 CHAPTER VI. HEROES OF THE PAST. THE EARLY DAYS. We treasure the memory of the good men who have gone before. This is true of the world's history, a nation's history, that of a state, and of a great university. Most true is it of memory of men of heroic mold. As schoolboys, our imaginations were fired by the records of the brilliant achievements of a parry, a decatur, or a paul jones. And as we grow older, we look back to those heroes of our boyhood days, and our hearts beat fast again as we recall their daring deeds, and pay them tribute anew for the stout hearts, the splendid fighting stamina, and the unswerving integrity that made them great men in history. In every college and university there is a hall of fame, where the heroes of the past are idolized by the younger generations. Trophies, portraits, old flags, and banners hang there. Redbear, though they may be, they are rich in memories. These are, however, only the material things, the trappings and the suits of fame. But in the hearts of university men, the memory of the heroes of the past is firmly and reverently enshrined. Their achievements are a distinguished part of the university's history, a part of our lives as university men. And we are ever ready now to burn incense in their honor, as we were in the old days to burn bonfires in celebration of their deeds. It is well now that we recall some of the men who have stood in the front line of football, and in the making and preservation of the great game. Many of them have not lived to see the results of their service to the sport which they deemed to be manly and worthwhile. It is, however, because they stood there during the days, often full of stress and severe criticism of the game, staunch and resistless, that football occupies its present high plane in the athletic world. It may be that some of their names are not now associated with football. Some of them are captains of industry. They are in the forefront of public affairs. Some of them are engaged in the world's work in faraway lands. But the spirit that these men apply to their life work is the same spirit that stirred them on the gridiron. Their football training has made them better able to fight the battle of life. Men who gave signals are now directing large industries. Players who carried the ball are now carrying trade to the ends of the world. Men who bucked the line are forging their way sturdily to the front. Men who were tackles are still meeting their opponents with the same intrepid zeal. The men who played at end in those days are today seeing that nothing gets around them in the business world. The public is the referee and umpire. It knows their achievements in a greater game of life. It is not my purpose to select an all-star football team from the long list of heroes past and present. It is not possible to select any one man whom we can all crown as king. We all have our football idols, our own heroes, men after whom we patterned who were our inspiration. We can never line up an actual scrimmage the heroes of the past with those of more recent years. What a treat if this could be arranged. There are many men I have idolized in football, not only for their record as players, but for the loyalty and spirit for the game which they have inspired. When I asked Walter Camp to write the introduction to this book, I told him that as he had written about football players for twenty years, he was up to someone to relate some of his achievements as a football player. We all know Walter Camp as a successful businessman, and as a football genius whose strategy has meant much to Yale. His untiring efforts, his contributions to the promotion of the best interest of the game stand as a brilliant record in the history of football. To give him his just do would require a special volume. The football world knows Walter Camp is a thoroughbred, a man who has played the game fairly, and sees to it that the game is being played fairly today. We have read his books, enjoyed his football stories, and kept in touch with the game through his newspaper articles. He is the loyal, ever-present critic on the sidelines, and the helpful advisor in every emergency, and he has helped to safeguard the good name of football, and kept pace with the game until today he is known as the father of football. Let us go back into football history where in the recollection of others, we shall see freshman Camp make the team, score touchdowns, kick goals, and captain Yale teams to victory. F. R. Vernon, who was a freshman at Yale when Camp was a sophomore, draws a vivid world picture of Camp in his active football days. Vernon played on the Yale team with Camp. Walter Camp in his football playing days, says Vernon, was physically built on field running lines, quick on his legs and with his arms. His action was easy all over and seemed to be in thorough control from a well-balanced head, from which looked a pair of exceptionally keen, piercing, expressive, brown eyes. Camp was always alert and seemed to sense developments before they occurred. One of my chief recollections of Camp's play was his great confidence with the ball. In his room, on the campus, in the gym, wherever he was, if possible, he would have a football with him. He seemed to know every inch of its surface, and it seemed almost as if the ball knew him. It would stick to his palm like iron to a magnet. In one of his plays, Camp would run down the side of the field. The ball held far out with one arm, while the other arm was performing yeoman service and warding off the oncoming tacklers. Frequently he would pass the ball from one hand to the other, while still running, depending on which arm he saw he would need for defense, smiling, and confidently. Camp would run the gauntlet of opposing players for many consecutive games. I do not recall one instance in which he lost the ball through these tactics. It was a pretty game to play, and a pretty game to look at, with the rules could be so worded as to make the football of Camp's time the football of today. Walter Camp's natural ability as a football player was recognized as soon as he entered Yale in 1876. He made the varsity at once and played half-back. It was in the first Harvard football game at Hamilton Park that the Harvard captain was a huge man with a full bushy beard and saw Walter Camp, then a stripling freshman in uniform, and remarked to the Yale captain, You don't mean to let that child play, he is too light, he will get hurt. Walter made a mental note of that remark, and during the game the Harvard captain had occasion to remember it also, and in one of the plays Camp tackled him, and the two went to the ground with a heavy thud. As the Harvard captain gradually came to, he remarked to one of his teammates, Well, that little fellow nearly put me out. Camp's brilliant playing earned him the captaincy of the team in 1878 and 1879. He had full command of his men and was extremely popular with them, but this did not prevent his being a stickler for discipline. In my day on the Yale team with Camp, Vernon States, Princeton was our dire opponent. For a week or so before a Princeton game, we all agreed to stay on the campus and to be in bed every night by 11 o'clock. Johnny Moorhead, who was one of our best runners, decided one night to go to the theater, however, and was caught by Captain Camp, whereupon we were all summoned out of bed to Camp's room, shortly before midnight. After the roundup, we learned the reason for our unexpected meeting. There was some discussion in which Camp took very little part. No one expected that Johnny would receive more than the severe reprimand, and this feeling was due largely to the fact that we needed him in the game. Imagine our surprise, therefore, when Camp, who had left us for a moment, returned to the room and handed in his resignation as captain of the team. We revolted at this. Johnny, who sized up the situation rather than have the team lose Camp, decided to quit the team himself. What occurred the next day between Camp and Johnny Moorhead we never knew, but Johnny played in the game and squared himself. Walter Camp's name is coupled with that of Chummy Eaton in football history. Eaton was on the left end rush line, says Vernon, and played a great game with Camp down the sideline. When one was nearly caught for a down, the other would receive the ball and from him an overhead throw and proceed with the run. Camp and Eaton would repeat this play, sending the ball back and forth down the side of the field for great gains. In one of the big games in the fall of 1879, Eaton had a large muscle in one of his legs torn and had to quit playing for that season. Vernon was put in Chummy's place. But I couldn't fill Chummy's shoes, Vernon acknowledges, for he and Camp had practiced their beautiful sideline play all the fall. The next year Chummy's parents wouldn't let him play, but Chummy was game. He simply couldn't resist. It was a case of love before duty with him. He played on the Yale team the next fall, however, but not as Eaton. And everyone who followed football was wondering who that star player Adams was and where he came from. But those on the inside knew it was Chummy. Frederick Remington, says Vernon, was a member of our team. We were close friends and spent many Sunday afternoons on long walks. I can see him now with his India ink pencil sketching as we went along. And I must laugh now at the nerve I had to joke him about his efforts. Remy was a good football player and one of the best boxers in college. Dear old Remy is gone, but he left his mark. Other men, equally prominent old Yale men, tell me, who were on the team that year were Hull, Jack Harding, Ven Lam, Bob Watson, Pete Peters, and many others. Walter Camp, as Yale Gridiron stories go, was not only captain of his team, but in reality also its coach. Perhaps he can be called the pioneer coach of Yale football. It is most interesting to listen to old-time Yale players relate incidents of the days when they played under Walter Camp as their captain, how they came to his room by invitation at night, sat on the floor with their backs to the wall, with nothing in the center of the room but a regulation football. There they got together, talked things over, made suggestions and comparisons, and it is said of Camp that he would do more listening by far than talking. This was characteristic. For although he knew so much of the game, he was willing to get every point of view and profit by every suggestion. In 1880, Camp relinquished the captaincy to R.W. Watson. Yale again defeated Harvard, Camp kicking a goal from placement. Following this, R.W. Watson ran through the entire Harvard team for a touchdown. Harvard men were greatly pained when Walter Camp played again in 1981. He should have graduated in 1880. This game was also won by Yale, thus making the fourth victorious Yale team that Camp had played on. This record has never been equaled. Camp played six years at Yale. John Harding was another of the famous old Yale stars who played on Walter Camp's teams. It is now more than 35 years since my days on the football gridiron, writes Harding, but little elementary training I got in football. I attribute to the old game of theory for which two years on spring and summer evenings after supper we used to play at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, on the athletic grounds near the middle school. One fellow would be it, as we dashed from one side of the grounds to the other, and when one was trapped, he joined the it's until everybody was caught. I learned there how to dodge as well as the rudiments of the necessary football accomplishment of how to fall down without getting hurt. As a result of this experience with my chum, W.A. Peters, when we got down to Yale in the fall of 76, we offered ourselves as willing victims for the university football team, and with the result that we both made the freshman team and had our first experience in a match of football against the Harvard freshman at Boston, I don't remember who won that contest, but I do remember the university 11 under Eugene Baker's careful training, beating Harvard that fall at New Haven and my football enthusiasm being fired up to a desire to make the team if it were possible. Of course, Walter Camp has for many years and deservedly so been regarded as the father of football at Yale, but in my day, and at least until Baker left college, he was only an ordinary mortal and a good half-back. Baker was the unquestioned star and I cannot disabuse my mind that he was the original football man of Yale, and at least entitled to the title of grandfather of the game there, and it was from him that my tuition mainly came. My impression is that Baker was always for the open running and passing game, and that mass playing and flying wedges and the various refinements of the game that depended largely on beef were of a later day. For four years I played in the rush line with Walter Camp as a half-back, and for two years at least with Hull and Ben Lamb on either side of me, all of us somehow understanding each other's game and all being ready and willing to help each other out. Whatever ability and dexterity I may have developed seem to show itself at its best when playing with them and to prove that good teamwork and knowing your man wins. I got to know Walter Camp's method and plays of playing so that somehow or other I could judge pretty well where the ball was going to drop when he kicked and could navigate myself about so that I was, more often than anyone else on our side, near the ball when it dropped to the ground, and if, per chance, it happened to be muffled by an opposing player, which put me on side the chances of a touchdown if I got the ball were excellent, and Hull and Lamb were somehow on hand to back me up, and were ready to follow me in any direction. During my last two years of football, the rushers were unanimously of the opinion that the kicking, dodging, and passing open game was the game we should strive for, and that it was the duty of the halfback and backs to end their runs with a good, long punt wherever possible and give us a chance to get under the ball when it came down, while the rest of the team behind the line were in favor of a running mass play game, particularly in wet and slippery weather. I remember once in my senior year our divergence of views on this question about three weeks before the final game nearly split our team, and that as a result I nearly received the doubtful honor of becoming the captain of a defeated Yale team, camp fearful of wet weather and possible snow at the Thanksgiving game, and with Channing, Eaton, and Fred Remington as the heavy Gale ends and everybody big in the rush line accepting myself was trying to develop us with as little kicking as possible, and was sensitive because of the protest from the rush line that there was no kicking. We were all summoned when evening to his room in Durfey the situation explained, together with his unwillingness to assume the responsibility of captain unless his ideas were followed, his fear of defeat if they were not followed, his willingness to continue on the team as a halfback and to do his best and his resignation as captain with the suggestion of my taking a responsibility of the position. Things looked blue for Yale when Walter walked out of the door, but after some ten minutes discussion we decided that the open game was the better despite camp's opinion to the contrary, but that we could not play the open game without camp as captain someone was set out to bring Walter back. Matters were smoothed out. We played the open game and never lost a touchdown during the season, but during the four years I was on the Yale varsity we never lost but one touchdown from which a goal was kicked and there were no goals kicked from the field. This goal was lost to Princeton and I think was in the fall of 78, the year that Princeton won the championship. The two men that were more than anybody else responsible for the record were Eugene Baker and Walter Camp, but behind it all was the old Yale spirit which seems to show itself better on the football field than in any other branch of athletics. Theodore M. McNair. On December 19th, 1915, there appeared in the newspapers a notice of the death of old Princeton athlete in Japan. Theodore M. McNair, who while unknown to the younger football enthusiast, was considered a famous player in his day. To those who saw him play, the news brought back many thrills of his adventures upon the football field. The following is what an old fellow player has to say about his teammate. Princeton has lost one of their most remarkable old-time athletes in the death of Theodore M. McNair of the class of 1879. McNair was a classmate of Woodrow Wilson. After his graduation he became a Presbyterian missionary, a professor in a Tokyo college, and a head of the committee that introduced the Christian hymnal into Japan. Two old Princeton graduates however, McNair is known best as a great football player who was halfback on the varsity three years and was regarded as a phenomenal dodger, runner, and kicker. In the three years of his varsity experience McNair went down to his defeat only once, the first game in which he appeared as a regular player. The contest was with Harvard and was played between the seasons, April 28, 1877 at Cambridge. Harvard won the game by two touchdowns to one for the Tigers. McNair made the touchdown for his team. This match is interesting in that it marked the first appearance of the canvas jacket on the football field. Smock, one of the Princeton halfbacks, designed such a jacket for himself and thereafter for many seasons football players of the leading eastern colleges adopted the garment because it made tackling more difficult under the conditions of those days. McNair was of a large frame and fleet of foot. He was especially clever in handling and passing the ball, which in those days was more of an art than at present. It was not unusual for the ball to be passed from player to player after a scrimmage until a touchdown or a field goal was made. Walter Camp was one of McNair's Yale adversaries. They had many punting duels in the big games at St. George's Cricket Grounds, Hoboken, but Camp never had the satisfaction of sending McNair off the field with a beaten team. Alexander Moffat. Every football enthusiast who saw Alex Moffat play had the highest respect for his ability in the game. Alex Moffat was typically Princetonian. His interest in the game was great, and he was always ready to give as much time as was needed to the coaching of the Princeton teams. His hard, efficient work developed remarkable kickers. He loved the game and was a cheerful, encouraging, and sympathetic coach. From a man of his day, I have learned something about his playing, and together we can read of this great all-round athlete. Alex Moffat was so small when he was a boy that he was called tinny bits. He was still small in the bone and bulk when he entered Princeton. Alex had always been active in sports as a boy, small as he was. He played a good game of baseball and tennis, and he distinguished himself by his kicking in football before he was 12 years of age. The game was then called association football, and kicking formed a large part of it. At an early age he became proficient in kicking with right or left foot. When he was 15 he created a sensation over at the old seminary by kicking the Black Rubber Association football clear over Brown Hall. That was kicking up for a boy of 15 with an old Black Rubber football. If anyone doubts it, let him try to do the trick. The varsity team with Princeton in the fall of 79 was captained by Bland Ballard of the class of 80. He had a bunch of giants back of him. There were 15 on the team in those days, and among them were such as Devoreau, Brotherlin, Brian, Irv Wittington, and the mighty McNair. The scrub team player at that time was pretty nearly any chap that was willing to take his life in his hands by going down to the field and letting those ruthless giants step on his face and generally mess up his physical architecture. When Alex announced one day that he was going to take a chance on the scrub team, his friends were inclined to say tenderly and regretfully, good night sweet prince. But Alex knew he was there with the kick, whether it came on the left or right, and he made up his mind to have a go with canvas-backed titans of the varsity team. One fond friend watching Alex go out on the field drew a sort of consolation from the observation that perhaps Alex was so small the varsity men wouldn't notice him. But Alex soon showed them that he was there, and he got in a punt that made Bland Ballard gasp. The big captain looked first at the ball way up in the air, then looked at Alex and he seemed to say, as the scotman said when he compared the small hen to the huge egg, I have me dudes, it cannot be. After that the varsity men took notice of Alex. When the ball was passed back to him next, the regulars got through the scrub line so fast that Alex had to try it for a run. Bland Ballard caught him up in his arms, and finding him so light and small, spared himself the trouble of throwing him down. Ballard simply sank down on the ground with Alex in his arms, and began rolling in over and over with him toward the scrub goal. Alex cried down, down in a shrill trouble voice, that brought an exclamation from the sideline, it's a shame to do it. Bland Ballard is robbing the cradle, such was Alex Moffat in the fall of 79, still something of the teeny bits that he was in early boyhood. In two years, Alex's name was on the lips of every gridiron man in the country, and in his senior year as captain, he performed an exploit in goal kicking that has never been equalled. In the game with Harvard in the fall of 83, he kicked five goals, four being drop kicks, and one from a touchdown. His drop kicks were all of them long, and two of them were made with the left foot. Alex grew in stature and in statima, and when he was captain, he was regarded as one of the most brilliant fullbacks that the game had ever known. He never was a heavy man, but he was swift and slippery in running, a deadly tackler, and a kicker that had not his equal in his time. Alex remained prominent in football activity until his death in 1914. He served in many capacities as a member of committees, as coach, as a referee, and as umpire. He was a man of happy and sunny nature who made many friends. He loved life, made life joyous for those who were with him. He was idolized at Princeton, and his memory is treasured there now. Willis Terry, one of the greatest halfbacks that ever played for Yale, is Willis Terry, and it is most interesting to hear this player of many years ago tell of some of his experience, Terry says. It has been asked of me who were the great players of my time. I can only say judging from their work that they were all great, but if I were compelled to particular lies, I should mention the names of Tompkins, Peters, Hall, Beck, Twombly, Richards. In fact, I would have to mention each team year by year. To them I attribute the success of Yale's football in my time, and for many years after that to the unfailing zeal and devotion of Walter Camp. There were no trainers, coaches, or rubbers at that time. The period of practice was almost continuous for 45 minutes. It was the idea in those days that by practice of this kind, staying power and the ability would be brought out. The principal points that were impressed upon the players were for the Russians to tackle low and follow their man. This to them was practically a golden text. The fact that a man was injured unless it was a broken bone or the customarily badly sprained ankle did not relieve a man from playing every day. It was the spirit, though possibly a crude one, that only those men were wanted on the team who could go through the battering of the game from start to finish. The discipline of the team was rigorous. Men were forced to do as they were told. If a man did not think he was in any condition to play, he reported to the captain. These reports were very infrequent though, for I know in my own case, the first time I reported I was so lame I could hardly put one foot before the other, but was told to take a football and run around the track, which was half a mile long and circled the football field. On my return I was told to get back in my position and play. As a result, there were very few players who reported injuries to the captain. This, when you figure the manner in which teams are coached today, may appear brutal and a waste of good material, but as a matter of fact it was not. It made the teams what they were in those days, strong, hard, fast. As to actual results under this policy, I can only say that during my period in college, we never lost a game. Training today is quite different. I think more men are injured nowadays than in my time under our severe training. I think further that this softer training is carried to an extreme and that football player of today has too much attention paid to his injury, and what he has to say, and the trainer, doctors, and the tendons are mostly responsible for having the players incapacitated by their attention. The spirit of Yale in my day, a spirit which was inoculated in our minds in playing games, was never to let a member of the opposing team think that he could beat you. If you experienced a shock or were injured and it was still possible to get back there to your position either in the line or back field, get there at once. If you felt that your injury was so severe that you could not get back, report to your captain immediately and abide by his decision, which was either to leave the field or to go to your position. It may be said by some of the players today that the punts in those days were more easily caught than those of today. There is nothing to a remark like that. The spiral kick was developed in the fall of 82, and I know that both Richards and myself knew the fellow who developed it. From my experience in the Princeton game, I can testify that Alex Moffat was a past master at it. One rather amusing thing I remember hearing years ago while standing there on old football player watching a Princeton game, the ball was thrown forward by the quarterback, which was a foul. The halfback who was playing well out dashed in and cut the ball on the run, evaded the opposing in, pushed the halfback aside and ran half the length of the field scoring a touchdown. The applause was tremendous, but the empire who had seen the foul called the ball back. A fair spectator who was standing in front of me asked my friend why the ball was called back. My friend remarked, the Princeton player has just received an encore, that's all. While the game was hard and rough in the early days, yet I consider that the discipline and the training which the men went through were of great assistance to them, physically, morally and intellectually. And after years, some of the pleasantest friendships that I hold today were made in connection with my football days, among the graduates of my own and other colleges. When fond parents ask the advisability of letting their sons play football, I always tell them of an incident at the Penn Harvard game at Philadelphia one year, which I witnessed from the top of a coach, a young girl who was asked the question, if you were a mother and had a son, would you allow him to play football? The young lady thought for a moment and then answered in the spirited, if somewhat devious fashion, if I were a son and had a mother, you bet I'd play. In my association with football, among the many friendships I formed, I prized none more highly than that of John C. Bell, whose activity in Pennsylvania football has kept him alive along since his playing day. Let us go back and talk the game over with him. I played football at my prep school days, he says. And on the varsity team with the University of Pennsylvania in the years 82, 83, 84. After graduation, following a sort of nominating mass meeting of the students, I was elected to the football committee of the university about 1886 and served as chairman of that committee until 1901, retiring that season when George Woodruff, after a term of 10 years, terminated his relationship as coach of our team. I also served, as you know, as a representative of the university on the football rules committee from about 1886 until the time I was appointed attorney general in 1911. More pleasant associations and relationships I have never had than those with my fellow members of that committee in the late 80s and the 90s, including Camp of Yale, Billy Brooks, Burt Waters, Bob Warren, and Percy Hotten of Harvard, Paul Daschle of Annapolis, Tracy Harris, Alex Moffat, and John Fine of Princeton, and Professor Dennis of Cornell. Later the committee, as you know, was enlarged by the admission of representatives from the West, and among them were Alonzo Stag of Chicago University and Harry Williams of Minnesota. Finer fellows I have never known, they were one in all nature's noblemen. Some of them alas, like Alex Moffat, have gone to the great beyond, representing rival universities between those student bodies and some of whose alumni partisan feeling ran high in the 90s. Nothing, however, save good fellowship and good cheer ever existed between Alex and me. I am generally glad that I played the game with my teammates, witnessed for many years nearly all the big games of the Eastern colleges, mingled season after season with the players, and the enthusiastic alumni of the competing universities and attendance at the annual matches, sat and deliberated each recurring year, as I have said, with those fine fellows who made and amended the rules, and in this way helped to develop the game, the manliest of all our sports, and that I have thus breathed and recreated and been invigorated in a football atmosphere every autumn for more than a third of a century. Growing older every year, one still remains young, as young in heart and spirit as when he donned the moleskins, and caught and kicked and carried the ball himself. And all these football experiences make one a happier, stronger, and more loyal man. I remember in my prep school days, playing upon a team made up of largely of high school boys. One game stands out in my recollection. It was against the freshman team of the University of Pennsylvania, captain by Johnny Thayer, who went down with the Titanic. Arriving after the game had started, I came out to the sidelines and called to the captain asking whether I was to play. He glowered at me and made no answer. A few minutes later our second captain called me to come into the game, saying that Smith was only to play until I arrived. Quick as a flash, I stepped into the field of play, and almost instantly Thayer kicked the ball over the rush line, and it came bounding down right into my arm. Off I went like a flash through the line, past the backs and full backs, only to be overtaken within a few yards of the goal. The teams lined up, and there upon Thayer with his eagle eye looking us over, called out to our captain. How many fellows are you playing anyways? Instantly our captain ordered Smith off the field, saying you were only to play until bell came, and poor Smith left without any audible murmur. This is what might be called one of the accidents of the game. Perhaps the most memorable game in which I played was against Harvard in 1884, when Pennsylvania won upon Forbes Field by the score of 4-0. It was our first victory over the Crimson, not to be repeated again until the memorable game of 1894, which Triumph was again repeated after still another decade in our victory of 1904. This last victory came after five years of continuing defeats, and I remember that we were all jubilant when we heard the news from Cambridge. I recalled that Dr. J. William White, C. S. Packard, and I were playing golf at the country club, and when someone brought out the score to us, we dropped our clubs, clasped our hands, and executed an Indian dance, shouting, Ra, Ra, Ra, Pennsylvania! Why, old-stayed philosopher, should the leading surgeon of the city, the president of his oldest and largest trust company, and the district attorney of Philadelphia, thus jump for joy and become boys once more? Recurring to the game of 1884, I can hear the cheers of the university still ringing in my ears, and when we returned from Harvard a few weeks later, our team went up to Princeton to see the Harvard-Princeton match, and I recall, as though it were yesterday, Alex Moffat kicking five goals against Appleton's team, three of them with the right foot, two with the left foot. No other player I ever knew or heard of was so ambidextrous, if I may use the word, as Alex Moffat. I remember walking in from the field with Harvard's captain, and he said to me, Moffat is a phenomena. Truly he was. The enthusiastic George Woodruff tells of his football experiences in the following words. I went to Yale, a green farmer boy who had never heard of the college game of football until I arrived at New Haven to take my examinations in the fall of 1985. Incidentally, I made the team permanently the second day I was on the field, having scored against the varsity from the middle of the field in three successive runs, whereas the varsity was not able to score against the scrub. I was used perhaps more times than any other man in running with the ball up to a very severe injury to my knee in the fall of 1987, just a week and a day before the Princeton game, from which time, until I left college, although I played in all of the championship games, I was not able to run with the ball, actually being on the field only two days after my injury in 1987 until the end of the 88 season, outside of the days on which I played the games. I tried not to play in the fall of 1988 because of the condition of my knee, and because I was captain of the crew, but Pa Corbin insisted that I must play in the championship games, or he would not roll, and of course I acceded to his wishes, thereby secretly gratifying my own. And now about the men with whom I played. Kid Wallace played end the entire four years. Wallace was a great amusement and comfort to his fellow players, on account of his general desire to put on the appearance of a tough of the worst description, whereas he was at heart a very fine and gulant gentleman. Pudge Heffelfinger played the other guard from me in my last year, and when he first appeared on the Yale field he was a ridiculous example of a raw-boned westerner, being six-foot-four inches tall and weighing only about 178 pounds. During the season, however, the exercise and good food at the training table caused Heffelfinger to gain 25 pounds of solid bone, sinew, and muscle. The green days of his first year in 1888 were remembered against him in an affectionate way by the use of Yale for several years of Pa Corbin's oft-reiterated expression brought forth by Pudge's greenness, which would cause Pa to explain, darn you, Heffelfinger, with great emphasis on the darn. Billy Graves played on the team during most of these years, he being the most graceful football runner I have ever seen, unless it were Stevenson of Pennsylvania. Lima Klung was a harder worker on his running than most of the men named above, but tremendously effective. He is accredited with being the first man who intentionally started as though to make an end run and then turned diagonally back through the line in order to open up the field through which he then ran with incredible speed and determination. This was one of the first premeditated plays of a trick nature, which ultimately led to my invention of the delayed pass, which works upon the same principle only with incalculably greater ease and effect. The game with Princeton in the fall of 1885, things to my memory beyond any other game I ever played in because it was the first real championship game of my career and I had not as yet fully developed into an actual player. The loss of this game to Princeton in the last of six minutes of playing because of the Lamar run, Yale had Princeton 5-0, had been a nightmare to most of the Yale players ever since. I attribute the fact that Yale only had five points to two hard luck facts. Through my own intensity at the beginning of the game, I overran Harry Beecher on my first signal, causing the signal giver to think that I was rattled so that, although I afterward ran with the ball some 25 or 30 times with consistent gains of from two to five yards under the almost impossible conditions known as the punt rush, the signal for my regular play was not given again in spite of the fact that my ground gaining had been one of the steadiest features of the Yale play throughout the year and because Watkinson was allowed to try five times in succession for goals from the field, close up only one of which he made, whereas Billy Bull could probably have made at least three out of the five. But of course Bull's ability was not so well known then. The direct cause of the Lamar run was due to the fact that all of the fast runners and good tacklers of the Yale line were down the field under a kick, so close to Toller, the other half back from Lamar, that when Toller muffed the ball so egregiously that it bounded over our heads some 15 yards, Lamar who had not come across the field to back Toller up had been able to get the ball on the ground and on the dead run, thus having in front of him all the Princeton team except Toller, whereas the Yale team was depleted by the fact that Wallace Corwin Gill, who had come on as a substitute, myself and even Harry Beecher from quarterback, had run down the field to within a few yards of Toller before he muffed the ball. We all turned and watched Lamar run, being so petrified that not one of us took a step, and although the scene is photographed in my memory, I cannot see one of all the Yale players making a tackle at Lamar. Hodge, the Princeton quarterback, kicked the goal, thus making the score six to five and winning the game. The outburst from the Princeton contingent at the end of the game was one of the most heartfelt and spontaneous I have ever heard or seen. I understand that practically all of Lamar's uniform was torn into pieces and handed out to the various Princeton girls and their escorts who had come to New Haven to see the game. The Yale Princeton game in the fall of 1886 was a remarkable as well as a disagreeable one. We played at Princeton when the field at that time combined the elements of stickiness and slipperiness to an unbelievable extent. It rained heavily throughout the game and the proverbial hug on ice could not have slipped and slathered around worse than all the players on both sides. There was a long controversy about who should act as referee in those days we had only one official, and after a delay of about an hour from the time the game should have begun, Harris, a Princeton man, was allowed to do the officiating. Bob Corwin, who was end rush, only second to Wallace in his ability, was captain of the team. Yale made one touchdown which seemed to be perfectly fair but which was disallowed, and later in the second half Watkinson for Yale kicked the ball so that it rolled across the goal line where upon a crowd which was standing around the ropes in those days there was practically no brand stand, crowded onto the field where Savage, the Princeton fullback, had fallen on the ball. The general report is that kid Wallace held Savage while Corwin pulled the slippery ball away from him and that when Harris, the referee, was able to dig his way through the crowd he found Corwin on the ball and in view of the great fuss that had been made about his previous decision was not able to credit Savage's statement that he, Savage, had said down long before the Yale ends had been able to pull the ball away from him. The result was that the touchdown was allowed. There upon the crowd all came onto the field and we were not able to clear it for some 10 or 15 minutes so that there was not time enough to finish the full 45 minutes of the second half of the game before dark. This led to some better discussion between Yale and Princeton as to whether the game had been played. This discussion was settled by the intercollegiate committee in declaring that Yale had won the game 4 to 0 but that no championship should be awarded. It is interesting to note, however, that all the gold footballs worn by the Yale players of this time are marked Champions 1886. A word about the Princeton men who were playing during my four years at college. Irvine was a fine steady player and his success at Mercersburg is in keeping with the promise shown in his football days. Hector Cohen played against me three years at guard and he fully deserved the great reputation he had at that time in every particular of the game including running with the ball. George was one of the very best center rushes I have ever seen and probably would have made a great player elsewhere along the line if he had been relieved from the obscuring effect of playing center at the time the center had no particular opportunity to show his ability. Snake Ames for some reason was never able to do anything against the Yale team during the time I was playing but his work in some later games that I saw and in which I officiated convinced me that he was worthy of his nickname because there are only a few men who are able to wind their way through an entire field of opponents with as much celerity and effect as Ames would display time after time. In the fall of 86, Yale beat Harvard 29 to 4 with great ease and if it had not been for injuries to Yale players could probably have made it 50 or 60 to 0. Most of the Yale players came out of the game with very disgraceful marks of the roughness of the Harvard men. I had a badly broken nose from an intentional blow. George Carter had a cut requiring eight stitches above his eye. The tackle next to me had a face which was pounded black and blue all over. To the credit of the Harvard men I will say that they came to the box at the theater that night occupied by the Yale team and apologized for what they had done stating that they had been coached to play in that way and that they would never again allow anybody to coach who would try to have the Harvard players use intentionally unfair roughness. When I entered Pennsylvania I found a more or less happy go lucky brilliant man Arthur Knife who was not considered fully worthy of being on even the Pennsylvania teams of those days namely teams that were being beaten 60 or 70 to 0 by Yale Harvard and Princeton. I succeeded in arousing the interest of Knife and although in my mind he never during his active membership of the Pennsylvania team came up to 75% of his true playing value he was even so undoubtedly the peer of any man that ever played football. Knife was brilliant but careless and was at once the joy and despair of any coach who took an interest in his men. He captained the 1894 Pennsylvania team with which I sprung the guard's back and short end defense. Jack Mines I remember seeing in 1893 standing around on the field as a member of the second or third scrub teams. I suppose he would not have been invited to preliminary training except for his own courage and pertenacity which caused him to demand to be taken. With no thought that he could possibly make the team I gradually found myself using him in 1894 until he was a fixture at tackle although he dodged the scales throughout the entire fall in order that I might not know that he weighed only 162 pounds. I will not enlarge upon the ability of men like George Brooke, Wiley Woodruff, Buck Wharton, Joe McCracken, John Outland and others but anybody speaking of Pennsylvania players during the late 90s cannot pass by Truxton Hare who stands forth as a Chevalier Bayard among the ranks of college football players. Hare entered Pennsylvania in 97 from St. Paul without any thought that he was likely to be even a mediocre player. He weighed only about 178 pounds at the time and was immature. Although his wonderfully symmetrical build in which he looked like a magnified Billy Graves kept him from looking as large as Heffelfinger at his greatest development at Yale, Hare was certainly ten pounds heavier in fine condition than Heffelfinger was before the latter left Yale. End of Chapter 7 Chapter 8 of Football Days This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Eugene Smith. Football Days by William Edwards Chapter 8 Anecdotes and Recollections In the latter 80s, the signal from the quarterback to the center for putting the ball in play was a pressure of the fingers and thumb on the hips of the center. In the 89 championship game between Yale and Princeton, Yale had been steadily advancing the ball and it looked as if they had started out for a march up the field for a touchdown. In those days, signals were not rattled off with the speed that they are given now and the quarterback often took some time to consider his next play, during which time he might stand in any position back of the line. Playing right guard on the Princeton team was J.R. Thomas, more familiarly known as Long Tommy. He was six feet six or seven inches tall and built more longitudinally than otherwise. It occurred to Jane Way, who was playing left guard, that Long Tommy's great length and reach might be used to great advantage when occasion offered. He therefore took occasion to say to Thomas, during a lull in the game, if you get a chance, reach over when Wurtenberg, the Yale quarter, isn't looking and pinch the Yale center so that he will put the ball in play when the backs are not expecting it. The Yale center, by the way, was Bert Hansen. The Yale continued to advance the ball on two or three successive plays and finally had a third down with two yards to gain. At this critical moment, the look for opportunity arrived. Wurtenberg called the consultation of the other backs to decide on the next play. While the consultation was going on, Long Tommy reached over and gently nipped Hansen where he was expecting the signal. Hansen immediately put the ball in play and as a result, Jane Way broke through and fell on the ball for a 10 yards gain and first down for Princeton. To say that the Yale team were frantic with surprise and rage, would be putting it mildly, poor Hansen came in for some pretty rough flagging. He swore by all that was good and holy that he had received the signal to put the ball in play, which was true, but Wurtenberg insisted that he had not given the signal. There was no time for wrangling at that moment as the referee ordered the game to proceed. Yale did not learn how that ball came to be put in play until sometime after the game, which was the last of the season. When Long Tommy, happening to meet up with Hansen and several other Yale players in a New York restaurant, told with great lee how he gave the signal that stopped Yale's triumphant advance. Numerals and combinations of numbers were not used as signals until 1889. Prior to that, phrases, catch words and gestures were the only modes of indicating the plays to be used. For instance, the signal for Hector Cowan of Princeton to run with the ball was an entreaty by the captain, who in those days usually gave the signals, addressed to the team to gain an uneven number of yards. Therefore, the expression, let's game three, five or seven yards would indicate to the team that Cowan was to take the ball and an effort was made to open up the line for him at the point at which he usually bucked it. Irvine, the other tackle, ran with the ball when an even number of yards was called for. For a kick, the signal was any phrase which asked a question, as for instance, how many yards to gain? One of the signals used by Corbin, captain of Yale, to indicate a certain play was the removal of his cap. They wore caps in those days. A variation of this play was indicated if in addition to removing his cap, he expected to rated emphatically. Hodge, the Princeton quarterback, noticing the cap signals, determined that he would handicap the captain's strategy by stealing his cap. He called the team back and very earnestly impressed upon them the advantage that would accrue if any of them could surreptitiously get possession of captain Corbin's head covering. Corbin, however, kept such good watch on his property that no one was able to proloin it. Sport Donnelly, who played left end on Princeton's 89 team, was perhaps one of the roughest players that ever went into a game, and at the same time, one of the best ends that ever went down the field under a kick. Donnelly was one of the few men that could play his game up to the top notch, and at the same time, keep his opponent, Harris, to the point of frenzy by a continual line of conversation in the sarcastic vein, which invariably got the opposing player rattled. He would say or do something to the man opposite him, which would go that individual to fury, and then, when retaliation was about to come in the shape of a blow, he would yell, Mr. Empire! And in many instances the player would be ruled off the field. Donnelly's line of conversation at a Yale game, addressed to Billy Rhodes, who played opposite him, would be somewhat as follows. Mr. Rhodes, I see Mr. Gill is about to run with the ball. Just then Gill would come tearing around from his position at Tackle, and Donnelly would remark, well, excuse me, Mr. Rhodes, for a moment. I've got to tackle Mr. Gill. He would then sidestep in such a manner as to elude Rose's maneuvers to prevent him breaking through and stop Gill for a loss. Hector Cowan, who was captain of the Princeton 88 team, was another rough player. In those days the men in the heat of playing would indulge in exclamations, hardly fit for a drawing room. In fact, most of the time the words used would have been more in place among a lot of pirates. Cowan was no exception to the rule so far as giving vent to his feelings was concerned, but he invariably used one phrase to do so, he was a fellow of sterling character and was studying for the ministry. Not even the excitement of the moment could make him forget himself to the extent of the other players and where their language would have had to be represented in print by a lot of dashes. Cowan's could be printed in the blackest-faced type without offending anyone. It was amusing to see this big fellow worked up to the point of explosion, wave his arms and exclaim, oh sugar! It would bring a roar of mock protest from the other players and threats to report him for his rough talk. While the men made joke of Hector's talk, they had a thorough respect for his sterling principles. Victorious Days at Yale During the early days of football, Yale's record was an enviable one. The schedules included Yale, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers, Columbia, Stevens Institute of Technology, Dartmouth, Amherst, and University of Michigan. It is interesting to note that since the formation of the Football Association in 1879 to 1889, Yale had been awarded the championship flag five times, Princeton won, Harvard none. Yale had won 95 out of 98 games, having lost three to Princeton, won to Harvard, and won to Columbia. Since 1878, Yale had lost but one game, and that by one point. This was the Tilly Lamar game, which Princeton won. In points, Yale had scored since points began to be counted, 3,001 to her opponent's 56, in goals 530 to 19, and in touchdowns 219 to 9, which is truly a unique record. It was during this period that Pa Corbin, a country boy, entered Yale and in his senior year became captain of the famous 88 team. This brilliant 11 had a wonderfully successful season, and Yale men now began to take stock and really appreciate the remarkable record that was hers upon the field of football. In commemoration of these victories, Yale men gathered from far and near, crowding Delmonico's banquet hall to the limit to pay tribute to Yale athletic successes. Quote, and it came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout. They took the city, end quote. In a room beautifully decorated with Yale banners and trophies, 400 Eli sat down to enjoy the bulldog feast, and there honored and cheered to the echo the great football traditions of Yale, and the men who made her famous by so vast a margin. Chauncey M. De Pew in his address that evening stated that for the only time in 188 years the alumni of Yale met solely to celebrate her athletic triumphs. Pa Corbin, captain of the victorious 88 football team, responded as follows. Quote, again we have met the enemy and he is ours. In fact we have been successful so many times there is something of a sameness about it. It's a good deal like what the old man said about leading a good life. It is monotonous but satisfactory. There are perhaps a few special reasons why we won the championship this year, but the general principles are the same which have always made us win. First by following out certain traditions which are handed down to us year by year from former team captains and coaches, the necessity of advancing each year beyond the point a team the year before, the mastering of the play of our opponents and planning our game to meet it. Second by the hard conscientious work such as only a Yale team knows how to do. Third by going on to the field with that high courage and determination which has always been characteristic of the Yale 11, something like the spirit of the ancient Greeks who went into battle with the decision to return with their shields or on them. Sometimes they even animated with the spirit which knows no defeat like the little drummer boy who was ordered by Napoleon in a crisis in the battle to beat a retreat. The boy did not move. Boy beat a retreat. He did not stir but out of third command he straightened up and said Sire I know not how but I can beat a charge that will wake the dead. He did so and the troops moved forward and were victorious. It is the same spirit which in many cases has seemed to animate our men but our victory is due in a great measure this year to a man who knows more about football than any man in this country who gave much of his valuable time and continually advising and in actual coaching on the field. I refer to Walter Camp and as long as his spirit hovers over the Yale campus and our tradition for football playing are religiously followed out there is no reason why Yale should not remain as she has always been at the head of American football. Those were Corbin's recollections the year of that great victory. Time has not dimmed them nor has his memory faded rather the opposite. From what follows you will note that a woman now enters the camp of the Eli coaching staff mention of whom was not made in Corbin's speech of 88. Pa Corbin prized himself in the fact that 25 years afterward he brought his old teammates together and gave them a dinner. The menu card tells of the traditional coaching system of Corbin's great team of 88 and beneath the picture of Mr and Mrs Walter Camp appears in headlines head coaches of the Yale football team of 1888. The head coaches of the Yale team says Corbin were really Mr and Mrs Walter Camp. They had been married in the summer of 1888 and were staying with relatives in New Haven. Mr Camp had just begun his connection with the New Haven Concern which occupied most of his time. Mrs Camp was present at Yale Field every day at the football practice and made careful note of the plays of the players and anything that should be observed in connection with the style of play and the individual weakness or strength. She gave her observations in detail to her husband at supper every night and when I arrived Mr Camp would be thoroughly familiar with that day's practice and would be ready for suggestions as to plays and players to be put in operation the next day. This method was pursued during the entire season and was practically the only systematic coaching that the team received. Of course there were several old players like Tompkins 84, Terry 85 and NAP 82 who came to the field frequently. At that time it was customary for me to snap the ball back to the quarter with my foot by standing the ball on end and exercising a certain pressure on the same it was possible to have it bound into the quarterback's hands. It was necessary therefore for me to attend to this detail as well as to block my opponent and make holes through the line for the backs. While the rules of the game at that time provided for an umpire as well as a referee the fact that there was no neutral zone and players were in close contact with each other on the line of scrimmage gave opportunity for more roughness than is customary at the present time. Neither were the officials so strict about their rulings. Prior to this time it had been customary to give word signals for the different plays these being certain words which were used in various sentences relating to football and the progress of the game. As center I was so tall that a system of sign signals was devised which I used entirely in the Princeton game and the opponents from the talk which continued as usual suppose that word signals were being used and were entirely ignorant of the sign signals during the progress of the game. The point of the visor of my cap was a kick signal everything that I did with my left hand and touching different parts of my uniform on the left side from collar to shoelace meant a signal for a play at different points on the left side of the line. Similar signals with my right hand meant similar plays on the right side of the line. The system worked perfectly and there was no case of missed signal. The next year the use of numbers for signals began and has continued until the present day. The work of the Yale team during the season was very much retarded by injuries to their best players. The papers were so filled with these accounts that the general opinion of the public was that the team would be in poor physical condition to meet Princeton. As luck would have it however the Invalids reached a convalescing stage in time to enter the Wesleyan game on the Saturday before the one to be played with Princeton in fairly good condition. Head coach Camp and I attended the Princeton Harvard game at Princeton on that day. Upon our return to New York we received a telegram from Mrs. Camp to the effect that the score made by Yale against Wesleyan was 105 to nothing. One of the graduate coaches was much impressed with the opportunity to turn a few pennies and he requested that information to be kept quiet until he could see a few Princeton men. The result was that he negotiated the small end of several stakes at long odds against Yale. When the news of the Wesleyan score was made public the next morning the opinion of the public changed somewhat as to the merit of the team. It nevertheless went into the Princeton game as not being the favorite and in the opinion of disinterested persons it was expected that Princeton would win handsomely. Cowan the Great has this to say. I happened to be down on the grounds to watch the practice just a few days before the Yale game. They did not have enough scrub to make a good defense. Jim Robinson happened to see me there and asked me to play. He had asked me before and I'd always refused but this time for some reason I accepted and he took me to the clubhouse. I got into my clothes. The shoes were about three sizes too small. That day I played guard opposite Tracy Harris. I played well enough so that they wanted me to come down the next day. As they said they wanted good practice. The next day I was put against Captain Bird who had been out of town the first day I played. He had the reputation of being not at all delicate in the way he handled the scrub men who played against him so that they had learned to keep away from him. As I had not played before I did not know enough to be afraid of him so when the ball was put in play I simply charged forward at the quarterback and was able to spoil a good many of his plays. I heard afterward that Bird asked Jim Robinson who that damn freshman was that played against him. Next year I was put in Bird's place at left guard as he had graduated and fought all comers for the place. I was never put on the scrub again. My condition when in Princeton was the best. Having been raised in the country I knew what hard work was and in the five years that I played football I never left the field on account of injury either in practice or in games with other teams. It is a great thing to play the game of football as hard as you can. I never deliberately went to do a man up. If he played a rough game I simply played him the harder. I never struck him head with my fists in the game. I do not remember ever losing my temper. Perhaps I did not have temper enough. When we speak of a football man's nerve I would say that any man who stopped to think of himself is not worthy of the game. But there is one man who seemed to me had a little more nerve than the average. I think that he played for two years on our scrub and the reason that he was kept there so long was on account of his size. He only weighed about 138 pounds but for all the time he played on the scrub he played half back and no one ever saw him hesitate to make every inch he could even though he knew he had to suffer for it. In the fall of 88 I think Yup Cook played right tackle on the varsity. He was very strong in his shoulders and arms and had the grip of a blacksmith. Channing this nervy little 138 pounder played left half back on the scrub. When he went into the line Cook would take him by the shoulders and slam him into the ground. Our playing field at the time was very dry and the ground was like a rock. I used to feel very sorry for the little foe. On his elbows and hips and knees he had raw sores as big as silver dollars yet he never hesitated to make the attempt and he never called down to save himself from punishment. The next year he made the team. Everybody admired him. Football men must never forget Tilly Lamar who played half back. I think he was one of the greatest half backs and one who had made a record in any age of football. I've seen him go through a line with nearly every man on the opposing team holding him. He would break loose from one after the other. Lamar was a short chunky fellow and ran close to the ground with his back level and about the only place one could get hold of him was his shoulders. He would always turn toward the tackler instead of away and it had the effect of throwing him over his head. The only way that the ailment could stop him at all was to dive clear under and get him by the legs. You've always heard a lot about Snake Ames. Snake was a very spectacular player but one very hard to stop especially in an open field. He was very fast and during the last year of his playing he developed a duck and would go clear under the man trying to tackle him. This he did by putting one hand flat on the ground so that his body would just miss the ground. Even the good tacklers that Yale always had were not able to stop him. One of Princeton's old reliable was our center George 89. He may not have got much out of the plaudits from the grandstand but those of us who knew what he was doing appreciated his work. We always felt safe as to our center. He was steady and brilliant. It was during this time that Yale developed a wedge play on center. There were no restrictions as to how the line would be formed and Yale would put all our guards and tackles and ends back forming a big V with the man with the ball in the center. Yale had been able to knock the opposing center out of the way till they struck George. How well I remember this giant who was able to hold a whole wedge until he could knock the sides in and pile him up in a bunch. Yale soon gave him up and tried to gain elsewhere. I must tell you about one more Princeton's football players. Not so much for his playing but for his head work. During the years that I was captain in the fall of 88 rules were changed so that one was allowed to block an opponent only by the body. In other words not allowed to use hands or arms in blocking. It was Sam Hodge who played end and worked out what is known today as boxing the tackle. You can understand what effect it would have on a man who was not used to it. The end would knock the opposing tackle and send him clear out of the play and the half would keep the end out. I once asked Cowan to tell something about his experiences and men he played against. The Yale team was the great game in my days he said Harvard did not have the football instinct as well developed as Yale and it is one of the Yale players that I have more in mind. One man I will always remember is Gil who played left tackle for Yale and was captain during his senior year. I remember him because we had a great deal to do with each other. When I ran with the ball I had to get around him if I made any advance and I must say that I found it no easy thing to do as he was a sure tackler. When he ran with the ball I had the good pleasure of cutting his run short. Another man whom I consider one of the greatest punters of the past is Bull of Yale. I've stopped a good many punts and drop kicks in my play but I do not remember stopping a single kick at his and it was not because I did not try. He kicked with his left foot and with his back partially towards the line would kick a very high ball and when you jumped into him on the principle that if you cannot get the ball get the man you had the sensation of striking something hard. After Callan had stopped playing and graduated he acted as an official in a good many of the big games. He states as follows, you ask about my own experiences as an official and for experience with other officials. I always got along pretty well as a referee. It was very little kicking on my decisions but I was good for nothing as an umpire. I could not keep my eyes off the ball so did not see the fouls as much as I should. You boys have probably heard how I was ruled off the feel in a Harvard Princeton game in 88. I remember Terry of Yale who referred that game above all others. There was a rule at that time that intentional tackling below the knees was a foul and the penalty was disqualification. Our game had just started. We had only two or three plays. Harvard having the ball I broke through the line and tackled the man as soon as he had the ball. I had him around the legs about the knees but in his efforts to get away my hand slipped down and at the moment remembering the rule I let him go and for this I was disqualified. I might say that we lost the game but we did not have anyone to take my place. I had always been in my place and no one ever thought that I would not be there. My being disqualified was probably the reason for the Princeton defeat. I do not think that Terry intended to be unfair. The game had just started and he was trying to be strict and without stopping to think whether it was intentional or not. He saw the rule being broken and acted on the impulse of the moment. I've since heard that Terry felt very bad about it afterwards. I never felt right towards him until I had a chance to get even with him and it came in this way. The Crescent Club of Brooklyn played the Cleveland Athletic Club at Cleveland. George and myself were invited to play with the Cleveland Club and on the Crescent team were Alex Moffat and Terry. Terry played left half back and right here was where I got in my work. When Terry ran with the ball I generally had a chance to help him meet the earth. I had one chance in particular. Terry got the ball and got around our end and on a long end run I took after him, caught him from the side, threw him over my head out of bounds. As we were both running at the top of our speed he hit the ground with considerable force. I felt better towards him after this game. In such vivid phrases as these a great hero of the past tells of things well worth recording. Football competition is very strong. There is the keenest sort of rivalry among college teams. There is very little love on the part of the men who play against each other on the day of the contest but after the game is all over and these men meet in after years very strong friendships are often formed. Sometimes these opponents never meet again but deep down in their heart they have a most wholesome regard for each other and so in my recollections of the old heroes it will be most interesting to hear in their own words something about their own achievements and experiences of the games they played 30 years ago. Hector Cowan who captained the 88 team at Princeton played three years against George Woodruff of Yale. It has been 28 years since that wonderful battle took place between these two men and it's still talked about by people who saw the game and now let us read what these two contestants say about each other. Of the three years that I played guard I met George Woodruff as my opponent says Cowan and I always felt that he was the strongest man I had to meet and one who was always on the square. He played the game for what it was worth and he showed later that he could teach it to others by the way he taught the pen team says George Woodruff delving into the old days. Hector Cowan played against me three years at guard and he fully deserves the reputation he had at that time in every particular of the game including running with the ball. I doubt whether any other Princeton man was ever more able to make ground whenever he tried although Cowan was not in any particular a showy player. For some reason or other Cowan seems to have had a reputation for rough play which shows how untrue traditions can be handed down. I never played against or with a fighter and steadier player or won more free from the remotest desire to play roughly for the sake of roughness itself. When Heffelfinger's last game had been played there appeared in a newspaper of November 26 1888 a farewell to Heffelfinger. Goodbye Heff the boys will miss you and the old men too and the girls. You tossed the other side about as if they were ten pins. You took little bliss under your wing and he ran with the ball like a pilot boat by the Teutonic. You used eyes ears shoulders legs arms and head and took it all in. You're the best football rusher America or the world has shown and best of all you've never slugged lost your temper or did anything mean. Oh come thou mighty one go not away the team thou must not fail. Stay where thou art please Heffelfinger stay and still be true to Yale linger yet linger Heffelfinger a truly civil engineer his trust would near surrender unstrap thy trunks excuse this scalding tear still be Yale's best defender linger oh linger Heffelfinger Princeton and Harvard there is cause to fear well dance joys double shuffle when of thy western flight they come to hear stay in their tempers ruffle linger oh linger Heffelfinger John Cranston my inspiration for the game came when my country cousin returned from Exeter and told me he believed I had the making of a football player says John Cranston who was Harvard's famous old center and former coach and once I pestered him with all kinds of questions about the requirements and believed that someday I would do something I shall always remember my first day on the field at Exeter lacking the wherewithal to buy the regulation suit I appeared in the none too strong blue shirt and overalls used on the farm I remember too that it was not long before Harding said take that young contrament of the gymnasium before he's injured for life he doesn't know which way to run when he gets the ball he does another game and he looks too thick headed to play the game anyway as boys on neighboring farms of western New York three of us who were later to play on different college teams hunted skunks and rabbits together had we been on the same team we would have been side by side Cook was a great tackle at Princeton read one of the best guards Cornell ever had an eye owing to some good teammates played a center on the first Harvard 11 to defeat Yale it is said that cook and his first game at Exeter grabbed the ball and started for his own goal for a touchdown and that read after playing the long afternoon in the game which Cornell one asked the referee which side was victorious I well remember that at Exeter we were planning how to celebrate our victory over and over even to the most minute detail we knew who was to ring the academy and church bells of the town and where we were to have the bonfire at night we were deprived of that pleasure on account of the great playing and better spirit of the and over team a few of our exeter men then and there made a silent compact that Exeter would feel a little better after another contest with and over the following three years we defeated and over by large scores anyone who has played the game can recall some amusing situations I recall the first year at Harvard when we were playing against the and over team that suddenly the whole and over school gave the Yale cheer Doug Dean who was behind me fired up and said it was the freshest thing he had ever heard at Springfield I remember one Yale Harvard game started with 10 men of my own school Exeter in the game in another Yale game we were told to look ugly and defiant as we lined up to face Yale but I was forced to laugh long and hard when I found myself facing Frankie Barber the little Yale quarter who lived with me in the same dormitory at Exeter for three years end of chapter eight chapter nine of football days this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox dot org this recording by Anna Roberts football days by William Edwards chapter nine a the 90s and after men of today who never had an opportunity of seeing Foster Sanford play will be interested in some anecdotes of his playing days and to read in another chapter of this book some of his coaching experiences as a boy says sandy I lived in New Haven I chalked the lines on the football field for the game in which Tillie Lamar made his famous run for Princeton I played on the college team two years before I entered Yale I learned a lot of football playing against Billy Rhodes that great Yale tackle I'll tell you about the day I made the Yale team in my freshman year Poc Corbin took me in hand I think he wanted to see if I had lots of nerve he told me to report at nine o'clock for practice he put me through a hard grueling showing me how to snap the ball how to charge and body check all this took place in a driving rain and he kept me out until one o'clock when he said you can change your jersey now that is put on a dry one I went over to the training table then to see if I couldn't get some dinner believe me I was hungry but everyone had finished his meal and all I could pick up was the things that were left here I ran into a fellow named Brennan who said they're trying to do you up this is the day they are deciding whether you will be center rush or not I then went out to Yale field and joined the rest of the players and the stunts they put me through that afternoon I will never forget but I remember what Brennan had told me and it made me play all the harder to tell the truth after practice I realized that I was so sore I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other to make matters worse the coaches told me to run into town a distance of two miles while they drove off in a bus I didn't catch the bus until they were on Park Street but I pegged along just the same and beat them into the gate Billy Rhodes and Pop Corbin took care of me and rub me down it seems as though they rubbed every bit of skin off me I was like fire that's the day I made the Yale team I was 20 years old six feet tall and weighed about 200 pounds when I asked Sandy who gave him the hardest game of his life he replied promptly Wharton of Pennsylvania he got through me Park Davis's enthusiasm for football is known the country over from his experience as a player as a coach and writer he has become an authority let us read some of his recollections years ago there was a high spirited young player at Princeton serving his novitiate upon the scrub one day an emergency transferred him for the first time in his career to the varsity the game was against a small college this sudden promotion was possible through his fortunate knowledge of the varsity signals upon the first play fumble occurred our hero sees the ball a long service upon the scrub had ingrained him to regard the Princeton varsity men always as opponents in the excitement of the play he became confused when low he leaped into flight toward the wrong goal dashing around Princeton's left end he reversed his field and crossed over to the right Phil King Princeton's quarterback was so amazed at the performance that he was too spellbound to tackle his comrade down the backfield the player sped towards his own goal Shep Holmans his fullback took in the impending catastrophe at a glance and dashed forward lay the half back low with a sharp tackle thereby preventing a safety the game was unimportant the Princeton score was large so the unfortunate player although the butt of many a jest soon survived all jokes and jibes and became in time a famous player the first Princeton Yale game in 1873 being played under the old association rules was waged with a round ball in the first scrimmage a terrific report sounded across the field when the contending players had been separated the poor football was found upon the field a flattened sheet of rubber two toes had struck it simultaneously or someone's huge chest had crushed it and the ball had exploded whenever men are discussing the frantic enthusiasm of some fellows of the game I always recall the following episode as a standard of measurement the rules committee met one night at the martinique in New York for their annual winter session just as the members were going upstairs to convene I had the pleasure of introducing george foster sanford to fielding age yost the introduction was made in the middle of the lobby directly in the way of the traffic passing in and out of the main door the rules committee had gone into its regular session the hour was eight o'clock in the evening when they came down at midnight these two great football heroes were standing in the very spot where they were introduced four hours before and they were talking as they had been every minute throughout the four hours about football members of the committee joked with the two enthusiasts and then retired when they came downstairs the next morning at eight o'clock they found the two fanatics seated upon a bench nearby still talking football and that afternoon when the committee had finished its labors and had adjourned scene da they left sanford and yost still in the lobby still on the bench hungry and sleepy and still talking football this anecdote will be a good one for park davis's friends to read for how he ever stayed out of that talkfest is a mystery maybe he did now that yost and sanford have retired we will let park continue a few years ago everybody except dartmouth men laughed at the football which bounding along the ground at princeton suddenly jumped over the crossbar and gave to princeton a goal from the field which carried with it the victory but did you ever hear that in the preceding season in a game between two southern pennsylvania colleges a ball went awry from a dropkick striking in the chest the policemen who had strayed upon the field the ball rebounded and clearly carromed between the goalpost for a goal from the field years ago lafayette and pennsylvania state college were waging a close game at easton suddenly and without being noticed morten f jones lafayette's famous center rush in those days left the field of play to change his headgear the ball was snapped in play and a fleet penn state halfback broke through lafayette's line and armed with a ball dodged the second barriers and threatened by a dashing sprint to score in the extreme corner of the field as he reached the ten yard line to the amazement of all jones dashed out of the sideline crowd upon the field between the ten yard line and his goal thereby intercepting the state halfback tackling him so sharply that the ladder dropped the ball jones picked it up and ran back 40 yards there was no rule at that time which prevented the play and so penn state ultimately was defeated jones not only was a hero but his exploit long remained a mystery to many who endeavored to figure out how he could have been 25 yards ahead of the ball and between the runner and his own goal line a story is told of the wonderful dodging ability of phil king prince to 93 he was known throughout the football world as one of the shiftiest runners of his day through his efficient work king had fairly one game against yell in 93 the next year the aleman made up their minds that the only way to defeat princeton was to take care of king and they were ever on the alert to watch him whenever he got the ball the whole yell team was looking for king throughout this game on the kickoff phil got the ball and all the yell forwards began to shout here he comes here he comes and then as he was cleverly dodging and evading the yell players one of the backs who was waiting to tackle him low was her to say there he goes those of the old timers who study the picture of the flying wedge on the opposite page will get a glimpse of phil king about to set in motion one of the most devilishly ingenious maneuvers in the history of the game with all the formidable power behind him the old reliability of what the modern analytical coaches are pleased to term the farce plays ballyette beef wheeler biffy lia gus holly frank morse doggie trenchard douglas ward nox taylor harry brown jerry mccawley and jim blake king nevertheless stood out in lonely eminence ready to touch the ball down await the thunder of the joining lines of interference and pick up the tremendous pace either at the apex of the crashing v or cunningly concealed and swept along to meet the terrific impact with the waiting line of blue great was the crash thereof and it was a safe wager that king with the ball would not go unscathed this kind of football brought to light the old time indomitable courage of which the stalwarts of those days love to talk at every gridiron reunion but for the moment let us give yell the ball and stand the giant princeton team upon defense let us watch george ad get the ball from phil stillman and with his wonderful football genius develop a smashing play enveloped in a locked line of blue grim with the menace of orville hiccock jim mccree on say beard fred murphy frank hinky and jack greenway onward these mighty yell forwards ground their way through the princeton defense making a breach through which the mighty butterworth bronc armstrong and brink thorn might bring victory to yell this was truly a day when giants clashed as you look at these pictures do the players of today wonder any longer that the heroes of the olden time are still loyal to the game of their first love if you ever happen to go to china i am sure one of the first americans you will hear about would be pop gailey once a king of football centers and now a leader in ymca work in china lafayette first brought pop gailey fourth in 93 and 94 and he was the champion all american center of the princeton team in 96 he had a wonderful influence over the men on the team he was an example well worth following his manly spirit was an inspiration to those about him after one of the games a newspaper said old gailey stands firm as the eternal calvinistic faith which he intends to preach when his football scrimmages are over to charlie young the present professor of physical instruction of the cornell university gymnasium i cannot pay tribute high enough for the fine football spirit and the high regard with which we held him while he was at the princeton seminary he certainly loved to play football and he used to come out and play on the scrub team against the princeton varsity he was not eligible to play on the princeton team as he had played his allotted time at cornell the excellent practice he gave the princeton team yes more than practice it was oftentimes victory for him as well as the scrub he made po and palmer ever alert and did much to make them the stars they were as charlie's long suit was running backpunts his headwork was always in evidence he was a great field general one of his most excellent qualities was that of punting his was an ideal example for men to follow princeton men were the better for having played with and against a high type man like charlie young an evening with jim rogers jim rogers gave all there was in him to yale athletics not a single year has passed since he played his last game of football but has seen him back at the yale field coaching and giving the benefit of his experience jim rogers was captain of the 97 team at new haven and the traditions that can be written about a winning captain are many no greater pleasure can be afforded any man who loves to hear an old football player relate experiences than to listen while rogers tells of his own playing days and of some of the men in his experience it was once my pleasure to spend an evening with jim in his home really a football home mrs rogers knows much of football and is jim enthusiastically and with wonderfully keen recollection tells of the old games a 12 year old boy listens as only a boy can to his father his great hero and as jim puts his hand on the boy's shoulders he tells him the ideal of his dreams is to have him make the yale team someday and an enthusiastic daughter who sits near hope so too his scrapbooks and athletic pictures go to make a rare collection many of us would like to have seen jim rogers begin his football career at and over when he was 16 years old it was there that his 180 pounds of bone and muscle stood for much it was at and over the bill odin that great darkmouth man coached so many wonderful prep school stars who later became more famous at the colleges to which they went rogers went to yale with a big rep he had been captain of the and over team in the fall of 92 and over beat brown 24 to 0 jim rogers was very conspicuous on the field not only on account of his good playing and muscular appearance but because his blonde hair which he wore very long as a protection was very noticeable from this yale player whose friends are legion let us read some experiences and catch his spirit i was never a star player but i was a reliable in my freshman year i did not make the team owing to the fact that i had bad knees and better candidates were available this was the one year in yale football perhaps in all football when the team that played the year before came back to college with not a man missing frank hinky had been captain the year before and then came through as senior captain there was not a senior on frank hinky's team the first team therefore all came back al gerrams and louis hinky were the only additions to the old team perhaps the keenest disappointment that ever came to me in football was the fact that i could not play in that famous yale harvard game my freshman year however i came so very near it that billy roads and hethel finger came around to where i was sitting on the sidelines after fred murphy had been taken out of the game they started to limber me up by running me up and down the sideline but hinky the captain came over to the sideline and yelled for chadwick who went into the game i had worked myself up into a highly nervous condition anticipating going in but now i realized my knees would not allow it the disappointment that day though was very severe to show you what a hold these old games had on me many years after this game hinky and i were talking about this particular game when he said to me you never knew how close you came to getting into that springfield game jim then i told him of my experience but he told me that he had it in his mind to put me in it half back and ever since then when i think of it cold chills run up and down my spine it absolutely scared me stiff to think how i might have lost that game even though i never actually participated in it the yale football management however on account of my work during the season decided to give me my y gold football and banner the banner was a blue flag with the names of the team and the position they played in the score 12 to 6 it was a case where i came so near winning that they gave it to me jim rogers played three years against gary cochran and this great princeton captain stands out in his recollections of the yale princeton games he goes on to say if it had not been for gary cochran i might be rated as one of the big tackles of the football world today i used to dream of him three weeks before the princeton game how i was going to stand him off and let me tell you if you got in between doc hiller brand and gary cochran you were a sucker those games were a nightmare to me cochran used to fall on my foot box me in and hold me there and keep me out of the play jim rogers is very modest in this statement the very reason that he is regarded as a truly wonderful tackle is on account of the great game he played against cochran how wonderfully reliable he was football history well records he was always to be depended upon in the fall of 1897 when i was captain of the yale team rogers continues perhaps the most spectacular yale victory was pulled off when princeton with the exception of perhaps two men and virtually the same team that had beaten yale the year before came on the field and through overconfidence or a lack of training did not show up to their best form we were out for blood that day i said to johnny baird princeton quarterback princeton is great today we have played 10 minutes and you haven't scored johnny with a look of determination upon his face said you fellows can play 10 times 10 minutes and you'll never score but the princeton football hangs in the yale trophy room i have always claimed that charlie desaules put the yale 97 team on the map charlie desaules with his three wonderful runs which averaged not less than 60 yards each really brought about the victory frank butterworth as head coach will always have my highest regard he did more than anyone alive could have done to pull off an apparently impossible victory one great feature of this game was ad kelly's series of individual gains aided by hillibrand and edwards through rogers and chadwick kelly took the ball for 40 consecutive yards up the field and gains of from one to three yards each when fortunately for yale a fumble gave them the ball when the fumble occurred i happened at the time to break through very fast there lay the ball upon the ground and nobody but myself near it the great chance was there to pick it up and perhaps even with my slow speed gained 20 to 30 yards for yale no such thought however entered my head i wanted that ball and curled up around it and hugged it as a tortoise would close in its shell my recollection is now that i sat there for about five minutes before anybody deigned to fall on me at all events i had the ball gordon brown played as a freshman on my team he had a football face that i liked he weighed 185 pounds and was six feet four inches tall gordon went up against bove in the harvard game and the critics stated that bove was the best guard in the country that year i said to gordon play this fellow the game of his life and when you get him let me know and i'll send someplace through you after about 60 minutes of play gordon came to me and said jim i've got him and he had him all right for we were then successful in gaining through that part of the harvard line gordon brown was a very earnest player he would allow nothing to stop him he got his ears pretty well bruised up and they bothered him a great deal in fact he did have to lay off two or three days he came to me and said do you think this injury will keep me out of the big game well i'll see if the trainer cannot make a headgear for you well i'll tell you this jim said gordon i'll have him cut off before i'll stay out of the game this amused me and i said gordon you have nothing of beauty to lose you will keep your ears and you will play in the big games gordon brown's team under melka mcbride his head coach was a wonder this 11 to our minds was the best ever turned out by yell university they defeated princeton 29 to 5 and the powerful harvard team 28 to 0 their one weakness was that they had no long punter but as they expressed it to me afterward they had no need of one at one time during the game with harvard they took the ball on their own 10 yard line and instead of kicking marched it up the field and then a very few rushes scored a touchdown harvard men afterwards told me that after seeing a few minutes of the game they forgot the strain of harvard's defeat in their admiration of yale's playing this team showed the highest coordination between the yell coaching staff the college and the players and they set a high watermark for all future teams to aim at which was all due to gordon brown's genius for organization and leadership it has been my experience in talking of football stars with some of the old timers that frank hanky heads the list i cannot let frank hanky remain silent this time he says i think it was in the fall of 95 that skim brown who played the tackle position was captain of the scrubs team at new haven brown was a very energetic scrub captain he was continuously urging on his men to better work as you recall the cry tackle low and run low was continuously called after the teams in those days brown's particular pet phrase and urging his men was run low so that he whenever the halfback received the ball would immediately start to holler run low and would keep this up until the ball is dead he got so in the habit of using this call went on the offense that one day when the quarterback called upon him to run with the ball from the tackle position even before he got the ball he started to cry run low while carrying the ball himself and continued to cry out run low even after he had gained ground for about 15 yards and until the ball was dead it was in the fall of 92 when vance mccormick was captain of the yell team and dining o'neill was trying for the guard position as you know the linemen are very apt to know only the signals on offense which call for an opening of their particular position and even then a great many of them never know the signals now dining was bright enough but like most linemen did not know the signals it happened one day that mccormick at the quarterback position called several plays during the afternoon that required o'neill to make an opening o'neill invariably failed because he didn't know the signals mccormick suspecting this finally gave o'neill a good calling down the calling down fell flat in its effects on o'neill as his reply to mccormick was to hell with your mystic signs and symbols give me the ball the real founder of football at dartmouth was bill oddland writes ed hall oddland learned his football at and over and came to dartmouth with a class of 90 and it was while he was in college that football really started he was practically the only coach he was a remarkable kicker certainly one of the best if not the best in the fall of 89 oddland was captain of the team and playing fullback harvard and yell played at springfield and on the morning of the harvard yell game dartmouth and williams played on the same field it was in this game in the fall of 89 that he made his most remarkable kick in which the wind was a very important element in the second half oddland was standing practically on his own 10 yard line the ball was passed back to him to be kicked and he punted the kick itself was a remarkable kick and perfect in every way but when the wind caught it it became a wonder and it went along like a balloon the wind was really blowing a gale and the ball landed away beyond the williams quarterback and the first bounce carried at several yards beyond their goal line of course any such kick as this would have been absolutely impossible except for the extreme velocity and pressure of the wind but it was easily the longest kick i ever saw three times during oddland's football playing days he kicked goals from the 65 yard line and while it and over he kicked a placed kick from a mark in the exact center of the field scoring a goal when brown men discussed football their recollections go back to the days of hopkins and mellard of robinson mccarthy vaults everett colby and gammons fred murphy frank smith the giant guard that great spectacular player richardson and other men mentioned elsewhere in this book in a recent talk with that sterling fellow dave vaults he told me something about his football career it was in part as follows i played at brown in 94 95 96 and 97 captaining the team in my last year gammons and i play the in the backfield together he was unquestionably a great runner with a ball one of the hardest men to hurt i think i ever saw i have often seen him get jolts go down and naturally one would think go out entirely but when i would go up to him he would jump up as though he had not felt it i think everett colby was as good a man interfering for the runner as i have seen he played quarterback and captain the brown team in 96 i don't think there was ever a better quarterback than willis d richardson rich as we used to call him dave vaults is very modest and when he discusses his football experiences he sidetracks one and talks of his fellow college players now that i have pinned him down he goes on to say the day before we play the indians one year my knee hurt me so much that i had to go to the doctor he put some sort of ointment on it two days before this game i could hardly move my leg the doctor threatened me with water on the knee he told me to go to bed and stay there but i told him we had a game in new york and i had to go he said all right if you want water on the knee i said i've got to go if i am at all able anyway i went on down to new york with the team and played in the game all i needed was to get warmed up good and i went along in great shape those who remember reading the accounts of that game will recall that dave vaults made some miraculous runs that day and was a team in himself fred murphy who is captain of the 98 team at brown and played and rush says i think dave vaults played under more difficulties than any man that ever played the game i've seen him play with a heavy knee brace he had his shoulder dislocated several times and i've seen him going into the game with his arms strapped down to his side so that he could just use his forearm he played a number of games that way that happened when he was captain he was absolutely conscientious fearless and a good leader end of chapter nine part a