which can detect a vehicle's size, speed, direction, and lane position. It is able to gather data about where the fastest—and most dangerous— stretches of road really are. Coquitlam RCMP Traffic Services Staff Sergeant Mark McCutcheon said in a separate release, “We got the Black Cat in early March and we've been using it in specific locations where we're getting complaints from the public. The Black Cat isn't used for giving out tickets, but when we evaluate the data it collects, we can make well-informed decisions about where our enforcement teams can be most effective.” McCutcheon said that the system, being highly portable, is a great fill-in for when actual officers may be otherwise preoccupied. “Since our traffic officers can’t be everywhere, there’s a good chance we'll use the Black Cat in your area,” said McCutcheon in the release. “Tt’s a good reminder for everyone to slow down, be realistic about travel times to reduce your risk of crashing, and arrive at your destination safely.” Some of the most troubling places found by the Black Cat System will be ideal spots to set up shop for Constable Scarecrow... and potentially a few of his police friends. Drivers thinking that they may not be in danger of a traffic violation once they realize that the cut-out is not actually a real constable may be in for a surprise, as the release said that there may be a human police officer waiting down the road witha very real traffic ticket. “Constable Scarecrow doesn't write tickets of course, but drivers should be aware that real Mounties, and our Speed Watch volunteers, might be right around USNLTA. Prior to his donation, Davis was elected to join the same association as a board member through a loophole. On a committee with only four others, Davis voted to accept his own anonymous donation. The morning after the board voted to accept the cup, it was revealed in the papers that Davis was the very person who donated the cup in the first place. “If the USNLTA were to have a poster boy for this tournament, he was the perfect frontman,” Lake said. “No one else could compete with his connections.” Davis retold the story to newspapers when given the opportunity. Not only did he play up the myth, but the original crew who came up with the idea either passed away, were imprisoned, or had been put into a mental asylum by 1931, allowing Davis to make these claims uncontested. Lake said that his and Eaves’ intention was not to harm to the Davis Cup’s reputation but rather to finally give credit where it was due. “There’s no motivation for me to try to discredit the Davis Cup. I don't have anything against the Davis Cup,’ Lake said. “Our motivation was simply to tell the truth” That being said, the Davis Cup perpetuates the false story of Dwight F. Davis as the sole founder of the tournament to this day. Photo via RCMP press release the corner waiting to help out,” Sergeant Frewing said in the release. “The real goal here is to keep speeds down and keep our roads safe. That’s the sort of result that would make Constable Scarecrow sleep well at night—if he needed any sleep.”