TB LL TODAY AND FOO A , TOMORROW

AM B l R PE By W I LLI W. ( i l" O R

Princeton 1 902

I llus trated fr om Pho togr aphs

DUFFIELD AND COMPANY

New York

1 92 8

C ONTENTS

FOOTB ALL CLASSI C THE TRAI NI NG OF A M ODERN

THE QUARTERBAOK CARRI ES THE MENTAL BU RDEN BY THEI R PLAYS YE SHALL KNOW

BETWEEN THE HALVE S I N A FOO TBALL

THE PSYC HOLOG Y OE FOO T B ALL ANY BOY CAN BE A FOO T B ALL PLAYER THE VALUE OF FOO T B ALL WHAT TS WRONG WI TH PROF E SSI ONAL

THE MODERN GAME

I LLU STRATI ONS

arvar d- Princ et o n o o t all ame The last H f b g , rid es o f P rinc et o n c ar r in the B g , , y g ball (fr ontispiece"

Beattie Princ eton ac k r eakin thr o u h the , b , b g g Chic ago line f o r a clear gain

i wit the all ei Walker Of St anfo rd r unn ng h b . W bel Of No t r e Dame ho t a fter him

’ Dan aulkins P rinc et o n s a le field ener al C , b g , sc o rmg first t o uchdo wn again st Yale in 1 926 game

St an o rd- ali o rnia ame witnes sed b f C f g , y people

The Ar my and Navy s t ruggling in the mud and r ain Of the 1 923 game at the Po lo gr o unds

” Red Gr ange

’ What s wro ng with Pr o fe s sio nal Fo o tb all ?

McPhail Of Dar tmo uth aided b er ec t t er , y p f in er ence r i in Off a ai in H d f , pp g g n arvar ame 1 92 g , 6

Dixo n Of Califo rnia t ackled by flying Wa shing t on end

F O O TBALL Today and Tomorrow

F BALL DAY AND OOT , TO TOM ORROW

CHAPTER I

A FOOTBALL CLASSI C

o T was not mere fo tball, that whirlwind finish Of Princeton against Chicago in the memo ~ l rable intersectional game Of 1 922 something more compelling and bloo dl stirring ; football m in drama exe plified the last mad, wild twelve minutes Of play which left the spectators limp c and voi eless . Chicago held a lead Of two touchdowns in the to final quarter and, the casual spectator, had the game sewed up tight . Then, like a bolt from c nl a the blue, Prin eton u eashed daring, insolent

' Offense into which enough spectacularly thrilling football for twenty games was packed .

During the first period, the Tigers were weak driv in spots , brilliant at intervals , but lacking in bi ing power and a sus tained defense . The g Maroon backs battered and tore the Princeton Fo o tb a o a and o mo r r o w ll, T d y T

The line to shreds . Easterners fought stub bornl y, but without avail. The first time Princeton had e ver played in the West, enthusiasm was at a high point when the team reached Chicago the day before the game . Alonzo Stagg, the Chicago coach, and o ne I Of the finest sportsmen have ever met , s greeted us at the tation, told us arrangements had , been made for our squad to practice at the

Stadium that afternoon . The Princeton players r eflected the growing excitement in the game as they wandered over the excellent playing field; I have never seen — a better conditioned field almost as smooth as

Of The the puttl ng green a golf course . boys were particularly enthusiastic about the springy turf. The backs said it was superb for running . Our courteous hosts informed us that every s eat had been sold in advance , that forty thou sand people would be crowded into the stands , with o ne hundred thousand clamoring for admit

Sl r Yes , bemoaned the Chicago manager, I ’ could have sold seats . I ve never heard ” o f such a demand to see a football game .

our Back at hotel, where many Of the visitors Fo o tb a o a and omor r o w ll, T d y T

I m H John Tho as , with his brother arry, and P ott Jim y , ripped the Tiger line wide open and paraded sixty yards in the first quarter for a

wn s . touchdo . They found our tackles ea y marks Swiftly Chicago struck at them again and — again in the second quarter and always with the for same result . Again they marched through a n SO —a touchdow . did Princeton long, beautiful pass followed by four thrusts at the line and one o f our backs tumbled over the goal line for o ur

first blood . I rr c the third quarter, the Chi ago backs plo ughed and hammered their way through for a third touchdown. Still the Princeton team strove valiantly but in vain to turn back the

Maroon tide which rolled against them . With the western sun slanted acro ss the

1 8 - 7 m the Stadium, and the score against the ,

Tigers were still fighting back, courageous as un n before, co vinced that defeat had overtaken

t e re them, hop ing somehow, to break clear Of h lentleSs Chicago defense and retrieve the day as

Princeton teams had done on many another field .

n afi ord t o After all, Pri ceton could not well e lose to Chicago . This was list d as the last inter sectional game for some time and there w as at 6 . A Fo o tb all Classic

our had obtained rooms, the Old colored waiter at table commented : “ ” ’ - Ah so Boss, he said, wide eyed, ain t seen ’ much excitement in Chicago Since COln l Roose ” velt brought his Progressive Party out here "

As the time for the game approached, excite ment was at a fever heat yet for all that, the spirit Of friendship between the two teams and in their supporters was never lost . While the W ning Of the game w as a vital thing a spirit of friendly rivalry was manifested in the attitude o f o on the tw teams the field . Chicago was about to match brain and brawn with Princeton. The West would tourney with TO the East in a test Of skill and courage . every Princeton player this Invasion into a far country was an adventure colored with romance . The x game had no more than begun when we realized that o ur Princeton eleven had never battered itself against a forward line like Stagg’ s

, t Maroon phalanx . It was massive and ye mobile . Against it the initial assaults Of our backs were t futile . We gamed very li tle ground while the powerful Maroon backs, when they swung into action, moved as one man, with the Princeton line reeling before them. A Fo o tb all Class ic stake the supremacy Of the East or West on the

- white ribbed gridiron .

This extraordinary Princeton team, which was never to know defeat and magnificent in the role o f undertak an underdog, felt no trepidation in

I n - filter g the daring, hair raising plan Of attack o f Ing through the mind Johnny Gorman, the alert little quarterback .

The fighting spirit Of the Tigers was superb . Every man was imbued with the idea Of doing no something for Princeton and t for self. This Spirit i s something I have always tried to I ncul cate and I honestly believe it has much to do with winmn b g foot all.

Just that morning, at a coaches meeting, we i our dec ded to change lineup , substituting Charlie Caldwell for Harvey Emery at full back savm E and g mery for reserve work . I thought it fair to tell Emery and when I did he gave me an answer which I will never forget . “ i ” S I th nk you are right , he aid . I believe om Caldwell is the man to start . He has been g g ” much better than I have . This incident exempl ified the feeling Of every player and showed their willingness to sink one ’ s individuality for the good Of the team . It made little difference that day to any man who started ; -

Fo o tb a o a and Tomo r r o w ll, T d y everyone was interested in w inning from Chi cago . s Up in the stand , we all knew, were a multi tude Of Princeton supporters, filling the aisles flow m like a swirling tide, g over the terraced r rows Of seats, crowding down to the field in thei determination to lend vocal and moral support to the Tigers . Gray-haired Princeton alumni With their families who had waited many years to see the

Younger alumni settled in the great Open country who had travelled miles to see their alma mater trI umph over a powerful western e o f team. Mothers , fathers and sweeth arts the men down on the field caught up in the whirl — Of big game excitement . Unl on Mr. Gray, president Of the Pacific \ Off Railroad , had called a Board Of Directors meeting scheduled for that afternoon in Chicago see son in order to his , Howard, the Princeton SO end, play against a heralded Chicago team . ’ o f far, he didn t have an entirely pleasant time it with the score 1 8 -7 But wait " P ott y , the Chicago back, opened the last quarter with a smart fifteen yard run . Prince

8 . A Fo o tb all Clas sic ton stiffened on her own fo rty yard line and o n who Chicag kicked. John y Gorman, played a remarkable game all afternoon, caught the pigskin and attempted a daring back pass to J ack Cleaves, who was posted wide, but the pass a was thrown forward, m king it illegal, and

Princeton was set back to her two. yard line on a fifteen yard penalty. There was little hope for the Tiger in this sit n Off ation. The end Of the game was not far and it was a time for desperate methods . From the sidelines I could see Gorman holding a hurried s conference with Cleaves, the Olde t and strongest o r man in u back field . The only member Of the team who played against Chicago the year pre vions in the Palmer Stadium when we were de feated 1 0- 0 I remembered that Gorman and Cleaves had o r played many years Of fo tball togethe . They were the closest Of friends , had gone through

Mercersburg together, and in their school days had perfected many plays on their own initiative i wh ch dazzled their Opponents . n and Knowi g this, seeing no chance for d e Princeton in straight football, I hope when th y lined up they were going to try something out Of the beaten path. Gorman called for a kick formation. Cleaves dropped back as if t o punt while the Chicago

‘ to uct wn block the kick and score another . t be The ball was passed o Cleaves, standing

e who stretched arms Of littl Johnny Gorman, runmn the was g at top speed down field. Ma and m r Gor an c ashed to earth at midfield . The

’ l ittle fellow was so badly shaken up he had td e leave the game . Princ ton supporters were rolled down o n the wearied player

n . P ot Then the tide tur ed swiftly \ rinceton g her long expected break and knew what to do n on own with it . Chicago ext got the ball her

a O Dawson took his pl ce . n the first play he Z passed inaccurately to orn, the ball hitting him on c n o out the knee and boun ed i t the , eager, Of stretched arms Howdy Gray, the Princeton e end, who, without having to check or sw rve to a take it, was up and aw y and never stopped until he crossed the Chicago goal line "

, - z i The score was I S l l with s x minutes Of play . J The fumble and touchdown was enough for to Princeton . I have always taught my boys play for the breaks, to fight hardest and think l w to m quick y hen the break comes, ha mer away and sweep the opposition off their feet before

ThePrinceton team siez ed their opportunity and rose to their greatest heights . Chicago had

” i We elected to k ck . When received the ball, Win t c gate, then playing quar erba k for Princeton, had already put a fire and dash into his signal calling which inspired the players and carried on r them with t emendous confidence .

Down the field they marched, steadily, tri um hantl i p y, w th a brand Of attack that was ver sati e i s I rm c n . a l , resour eful and P g The Chic go to team cracked . They seemed lack their former power and resistence as our backs shot u . past , them and through them and aro nd them Princeton played magnificent football without the semblance Of a mistake and In a series Of

“ a brilli nt dashes gained sixty yards . The ball was o n the four yard line and it was

n A r e the fourth dow . few minutes Of play d maine . Here was our chance to put over the W inning touchdown . Crum, a reserve halfback,

II I . Fo o tb a o a nd o mor r ow ll, T d y a T sitting on the bench and carried away by the on spirit displayed by the men the field, grabbed

ar my m.

Listen, Bill, he begged, I can score this ” e " touchdown " Put me in th re . Please “ GO ahead Crum raced out on the field and on the next play his burley form knifed through the Maroon

- t . 2 1 1 8 defense for the ouchdown Score , with

Princeton leading.

Three minutes of play remained . Chicago , in Of the shadow Of defeat , showed a flash its former power and cut loose with a nerve -racking series Of e brilliantly executed passes, intermingl d with line plays which swept through the P rinceton team and placed the ball on the one yard line in two minutes and thirty seconds Of play. On this sweep the Chicago team completed one P ott four forward passes, the last , y to Stroh - T meir, for twenty two yards . hen with the ball e sud in the Shadow Of the Princ ton goal, they denly changed the tactics o f their irresistable at our tack and used a drive at the center Of line . was the o ur Here ball on one yard line , thirty

seconds to play, the fourth down, and the inter

sectional game at stake .

Princeton made a last, gallant stand . Into A Fo o tb all Classic

the s e ma sed Tiger defens plunged John Thomas . h Princeton defended magnificently. T e great

’ a Maroon back hit his head against stonewall. It was our ball " Cleaves punted out Of danger and then the game ended with everyone ragged and nerveless from excitement . First to congratulate us was t mos Alonz o S agg. His v seemed hoarse with i — so l e fat gue and was m n . It was the most li thril ng, the most spectacular game Of football see I have ever seen or ever hope to again. FOOTBALL TEAM

ca e s o g and then urprised the f otball world . 1 922 by winning from Yale and Harvard in , nd to was selected, trained a developed meet the

-five a o Oot Twenty years g , when I played f e ball, the d velopment and selection Of the varsity wa the s largely a survival Of toughest, the big t a ges nd Strongest men. the bral mest and con Today the fastest, best ditione d players make up the eleven. In my day emphasis was on Weight and strength ; today it on and is speed brains . Just how far we have advanced in the training o f a modern football team is illustrated by a comparison with the methods employed a quarter

Of a century ago . There was a very common error In the Old days that football was merely a survival Of the tough

I 4 . eSt a hardemn rocc , in that the Ide Of the g p the early season consisted mainly Of encour severe bodily tests which were supposed to 1 nate the weaker candidates and strengthei om t more rugged . They acc plished the firs Of their aim very thoroughly and a week 0 ] Of practice used to be enough to drive a] with a fair percentage Of the heavy fellows This practice was less fatal in those days et e a s every coach had to g w ight , and fa t man had to be extraordinarily goo d to get 1 ' a a to surviv consider tion, even if he m naged of S clashes those opening crimmages . The modern game needs faster men thal that none Of them shall be hurt or slowed 11 any needless accident . Some co aches believe in an extended pre a s n ry season lasting at lea t a month . The; e e1 lieve it necessary to enabl the players, to g e u u a o shap nder expert s pervision. Sever l c l have established training camps where the e

Of the season. The Princeton-Yale and the Western CO ence agreements provide that football prz Fo o tb a To a and omo rr ow ll, d y T

ot a t u 1 5th shall n st r ntil September . Per all I I n a son y, do not believe long preliminary s the sessI ons season. Unles practice are held in a particularly I nvI gOrating climate the first two weeks Of September are apt to be the hottest ' o f

a a football player more than the he t . Football

- was never intended to be a hot weather game . much as p ossible to the perI Ods during which o college is actually In session. Gathering t gether a squad Of fifty or sixty prospective foot ball candidates in mid-summer cannot but create a wrong impressI On In the minds Of the players

many Of them depend on working at jobs during the summer months and need every penny they a o f e can e rn to pay part their colleg expenses . ' I do not mean to minimiz e the importance Of h i p ysical condit on for, after all, if the football candidate does not keep in shape during the summer months he will be Of little use in the fall . But surely the game holds sufficient appeal to let the players take care Of themselves. Physical condition wins more football games to than any single factor. I should much prefer

Fo o tb all Toda and Tom , y or r ow

i s h ou. Football a ard, rough game, and y must

A ‘ month before our training season started

i n - smoking, to be bed at half past ten every

setting up exercises morning and evening, and — players did as we asked we use the honor — system Of training at Princeton and they re ported in excellent shape . After they reported ’ ’ we didn t ask them to do anything the coaches ’ wouldn t do . We trained with the men. During the first days Of practice the men re c eived i s a thorough training in grass drills, that , o n to falling , the ground from all angles aid the blood circulation and harden the mu—scles . There was no falling on the ball o ne Of the commonest methods Of har demng men in the old days and stubbornly clung to even in this en n lighte ed day. When I played football every team i n the country spent more Of its first few days i n this particular exercise than anything One a else . reason for it probably lay in the be u

' tiful ease with which any volunteer coach with u a leathern l ng and an uninventive brain, could h l put the neop yte through it, baw ing lustily at him as his tender- skinned body slid over the rasp

i n . i t g turf Perhaps was fun, too, for those who ’ the to didnt have to do it . It amused bleachers see the antics Of the beginners, and there was some pleasure in it for those who could cover the e ball like a hen and a lonesome chick n, but I l a ee no o ther ' excuse for c n s it , then or now. on At best , this falling the ball is a useless practice and a feat which was never good foot ball and is now so directly Opposed : to sound

‘

. t t tactics that it is almost comic A its worst, i is among the most dangerous forms Of early season training. Very few men came through it without losing large areas Of skin and acquir i ng choice collections Of blue bruises where

» those bruises hurt most . For that matter its a damage was not confined to the e rly season. I remember vividly the tense minutes before one o f the Yale - Princeton games when the set custom called for each team to indulge in an ex “ hibition Of its prowess at this art Of falling on the ball while the packed stand thundered with applause . They were beautiful acrobatics, , \ too and on this occasion one of the best men o n the

Vl Cl Ol l S Princeton team, making a particularly t a stab a rolling ball, got up with a broken collar

sidelines while it took a sound licking, perhaps for the want Of him. I may as well confess that it took me twenty five years to see the light and this came near cost i ng me the services Of a very necessary player for 1 91 9 the whole Of the season, who dislocated his — ’ shoulder and it wasn t a paper-weight shoulder — either by trying to fall on the ball under my the for personal direction . This settled matter me, but if I had needed any final persuasion I a certain big game with no Opponent anywhere near and a clear field to the goal before them. An y one Of those men could have counted three and then picked up the ball and scored with it . This subject Of falling on the ball deserves an excursion from the main theme and I mean to hammer it home . I remember that Herman Suter ran ninety-five yards against Harvard in 1 895 on W , with a ball hich he had conspicuously refrained from falling ; that Arthur Poe Scored the Winning touchdown against Yale in 1 898 i Tr aining a Mo dern Team under the same circumstances ; that John De

Witt repeated the performance, also against

1 903 . Yale , in , and that Ed Booth did it again in 1 907 and Sam White against both Yale and ’ i n 1 91 1 Scheerer s Harvard , while run is still talked about—and in this book there is the story o f Howdy Gray picking up a fumble out in Chi cago and running for a touchdown which changed the whole psychology Of the Princeton team. on And I can recall falling a ball myself, in - 1 899 the Yale Princeton game of , which luckily did not cost us the game because we were able to gain twenty-five yards afterwards and Arthur P o e was equal to the emergency with his field

Of goal in the last minute play. This particular instance i s particularly vivid because I could have picked up the ball more easily than I fell o n it and I could certainly have made those

-five twenty yards and perhaps a touchdown . I distinctly remember that as I lay on the ball it seemed to be a full minute at least before any

o e body dropped u m . Probably it was only a few seconds in actual fact . Very strongly am I against this falling on the ball in early season practice when there is so much more important work to be accomplished .

2 1 . Fo o t all o a and omor r b , T d y T ow

Running. can be beautifully combined with other drill which 18 interesting in itself and highly i n necessary the development Of the team. I know Of no more important practice than passing and catching the ball . It is mighty good to o e fun, . We have the backs and nds lined up two r on in squads with a passe each side . At the tween the opposmg squads by keeping an ao Of s curate count the mi sed passes by each player. Everyone tries to get through this practice with o ut a missing thrown pass . The pass receiver must be shown how to catch " the ball, with arms relaxed at the elbows He should never fight the ball, but give with it in the h manner Of a baseball fielder catching a igh fly.

Pick Out a passer who can hurl a soft ball . They o r are twice as easy t catch . The pass receive the should never run at full speed entire route . He should be taught to save for the final burst o o f speed in the last few yards . The passer sh uld be instructed to throwthe ball a trifle ahead Of the receiver. This running and catching o f the ball is real a sport, s is the catching Of punts and running d them back . The whole squa can indulge in this a practice Of charging down tow rd the catcher, Tr aining a MOder "

n without, Of course, attempti g a tackle e stag Of the work .

- We spend a half an hour a day c passes . This practice is held every day season and as a result the players seldom ff mu a pass in a game .

a backfie In the e rly days Of training, the l inemen are separated and later mould a tei gether as a team, after they have m s o f fundamentals their position . The first scrimmage Of the 1 925 team w two weeks after the traimng season 5 Each man stayed in the game for abo

a r w eath minutes . It was in w rm, Octobe the men perspired freely. Few men, a found, are inJ red when they are p warmed up . There were only two scrimmages b A e first game . few plays had been p used in these early scrimmages . time the coaches were weeding out a squad o f thirty-three men compos men squad. Many Of the who were assigned to an assistant co the entire fall teaching them the s such as pas ing, kicking, drop u ing p the ball . men lessened the probability Of i nJli n es on the

a week' until toward the end

the or Of ing middle toward the end the season . And Notre Dame is said to scrimmage not more

O perfection until the end f the season . A general i the let down s permitted before final spurt . At

Tr aining a Mo dern Tea/m

Princeton this let down comes two weeks before

' bi Of i s the g games the year. The squad given two full days Of rest and told to get their minds

Off the game . This short vacation works wonders with the men for the strain Of daily football is “ beginning to tell and some are liable to get fed ” on up the sport .

Mon day is the easiest day Of the week . We review the game Of the previous Saturday and o ut our point mistakes . Then the players do a -u little limbering p work . Tuesday is devoted to hard individual work and to signal practice . i s Wednesday scrimmage day. There is warm

-u ing p work and a half hour Of scrimmage . Thursday is devoted to polishing up individual

work and correcting faults noted in scrimmage . i s 1 8 an There also a—long Signal drill . Friday other easy day just light work lasting not more

than an hour. About the middle Of each season we have a

Of - - - - week hard, hammer and tongs , blood and iron scrimmage work in which players Often wm their s i s i po itions . It n this week that a winning foot

ball team is sometimes made . The weight Of our players is watched very

. nd closely Each man is weighed every day, a

. e a record kept Ther is something wrong if, by Fo o tb a l oda and omor r ow l , T y T

or . Monday Tuesday, a player has not regained ’ m the weight lost in Saturday s ga e . The trainer Of a football team is a very i m the portant cog in machine . We are very for tun ate at Princeton in havmg one Of the best conditioners Of men in the country—Keene Fitz

When a fine player i s carried to the sidelines injured it is indeed a relief to know that he will the and get best possible care attention. he Of T rights the trainer are to be respected . I remember many instances in the old days when it had been solemnly agreed between the coach and trainer that a time limit Should be set on the

’ tramer s overruled the call for time, to put Just ” five more minutes on some individual play he s wanted to perfect . These five minute were a nearly alw ys costly, for it is a provable fact that men are hurt far more easily when they are tired than when they are fresh . Time after time these few extra minutes Of scrimmage cost teams the services Of their most valuable men. Often the Observing eye Of Fitzpatrick has

' detected the drawn faces and lagging step Of a wearied player . Immediately, after consulting

one . Of the coaches, Keene approached the man Tr aining a Mo dern Team

the f t OE Better take rest O the af ernoon . Get under the showers and make s ure you get a good ’ ” t leSS an night s res . Not than nine hours , and t other probable foo ball injury was averted . The Old custom Of football players appearing

' o n the field under a mass o f padding is now be are coming Obsolete . Of course the men heavily padded in the early season practice before the

”

-i muscles are hardened, but as the season pro esse d gr s, the excess pad ing is removed and dis carded . Pads retard speed, and speed is king in modern football . Princeton teams Of today go into the big games on with practically no padding, except the n shoulders . At that stage Of developme t the men should be so conditioned that the only time they are subject to injury I S when they are hit very hard while they are in motion . The slight bruises body pads would prevent are not enough to justify their use . The difference between the Old and new type Of football affects ahno st every detail Of training a routine, even down to the diet Of the pl yers . The old idea was to feed the players red meat and all they could swallow Of it . The best modern methods agree that the right diet i s the

- wholesome, moderate, well balanced rations to Fo o tb a o a and omor r ow ll, T d y T which the men are or should be accustomed the o r i s Old year aroun d . T day the e none Of the craze for putting o n weight at the expense Of overburdening even a boy’ s capacity for di gestion. ’ o I m not a c rank n diet . Our players eat ac customed, healthful food, but we ask them to

a them lie down for half hour before dinner, and o find that it does them g od . Keene Fitzpatrick suggested that each man eat an apple every day, the one Of that big meal the day be in the evening, an hour at least after the close o f practice ; that ff t re co ee, which stimula es the heart action, be placed by tea as a beverage . stuffed with food an hour or so before they are out on sent the field . Modern college laws have required a little more from the athlete than from the other stu o and dent, b th as regards his conduct study. The cons icu athlete, even where faculty control is p ousl y benevolent, is always under Observation and usually under suspicion . He is something ’ like the minister s son in that when he slips every

“ “ body knows it and many people gladly say : I ” o a e told you s . The thlet cannot play unless he keeps out Of trouble and is listed well up in his e class . He is requir d to keep his body and mind clean not only for the limited period Of football

but . Season, the year around There is one phase Of the training Of a modern football team which I believe Should be abolished — Spring practice . During the past three years the benefits Of such training SO insignificant i n comparison with the Obvious disadvantages that

I believe it will soon be abandoned . ul Football is an autumnal Sport . It sho d be

‘ restricted to the fall. In the spring the men Of varsity calibre are usually engaged in another

— or form Of sport baseball, track, lacrosse crew.

1 8 nu At best, spring training a haphazard, f organized a fair . Scrimmage for us is impossible and the probability Of severe injuries not worth the risk . ff Conditions vary in the di erent institutions, N however . At otre Dame, I am told, Knute

‘ ’ ROckne holds an extended seSSi on Of Six weeks get i n a lot Of scrimmage work Hurry Up Yost devotes considerable time to spring prac s tice at Michigan . He stres es passing and kick a scri mmage is rarely ttempted . This past spring we supplemented o ur spring

i n work With a course running. Keene Fitz

our . d patrick, trainer, directed this work three ays o a week . Apparently we have g tten more good o ut Of this running exercise than any other train t ing outside the regular foo ball season .

An i d . how to run . running s the basis of football l Today the game is first and ast a test of Speed . Last fall I had on the squad three men who were

Fi atri k positively Slow Of foot . Keene t c took “ them in charge this past winter and Spring, m n worked with them, and speeded the e up to ’ a marked degree . In fact you wouldn t know e they were th same players . o Spring practice, in my mind, is not a g od I to - thing for football. t tends over emphasize c out for the game, takes mu h Of the fun Of it " m the players by aking it a grind, and as a method Of whipping a team into shape it is unsatis factory. All a coach can do is to size up his e mi squad, mak some tentative plans for the co ng season and get acquainted with the new men . or e Football is no game f weaklings . It r

mres S . he a res q partanlike training T hard, gg

Fo o tb a l o a and omo r r o w l , T d y T tempt to deny that there are some parts Of the training and practice which are tedious and dis agreeable, yet the healthy competitive Spirit Of well as the thrill Of the game itself far transcend

i s . season over, feel badly about it In fact , I are really sorry when the season is over. CHAPTER III

THE Q U ARTERBAC K CARRI ES THE KI ENTAL BU RDEN

ffi ob Ship , is the most di cult j I have to tackle in most seasons . After twenty-five years Of Observmg football players, I have listed several qualities, which, a blended together, make the ideal qu rterback.

He must have courage and brains . He must be able to think fast and straight . He must have initiative and lots Of it . According to the dic tionar Of y, initiative is the first move ; the power initiating ; ability for original conception and in dependent action.

And the quarterback must have a stirring, ringing Voice that has the same quality as music to the dancer ; it is the life blood Of a football team. Mal Logan, the Harvard quarterback, had “ i n this compelling quality his voice . As we

33~ Fo o tb a o a and o mo r r ow ll, T d y T

mi LO reached dfield, said Tacks Hardwick, ’ S V I n l t gan oice cal ing Signals sounded at a S eady, even beat . It was like the smooth hum Of a t mo or. But as we came within striking distance nl u of the goal it sudde y t rned to a Sharp , staccato ff one e ect , where could feel the hair lifting along ’ the back Of the head . Logan s voice at this point w as a big factor i n fairly driving the team for I f ll ward, It had an nspirational e fect beyond a belief. A a t real quarterb ck mus possess brains , courage, initiative and a compelling voice . Blessed indeed is the coach who is alloted such a

' Caulkins theP rinceton Dan , quarterback, was I n 1 926 such a jewel . the Princeton eleven stumbled along through a disasterous midseason with Caulkins nursing a charley horse on the team~lac ed Sidelines . The k the spark, the driving

o ii n ortant . power, s p to winning football

. COOl Then Caulkins went back into the game , the f confident, with a ringing voice, he had e fect a of a new spark plug to falteringmotor. The m ice Of Caulkins carried them forward with the smoothness and precision Of a well-timed ma one chine . He had leadership ; and more than player confided to me that the mere presence Of

34 The Quar ter b ac k

Caulkins on the field made all the difference I n

a t . the world . They pl yed better han they knew

. a m A quarterback lacking a crisp , stacc to ice a i s at a big disadvantage . A steady dull inton tion O cuts heavily upon the morale f the team . Ecker C V sall Of hicago had a magnetic oice, as did Don

Lourie and Wingate Of Princeton . And Stuhl Of dreher, Notre Dame had an inspiring voice as w s ell as brains, courage , coolnes , speed, stamina

"

SO Of . and leadership . did Richeson, Yale There is one thing that every coach should make plain to every member Of his team—the quarterback is the boss Of strategy Of the team NO h on the field . other player as a right to in ter fere with him . That includes the captain . x ’ His job is to keep up the team s fighting morale ‘ — e not to tell the quarterback what plays to us . Many football fans seem to have gotten a mis Of taken impression the huddle system. When it was introduced at Princeton a Sports writer in New York wrote several clever stories about the t Princeton eam going into conference . They cute were not true . There is no con arterback ference . gives the orders, and to the other players are not permitted butt in. ’ I ve seen more than one game lost through t he interference Of other players with the quarter Fo o tb a o a and omor r ow ll, T d y T

back. One Of the most important games played two years ago ended in a tie because three juniors in the backfield “rode ” the sophomore quarter ’ back until he didn t know whether he was play o r i ing football golf. The final wh stle blew while the three juniors w

The similar experience here at Princeton. quarterback did not order a kick on fourth down — with a half yard to go because the captain a lineman—told him to put the play over him and it would go . The quarterback did as he was told, ’ b t he e o u t play didn t go, and we lost a chanc t score . Every man on the team should believe thoroughly in the quarterback. The coach should h try . to build up in the minds Of the ot er players the idea that he is infallible . He Should never bawl him out on the field before the other a players . I remember very vividly seeing promi smg quarterback ruined by the constant one yelping Of an assistant coach . Only coach should be permitted to give the quarterback in struction . ’ A coach hasn t time to teach generalship to to e the entire team, but he must make time t ach it to his quarterback . There are several methods . The Quar ter b ac k

One \ is to make the quarterback learn a lot o f rules, and then hope that he will apply them cor ’ rectly in the big games; I don t believe in this ’ a method . I d rather try to teach my quarterb ck to think football . It is absolutely essential that “ ” the m at: sell hl S conception o f strategy to his ’ I — at quarterback. ve seen quarterbacks whose “ titude always was ; Oh, well, he said to do it, ’ ” I S " so I ll have to , but my way better A field general who feels that way about the ’ brand o f generalship that he 1 8 usmg isn t gomg to get much pep into his work or out o f his team . So I try to convince my quarterback that I am ’ right . When he doesn t agree with me I argue one with him, as football player with another, and try to prove to him that he is wrong You can teach generalship indoors with a

re o r blackboard and a p ce of chalk, with checkers on I o f a table , but think that the best place all to out o n teach it is right the playing field . I try to get my quarterback out there with me for a or o half hour s every day. My method is similar “ ” to the case system in law. ’ll For instance, we be walking down the field . ’ ’ Pretty soon I ll stop and say You ve got the ’ ’ on ball here Yale s thirty yard line . It s third ou down, and y have five yards to go . There has Fo o tb a o a and omor r ow ll, T d y T

o f . been no score, and just three minutes play What are you gomg to do

If the quarterback answers with the right play, we go on to something else . If he calls the wrong l play, n my mind, we stay right there and talk it over until I think that I ’ve convinced him that he is wrong. Quarterbacks W1th Speed and at least a normal o share f brains are not hard to find . Quarter backs with courage are plentiful . Quarterbacks ‘ i si nal w th initiative are rare . The average g caller is inclined to work by standard methods. set e to follow a pattern. Th re are not enough o f them with the ability to strike at the unex pected sectors m an unex ected nd p time . A this is reasonable enough, con sidering the burden carried by a young collegian o before critical crowds f people . This quality for pulling the unexpected can be o overdone . There is a st ry told about a Michi gan quarterback who misapplied one o f Coach ’ — Yost s best scoring plays good within the ten s yard line . It was almo t a sure scoring play when used for the first time . But the Michigan quarterback was so anxious to get it o ff his mind

that he used it around midfield, instead of wait

ing until they were within striking distance . It

Fo o tb a o a and omo rr ow ll, T d y T

’ Dame probably didn t know who was t he quarter

. uh n out back St ldreher led the i terference, took tacklers with deadly effect by bringing them to r ea th with steady accuracy, and yet he ran his team with unerring coolness and judgment in the big games . Grantland Rice 1 s authority for this state had taken o ut man after man by spilling tacklers a e was m turn, a certain Notre D m run stopped with a thud . Someone had broken through the

South Bend interference . On the next play the Stuhldreher just watched for Army tackler . m Having spotted his man, he again called the sa e Ar signal, and this time the my man suddenly found himself on the back of his neck with both feet spinning in the air as Crowley went on for ” eighteen yards . Pfann o f George , Cornell, was another of these all-around quarterbacks who not only led the team but filled every emergency in the back e field . He direct d the team, passed, kicked and regularly ran with the ball. P fann on In contrast to , who was a demon f f the o fense, but for all the di ference just as o ne o f valuable to Harvard, was Charlie Buell, the braimest quarterbacks developed in the

40 . The Quar ter bac k

~ He 1 40 1 45 modern game . weighed only to

- - pounds , was pink cheeked and frail looking and possessed no dazzling speed to carry him along.

- But he had 4 football brains and caused more trouble than all the 200 pound linemen the Crim son had . Buell not only possessed the ability to select

’ the b est plays given to him but had an uncanny o ou o f a knack f finding his way t tight situ tions . c and He had initiative , ourage keen judgment

1 and always thought along ndependent lines .

Apparently he was never 1mpressed with zone . play or any standard methods o f what to do and not what to do . Z one play is a good servant but a bad master . I teach it to my quarterbacks and then tell them w to forget it . My idea is that they ill forget the details, which might make them think that a certain play always should be used under certain o circumstances in s me particular part of the field, and remember its broad prmciples which are a good ground work fo r generalship

My ideas on zone play can be summed up " as

Between your goal line and your twenty-five yard line you should either kick on first down or tr - y a long gaining play and kick if it fails . No

4 1 . F o o tb a To a and o mor r ow ll, d y T

- - n criss cross , triple pass or other da gerous plays r should be used in this territo y. Between your twenty-five yard line and mid

field ' kick o ut o , on third down, until then try p ponents ’ defense Between the center o f the field and your oppo ’ nents twenty- five yard line you should use any on plays that will gain ground, and kick fourth i o f down . This s good territory for the use trick plays . l Between your o pponents twenty-five yard line and their goal line you should use any plays that to will gain, being sure to remember not use

— - - center o f the line plays inside the ten yard line .

Also, you should, remember not to forward pass

’ econd or over the goal line on s third down . When a quarteback has learned when to punt, when not to forward pass, not to use center of the line plays i nside the ten yard line , to play to the score , and the broad principles of zone a play, he is well long the path that leads to good generalship . And by this time , through constant th nk n practice in i i g football, he should have de veloped the abilit y to make many o f his de

1 c s1onssubconsciously . Most of the things that we do really well we do more or less uncon ’ i l o r sc ous y . Bobby Jones Ty Cobb don t have

2 4 . The Quar ter b ack

to think about their swing when hitting a ball . Neither does a goo d quarterback have to think through a maze of rules to choose the right play .

But . there are som e facts that every quarter back a lways should keep in the back of his mind .

Oh e ' o f them is that there are twenty- two foot

- in o f l ball players a game . Some systems foot ball strategy seem to have been built on the as — sumption that there are only eleven all o n your

o f o e side . The position your ppon nts always The must dictate your game . quarterback must be taught to take full advantageof the position - of the defensive players and make the defense play

or f him . He should remember that the left side o f a defensive line nearly always is the stronger

is usm side . If he g a shift play, and his oppo nents do not shift with him, he never should send

of a play to the weak side the line . But if they

- e do shift, and his strong sid play is stopped he should try a play to the weak side . His object always should be to play two men against one ;

one never man against two . If the defensive

d out en s are playing in, he should send his plays

o f side them . He should notice if the opposing

i s or o ut 4 center playing in of the line . For ex

i s i n ample, the defensive center nearly always the line on third down with one yard to go . ’ That s a good spot for a forward pass . The quarterback should be careful to watch o the direction f his plays . The side lines are bad

- k lines he must try to eep away from them . The best line o f play i s the line with the goal o f posts . He should keep in the center the field, if possible . m r e When he finds hi self nea a sid line, he should make his plays toward the center of the

field . All football fields are not perfectly level . ’ a lot ‘ o It s easier to run d wnhill than uphill, yet I ’ve seen quarterbacks run their plays uphill when they just as well could have run them down o f sun c o f hill . The position the and the dire tion the wind are to be considered in football general shoulf ship . The quarterback try to get these on his i elements playing s de . On a wet field he t should play a li tle safer than usual . When a team i s near a side line and has to kick, the quarterback should protect the kicker by running the play toward the center o f the field ul before kicking. In my opinion he never sho d have a player run with the ball if he intends to A ask him to kick on the next play. player who just has been shaken up by a hard tackle isn’t any too certain to get his kick off smoothly and The Quar ter bac k

off two quickly. If you can get your kicks under

o f . seconds, none them will be blocked It shouldn’t be forgotten that a kick may be an f i s o fensive play. It often a good idea to kick o n first down when you think that you can — more than normal yardage you have the sur r on p ise element your side . A football team depending to win o n the other o fellows mistakes is going to get licked . Y u ow A must force your n breaks . good field general always is on the alert for an opportunity to gain an advantage over his opponents . Some times when a substitute comes into the game he will send a punt at him before he has a chance to get warmed up . Or when an opponent has made ’ a bad error, he ll shoot a play at him before he f s has recovered from its e fect . A few years ago a Harvard quarterback went into the Yale game and on the very next play the ball was intentionally kicked to him” Of course he fumbled and was immediately removed ff o f from the game . The psychological e ect the play was realized by the Crimson coach . ’ I don t believe in hard and fast rules of foot ball strategy. There is no rule ever made that ’ shouldn t be broken under certain circumstances . But there are three things that I want my Fo o t a l o da and omor r ow b l , T y T

quarterback to know, and when he has learned them so thoroughly that he applies them almost o f by instinct , I consider he has learned half the

First of all, I want him to know when to punt . n a He should pu t on fourth down, wh tever the distance to go . ’ It isn t easy to get a quarterback to learn that rule so thoroughly that he will bbey it no matter r ’ how st ong the temptation is to break it . I ll have to admit that sometimes t hat temptation i s strong. With only a few feet, or perhaps only is a few inches, to go , it hard not to try to gain

so o ssessmn ' o f by a running play, and keep p

’ the ball. ’ ee out Let s s how it works in actual play. We o f have the ball in the center the field . It is w fourth down, ith a foot to go . Our quarterback “ and o ne disregards the rule, tries of those sure ” “ ” plays . Sure plays sometimes are stopped .

This one i s stopped . Our opponents get the ball

i n o n . the center of the field, first down They

fi ensw e are all set to start an o .

Now for the other side of the picture . Instead o f trying to gain that foot , our quarterback obeys orders and calls for a punt . The kicker sends o f so our the ball to one side the field, as to limit

e a fourth down, the r st of the game might h ve ’ been played i n Colgate s territory and the out

This illustration is not offered as an excuse for o a l st game . The Colgate players, by keeping

. , the served to win Anyhow Eddie Tryon made ] victory more decisive by skirting our end for a

The disasterous results o f not following the rule to punt o nfourth down are many and I will

on fourth down . The only exception to this is

o to the score . If you hold the short end f the i n the of score last few minutes play, it pays to

Under these ci rcumstances a quarterback is justi d on fie in ordering a running play fourth down .

Second, I want my quarterback to know when t no to forward pass . You should never forward pass in the last two minutes of the game if you hold the long end of ‘ r - Yo the sco e . 7 6. u Suppose you are leading,

The Quar ter b ack

t try a forward pass . It is in ercepted, and your opponents score a touchdown . You are beaten o f 1 2 - ou un by the score 7, because y took an necessary chance . I Third, want my quarterback to know when

‘ o li not to send plays at the center f the ne . I give him an almost absolute rule never to send a play at the center o f the line inside o ur oppo neuts ten yard line . When a team is fighting under its own goal posts most o f its strength is almost sure to be massed on the center of the a line . Why handic p yourself by attacking the strongest point, and using a play that your oppo nents are certain to be expecting ? ’ I ve seen more than one football game lost by a quarterback sending a play up against a stone o f 1 91 9 wall that sort . In the Harvard game - 1 0 Princeton played a 1 0 tie . We had to kick a field goal and tie that game instead of Winning it o f , because we sent a play at the center the

Harvard line inside their ten yard mark . That

- same year, in the Yale Harvard game, Yale gained over fifty yards on a series of off tackle plays , and then was stopped dead on the four yard line because their quarterback sent a play at the center o f the Harvard line . That brand o f ’ football doesn t win games . When a team has Fo o tba o a and omo r r o w ll, T d y T

’ been driven back almo st to its own goal line most o f its strength i s massed on the center o f the be e line, this means that there must a w ak spot i n somewhere else its defense . Find that weak Spot " Try an-end- run or a play o ff tackle anything but a bull-headed smash into the stone

-o f - - wall. The time to use center the line plays is when your opponent i s expecting something — totally different say when you have the ball in

o f e . or o the center the field, with ight yards s to go on second or third down 1 926 - In the Yale Princeton game, Princeton ’ d li had the ball on Yale s four yar ne . It was on o fourth down and e yard to g . The scor e w as

to . m nothing nothing Everyone, including y

a . self, expected center rush The Yale line con tracted and prepared to stop the assault directed at the center of the line one But Dan Caulkins was step ahead . He

z si ed up the situation, saw the Yale men centered in the line to stop the obvious play, and decided to pull the unexpected . o f Instead calling for the expected line rush, o r off d even a dash tackle, Caulkins ordere a for ward pass hurled to him and Started o ff toward

There wasn’ t a blue jersey within tackling dis

50 . The Quar ter b ac k tance as Caulkins grabbed the ball and raced over the goal line for an easy touchdown . Caulkins protected his play by starting it o ut as a regular line buck while he drifted o ut toward the side and then, before the Yale men realized w as their mistake, it too late .

I doubt if any other play would have , gained the required distance against the concentrated Yale line prepared to stubbornly resist any e — ofi ens . Caulkins found their weak spot the — end and crashed through for the first touch down . Did you ever sit in the stands and listen to some o f the wise boys in the crowd roasting the ’ quarterback because he didn t order a drop - kick when he was within thirty-five yards o r so of the ’ un goal line, and his r ning plays weren t gaining any to o well ? It never occurs to these grand

- stand coaches that every drop kicker, like every f rifle, has a limit of e fective range . The quarter back they are roasting probably is using good on judgment . If he was playing a team that I coached he was obeying orders . I give my quarterback an almost absolute rule never to try

f o f - to stretch the e fective range his drop kicker . ’ - If your drop kicker can t kick over thirty yards , ’ where s the value o f trying to have him put it

1 5 . Fo o tba o a and omo rr ow ll, T d y T

’ over from the thirty-five yard mark ? I don t

’ o no for chance t score . Otherwise there s reason the play ; a drop -kick or a placement kick is more risky than a punt because it takes longer to get o ff o f , and there is a bigger chance it being ’ so blocked . That s the reason that many tries for point after touchdown are broken up . In the Princeton-Navy game at Baltimore in 1 923 3 -0 , Princeton was leading up to the middle a of the fourth quarter. With the b ll on the ’ Navy s thirty-five yard line on fourth down and for five yards to go, the Tiger quarterback called ’ - k on a drop kick, with the icker placed the Navy s

- five . a forty yard line The b ll was snapped back,

i in streamed the strong Navy linemen, and as the ’ ball ascended from the kicker s toe, it bounced against a Navy man who recovered it and raced to our twenty-five yard line before he was a tackled . A few minutes later they tried place 3 -3 ment kick and tied the score . The Princeton drop -kicker was very accurate

- — but his range was thirty five yards not forty

five . . He could kick that distance and no farther The drop -kick is of necessity much slower i n o ff getting than the punt and is easier to block.

52 .

Fo o t al Toda and omor r ow b l, y T

to af gain consistently, which they failed do all terno on r . On straight football they we e beaten e and it was the time to try som thing spectacular, to take a long chance . Very properly, the quarterback signalled for a drop -kick and

h e v t e a . r cei ed b ll, gave it a lusty boot It sailed down the field, bounced on the cross bar, and then 3 -3 dropped over. The game ended “A quarterback should be required to know the o f limitations and potentialities his teammates,

the - of and g round gaining value his plays . It I S almost necessary to provide the field general

W to ith a play certain make two yards . When s he need this play he needs it badly. He should be not given too many plays , but those given to him u s e sho ld cover every po sibl emergency. If ’ ’ him ' ri ht you ve trained g , he ll pick the right play at the right time e And one un Ten plays are b tter than fifty.

‘ expected play is better than ten obvious plays , al s and for the expected play is way a weak play, the unexpected play nine times out of ten is the

- ground gaining play. By unexpected plays I do not mean miracle plays that work once in fifty r attempts . Any standa d play, used at a moment when your opponents are expecting something f has o f entirely di ferent , the element surprise that makes the out- and- out trick playa Winner

Don Lourie pulled one o f the neatest plays in many a moon against Yale in 1 920, when he scored a touchdown o n a fake place kick at the end of the second period . Touchdowns have . ’ been scored on this play before but Lourie s initiative added a certain distinction to the play. Princeton led by a 3- 0 score with the ball on ’ - tw o A o f Yale s forty yard line . second play the remained, which meant that the side with ball had an opportunity to complete one play before i t mi m n er ss n . Usually the quarterback would consult his captain and then call his players into ‘a consulta A at tion. lot of talk would be spilled and the end the opponents would know that a fake play o w uld be tried . o But not L urie . Looking over his players and o f noting the position the Yale defense, he stepped into his position and gave his signals . He acted as if he had all afternoon to get o ff the play. He did not appear hurried or excited . “ "” Place kick formation he shouted . Stan Keck left his position at tackle and a backfield ma n replaced him in the line . More signals came

55 Fo o tb a o a and omor r ow ll, T d y T

on o ne and Lourie dropped to the ground knee , both hands extended for the ball .

i t w as Before passed, he got up and turned

i s f said . Kick to the left. There a sti f wind ” blo " wmg . Now make this good one Again Lourie dropped to knee . Mike Callahan set himself to make the pass and the linemen were braced to hold the opposing for

Eleven men o n the Yale team prepared for a o ne kick . What else could be used with second ? to play Also, Lourie was careful in getting Keck back far enough to make the kick without being hurried . Eleven minds were concentrated o n one play and every effort was made to pre vent the goal from the field . The ball sped back into the waiting hands of

Lourie The Yale forwards rushed through . me So did the ends and backfield n. It was their opportunity to spoil the kick. Lourie calmly caught the ball and placed it o o o sm n the groun d . The pp g linesmen were all around him . Keck started forward to kick .

“ . l Then something happened Rising quick y, Lourie shoved the ball under his arm and darted on for the sidelines . On, , he went, for twenty The Quar ter b ac k

yards , with blue jerseyed men at his heels . Then he turned and sped toward the goal line . a

Keck spilled one tackler, but two others came

‘ at the ball carrier Lourie stopped, dodged one and the other Yale “ man crashed into his team out mate, the two being put of the play. This gave the Tiger quarterback a clear field and he crossed the goal line without being touched . CHAPTER IV

BY THEI R PLAYS YE SHALL KN OW THEM

e forever identified . Notr Dame has excelled in

of . the daring, deceptive style play Michigan is unrivalled as exponents o f the forward pass and Pennsylvania has long been associated with ul powerf defensive football. Diff erence o f opinion not only made horse a has b the stimu r cing . It also een, apparently, t e o f lus for h open, modern game football with o emphasis n speed, initiative and skill . One coach teaches that the best defense is a good o f fense and another equally successful mentor is strong in its denunciation. This blending of ideas a s to what is supreme in modern football leads to many spirited dis — cuSSi ons and iinprovements on team play and l o f strategy. Footba l today is essentially a battle o f wits and with each team trying to outsmart he o t ther, new plays, formations and defensive

58 . By Their Plays Ye S hall Know Them

\ o f tactics are invented annually . Yet some the most successful elevens in the country go right i n o ut along, year and year , sticking to the same fundamentals upon which their football system

was founded many ago . " years One of the real landmarks in college football “ ” to is the Pennsylvania Defense . Even this day it has been changed very little since 1 892 f when it was introduced by George Woodru f, the till old Yale player. Pennsylvania elevens s cling

to it . The play depends on a smashing end and a o the close line . In the Nineties, the backs n de

s o f fen e, with the exception the quarterback , T played right behind the rush line . he fullback was placed behind the center rush with the half backs behind the tackles . Woodruff used his ends to smash the inter “ o to ference n all plays . Their job was strip it The ends were instructed to go after

e - not - who the interfer nce, the ball carrier, was practically forced to run wide With the defense line tight and the tacklers

i n me o n streaming as fast as the ends , the only n the line burdened with a dual responsibility were he i t guards . They were expected to make the r Fo o tb a o a and omo r r o w ll, T d y T

h o initial c arge and, if necessary, support the p

I f a play started around the P ennsylvama swm right end, the left guard was expected to g out behind his own line and tackle the runner . The guard usually met the man with the ball a o f And trifle behind the line scrimmage . it was no joke to be tackled by a burly two hundred pound guard running at top speed . The Pennsylvania Defense was very power ful before the days o f the hidden ball p lays and Woodruff ’ s plan is still sound against straight football. A delayed play apparently starting as an end run and, suddenly swerving through the guard, would undoubtedly gain through this type of defense . And such delayed plays would also hold the guard in position The Pennsylvania Defense w as so Successful at the time o f its introduction because the Red and Blue were supplied with four really great f guards . They were Woodru f and Wharton fol M r a k lowed by Hare and c C c en . These men the o f were outstanding linemen the day. Woodruff recognized this and undoubtedly built his defense and attack around them .

As the game changed, the Penn coaches r e t ained the vital elements o f the original defense

Fo o tb a o a and omo r r o w ll, T d y T

the interference and still keeping his feet . If he on is his feet after the first clash , the end has not li e minated himself from the play. He can fol

- s . low up and, in many event , get the ball carrier The end who leaves his feet is out o f the play

as W 18 With a sm hing end, the ing back ex — pected to cover the flank to do so he must come up quickly and is thus apt to leave his territory unguarded against a cleverly masked forward pass . While if the wing back does not come up quickly on swing plays he is very apt to be cut down by opposing linemen cutting over behind o f the line scrimmage . “ ” Red Grange had a field day against Michi 1 924 and 1 925 gan in repeated against Penn in . Both these teams played a SI " man line defense ’ and drove the ends in fast and low. I ll admit the ends cut down the interference, but Grange was still running toward the sidelines and then turned down the clear field . By this time the Illinois linemen had cut through and taken out the wing backs . Of course it must be admitted that Grange is an exceptional man . But I still contend that the only d efense against a real end run is a fast dri vmg end who keeps his feet and

- forces the ball carrier inside . By Their Plays Ye Shall Know Them

I should like to discuss the advisability o f a six

man line . Here again I prefer a fluid defense

' with the center in or out o f the line . The posi of i s i n or out tion the center rush, whether he of s n the line, hould depe d upon the down, the number of yards to gain and the position of the

teams on the field . On third or fourth down with only a yard or so to gain there is more chance o f a line play than

a wide end run . Here the center should be in o the line . While n a third down with ten yards o to to g , an Open play is be expected . Of course as I have shown in the chapter on strategy there i s always a possibility of a brainy quarterback pulling the unexpected and cross he am ing t defense . But I now counting o n probabilities which will happen in themajority o f instances . the Undoubtedly, staunch supporters o f the six man defense and smashing end can point to a very i mpressw e record o f positive achieve ri me ts . No team has put up a stronger goal de fense than Pennsylvania . On several occasions I have personally seen Penn teams stop the powerful Cornell attack i n the shadow of their o wn goal line . on Pennsylvania is strong the defense . It is ’ their long suit —in playing the game . And just as the Red and Blue are famed for their defense

Notre Dame, the other extreme in football , have f n become famous for their o fense, practici g the proverb o f battle field and gridiron that a good

offense is the best defense . No team in the land has excelled the records made by the Notr e i Dame teams during the last few seasons . They have been the leading expo

ents n of the deceptive , open game and have

played smart , intelligent football. f The Notre Dame o fense, for \which they are b famous , consists of a ackfield shift with the real h strength of the attack depending on t e ends.

In contrast to the coaching of Yost, at Michigan, who abandoned close formations several years ago because he considered it almost impossible to

box the defensive tackles , the Notre Dame ends have managed to take the tackles better than any

I have ever seen . It is conceded to be the hard i f on est job n o fensive football . A good tackle the defense stops more plays than any one

I have watched the Notre Dame ends do the

trick time and again . And they do it practically

alone . Notre Dame uses a close formation almost en By Their Plays Ye Shall Know Them

i l t re y . Starting with a balanced line , the quar terback under center and the backs in a parallel i the mm line about four yards beh nd scri age line, they get into action . From this original posi tion the backs shift right or left into a tandem formation . The quarterback handles the ball on line plays and yet he does it so cleverly that it is hard to tell when he gets it and when the ball

- goes direct to the ball carrier.

The end shifts o ut with the backs . And here o f lies the strength the attack . On a wide flank play the end shifts outside the tackle and boxes him in. On an inside play the end apparently out shifts . But he only goes through the mo tions and ends up in position to drive the tackle out . After a couple of plays the end has the out opposing tackle confused . If he goes he is apt to find the end inside of him when the play ’ starts . If he doesn t move o ut with the end he outflanked is more than likely to be . With the t ackle out of the picture, the Notre Dame inter ference can pay undivided attention to the de fensive end . He is swept out of the way and the a pl y moves past the line of scrimmage for a gain . Rockne uses the forward pass more as a o f threat than an actual part his attack . But his opponents have learned not to discount the

65. n Notre Dame passing strength . Whe the occa sion requires, their forward passing game is f very e fective . The quarterback does the pass t ing, get ing the ball under center and first fak i n runmn the g to a back, then g back to make pass . Here i s the original position Notre

o o o x o 0 QB

O O 0

end has outside the The to tackle . entire backfield has shifted the From this formation expect a wide end or o f run a cut back inside the defensive tackle . On a cut back the end fakes out drawing the tackle wide . On this play the end usually boxes ir a Know Them By The Pl ys Ye S hall _

‘ 1 out the guard . B and QB drive the tackle

- with the help of the tackle , who cross checks the

3 on . tackle . B carries the ball both plays On

‘ x 1 the wide end run, the end bo es the tackle B and B 2 drive right at the defensive end, with

QB helping when necessary. Rockne also uses the guards in the interfer

the are f on ence and y I very e fective the wide end run. Position o f players with QB handling the ball .

The football offense o f today is really built is around the forward pass . It just as important to the modern, open game as the massed play

' ol o f n was to the d kind football . The ge eral idea that the forward pass is essentially a shoe

string play, heavily loaded with danger for the a user, is misle ding . Even moderately well exe cuted , the forward pass is among the safest plays available o n the offense for gaining Fo o tb a o a and omorr o w ll, T d y T

ground . Consider its possibilities and this fact becomes self evident . There are only three things that can happen to a forward pass . It may be caught and held " b or carried for a substantial gain . It may e i grounded and a down wasted . Or it may be n

’ “ Analysis o f the season s play o f any fairly good eleven has shown that the most likely re sults o f passing is that the pass was completed o f or grounded . On such cases possession the ball will not change and the worst that can hap e o pen will b the loss f a down . The same analysis illustrated that four times as many

” passes are completed as are intercepted . With a moderately competent player passing the ball this play becomes more one- sided in favor of completion. I h ave always believed the pass was a safe o play . It is als pregnant with scoring possi bilities from any spot on the field and these pos sibilities necessarily increase in direct ratio to the approach toward the o pposing goal . There are : two obvious reasons for this first , there is less distance to be covered by the runner who re e cov rs the pass, and second , and more important , the defense necessarily draws in as a score be 68

‘ By Their Plays Ye Shall Know Them

o f comes more imminent, which course is the

ideal situation for the forward passer .

Again, there is no other play which possesses

the force o f the pass as a threat . Even if the completed pass itself gains little or nothing i n ‘ f y ardage, it gains heavily in the e fected morale of the defense and on the physical arrangement

of the defending players . The new rules permit the same freedom in backward or lateral passing as heretofore al I too lowed the forward pass . t is much earlyto make any prediction as to the possibilities o f the l latera pass under the changed rules . I doubt if the lateral pass will ever become as effective as

the forward pass . on First, it must be made the run, with the passer not only o ff his balance but under the o f necessity avoiding tackles from the front , back

and side, and also it must not be made until the opponent is very close or the intending tackler

will have a chance to go after the receiver . This

means the pass cannot be the accurate , steady, straight line affair which the forward pass has a a become, but must be hurried lob which t best i s inaccurate . e Again, the lateral pass is mad , usually, while the passer is still behind the scrimmage line o r com very close to it . Thus the lateral pass, if pleted must still be carried by the runn er if any thing is to be gained, and unless the play is very nt o cleverly masked by a fei , the chance f this gain is rather less than o f a running gain after a completed forward pass . In other words , your lateral pass at its very best gives the runner a the a chance to gain from scrimm ge line , with

’ several defensw e players still in a good positi the to bring him down, while mere completion o f n a forward pass involves a substa tial gain . ’ Michigan s forward passing attack 1 8 one o f m f ff o the ost e fective in o ensive fo tball today. a Yost, the capable Michig n coach, has developed the forward pass into his most successful play. Every year you will find on the Wolverines an

cei vers a . Benny Friedman, captain, quarterb ck 1 926 and outstanding star of the eleven, is prob ably o ne o f the best passers whoplayed at Michi

Yost has not stinted himself with time i n ex

eri mentin p g, practicing and perfecting the for a i ward pass . The Michig n spring practice s de voted almost entirely to passing and receiving the ball . In the autumn, even, more than a half hour et e The daily is s asid for perfecting the passes . " By Their Plays Ye Shall Know Them backs and ends are drilled and drilled in catch ing the ball from all conceivable angles . ef Michigan passes, as a result , are the most fective in the game . The players handle the football with the ease and skill of a professional ball player with a baseball. Yost has realized that the real success of the d forward passing game is etermined , not only in

r e having a good passer, but having competent c eivers to handle the thrown ball. Some coaches fail to recognize this and then wonder why passes are not caught with more regularity when t thrown within reaching dis ance . A nother point . The receiver should be i — trained to catch the ball in his hands not his ff arms . There should be no e ort to fight the ball and the arms from the elbows down should be

relaxed and never tense. The arms should give

with the ball. Yost has discovered a method o f drilling his

passers which has proved very successful . He

insists the passer throw a light easy ball. Some

passers throw a ball with the speed of a bullet . The ball bounces away from the receiver and the

immediatel fellow loses confidence ys But a soft

thrown ball makes the catching easier, builds

1 7 . Fo o tb a o a and omo r r o w ll, T d y T

confidence, and as the season progresses , the men are equally capable o f handling the hard passes . ’ All o f Michigan s passes are hurled from kick formation, Yost, in contrast to Rockne , has not used a close formation for four or five years . He or does not believe in the flat short pass . All the Michigan forward passes are made well down the o f the field, often over the head defensive wing 923 aw - backs . In 1 I s the Michigan Minnesota t w o game . Michigan completed beautiful passes i n from midfield . One resulted a score and the u other led p to a field goal . Yost works on the theory that the flat or short re pass means nothing. Even if completed the cei ver is usually downed before he has gained any d istance while the interception o f the pass s o f may mean the los the game . “ on Keep throwing long passes down field . If they are recovered, your opponents have little ” “

o f . chance gaining, he says While on the other hand every time you catch the ball you are o n the road to a touchdown . It is worth the u s Few teams have succeeded i n checking the

Michigan forward passing attack, except at the

expense of a greatly weakened first line defense . In the fall o f 1 926 the Navy stopped their for ward passing game by keeping the two wing backs at least fifteen or twenty yards behind the i l ne . They stayed in this territory all afternoon and Michigan seldom completed a pass . This was one o f the few instances where a m variation o f the long pass ight have worked . But the results obtained over a long period o f ’ years have justified Michigan 8 system of for ward p assing. For years the standard close formation in use all over the country has been an unbalanced line 1 with tandem backfield formation. No . back

offensw e 4 is placed just outside the end and No . n back behind the ce ter. This formation belongs to no particular coach ing system. Glenn Warner, present coach at

l Dobie o f Leland Stanford and Gi more , \ Cornell,

h of have, owever, made consistent use this style

’ o f football and improved upon it . ’ Glenn Warner s celebrated double pass As started from this play. far back as 1 906 he used it against Princeton while coaching at Cor n ell. Later he used it very effectively for years at Pittsburgh . Gil Dobie’ s strongest play at Cornell has

w been a short end run ofl tackle with both guards Fo o tb al o a nd omor r ow l, T d y a T

o ut in the interference . This is a powerful play

"Teams pitted against this play with an unbal anced line and tandem backfield realized the only way it could be stopped was by shifting the de-1

— but as the defense massed against the unbal en the defense could be stopped from shifting in An d time to meet the drive . every coach tried to

i to devise a short s de play, strong enough gain n d consiste tly against a shifted efense .

us - for s Warner ed his criss cross thi purpose .

a k s No 4 driv Dobie used fa e pa s with the . back i n o ff 2 3 g the short side, with the No . and backs hi sweeping across in front of m. Of all the short side plays I have seen the c riss-cross over a

of r e t period yea s has prov d the mos successful . In 1 925 Princeton used a cut back to the short

No s . 3 ide with the back carrying the ball. This play w orked beautifully the entire season but we

1 926 T i of im had little success with it in . his s

r portance because the same men ca ried the ball . Joe Prendergast gained considerable ground

Fo o tb a o a and omor r ow ll, T d y T

The Navy modelled their close attack in 1 926 after the new Warner formation . In my Opin i on the Navy had the strongest close running at tack in the country. The beauty about this for mation is that it is possible to run to either side . The Wing back outside o f each offensive end spreads the defense With the resultant weakness

a o f In the old d ys push and pull, Yale had for many years the strongest close attack in the 1 923 country. In , the Yale team showed a very versatile and powerful attack . They swept through the Army and Princeton from a kick formation play with a split line on the strong side . We were able do little or nothing ‘ to

" f i . aga nst this of ense Stevens and Neidlinger, a o f , , great pair Yale backs gained consistently all through the game .

T O O O Richeson O Neale 0 Stevens

From this formation it was equally easy to or e be run, kick pass . Ther was a split opening By Their Plays Ye Shall Know Them tween thetwo tackles and between the end and outside tackle . Mallory played behind the sec f He d f on our o nd tackle . worke e fectively de i n or out fensive tackle, who could be boxed ac cording to his position . Either Richeson or

Neale could carry the ball through the line, with i n Stevens splendid position to run, pass or CHAPTER V

BETWEEN THE HALVES I N A

I B ELIEVE a good many football games are lost by the way in which the team is handled right before the big games . One of the greatest mistakes any coach can make is to give his players

in those closing periods . By Thursday the team should be through as far as football is concerned . If the players areto do their best on Saturday aVe o f they must h plenty rest the day before . I am beginning to think it a mistake to have any

Nor do I believe in herding the players to gether at some out of the way place the night be l n fore the game . The men should sleep their o n w beds and follow their usual daily routine . I have had some very disastrous experiences in fol lowm b g any other plan . And have ecome con vinced o f , the more the importance the game is Between the Halves

magnified beforehand the more keyed up the

‘ a verage boy becomes and the less likely to do his

i There are o f course some siinple precautions c ul I a every oach sho d take . believe good many games are lost in o r near the dressing-rooms be t e o fore h play begins, and it profits a c ach very little to gain all the season and lose his cham pionship merely for want o f a little forethought

about what seems a wholly unimportant detail .

w o w m draws near, everybody h kno s any me ber o f the team or coaching staff becomes possessed

' r I o f an overpowering desire to inte view him. suppose it is inevitable that friends who have come a long way to see the game or who merely

panions that they really do know somebody on r the inside , should forget that by int uding at this time they are doing their level best to beat their but team, whatever the reason it is decidedly a part o f winning football to see t hat the men are absolutely protected against this thoughtless dis

traction.

outsiders that themen actually were cramped for o f space, and some these interested spectators in Fo o tb a l o a and Tomor r ow l , T d y

on/ sisted smoking, while others bewailed the fact ’ that their connection with the assmtant rubber s third cousin had n ot enabled them to get a seat on the fifty yard line and demanded that this in justice be rectified at once; One gets a beautiful slant on the human sense o f self-importance o n ffi occasions like this . It is really more di cult than it sounds to safeguard a team of boys already ett an under a high nervous tension from the p y i noyances of their friends and o f overzealous par tisans who make up for their lack o f acquaintance by a vociferous patriotism which takes the edge ’ o ff every man s determination as nothing else

guard at thedoor of the quarters who is not only without human sympathies but has the authority necessary to hold his ground against old players to and former captains, even, who seem forget i o how they hated these visitations in the r wn day, and are bent on imparting some o f their vintage ideas to the coach and team at the last moment . Besides being absolutely sheltered from dis tractions, the team should have a brisk warming up on the field . This preliminary practice should o f be carefully planned out ahead time . When the players are o n the field they should be get ting some actual practice , not just loafing around . A short regular routine will help every

” body in getting used to the crowd and the feel

recei vm about five minutes practice in g p asses , backs should catch punts while the line should

” on be given some slow starts . I generally figure a work out of about ten minutes . Unless it is raining when the practice should be shortened . The team should be then taken from the field for old o f a final talk with the coach, in which the line

a ratio hysterical dj u ns have no place whatever .

here o f p earnestness , and will profit from being “ permitted to suggest itself as I have already tried to point out . This last conference cannot include an y new football teaching, although I remember

sidered beforehand as if I were making a set e addr ss . An extemporized burst \o f rhetoric ’ won t do . Generally speaking, it is a stimulus

CVEI ‘ proceed on the assumption that noise has its Fo o t all To a and omor r ow b , d y T

I value and perhaps it has . know that others make a practice of calling in old-time heroes or

quence to use these final minutes . I am not arguing against them . I merely describe my own idea o f the way to give a team the winning

‘ Unconsciously every player takes his cue from i s the coach in these trying minutes . It not enough for the coach to have his own nerves under control and to show a kind of cool calm c b o f ness whi h is the est index confidence, but he must also know, and show that he knows, exactly

o t what is t be done by everybody at every minu e . It is very “ easy let some minor annoyance dis ( to b ’ tur one s equanimity, and the ease with which this can happen to thecoach is an excellent proof on the o f the harder tension men. Somebody is perfectly certain to have neglected his duty some where and there is always a mass of trivial things left undone or done wrong by rubbers and other one assistants . I remember seeing coach who had held himself beautifully in check until a few mo ments before the opening whistle suddenly ex i plo de in a frothing r age because o ne o f the foot i ientl balls was i nsufi c y inflated . And at game after game I have watched something o f this sort

In line with this same plan, I carefully prear r o f so ange the seating order the substitutes, that those “who play one pohiti on will be grouped to

’ gether and under i nstructions to watch their p ticular r predecessors rathe than the general play. I always keep the substitute quarterbacks beside me and discuss with them as the play proceeds the merit o r defect o f strategy and tactics as

This attention to petty detail may sound W sordid, as if inning football had nothing in it of except a passion for the long end the score . I have no patience, to be sure, with the view that it I S i n some fashion unsportsmanlike to regard Winning as a trivial detail and playing as the " paramount consideration . Somehow that always li sounds to me like a rather feeble a bi for defeat , and I can’ t help noticing that the people who talk most about it when they lose ai' e those who go

Wi frantic with delight when they n . But it is perfectly true that the right attitude toward the

” game I call Winning football is o ne o f unweary i ng desire to play the best that is in the player,

o Wi n r lose, and I conceive that these seemingly minor pomts are quite as vital in their way as the mechanics of the play which nobody will ever Between the Haloes criticiz e a man for knowmg and considering and

I have been writing throughout rather from the point o f view o f a coach who has assistants and need not attend in person to every part o f , his work . Of course, there are instances by the hundred in which one man has to do all the coach h ing without any elp at all, and his job becomes particularly difficult when he faces his champion o ne s ship game . No man can po sibly watch the individual play o f eleven men at the same time closely enough to know when any one o f them i s or one tired weakening or hurt, nor can man criticize that individual play intelligently later

All good football players h ave or acquire a sort of pluck which is admirable in itself but not or always sensible discreet . I remember watch ing one game in which a lineman played through several minutes with a broken shoulder, a piece of stark heroism which I should hardly believe myself if I had not seen it . Fine as his courage and stoicism were, he would have been far more on useful the sidelines , and he cost his team fifty or sixty yards before his overburdened coach be

. too came aware of the truth That coach, , was a and very competent fellow, the incident serves Fo o tb a o a and omo r r o w ll, T d y T to show how many things one man would have to watch if he should even try to rely on his unaided

or s tance from old players , friend who know the game o r even substitutes themselves in keeping a close i ndividual Watch on every man on the to field, not only be informed of his physical con dition but to judge as far as may be o f his play and o f T or its possibilities improvement . hree four good men can easily watch the individual o f o ne play the eleven, but no man should even a ttempt it . ’ During the first half I believe that the coach s own job is chiefly to observe , through his eyes ’ and others , and not to meddle more than he must with the leadership o f the eleven on the 1 ' field; If you have not managed to teach your to quarterback and captain think for themselves, your team will be very apt to be beaten before you can Wigwag orders to them from the side l lines and wi l deserve it, too . Such intervention as may properly fall to your part concerns rather the relief o f wearying players and the choice o f men to replace them especially since the adop tion o f the rules allowing a player to leave the nd a r game a l ter eturn to it, which in themselves open up a very considerable field for sideline

Between the Hal‘oes

A sub strategy which is often wholly neglected . stitute gc mg out on the field must always be warned again about reporting to the officials and avoiding speech with the other players until after so a play has been made . Even, there will be enough instances of forgetfulness to satisfy any body. This particular rule has always seemed to me the most futile piece o f academic legislation ever on inflicted the game . It does not and cannot c onceivably prevent a coach from communicating he li as often as kes with his men, and those who believe in captaining a team from the sidelines never could have managed it by sending o ut sub i st tutes . s s as couriers In tead , it involve a trying delay at every substitution and suggests to the spectator that one object o f Winni ng football is to evade or break the rules o f the game if it can e A o be don without detection. gain, it seems t work an injustice which its Sponsors could not f e o have orese n, in the recurrent inability f a the frantically happy substitute to ‘ remember penalty for a perfectly natural action or omis m s n .

and still less to win games because such a thing to happens the other side, and naturally I have still less taste for losing them through forgetful

cannot ever stop sideline coaching until you

f and penalize , not the o fender, but the innocent and forgetful boy who if he had a message to carry illegitimately would certai nly not break the coach from trying to captain his team during a ef e one g mes, and that is a beautifully fectiv , ffi li which requires no o cials and no rules . It es here : The team which is run from the sidelines will lose every time against fairly even oppon tion trained to do its own thinking. The quarter

” s on keep hi eye the sidelines, and no coach can

k i s essential to sound field tactics . It is li e pass i ng laws against suicide . They never prevent the f The attempt or punish the successful o fender. ff only infraction they can reach is failure to o end . Getting consistently beaten will cure any bad habit a coach can acquire . One thing that a coach can and should do i s to

Fo o tb a l o a and o o r r ow l , T d y T m

r o f neutrality, but a downright ruptu e diplo matic relations to avoid their inrush My own memories of the days when I lay gasping for breath and found that all the avail in use able air was already , when two earnest and ingeniously profane exhorters bent over me with o n c nflicti g floods of asterisked rhetoric, are still painful memories and on more than one instance I have watched a two touchdown lead wiped o ut one of - after these impromptu camp meetings . For five minutes after the whistle my men are guaranteed absolute and undisturbed rest and one quiet . Not man gets near them except the r i n t ainer, and not even I intrude that interval . H o owever go d their condition, the strain on the

endu h to nerves is g make this indispensable . When I contrast the difference between teams treated like this and those subjected to the in describable tumult and shouting o f my own play ing days I wonder how anybody could have failed to draw the inference for himself and y et I still see case after case of the old- fashioned methods whose other policies are far from foolish .

Rightly used in this way, five minutes will fit a team to listen intelligently to criticism and sug gestion directed at play and to whatever, emo tional stimulus seems advisable . These five min Between the Halves utes of rest for the team provide the coach with his opportunity to get reports from the men who have been detailed to watch individual play, so that when he does talk he can know exactly what he ought to say and waste no time in beating o z about br ad bushes . It helps a team ama ingly to discover that their coach is fiendishly aware o f minor happenings on the field and they play out better after finding it , every time . I know that some men have experimented with the alternative of keeping the team on the field t e s o ne between h halve , and although this has the advantage of making sure that they are not breathing bad air, I think it never pays . The f a players will inevitably sti fen up . They he r and see too no a much, besides, and there is doubt th t— they miss the rest and relaxation which only pri U and vacy quiet will allow. There used to be a general idea that a losing team could be miraculously heartened by a sci en tific tongue-lashing on the part o f the coach or o f some specially selected artist in invective dur ing this rest interval . I have seen it work my self, but on more occasions I have seen it fail, and for my part I prefer not to use the device

‘ on . a r general principles After all, n atmosphe e o f - f quiet, business like directness is more e fective Fo o tb a o a and omorr o w ll, T d y T

with most men, and they profit best from the con fidence and liking inspired by a competent critic

. on o f and leader I dislike, principle, all forms f artificial stimulation, from oratory to co fee, and it seems to me that the game ought to be played by mind and muscle and heart rather than by nn ur o f u atural sp ring any sort . The best teams I have seen have uniformly been those which - o f were cool and clear headed . The charge a merely maddened fanatic is a mean thing to stop , i n w ho war or anywhere else , but the man stops it is nearly always the one who keeps the red blur o f n Vi smn emotion from distorti g his , who can fight as hard as the dervish but does not let go o f his wits to do it or i s one o f Win lose, if there more than game the championship sort , the ensuing interval is a d i s hard a air to meet , and this far harder with a defeated team than with a winner, naturally nn a enough . Even a wi ing te m has to be handled

' o r carefully while it waits for the next game, it one o r the other o f the many — easy avenues which Open before it over-confi - i n or dence , a let down physical condition, any o ne of a score of pitfalls can turn a sure cham pion into a sure loser. i f won During this gap , we have , I find that

Fo o tball oda and o o rr w , T y T m o

’ on goes forever, and that next year s champion ’ ship can be won or lost in this year s dressing or A Wi room train . nning team means diplo matic management or it will let enthusiasm over balance judgment with sometimes very bad re lts e lo sm e su inde d, and a g eleven ne ds even more careful handling or the sting of defeat will leave f i scars that will e fect the whole com ng season . CHAPTER VI

THE PSYCH OLOGY OF FOOTBALL

T is impossible to tram any football team by o f the yardstick and get the best results . One the most important things for a coach to do is to study his squad and learn the dispositions and temperaments o f the various members who com it pose . When he has done this he has something on to work . It has been my experience that most football r A players work best under encou agement . few b ut have to be driven, not many, and as a usual thing a good word will accomplish much more e — with the av rage boy than a call down . I have seen players ruined by improper handling, while a mediocre player often rises to great heights by being touched in the right spot . I remember an amusing incident that hap r pened several years ago at P inceton . We had a powerful lumberl ng fellow on the team who ’ et didn t like to work in practice , and y he was

just the one who needed the work . On account Fo o tb a o a and o o r ll, T d y T m r ow o f his great strength and natural ability he was —if indispensable to the team, he could be gotten into shape . We tried everything : put him on S ut off en the crub, and even p him the team tirel y. But nothing seemed to work ; he seemed to sense that we would always need him in the

’ At last I went to him one day and said : We

om o ff f ew are g g to lay the captam for a days, he needs a rest , and I want you to captain the ’ team this week, and don t forget the captain has be m to the first man every play.

Our plan worked like a charm. That after noon and all week, as acting captain, he worked like a Trojan . And as a result, when the big n games came arou d, the player we had almost n given up was one of the strongest on the li e . In 1 925 we decided to use two complete sets o f backs in the first few games, alternating their order o f playing l n each game . I could see

Caulkins, the man I was counting on to play quarterback, was not doing himself justice in

e . thes early games I was a bit alarmed, and after thinking the matter over, went to him and ex

reason for playing him as I did . He told me he was greatly relieved, as when we didn’ t start him he had imagined there was some

o o t all o a and o mo r r ow F b , T d y T

o f lows are doing every minute the day. More will be accomplished by putting the players b their honor . If a man reaks training, he should — be dismissed instantly from the squad , the coach who attempts to temp orl z e with this sort o f thing is lost . I know it is hard to fire a valuable man, a but it pays every time . I am glad to s y my ex perl ences of this kind have been few and far be tween. The coach should know what he is going to do o e o f n the field every minut the time . It is a good idea to map out carefully what you are go '

1n ] g to , do beforehand, and be sure you stick to e your s t program. In the old days I shall never forget how the coaches would come -out on the set field with no program, and just flounder around with no definite idea of what was to come e as next . They would som times disagree to the ass1 nments on g a certain play, and much valuable b o time would be lost arguing a out it n the field . The worst thing in the world is for the players to i n o lose confidence their coaches . If the c ach is on his toes every minute of the practice and acts dom as if he knew what he was g, the players will

” B t s follow him enthusiastically. u he mu t know ho w to lead and how to organize the work . Every man on the squad should be treated The Psyc hology of Fo o tb all

alike ; every coach should guard against showing

any favoritism . The youngest player should be made to feel as much at home on the field as the

veteran o f several seasons . It has been the cus tom for years at Princeton for the players to call o the coaches by their first names . Pers nally I

think it is a good idea . I have never seen anyone become familiar on the field with any coach be of o f cause it . Every fall some the new men are ' nd a bit diffident about doing it . A I always make so 1t im it a point to urge them to do , as is most portant for every man to feel he is o n the same

footing with the rest . Several years ago I coached at The University

o f Missouri . We were fortunate enough to win ’ i o the Valley Championship , and we d dn t start ff the season with any too proml smg material v either. The experiences of that year con inced me that it is not always the best material that

produces the best football teams . What every coach should work for is to get every man to put every thing he has in him into his play every min

o f The o ute the time . team that goes n the field in that attitude is the team that will be successful out o f e in nine ten tim s . I t has been our custom at Princeton for a num ber o f years to invite President Hibben to take Fo o tb a o a and omo r r ow ll, T d y T dinner with the team some evening towards the H end of the season . e always gives the squad a talk and his Vl sl ts are eagerly looked forward to by every ones On one occasion he brought out how important it was for every player to keep his ml nd and at tention fixed on the play just ahead of him . “ ’ ” Don t think particularly about the next half, “ he said, but fix your attention on the next play, — and try to do your best in that play, the others e will take care of thems lves . President Hibben compared the proper attitude of the football player to the attitude o f a golf player who is al

“ on —if it One ways intent the next shot, is a bad

o on he should forget about it and , g to the next

—I I S i one, admit this m ghty hard to do , ' i l i espec al y n golf. This it seems to me should be To the state of mind of the football player. go in and do his very best in every play. During my stay at Missouri we made a trip

through Iowa, playing two games , one with the

of University Iowa, and the other with the Iowa

Agricul tural University at Ames . We were fairly successful on this trip and made a better showing than any Missouri team had done

against these two opponents for several years .

Fo o tb a o a and omo r r ow ll, T d y T the Harvard game the papers said we might put up a good fight but that would be all . o f We As a matter fact had a very strong team, that everyone except those who had fol it - lowed closely had under estimated . I felt the ’ ' t team hadn t reached its peak yet and tha , if

properly handled, would be at its best against

. o Yale on Saturday I could see, however, ur players were becoming very much affec ted by all the talk about the unbeatable Yale team and they were beginning to wonder whether they had any chance . While there is nothing worse than over confidence - , Tad Jones had that to handicap —on in him at New Haven, the other hand , the feriority complex 1 8 nearly as bad . I made up my mind the situation demanded —I r heroic measures, first ar anged for open prae on a c tice Wednesday before the g me, and sele ted a team to oppo se the Varsity composed o f in coaches and the strongest substitutes . “We vited o the entire c llege down to this practice, and to ensure a big attendance we had a big meeting o f the Key men beforehand who took charge of the details . I have never seen a larger or more enthusiastic attendance at any practice since I have been coaching at Princeton . I then made a careful analyS1s o f the Yale The Psyc hology of Fo o tb all

Team from the statistics in the program and n re compared their weights, ages , and playi g c

o our o ords with the members f wn team. I found the Yale line averaged exactly three pounds less our o wn a f than . While their backfield was tri le as f heavier, all in all there w no di ference in the of our weights the two teams . In addition, fel lows were just as old and had practically as much no playing experience . On paper there was reason why Yale should overwhelm us . The practice on Wednesday was the best o f the r f yea . The Varsity had no di ficulty in defeating the scrub, although it was reinforced with Stan Wittimer Keck, Al , Jack Winn, and Buz Stout , all in the pink of condition and all playl ng their hardest . After the practice I asked Keck what ’ a s was the m tter, why he hadn t been more succes sto l n ful in pp g the Varsity plays , he exclaimed “ ” ix o Why s men seemed to hit me at once. S I felt the team was in pretty good shape . The next day I called a meeting o f the team ‘ t and went over the Yale s atistics, man for man, our ow n and compared them with team . There showed that our line, which everyone said was m uch inferior, was in reality heavier than the i o ld Yale l ne and just as . I then asked why Yale “ should be such a top -heavy favorite ? There

1 0 3. Fo o tb a l o a and o mo r r o w l , T d y T

are only eleven men on each side , I said . As you are not Spotting the Yale team a thing when it comes to physical qualifications , why should ” they be such a top - heavy favorite ? I could see that what I said had made an 1mpreSS1on, and the entire attitude of our fellows

changed . From that time on they had an air of cool confidence about them that was most reas

h 1 s The hardest job a c oac can have , however,

- fiden e co n c . to combat over It is more insidious, and has demoralized more teams than anything s a else . Nothing alarm me more th n to have a

team I am coaching go into a big game a favorite . The records are full of games lost by the teams that should have won easily o n past perform a e a nc s . We had such a situ tion at Princeton 1 897 as far back as . Princeton had a veteran

team composed of stars . Two weeks before the Yale game they swamped a supposedly power 5 - ful Lafayette team 7 0. Yale was weak that — ‘ o r so . e year, considered They had been beat n

by Brown just before the Princeton game . The Tigers went to New Haven supremely confident ; o their only doubt was as to the size f the score . From the start of the game Princeton was out 6- played and Yale won 0.

The Psychology of Fo o tb all

1 24 P rl nceton 34- 0 In 9 defeated Harvard , and

1 - the next week lost to Yale 0 0. All week before the Yale game I tried my hardest to convince the members of our team that Yale would play a ter

ri fic game . In a way the players realized it ’ the themselves, but they couldn t forget ease with which they had run up a big score the week a before, and they felt they could do it ag in . When the game started it took Yale about five ’ minutes to demonstrate they couldn t . Football coaches the country over have appre ciated the value o f Phychology and Jesse

o f o f Hawley Dartmouth, a few years ago , ficially introduced it by inviting a professor of h psyc ology to talk to his football players .

Pfof essor . o f Henry T Moore, the department of psychology at Dartmouth, gave the football men a new and interesting slant on their sport .

: Such phrases as indirect vision, somatic percep l t on, reaction time, were brought out during the “ ” talk. Reaction time probably meant nothing o f to some the men before Prof. Moore explained that there is an exact instant when an athlete, m after hearing a co mand to action, is ready to " —respond with the utmost of his strength and skill, that he can give only a portion o f his powers Fo o tb a o a and o mor r ow ll, T d y T when forced to act before that instant arrives or after it has passed . The margin of victory is always a mental o ne between teams of even reasonably equal merit .

o unex The element of luck, to which s many

ected d is p defeats and triumphs are attribute , , ni o f more often than not , a mere ma festation ff a mental di erence . It is not the lucky te m which ms but - e w . , the slow witt d eleven which loses The problem of modern football is first and l o f aways to outwit the defense , to surprise the ense i f . And the team capable of util zing not merely brain and brawn, but the subtle quality referred to as psychology has more than an even o o a i break f coming thr ugh w nner.

Fo o tb a o a and o ll, T d y T mor r ow to be overcome when one i s young and plas

tl c . Athletic history is filled with examples Of subnormal boys who have developed into vigor ous w men . Like ise , many puny youngsters have or made themselves into champions , near cham pions, by diligently applying themselves .

Bobby Jones, the most wonderful golfer in the world, is an outstanding example . At a tender age, his very life was all but despaired Of by a physician . His parents were told he must have outdoor exercise . They moved near a golf club, and then Bobby started to develop .

Lourl e 1 920 Don , picked by Walter Camp in for - his All America Football quarterback, was

would have believed unfitted for football . He had speed, intelligence and a perfect knowledge

Of the game . Through inquiries I learned that he had played with a football from the time he could kick it, and that helped to overcome all physical disabilities . one o - Frank Murray, Of the surest dr p kickers l n I have ever seen, began childhood and taught himself to kick by practl cl ng i n his back yard at

Nashville, Tennessee . He was not strong, but liked the game . His father erected a goal post l n his yard and bought Frank a football . The ul boy practiced kicking by the hour. As a res t, he developed physically, and when he went to

o - college, he could dr p kick a goal at almost any

bi There is a general impression that only g, brawny men have a chance to excel i n football . We have only to look back over the records and find that many men small and puny have been stars o f the first rank . Of — The Poe brothers Princeton Johnny, Ar —; thur and Nat Were stars back i n the golden nineties when close formations and mass attacks ‘ reml um o put a p n strength and bulk . In the last few years the little fellows are creeping into the the headlines as stars all over country. Uter “ ” itz o f , Michigan ; Andy Thompson, of Penn ; o f Gorman, Of Princeton ; Way, Penn State ; o f G o o dwme Dinsmore, Princeton ; , Of Yale and Buell of Harvard are a few Of the most out standing. There is a place for every type Of boy on

has ‘ a football team . If he a fighting heart, the right spirit,and the determination to work, 1s he will not be ignored, no matter if he lacking h smal in some p y qualification . I believe ln gl vmg not merely a warm wel Fo o t a l o a and omo r r o w b l , T d y T come to every man who presents himself at the field- a s ecial house, but in putting w p and careful effort On the candidates who show little imme e diate promise . Some Of the best play rs ever developed were drawn from this group Of men men who had failed to i make prep - school teams because Of relatively slow development , and who as freshmen or sophomores were still well behind their mates in football knowledge and experi ence. Such boys are sometimes slow to take hold on the field and the first impulse Of a coach dis tracted with tryl ng to distinguish between a h s hundred strange faces, is to clarify i problem a by elimin ting them at once. There could hardly be a more serious blunder. The expe rienced and confident player 1s sure

" of himself and knows a little Of what is to be h s . done, but the beginner feels y and strange He needs encouragement not only for his own sake N but for the effect on the rest Of the squad . O coach can aff ord to give anybody a legitimate reason for feeling slighted . Such grievances damage the morale more effectively than any TO on thing else . pick an eleven the first day o r in the first week is impossible and unwise . I like to see competition for places on my teams alive and keen right up to the final games,

Fo o t all o a and o rr w b , T d y T mo o

et pivot , swerve, stop and g underway without O or loss f speed balance . Stagg favors men who have football imagina t tion, who are able to lose hemselves in the drama \ He Of the game . believes that football players are born, not made . Certainly, he “ l says, physica attributes enter into being a foot ball player, but a manufactured tackle or full an back always will remain automaton, a me chanical player. “When I can possibly do without such a player ’ ” I won t have him around . “ ” Coach Hurry Up Yost, of Michigan gives

five qualities which make the football player. They are :

Determination .

Perseverance .

O- C Ordination.

Brains .

Strength .

They are within the grasp Of anyone seeking — football honors all can be developed, except, in possibly, strength, and that certainly, can be

creased . “ As to natural qualifications, says Yost,

You may reverse the order. The first thing a Any B oy Can Be a Player coach seeks in a candidate 1 s not strength but r the dete mination to do . The strong, brainy, perfectly co - ordinated boy is not an athl ete un less he possesses the determination and willing l ness to persevere . And the greatest ath etes are r not the strongest or the biggest or the sma test . By determination is meant the quality found in every great athlete which enabled him, by Of to 0 351 sheer force will, do the seemingly imp o a ble when the cc smn demands . “ The hardest thing to find is the boy who has the mental and moral courage , the ability and to determination do a thing well, and certain to do his best when the mental pressure is the great - in o f f est the heat sti f competition. one Willie Heston, who I believe, was Of the s o f en greate t football players, had no power durance when he reported for football . He tired o f very quickly and was out wind in a short time . But Heston was one Of those boys who gritted their teeth , and showed that he was determined to overcome his shortcoming. “Heston was an indefatigable worker when he acquired wind and the necessary endurance . In one season he was seemingly tireless and always possessed enough reserve power to carry him through for an extra yard when needed . Ki ke C Harry p was another . The aptain Of 1 923 the the championship team, was most valu able punter who ever wore the Michigan colors . “ ’ Ki ke This just didn t happen. p had athletic ’ ability by nature and became the games s great est kicker by paymg a PI ‘I CC few boys are willing to pay. “ ’ Kipke s greatness was his ability to place h punts exactly where e wanted them . This abil f of ity was a result o hours upon hours practice .

‘ Kipke has practiced kicking a football ever since on one he has been able to hold to . Even after

k a e vacations and practiced kic ing from all ngl s . “ ” Little wonder he became a famous kicker " “ I determinatl on t is impossible to weigh , cour

a e on . g , grit and perseverance a scale Yet they are r the the things which, blended togethe , make ” sterling football player .

son, the veteran trainer at the University Of “ -five Pennsylvania, is seventy per cent of the

i on o battle n winning a place a f otball team. “ The remammg twenty-five per cent comes h under the ead Of application . Men endowed with natural athletic ability who are willing to cause the coaches have not the time to develop e r him . If he started four y a s before entering college to develop his chest, he might have been kept on the varsity squad when he tried for the ” team and developed himself into a great athlete . Fathers and mothers can help their boys to Vl ‘OI ‘ Oll S a become healthy, g footb ll players . Here are a dozen rules which the parents may follow in assisting the youngster : First : Have competent physicians and den i t sts watch his physical condition . : o a Second Give him g od, clean thletes for hero worship .

hi : T rd Encourage him in home work, a

' o i h simple routine f r wh c is included below . Fourth : Watch his food ; make h1m eat slowly and with regularity ; and do not permit him to play Immediately after meals .

: la m of Fifth Stress the p y g football, base

tenms fi ball, and and see that his playing eld is properly laid out

o Sixth : Be sure he gets plenty f sleep . Seventh : See that he takes a bath after each game or exercise . Eighth : Require him to play with boys his own Any B oy Can Be a Player

Ninth : DO not permit him to play when in jured . Tenth : Prevent him from babying him self.

Eleventh : Teach him to be a good sportsman .

' Twelfth : Correct any awkwardness or clum

siness . Any boy with the love o f a game can become l s adept at that game, provided the youngster Of see started right . The first duty parents is to that the boy is in shape to play the game he 1 8

interested in . It is most important that every

boy should be carefully examined by i a compe tent physician before he is allowed to play a k game like football. A dentist should also loo

his teeth over . Between the ages Of ten and fifteen there are weaknesses in some youngsters , not necessarily ul organic, which wo d certainly prove danger o us i to a boy play ng such a game as football . a son I have thirteen years Old . For several years I have had him examined regularly by one o f of i the best doctors Philadelph a . I have his eyes examined at the same time by an oculist ; a r to and twice yea he is sent the dentist . The results Of the various examl nations are submitted ’ to me and I keep a chart index o f my boy s

1 1 7. Fo o tb all o a and omo r r o w , T d y T

TO a . s weight and height date, I am glad to y, I have caught nothing but a bad p al r Of tonsils : and since they have been removed my son has shown much more endurance . This petty attention to details about his health ma o f I y sound silly but as a matter fact, regard it as the most important thing a father can do o one encour f r his boy. Certainly no wants to age his son to play football and then find out t hat the youngster has a weak heart . Fl ne players in all games are not essentially 0 1 men Of the her c type, but those possessed Of “ ” e the feel and love Of the gam . That is what ul the parent sho d endeavor to develop in a boy, rather than unusual skill . Once a boy is imbued “ ” love o f with the spirit, the , and feel the game, it becomes easy to bring him to stardom. A to the im le lso, he should be accustomed p ments of the game . In football, the boy should

lve eu be g n a uniform and ball. He should be coura ed g to run, kick, catch, and pick up the ball until it becomes a second nature with him. Take a boy to see good games and encourage i him to read o f them. Stimulate his interest n r every possible way. If your boy is clumsy o ni awkward encourage ten s, swimming and base and lis e ti ball, as well as skating, dancing ca th n cs .

Noble Of Yale, have publicly announced that they study better, feel better, while engaged

Of . regularly in some kind , sport Both of these men are three letter athletes and leaders in their respective schools .

T , he explanation Of this is easy. The athlete, in the modern college, is respected only if he maintal ns e he good grades , keeps fit and cl an all t

’ under rad year around, and realizes that the g u ates expect Of him a kind Of behavior consistent w roml nence and Of ith his p popularity. This job keepl ng out of mischief and staying sound in mind and body is enormously simplified for him. And yet he spends his time among those who are sometimes lazy and foolish in their ideas Of man ines l s and conduct . The right football Spl rit in any school re qu1res that every man who even hopes to play on the teamshall stand well in his classes and be

Of out . have himself outside them, in season and I have seen this influence work like a miracle on men who, wanting the support and restraint of ’ for their fellows Opinions , had proved impossible or faculty coach to manage .

Of course there are some who will go wrong. Several years ago there was at P r1nceton a great drop -kicker who made a great name for himself

I 2 0 . e ted he l n qu n t nearby cities , indulged all kinds W1sed Of easy living, and b efore he up , he had

I try and avoid this type Of boy when selecting my players, what I look for at first , as I study 1 8 my men, that quality best described as ability

- a ,to handle oneself close correlation between ] mind and muscle which manifests itself in bal — sa — ance, Speed perhaps one might y rhythm or grace . This is not the most important quality but it is the most vital Of these which are visible o a n short cquaintance . The natural football on player has a tremendous start the others , in his mere ability to make his hands and feet and body do what his brain directs and do it qu1ckly W1th m1n1mum f a of wasted e fort .

Next, I try and find men with nerve and cheer ulness f , who do not complain too readily Of minor a d bumps n brui ses . Any one who is inclined to be sorry for himself on slight provocation 1s pretty sure not to make a good football player, however well he may be equi pped otherwise for

to what ever the modifications applied football, they have not lessened the demands on grit and

. o courage and endurance If they had, I for ne would want no more Of it . A few years ago we had at Princeton a great athlete known from coast to coast for his achieve He ments . was the kind Of a fellow who could a m an thm one in do l ost y g well . I remember all out stance when, for no reason at , he stepped on the fifty yard line with two footballs and said - one he would drop kick over each goal post .

He did . And with a grand gesture walked Off an the field, leaving a squad Of intensely noyed football men staring at his broad back as dressm it disappeared into the g room . There was no reason for this display Of kick 1ng prowess for the fellow lacked something which made him o f any use until he got all the ut brass knocked o Of him . And it was not until his semor year that he came around and played the game he was capable Of playing. On every squad there are a few men whose instinct is to produce a ready alibi and to start an argument over every mistake they make . It ul to wo d be pleasant to send such men back golf, the birthplace ] and natural habitat o f the whole mi not for Alibi fa ly, but this will serve, some Of the best natural football men I have ever handl ed h d have a this habit in its extreme degree. The only thing to be done 18 to cure them as quickly and as thoroughly as may be, and patience and

1 2 2 .

Fo o tbal o a and omo r r o w l, T d y T

- gence and speed, the quick thinking lad with the e o - l o n not p rfectly c ordinated musc es is a par, if

su er1or . p to, the bigger and slower man The best example Of a real modern football 2 e team was the great 1 9 4 Notre Dam eleven. Stuldreher The backfield, composed Of , Miller,

Crowley and Layden, were fast, light men ; great ’ the Ofl ense on on and steady the defense. 1 68 This entire first team averaged pounds , t he second team 1 78 pounds and the third team heaV1er the was still . But everyone Of Four Horsemen could run a hundred yards between - -5 0 2 -5 9 4 and 1 seconds . W 1th the growmg importance attached to the

forward pass, the daring open style Of play, small men all over the country are making big reputations so that the size or build as a neces

sary factor in football is being discarded . “ on a o I m Out the coast a few years g , Tut

lay, Of California, was a sensation. A slippery sa1d o ne o f little fellow who, it is , was the best

players in that country developed for years . It

three or four tacklers waiting to rub his nose in

the dirt, only to have him grab the ball and side step his way through them ‘ for a considerable al n g . He was such a wiry little fellow with a Any B oy Can B e a Player change Of pace and s traight-arm that made him the best Open field runner on the Pacific Coast . The little fellow I S compelled to face great r Odds . This has sha pened and developed his ’ s so competitive in tinct . Things don t come quite n easy for him, and this mea s harder work and, therefore, greater development . He must use c and every resour e, this often means that his tim l u i s g better and surer, and there is less waste in everything he does . The tall rangy fellow has a ’ e long r stride , but they don t get there any or quicker, get as many revolutions per minute,

sa as an engineer would y, over the little fellow . Invariably the crowd 1 s with the game little

1s f exem lification f fellow for he , a ter all, the p O courage and spirit that warms the heart of the spectator. The recent death Of Frank Hinkey recalls an other great little man who earned his fame m the o lder, rougher days Of football when he weighed

1 50 1 at less than pounds . In his re gn Yale many claim that not one yard w as gained around his

on end . He was e Of the most deadly of all tacklers, sure, hard and clean, a dynamic force that drove 200 pound ball-carriers into the dirt time and agam . Fo o tb a o a and Tomo r r ow ll, T d y

Joe Stern aman , formerly of Illinois and now o Of playing professional f otball, is another the little men who delight in roughing up the big

Sternaman Zu ke , said pp , is the greatest

1 professional football player n the world . He weighed 1 36 pounds when he played for me at

Illinois and he was a great player then . He

1 44 . weighs now, and is the best end in the game “ I would “pick Stern aman against any man I aw - - t ever s m a life and death battle . In tha kind Of fight I believe he woul d wreck Jack Dempsey k completely. I saw him almost wrec a heavy weight champion wrestler in college who out i we ghed him by more than seventy pounds .

“ ‘ fir e 1nS1de e He is a ball Of , with as much n rve I as ever saw in my life . The big men are fine .

But there is always room for a good little man, ” no matter what the game may be . The names Of little fellows are all over the rec ords for greatness . Handicapped by size and weight they have dodged and twisted and squirmed their way through the bigger and heaV1er men until their names regularly appear

the -Amer1 h in selected All ca teams . T e utility of the brainy little fellow is appreciated by the

1 2 6.

CHAP TER VIII

THE VALU E OF FOOTBALL

A o f o re DE N Christian Gauss, Princet n, was cently discussing un1versity problems at an

alumnl . gathering Of course, football was men tioned , and when it was he said with considerable em haS1s p , For my part, I wish we played foot

ball every Saturday during the college year. My I S 1 job during the football season much eas er, as enforcl n un1versit far as g discipline in the y goes, ” than at any other time .

Dean Gauss hit the nail on the head . The temptatl ons surrounding the college boy today have 1ncreased ten-fold since I was an under -fiv o graduate twenty e years ago . The autom bile not o r has eliminated distance . Most , if all, Of u “un1versities and colleges are W1thin easy reach o f m half a dozen cities and towns Of considerable m . The college or university undergraduate is not o i g mg to spend h s entire time in study. Nor do

I believe he should . What is he going to do, I S ? then, when he not studying Certainly he is The Value of Fo o tb all

no t sit going to down, fold his arms , and medi to tate . Quite the contrary, he is going be up

dom and g, for he is full Of animal spirits, vitality, and enthusiasm. f Football O fers a partial solution . During the -ni e of football season, ninety n per cent the undergraduates in almost every college and school in the land are at the football field every —out Saturday afternoon, in the clear, bracing air and to out autumn , which is more the point , of mischief and out Of the way of temptation

- Hero worship may be a bad thing, but any one who has had even a little experl ence with the young Of the human specl es knows that it is um Y versal and ineradicable . ou must deal with it or not k whether ~you like it not . Why ma e it as useful and helpful as poss1ble ? no one he ad If a boy has else to admire, will ml re and envy a dead-game gambler quite as blindly as he will follow a Splendid specimen Of the sound mind in the sound , clean body. I have seen so many decent young fellows acqul re mis erably distorted Vl eWS Of life from fixing their admiration on unworthy Objects that I have no t to doub whatever as the value Of fine, straight , upstanding football heroes as patterns and ex cla1m1n k amples . Without g that football wor s Fo o tb al o a and omo rr o w l, T d y T

sa l miracles, I can y emphatical y that a first class or player cannot be acad, a bully, a crook . - ni Sometimes I hear well mea ng people, even people who know a little about the surface Of the enthu game itself, speak slightingly Of football

1a s sm in the colleges . Sideline and grandstand

Spirit they call it . And if it were true that such an atmosphere breeds a tendency to take one ’ s own exerc1 se on e the bleachers, I should agr e with them in part at least . But I find it strongly f e e f ctive in exactly the opposite direction . The more you can rouse footbal l enthusmsm m a man e be utterly unable to play the game, the easi r it comes to persuade that man to develop his body and to keep it in decent running repair. More men go out to play soccer or tennis or golf in a college where football interest is keen than where it is not , and Of course the goal to wards which every athletic director 1 s workl ng I S to get as many students as possible to participate in some sort Of athletics . Newspaper reports Of tremendous receipts from football games sometl mes give well-mean ing people the idea that the game is run for some ’ l body s profit . Perhaps n some cases these i receipts are not altogether w sely used, but in the ma vast majority Of instances, every penny is n

years ago and other equipment has advanced pro rtio atel po n y. gThe college football game is not run for 1nc1dentall not profits . It is a spectacle y and i rl valr primar ly, and the student bodies whose y makes it possible are hosts for the day to a body s o f and compo ed mainly graduates their friends, each Of whom makes a contribution to the gen

t fully received and wisely used . g so The assertion, often loosely made, that foot ’ of s s ball is taking up too much the tudent time, is not out b t T borne y the fac s . he demands Of practice and games together take up less time

e . than any oth r competitive sport . Last fall at Princeton football took up exactly s1xty-31x ’ of hours the players time, while the University essm he was m s n. T Fall term started Septem

1 her 29 and the football season

o n 14 Yale game November . Duringthis period, the Varsity football squad never spent more than

o on fi — tw hours the eld in any day, from to a in the, afternoon. Two days week the

practice sessmns hardly lasted over an hour.

o enl n o f a Before the p g college, we had two weeks conditioning period commencing Septem

1 2 3 . The Value of Fo o tb all

1 5 All t e ber . in all, h Princeton football season lasted just eight weeks and four days . I admit the Princeton season is the shortest

nl two or . in the country, but o y by three weeks Coaches everywhere are recogmz mg more and more that it is better to underwork their charges than to overwork them . The football p layer in the vast majority Of instances is a mere boy in years and cannot be at his best when he is tired r u and b ised . TO counteract the extravagant statements that are sometimes made about the excessive demands ’ on the football players time and its in terference ’ with college work, the Football Coaches Asso ciation o f , which is composed all the leading foot m ball coaches the country, adopted a resolution recommending that practice sessions should never exceed two hours and that fall practice should not start prl or to September 1 5 unless college had actually opened . In the discus o f t sion that preceded the adoption his resolution, it was the consensus Of opinion that such limita tions on practice could not retard the efficient de velo ment p Of any team. Consider as a basis Of compar1 son the amount of time given over to other sports . The candi dates for the crew start preliminary tral mng m Fo o tb all, To day and Tomo r r o w

o f the Fall, spend a good part the winter in a more or less monotonous grind on the rowmg o ut machines, and are again until early Summer " e Ofl as soon as the w is the water . Baseball runs for four months ln the Spring and usually one f n a . O month i the F ll Basketball and hockey, ten d considere minor sports, are played continuously or ee for three four months . I s no reason why ther e should be any Obj ection to the length Of the Of varl ous W ea playing season our games, ithin r n so able bounds . I am simply pointing out how " easy it is to distort facts when football comes up for discussion . Modern college rules require a little more in actual fact from an athlete than from any other student, both as regards conduct and study. The athlete, and particularly the football player, even where the faculty control 1s conspicuously e benevolent, is always under Observation . H is ’ - something like the minister s some when he slips “ m o sa everybody knows it and any pe ple y, I told o a you s . He cannot pl y football unless he out keeps of trouble and stands well in his classes . Neither can he play football unless he keeps his

body clean and fit, not just m training season

but the year around .

. Many players have told me that they did better

Fo tball o a an d omor r o w o , T d y T

and straightforwardness downrightness , its con r at tempt fo chicanery and fraud . Anyone who tempts to play football even moderately well nl durm must be in the pink Of condition, not o y g the actual playing season but through the entire T l year. here are few boys n any college who ’ wouldn t make almost : any sacrifice to playon the

team, and most Of them realize that if they dissi t 1s v pa e their chance lost beyond reco ery. I am firmly Of the Opmion that the more we

encourage healthful athletic competition, the better citizens we make The successful football player twenty years ago was indisputably the

o f man who had strength first all, courage next,

e 1n id and intellig nce only as a minor c ent if at all .

o f a Under the playing conditions tod y, games are won and lost simply o n a mental difference which more than Offsets physical diff erences just

as great . t f i I have seen , grea ootball class cs decided f solely by mental superiority, a di ference in

o f speed and clearness thought, which was quite as visible and far more effective than the differ

ence in physical qualities . I am firmly convinced that the winning football player 1 8 the thinking football player and that the most vital qualifica The Value of Fo o tb all tion for those who wish to excel at the game is brains . one F ootball is distinctly a team game, Of self h effacement for t e common good, Of willing subordination o f selfish motive and individual ambition to the cause of the team which personl

fies the university or school behind it . The grandstander may have temporary success , but he seldom lasts . The greatest running backs I have ever coached have been men who seldom if

r arrl ed eve c the ball . It is hard for the general o f public to understand this side the game, but the boys who play it understand and appreciate

it There is no doubt football has s faults , but the benefits from the game and its influence o n those who play it far outweigh its defects . In an address before the National Collegiate Ath o l n leti Association New York, President Ernest of M . Hopkins, Dartmouth, sounded a note Of warning which should be carefully considered by those who ascribe evils to football much greater than really exist and who seek to eliminate it our from school and college activities . President Ho kl ns scrl tural p said, There is p authority for the fear that a miraculously created void may no t be advantageously filled . The evil spirit

1 37. Fo o tb all o a and omo r r ow , T d y T which returned to the antiseptically swept and garnished chamber from which it had been cast out had , came not alone , but associated with itself a seven other devils, and the l tter state was cor ” reS ondin l ’ f p g y worse than the ormer. “ It is not surprismg m a country where we in strive to make man temperate by legislation, dustrious r by court dec ee, and happy by politi cal oratory, that we should assume Our ability to make men scholars by deny1ng them the o ppor t unity for indulging in any other interest . But ar u m g g from analogy, we lack certainty that this ” t e would be h inevitable outcome .

I n the history Of civilization, Greece stands o - ut as a well known landmark . What do we as socrate with Greece ? Greek learning and Greek — culture, but above all, the Greek athlete . Facts are o and figures f rgotten, Of mind and

body are not .

no I have quarrel with professional football . ‘ n u All thi gs being eq al, I think the promoters are managing their “Show as cleanly as it can

‘ ff o be managed . Its e ect n the college game is o negligible, for the pr fessional game lacks the

flame, the spirit, that keeps the college game gO1ng upward and onward in the appreciation Of th a li as b e gener l pub c a hard, ristling sport ; com

i 1n 1r1n l n pelling nspirit and sp g sentiment . rt Of A qua er Of a century football, as player, Of fan and coach, have taught me first all that t e game is played , not by eleven men, but by

—e e even hundred or eleven thousand by the Whole student body and graduate body Of the institu

’

or e . tion, large small, which thes men represent College football is interwove n W1th college life . The spectacle, with student bands , organ iz ed cheering, enhanced by the color and intense emotional stimulus of a big game cannot be du plicated o n the soil o f a big league baseball park o r r T e in the shadows Of mills and facto ies . h counterfeits Of collegiate enthus1asm manufactured by the professional clubs have been as successful and fnSpi n ng as a Sunday s chool picnl c on a rainy day” It takes something more compelling than a pay check to arouse the flaming courage, the grit Pr ofessional Fo o tb all and endurance manifested on the gridiron d o f against the backgroun Gothic buildings , shaded lawns and familiar faces of classmates .

It takes spirit, college spirit . The only analogy,

t c . I hink, is love Of ountry This may sound like the loose and wmdy bom m bast Of the com on collegiate spellbinder . My

n convmced e experie ce, however, has me that th re be s must ome strong, underlying motive, some — or form Of tangible loyalty to a coach, a team an Institution, prompted by the heat Of hard competitive sport, to bring about the best results in football . The most damning evidence against pro fes sional football is the attitude Of the players them selves . Of course it is not expected that they will emu Of 1 891 late Phil Brett, the Rutgers captain , on ff who, sitting the field after su ering a broken t leg agains Princeton, said between sobs that “ ’ ” for R I d die Dear Old utgers, which proved o n to be a burden him ever since . That is asking to o much . But stories Of the other extreme are t o too common be ignored as exceptional .

There is the story Of a great football player, fresh from the triumphs Of the campus who was lured into the game not so much for the money Fo o t a l o da and omor r ow b l , T y T but bec ause he really glowed and reveled in the clash Of flesh against flesh and would miss a meal i rather than an opportunity to hit the me . college star was the only man who gained con i entl carrl ed s st y against the opponents . He the a1n1n ball for three straight times , g g ten, fifteen t biit to and ten yards at a clip . Pan ing, eager again “ Aw, take it easy kid, warned the veteran o f quarterback many p rofessional campaigns. Cut the rah-rah stuff and make some Of these ’ hirelings do some work . They re making a ” sucker out Of you .

“ ’ ot the ball . He protested . I ve g a bad knee .

The other h alfback was called . He could

’ 2 s o e take it . I ve got 00 buck n this gam . L 1n dressm ater, the g room, after the game am was decided in favo , with himself and the arrymg the burden, the collegian talked over professional football with the seasoned veteran . “ The slogan Of the professional athlete said

Pr ofessional Foo tb all

’ 1 3 : the quarterback, Don t get hurt ; we play ’ an to again tomorrow, d you re no good the team or o o yourself lying n a hospital c t . “ ” “ ’ e not After all, he continued . W re kidding r e sun ou selves m this gam . Tomorrow the will c ome up and next winter it will snow and be just as cold and if I don’ t lay something away I ’ll be — who " just as broke and Oh, cares anyhow “ The spectators come to see ' some spectacular ll ’ runs and get a few thri s . They don t relish a o stonewall defense on the ne yard line . They want to see some galloping ghost cut loose for — ten or twenty yards through a broken field and ’ bird ll this not disappoint them. “ ’ I ve ml ssed more tackles than I could shake a stick at . And if more fellows would forget they ever played college football the way I do ’ ’ ” they d be turmng em away at the gate . That is not the express1on Of one player ; it I S the creed Of the majority and sums up pro fes ion l s a football. Until the attitude Of the player changes the game has a very hazy and dubious

There 1 s something distinctive about football . I can easily un derstand a professional makmg a - a living pole vaulting, pl ying tennis , golf or base o ball . The usual run f sports demand less than on football, which depends solely the spirit moti

The demands Of football are such that the i n S 1 player, to be right, must keep plendid phys o o f cal c ndition . In the majority cases, with the ro fess1ona 1 surance p l players selling bonds, n and ’ real estate, working as dentists, lawyers, hustling o ice and milk and baggage, as well as living ab ut

in clubs and hotels, any form of systemized train ing so essential to real football is impossible What is the result ? The professional men o cannot give their all . They cannot let g . They know that if they are injured they are Off the A p ayroll until they are ready for action again.

serl o s really u mj ury puts them out for good .

who The men play are not fools . They know they are not in the physical shape Of their college ’ f exis days . They are leading di ferent kinds Of

not tence, so particular about their waistline and conscl ous that they are slowing up and getting f brittle . Many O them are married . The easy money Of the professional game made it possible

for t to e l com ar1 son hem get settl d, n p with their classmates engaged in slower but more perman

o f ent positions . With love wife and home and socl al interests bearing down on them it is only

Fo o tb a o da and o mo r r o w ll, T y T

strong. I did it last week in Chicago and cured ’ I t s myself for life . a dangerous habit . “This fellow came tearing through the line like

e a bowlegged panther . There was nothing b our s ‘ trul tween him and our goal but y y . In an unguarded moment I forgot myself

' —I Or — a reflex action guess , something but I let go and hit him head on at the knees . “ He was all knees . My face looked like a ’ drunken sailor S when I got up . “ ’ Well, you can bet I didn t bother that fellow with the knees that afternoon . I gave him the fight Of way and everytime he cut loose I just ’ wasn t Within tackling distance . Of course I ran — after him but not fast enough . This player also said that the idea Of the game “ was to gl ve the spectators a run for their ” money between the twenty yard lines . Then the players tightenedup and played real football within the shadow Of the goal posts . The position Of professional football is indeed a precarious one and I regret to see the game di e

O - out entirely because f over exploitation . Big

one Of rofes Bill Edwards, president of the p u sio al leagues during the past year, when the revw al Of the professional game was rather aus Pr ofessio n al Fo o tb all

1c1ous o 1n10 n p , expressed an p several years ago which, I believe, still holds “ Football will never be commercialized, he wrote in the Philadelphia North Amerl can on

4th 1 920 . December , The essential features Of the game, the demands it makes on the players re ul res spiritually, the innate sportsmanship it q Of its adherents make the probability remote Of it ever being exploited professionally with any ” degree o f success . no Circumstances do alter cases and doubt Mr . Edwards changed his m1nd regarding pr ofes sional football in the intervening time since he wrote the above and assumed the o ffice Of presi

Of the dent professional football league . ’ But I still find Mr. Edwards statement sound

1 s and logical . It just as good today as when he ‘ h wrote it and will be so ten years ence .

thrl ves on one — Football thing spirit . That

spirit must be real, fostered by a common inter est and working toward a common end for an in

i io st tut n . , a place, or an ideal Mere football for ’ s asmodi football s sake will never go, except p c There i s a spirited community in the o utlyl ng section o f Philadelphia where professional foot Fo o tba o a and omor r o w ll, T d y T ball thrives under the Only conditions possible for the game . That football is po ss1ble outside the college h O on campus, that it can be a real t ing and can g , a year after year, with steady popularity is illus trated by the Frankford Yellowj ackets ackets ro The Yellow3 , I believe, won the p fessl onal championship Of the United States last i season . They did not have the b ggest names or the highest priced stars in their lineup . But e th y played real football, under ideal football conditions, with every man, woman and child in m n the co mu ity cheering for them . An Frankford is an interesting place . indus b o trial center, primarily, bu bling ver with civic Yellow acket pride . The j s belong to the com munity, with the residents owning jointly the stock . Every dollar taken in at the gate over expenses 1s expended towards the welfare Of — Frankford Not a nickel is made by the pro

moters.

Tex The players, like Hamer, former Penn

sylvania Captain, have played there for several ni s years ; live in the commu ty, and are in bu iness

’ there . The newcomers are invited around to the s reS1dents home Of the for dinner, bridge and

Social gatherings . Every football player is

1 48 .

Fo o tb a o a and o mor r o w ll, T d y T

and powerful in the section, with football mak l ug enough money to carry their sports program - ust J like the college game . Today the name o f Frankford YellowJackets l s the biggest ln the realm o f professional foot / I t ball . is supported by working people from actorl es mills ffi the surrounding f , and o ces, as well as the local business men . Football means the YellowJackets and the differentiation be tween intercollegiate and professional football all means nothing at to them . Communities like nk are the rock “Fra ford o f n foundation the professio al game . There are many such places scattered over the country, — W is . Green Bay, , Clifton Heights, etc , made up o f commercial and industrial people with an e aptitud for all kinds of competitive sport . Modern football has a tremendous appeal to f these men working in mills , factories and o fices . They have 1mag1nation and respond to the thrill o f the man against man clashes in football . They play baseball in the summer and basketball in the i w nter and are adept at it . Just as the majority of our major league ball so players come from this class of people, too, could men of the professional game be recruited from their ranks .

1 0 5 . Pr ofessional Fo o tb all

of In the coal regions Pennsylvania, where the professional game has flourished for years , they o f developed many such players . One them is known far better than Red ” Grange will ever “ ” i s nn be in that section . His name Blue Bo er, a backfield star, now living at Pottsville . He made college players coming into that section look like the schoolboys they were . My contentl on is that if the professional pro moter s get the majority of their players from the industrial groups they can do more with them in

o f . the way training, etc , than with the college a star fresh from the c mpus .

The college ball player, for all the bunk writ ten to the contrary, has not been a howling suc cess as a professional . For the same reason he o f o f will not, in the majority cases , make a go professional football . ’ ’ o f His heart isn t in the game . It isn t a case or hi e play starve . He has s ducation to fall back o n and his memories of stirring contests during his college days , which makes the professional game seem dull and flat and cheap . But the youth who has had nothing but the dull routine o f a factory or a coal mine staring t he him in face, who has a natural craving for blue skies and green turf and the competition o f Fo o tb a l o a and omo r r ow l , T d y T

l o f footbal and baseball, the life a professional athlete I S the peak of romance and human ’ h e all ac ievem nt . He ll get in there and fight for ’ “ he s got. I remember watching one of these teams play i hiladel hl a n P p . They were called the Home stead Professionalsand could have beaten the

men. This type o f athlete has been all but ignored by the promoters exploiting the popul arity o f d thel s ll . T r footba hey fille lineup with names, M erriwell not players, and let it go at that . Joe , who made that great run against Siwash in 1 91 7

on is still playing his reputation, although he has

’ hms a d no . a few o , a rotund figure n wind at all There will always be great college players who love the game o f football so muc h that they will continue to play it until forced to the sidelines “ ”

or old . with bad knees , broken legs age Red

' o f t Grange , I believe, is this yp l n Last summer, when Grange was working S Hollywood on his football picture, he made uch an impression as an actor that the moving picture people offered him more money to remain there m ul profes than he could, have ade spec ating with ‘ “ ” sional football . Red refused . Football was

Fo o tba o a and omor r ow ll, T d y T could play on Saturdays m places like Frank

There is money in professional football but not enough to have the sport continue in an ex loited - p , circus like manner employed by the who box promoters, , after all, handled it like a o ing bout, a sh w and band concert . It has as much chance of permanence as pro fessional baseball but will never become as popu lar. as the summer pastime because it will be first, o f last and always, minor importance to the inter t game of foo ball . CHAPTER "

THE M ODERN GAM E W HEN President Roosevelt called the rep r esentatives o f r Yale , Ha vard and Prince to o 1 905 n t the White House in October, to

o f discuss the future football, he not only saved the rules be the game by demanding that 9 changed, but made possible modern football as it is kn own today r A ffi . di cult period it was, in football histo y

Several newspapers , engaged in a crusade 1 905 against the game after the bloody season of , 1 8 1 1 o f hi when players were killed, them gh school lads and three collegians ; with 1 49 in e 88 the 4 jur d seriously, in high schools and 7 in “ the colleges, referred to football as murderous , ” brutal and dangerous . So strong was the wave o f popular opinion against the Sport that the legislatures in some western states passed a law a ff to making it a pen l o ense play football . fi President o f to Eliot , Harvard, when asked i ci for of step nto the breach, de l ned lack juris Fo o tb a o a and o mo rr ow ll, T d y T m diction . The faculty o f Columbia pro ptly abolished the sport ; Northwestern and Union stopped playing for one year while Stanford and i ‘ Californ a abandoned football in favor of Rugby. But the majority o f colleges awaited the outcome ’ o f the President s conference before taking ao

o The situati n was indeed serious . Football had not fully recovered from the black eye o f the 1 893 - 94 o f period, the days the fiercest and hi when at bloodiest games in its story, m hue

f or o f . and , cry went up f the abolition the game

Present day football followers , perhaps , cannot apprecl ate the viciousness and roughness o f foot i ball n those early days .

At Harvard a football strategist, Lorin De land , who was not a player, invented the flying o f wedge, which became the steam roller play

- football . It was a combination pile driver and 1m roved the stampede . This play was p upon by great Pennsylvania team of 1 894 which started forming the flying wedge from the line o f scrim b dro m mage, , y pp g linesmen back to form a wedge with the backs and massing t an “ is t end or tackle .

in 1 903 e. Football, m , W boring o f an affair ; a cross between a battle

Fo o tb a o a and omo r r o w ll, T d y T

To the modern football fan it would be almost s comical to watch the big tackle, pushed thi way

hl s . and that , like a wilted Hercules, by mates Little wonder the old-timer commg back to his ahn a mater after many years is amazed at “ modern football, referring to it as a glorified ” I basketball game . n comparison, it surely is

just that . When the 200 poun d tackle did not carry the

l h Hl w e t . s on ball his g was utilized job was, f mm nd n the o fense, to ha er a k ife his broad body - on through the line, the ball carrier following his

heels . The greatest team was usually the heaviest

1 901 ’ 03 ’ 04 had not been defeated in , , and . During this period they ran up a total of points and had a mere 40 points scored against 43 them . They had won games . The record o f the 1 905 team was more bril o f 1 2 liant than the other years . In a series hi games prior to the great C cago game, they had a total o f 495 points against nothing for oppo

ent e . n s . They were called the point a minut team d Chicago efeated them by a safety. I travelled west for the game and on the Michigan team saw l - . l Am eleven giants Schultz, the A erica center, The M0 4 weighed 220 pounds ; Octopus Grabal 2 46 o th guard, weighed ; Schulte, the 1 95 ; and Captam Curtis, was another left tackle . Compare this wel ght with the famc o f 1 924 Fm Dame team , with its famous e 1 68 men . The whol team averaged ' But there w as a marked difference e1 rules which made the heavy team of 1 best team . In those days it was only o to make two r three yards per down . provided for a gain of five yards in thr It was almost impossible to stop one of t

e nee roll r attacks , with only two yards

o down, when pr perly concentrated in a tance . Ou the defense there was only one

— on I f attem hit it head . the line p the attack standing up it was bowl short order . An d there was common talk o f foul

of heat scrimmage . What with

o f the ing number serious injuries , against the abolishment o f football w

t o o feeble . j ectionable features be removed from the game “ ‘ ~ and that brutality and foul play should r ece1ve the same summary punishment given to a man who cheats at cards . “ ( 1 s Football, he continued, a good game for s young men and boy to play, but unless the rules are changed, game will have to be abolished . And concluding his remarks to the representa “ tives of the Big Three he said : I want you all to go back and use your influence to have the ” rules changed . President Roosevelt certainly made a splendid contribution to the game by throwing his tremeu dous influence on the side of football . After the session at the White House there was little heard

i . of abol shmg the game This meeting, in addi to of tion, gave needed impetus the claims those

s I nthose day Harvard, Princeton and Yale

than they do today. They were then a Big Three t ffi m reality. The rules commi tee was an uno cial

dominated by E astern ideas . They had become sa a bit too conservative . Today, I am glad to y ,

The Mo dern Game football is national and no section o f the country bl is a e to control its development . Drastic reforms were adopted all over the c o f 1 905 sea ountry. Following the close the son a o f r e resentatl ves o f , meeting p many lead ing universities and colleges was held in New 1 906 York, in January, , to consider football and d just what should be one about it . This meet ing resulted in the formation o f the National

Collegiate Athletic Association .

General Palmer E . Pierce , then a Captain in the United States Ar my and representing West mi i Point, was elected president . His ad n stra tion has been so successful and satisfactory that o he is still the head f the organization.

After many sessions, a joint committee finally n on revised the rules, annou cing them January

1 2 1 906. : , The following changes were made — I the number o f yards to be gained was in creased from five to ten and o ne additional down was added . — 2 The rules were amended to provide for the forward pass and onside kick with the qualifica tions as to the pass that it must cross the line o f

e scrimmag at a point five yards from the center . A kicked ball was onside as soon as it passed the scrimmage line . Fo o tb a o a and omo r r o w ll, T d y T

To bring about a more open style o f play the o forward pass was introduced . Everyone n the o ffensw e side was made eligible to recover a kicked ball from scrl mage as son as it touched the ground, and the playing time was divided into quarters , hurdling was forbidden, drawing back tackles and guards to use as mterfers was stopped, and the linemen forbidden to inter change with back unless permanently or unless e he b five yards behind the line . Many diff erent opinions were blended into the reV1 51on o f rules by a most representative body which was composed o f the following members : b f . s w . L . M . Denni , Cornell ; chairman ; T

o f . Reid, J Harvard, secretary ; James A Bab

o f . o f P enns l bitt, Haverford ; John C Bell, y o ni o f . va a ; Walter Camp, Yale ; F H mer Curtis, o f Texas ; representing the South ; Charles D . An o f . o f Daly, West Point ; Paul J Dashiell,

of . napolis ; J . B . Fine, Princeton ; E K . Hall, of

T . o f . Dartmouth ; James Lees , Nebraska ; C f o f . . o W. Savage, Oberlin ; A A Stagg, Chicago, o f and Dr . H . L . Williams, Minnesota . The real vice of the old game, the committee “ ” wa and agreed , s the push pull play. This rule

‘ was not touched . It was contended that the for ward pass and the onside kick opened up the

1 62 .

Fo o tba o a arid omo rr o w ll, T d y T

out vice and suggestion for new plays , tried on the field o f the Princeton Preparatory school o f our o n which, Mr . Fine, representative , the Rules

- Committee was head master.

Among those present were Phil King, Walter Lea Booth, Martin V . Bergen, Langdon , Eddie

Holt , Bert Wheeler, and Garrett Cochran . It was the unanimous opinion o f those present at the meeting to use the pass and onside kick as f o f much as possible . We tried di ferent ways forward « passmg and finally came to the conclu sion that the end over end pass was best . No r one suggested the spi al pass . Phil King urged i “ the end over end pass, cit ng an instance in the Yale-Princeton game o f 1 893 when Doggie Trenchard had made a long end over back-ward the on pass across field to King, himself, what is “ ” - a1 known as a shoe string play. He s d that Trenchard ’ s pass had been thrown with speed and accuracy We also came to the conclusion that the for ward pass would not be successful unless it was f . true o played with deception This was as k the pass then as it is today. Few, if any, successful passes are made unless masked so as to give the appearance o f a running play. Bert Wheeler made a valuable contribution to The Mo dern Game the meeting by suggesting the running kick and when we doubted its feasibility he went out on the field and showed us how it could be done . We finally mapped out a complete new set of plays under the new rules for the 1 906 season . I have always believed that the new rules ap plied to football in 1 906 not only opened up the game but made all teams more or less equal . The on smaller colleges, even, which were trampled d year after year, turned about and were prepare to put up a stiff game and sometimes came o ff wmner the field a . This change l n football was made possible by the introduction o f the forward pass ; the most radical advance in the history o f the game . All the other rules were restrictions ; the passwas a constructive and sweeping addition, even with the lateral limitations with which it was hedged f or about the next four years . And with the forward pass came a new kind o f football king — the triple threat man . o f 1 906 Ned Harlan, the Princeton team,

. o could run, kick and pass He was superb n the running kick play suggested by Bert Wheeler our which, before the season closed, became strongest play. It was my good fortune to become head coach

1 6 5. Fo o tb all o a and o or r ow , T d y T m m 1 906 and as I was heartily in favor o f the new

— e erl enced rules because after all, Princeton xp great difficulty with the old massed plays with — which Yale was supreme fit was stimulating to see the rejuvenated Tigers swe eping through the o de opp sition with the new style of play. We

l eated Arm f y, Navy, and Cornell, then coached d n by Glenn Warner, and crowne our early seaso

” w m m 42 - S a 0. record by p g Dartmouth,

Experimenting with the forward pass , the

Princeton men outdid themselves . When the ball was hurled toward a player, he managed, ml xm somehow, to get it . By g up this play with end runs and line plays , we breezed right along with nothing to mar our perfect record than the coming game with Yale . The result of the Yale game o f 1 906 was a see tremendous disappointment . I expected to o ur team win handily with the forward pass and

o f 0- 0 a the tie score was, to me, worse th n a de I t o f 1 906 r feat . was in the season that I lea ned my first important lesson in coaching. Young o f and inexperienced, but full enthusiasm, I pushed the team to the limit in every game . As a result, the players burnt themselves out . Our defeating Dartmouth by a 42 - 0 score was the o f our on climax season. From that day we went

Foo tb a oda and omor r ow ll, T y T

people shivered and mumbled in the stands . On the field t he Princeton players j o gged up and down, passing and kicking . Every now and then anx1ous they cast eyes toward the gates, hoping to see the familiar blue jerseys coming on the

field . mi Finally, eight nutes over the time limit the

Yale team sprinted out on the field . The coaches explained that the referee did not warn them that time was up , but , deciding that it must be, they o came back n the field . There is a story told that an old Yale football nd player, sitting up in the stands, a noted for ’ Sl z m his ability m g up an opponent s weakness , was called into the Yale dressing room and asked to instruct the men m a new defense and offense between the halves . He is supposed to have taken them out somewhere under the stands and instructed them in combating our offense and ’ our I t s gaining through defense . a good story,

« defi but I doubt its truth . But from then on a nite time is allowed each team between the halves . The officials are expressly instructed to notify each team three minutes prior to the ending of

the i nterml ssmn a , and if either team does not p I S pear within two minutes after time called, it

- 1 s penalized twenty five yards . In the second half a tremendous change came ul over the Yale team . One co d tell instantly ’ that Yale s style of play had changed . They

‘ started out to score and never stopped until the big Blue procession ploughed over the P rm ceton goal line .

Our men could not stop Ted Coy. The blonde as fullback played a man inspired . Around the ends he flashed one m1nute : the next his broad shoulders knifed their way through the line with on several men hanging his neck . Twice the Yale quarterback called on Coy to put the ball over on the fourth down and tW1ce Coy crashed

Yale scored m about twelve minutes after the

t 1 0- 6 second half star ed . The score was then and they battled against time . We managed to hold them for downs twice and Harlan punted down the field . Co ’ But y was still flaming . His famous T ell with the Signals—give me the ball "” was said to be yelled during his famous march through the P rinceton team which went the entire length o f the field and ended with the second and wmn ing touchdown . Fo o tb a o a and omo r r ow ll, T d y T

the next few years Sam White , with his gifted knack o f pickmg up muddy footballs and run ’ P um ell s sen ning for touchdowns , as well as p y sational - 1 91 2 drop kick in the game , supplied a diversity of thrills for the rapidly growing game . There was still further tinkering with the rules in A touchdown was increased to six T f n e de points . he o fe siv si given four downs and the length of the playing field changed from 320 e “ to 300 fe t . The onside kick was practically

o f d center the field to the forty yar line . The restriction of the length of the forward pass was and l the removed, a kicked bal striking ground

no t as did put the kickers side onside formerly. The legislation affecting the forward pass had the most far-reaching influence and really marked the beginn ing o f the modern forward passing game . The timing of the pass was given conS1derable attention although the possibilities in this respect were not fully appreciated until Notre Dame

a 1 91 3 . c me East in Then, as now, the Hoosiers v had a cle erly developed pass and in this respect , t led foo ball . ’ 1 9 2 - 1 3 - 1 4- 1 5 In 1 , Percy Haughton s Harvard

1 70 .

Fo o tb al o a and o mor r ow l, T d y T

a l ing team t Ca ifornia . His Golden Bears were one o f n considered the fi est teams in the land . o followm Princet n led the East . And the g year, the colleges filled w ith boys back from the battle of in fields France, from the training camps and dustries wa u u , the country s cl ttered p with

922 e A In 1 the rul es wer agam changed . try for a pomt from scrimmage after touchdown was e introduced . Princeton, with a suppos dly medi ocre team, but not lacking in intelligence , speed th o and courage, surprised e football world by g ing through the season undefeated after winn ing from Chicago, Colgate, Yale and Harvard .

o o f fi 1 924 yard line t the center the eld in , only 25 to be put back again in 1 9 . Notre Dame had the best team o f the country

1 924 . in This team travelled miles, played in seven states and in temperatures from 1 0 degrees above at Princeton to seventy at ’ on Pasadena New Year s day. They scored close to fifty touchdowns durmg the season . Dartmouth had one o f the finest teams in the The Mo dern Game land m 1 925 and Princeton agam won from Yale meetm o f and Harvard . In the last g the Big c 1 926 a m Three as su h, in , Princeton ga tri 1e umphed over their anc nt rivals . In 1 925 Princeton adopted the Huddle Sys u ke ten, used with success by Z pp and several other coaches in the Middle West and South . It has been a huge success . When we adopted the huddle system the crit 1 1 c sm was raised that it slowed up the play. I asked some newspaper men to time the Navy Princeton game and see who got off their plays the fasten They reported we averaged about one second faster under the huddle system than the Navy, using the old system . The onM p fegt jfi the huddle system is that to Sl z e advantages of the huddle more than balance this one defect if it can be defined as Such . In the system o f signals under the huddle they can be im lier W ou made s p . If you ish y can merely who to designate the back is carry the ball . I am sorry to say there are some teams who no objection to trying to get an opponent’ s signals in advance . A scout cannot catch a

l S gnal under the huddle . Fo o tb o a and omo r r o w all, T d y T

The n0 1se o f the cheering and the blare of the b ands at a b1g game make it sometimes difficult

‘ to f The huddle o, o fers great possibilities of

i k i s e thn ing , its great st advantage. Your op po

snapped what you are going to do, and how you

” the t 1 925 and 1 92 6 with Huddle Sys emin .

e d new t e il 1 927 season . Un er the rules h possib

much that the lateral pass will become much of a

f a e fect as threat . Under the new rules it appears that the de f nse ha e s gained more than the attack . Earned ‘ f touchdowns will become the order o the day.

“ r cs catcher drops a kick, opponents may e ball but the player doing so cannot run 1 In the past many teams have punted n M O1 the afternoon, playing for a break . one football game has been won by fast en “ e toucl and fumbled punts, conv rted into a one With this possibility eliminated, can o f n n a limited amount punting. The te de be to rush the ball as much as possible . And with everything to be gained and I b lost y dropping a punt , the receiver will confidence and no doubt many of them W1 tearing up the field under punts on a dez This will make it difficult for the oppo sm It is almost impossible for an end to t tackle properly with the punt catcher on t The one place the lateral pass may c 1 handy s after the punt has been caught . going to be very easy for the man catch punt to toss it backward to a team mate linemen charging down the field will hav on fo constantly the watch r such a play . The lateral pass can be placed in the sar il as the short forward pass . There w l be until the lateral is completed and tl amount o f ground gained will be questic In the 1 92 1 Harvard -Princeton ga Crimson completed several short passes for slight — gains the receiver w as always thrown after he moved cepted two o f these passes and gained more com pleted passes in the first half The threat of the lateral 1 s more effective than

ends will be at a tremendous disadvantage . Here

s man xmust a loo e always be covered . Even the

1 s been completed, a possibility.

a amst g Cornell on a lateral after a forward pass . Yale tried a similar pl ay against Princeton last

b t r ecel v fall, u , fortunately for us, the last man ing the ball slipped and fell . they do not all agree W1 th me as to the possibili f ties o the lateral pass . I lme will show whether

As we have not used the shift plays to any ex in row din tent the East , the rule p g for a full stop after change o f position will not afl ect us in this section . West Point has used the shift more than in any other team the East . have eliminated the objectionable features of the cf 200 play until future the game , with its , 000 l o f o is players and mil ions supp rters, indeed

1 0 vement for mpr and criticism . I do not mean the stereotyped kind o f critic1 sm acknowledged to be the aftermath of every season and just as

”

s . ure to come as the first snows Rather, the hon

‘ est criticismp f men who have the best intere sts o f the game at heart . The two most obj ectionable features to the modern game are really by - products and non

rm essentials to the sport itself. They are sp g

1 practice and scouting.

1 s Football an autumn game . It is associated o s w with c ol, cri p days , ith leaden skies and burn " mg leaves . And it should be restricted to the fall season . It is only fair to the players that sprmg prao a o f tice be elimin ted . The average boy twenty

1 3 not thinking of football on warm Sprmg days .

He longs to play baseball, to run, to pull an oar

or To golf. have him a football

' — man trains enough during the season and be re quired to don a heavy football suit and report to The Modern Game the coaches in fear and trembling that if he does not he might be dropped from the squad in the fall, is indeed a gross injustice . Little wonder football men are reported from time to time to call the sport a grind " It is not

the fair to men . The most likely candidates for the football o f team, I have found, are men pronounced ath letic ability who are interested in more than one form of sport . During the last spring I noticed a great number of these men running from other r athletic fields, ti ed and wearied after baseball, lacrosse,track and crew, donned their football togs and then tried to give their best to the coaches . ’ d a mi It can t be one . I d red their stamina and spirit and was fully conscious o f the danger I submitted the men to in the way o f injuries and m burning themselves out . No an can keep up tw o strenuous sports at the same time and do jus

to tice his college work. This is the real danger o f spring practice

? S an Al But what are the benefits carcely y. l

lin o men en our a coach can do is get a e n his , c runmn age g, which is the basis o f modern foot

to ball, and get know the new fellows on the F o t all o a and omor r ow o b , T d y T

ni squad . There can be no orga zed work without

taking men away from other activities . in Scouting should be abolished . It destroys itiative and when initiative and independent thinking go out of football it loses its greatest force as a co

As I see s outm 1 s one in it , c g of the few bad

fluences affecting the game of football today. It 1 s nu-Amer1 can and certainly foreign to the tra ditions o f the game and to the high ideals o f

sportsmanship we are continually prating about .

In addition, it has a tendency to kill free, quick — thinking on the part o f the players to deaden their initiative and individuality and to encour “ ” a w n at on o f age i , any cost attitude the part

demor aliz m f but a g e fect . Today the life o f a scout is one round o f pleas and nm ure entertai ent . The various football managers now me with one another in extending o o s1n o f courtesy to the pp g scout . A block the best tickets m the stadiumis always at their dis

posal . Frequently representatives from five or six different colleges ar e found parked in this

sectl on or infor , where they can hold more less on mal reception and exchange notes the play . " ’ Up0n the scouts return after the game a very

Fo o tb a o a and o mo r r o w ll, T d y T tried to note certain personalities of the team c ’ that would indi ate a coming play. That wasn t tried against Princeton . “ We were out there for ourselves to gather our own informatl o n and it was more w as never more alert than m the a a a on Y le game . The boys had h rdly w lked the gridiron than they began to try to find out what Yale had . They knew nothing about Yale formations and plays , except that which they might havepicked up from reading stories of the in games m which Yale had played, and that a formation w s pretty well disjointed . announced that Yale has c it has agreed with all opponents for this year to forego scouting. This is sen is a move in the right direction . There a timent against scouting at Dartmouth and it will surely crystallize into direct opposition to it . In my opinion the universal abolition of scout off 1 927 mg is merely a few years . Before the season closes there will be a more general tend e " from th gg “ f f o f President Hopkins , Dartmouth, suggested several reforms to coll ege football which were answered by the Athletic Council at Hanover ‘ The Modern Game

present organization and absorbing interest , does or does not occupy too important a place among ” college activities . l ’ Yet, continued the Ath etic Council s “ spokesman, without establishing a fictitious to value, we may not ignore the real worth the colleges of the intense interest that surrounds o f this game, accepted as the best college sports, providing valuable physical and character train ing for the players under competent direction and, as stated in your letter, producing for the college communities certain very vital values and for making , the game a natural rallying ground ni student and alum loyalties , incidently produc ing revenues which chiefly support the entire athletic and recreational program o f the col ’ legeséj Enemies of football and advocates o f its aboli chne 11 1b e s tion are few an g g l . With certain light modifications it will continue, as it deserves to continue, the great college game . It is the friends of football who are concerned about it

e o f un now. They hope to se it stripped its

- healthy intensity, its alleged over emphasis and find it restricted more in the realm o f sportsman