Will was not an athlete, but was a man of extraordinary physical strength,
and there were few, if any, men in college who could hold their own against
him in wrestling.
...
[On vacation] in the summer of 1895 Will was almost thirty-eight years old and weighed
two hundred and eighty pounds. He played eighteen holes on a very hilly
golf course in the morning, came home, ate his lunch, read his mail, and
then went down to a tennis court, where he played a rather elephantine
game, keeping at it until he was summoned to go for a picnic on the river.
He insisted on rowing both ways, while the rest of us were content to row
only one way, and, while the ladies were preparing supper, he stood on the
bank batting stones into the river with a stick in pure physical exuberance.
I submit that that is not the picture of a man who feels his weight as a
great burden. I called at his [vacation house] one night and found
Howard Hollister, a dear friend of his, who was making a visit. Hol was
lying on the sofa, and when I asked him what he was going to do the next
day he said "The Lord knows. I doubt whether I shall live till
tomorrow. I have been following Bill around today."
...
One morning in a [golf] tournament he beat his opponent and found that he
must play eighteen holes more in the afternoon. It alarmed me, but he
made light of it and beat his opponent on the twentieth hole.
Thirty-eight holes on such a [hilly] course in one day for a man weighing
two hundred and sixty pounds and nearly seventy years old would indicate
that there was some vitality left.
