19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

DELANY : PORTRAIT OF A MAN
Sirs:
I cannot refrain from telling you of my great pleasure in reading Gerald Holland 's moving word portrait of an athlete and his country (A New Irish Hero Is Welcomed Home, SI , Jan. 11). Ron Delany 's Christmas trip as told by Holland was surely one of the most touching and delicate articles I have ever read. I was deeply impressed with the author's ability, obviously the result of great thought and talent, to present the key to Delany 's character and the character of the whole Irish nation in two or three subtle, minor incidents and relationships. How revealing is Holland 's thoughtful notation that Ron's roadside valedictorian, after proper salutation to the hero of the present and the legends of the past, then opines that given the proper equipment and a couple of weeks to train he could very likely beat the man himself. How true. How Irish.

One such observation is so much more eloquent than 10 pages of lyricism on Dublin 's cobbled streets and Eire's green sod. Mr. Holland achieved a minor masterpiece into which are deeply etched his own qualities as man, artist and thinker.
J. K. ALLENS
Detroit

DELANY : A MAN TO BE RESPECTED
Sirs:
During the past ten years I have seen some of the finest and truly normal young men who won All-America honors caricatured by well-meaning sportswriters. The buildup was horrendous, puffed up by phony insights; the letdown lightninglike and gruesome.

I sincerely hope that Gerald Holland 's technique will serve as a pattern in the years to come. Ronnie Delany left your pages as he entered, an extremely likable young man, but he had grown in stature. We learned that he is sensitive, yet objective, forthright in giving others their due. He fully appreciated the honor shown him, yet assumed no cloak of modesty. A man to be respected for qualities other than stamina and speed. Your treatment of his girl friend was truly exquisite, if I may use the word.

Your photographer is to be congratulated for having sensed the spirit of Delany . Surely, Delany will speak of Holland in the words of the Christian Brother he describes: "You're very good and kind."
FRANCIS D. NEALY, O.P.
Notre Dame, Ind.

DELANY : GRAND
Sirs:
Gerald Holland painted a true picture of Irish country folk in language we can all understand.

Sure and it was a grand effort.
G. E. ZOVITZ
Denfield, Ontario

BASEBALL: N.Y. TO L.A.
Sirs:
Pertaining to the cartoon (SI, Jan. 11) where a man sits at his desk and says over the phone, "What are you doing in Schrafft's? Get down to Chock full o' Nuts and make him another offer!"

Who is Schrafft's? What is Chock full o' Nuts? Are we West Coast fans missing out on something? I couldn't get the gag at all. One of my buddies tried to explain it to me by pointing to a picture over the man's head that said N.Y. Giants . Who are the N.Y. Giants , and are they still in the National League ?
DAVID KOHNHORST
Culver City , Calif.

?Schrafft's runs a number of New York and Boston tea shops, similar to the Pig'n Whistle in L.A. Chock full o' Nuts is a quick-order food chain like McDonnell's. Surely Mr. Kohnhorst remembers the Giants . They operate a joint near Coogan's Bluff called the Polo Grounds . Laraine Day's husband used to work there.—ED.