Class _Ai36 Book CopyrightN?_ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT The Book of Foot-ball 1 From the portrait by George M. Reevs in the Crescent Athletic Club, Brooklyn, N. Y. WALTER CAMP 3©g©s©s©s©fs®sa)s(!)s©s©t/Il©s©g©s®s@x©s©s(!)s(Ds^ 00- © (ii 00 00 © 00 (S> 00 /^ 00 I® m 01 © •T© © 00 LI © I? I 00 Ii 1 I 00 © ^" 00 1^0 11 ^© r. 00 © CO e WALTER CAMP'S LIBRARY OF SPORT The Book of Foot-ball BY Walter Camp New York The Century Co. 1910 ^i 3@g0S0?(|)S©?K©S©S©2©2©EI©S02©S©S0SIS0S0§©S©S©| Copyright, 19 lo, by THE CENTURY CO. Published, November, 1910 >GI.A275812 DEDICATION To every back who has bucked the line and to every line man who knows what it means to drive his charge home, to every one of the thousands of American foot-ball players who knows the satisfaction of plunging along over those white lines that mark the playing field, and finally to the thousands more of parents and brothers and sisters who have sat fasci- nated at the spectacle of the contest and with heart in throat pushed and held in spirit harder than any player on the huge gridiron this book is dedicated. CONTENTS Page Chapter I. Early History 3 * ' II. Foot-Ball in America 20 III. The New Foot-Ball 94 ' ' IV. Personality in Foot-Ball 137 * ' V. General Strategy 184 ** VI. The Field, Costumes and Train- ing 227 ** VII. The Development and Play of the Different Positions 270 * * VIII. Kicking, Catching and Passing. . 306 " IX. The Captain and the Coach 323 " X. All-Time, All- America Teams. . 343 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Walter Camp Frontispiece Page Kennedy, Dartmouth, receiving the forward pass, Harvard Stadium, 1907 6 Tablet in the Rugby School Close 11 Cutler, Harvard, punting to Hobbs' fair catch, Yale Field, 1908 15 A Tackle, Yale Field, 1909 21 Quarter-back taking the ball 26 A Harvard- Yale line-up, Yale Field, 1908 28 Diagram of foot-ball field, showing positions 35 Walder of Cornell punting, Ithaca, 1907 37 Early development of the scrimmage — the distinc- tive feature of the American game 47 Quarter-back passing the ball in the old days 51 A tackle under the old rules 53 The old Polo Grounds during a match . ^ 55 Yale running back an Army punt. Coy being tackled, West Point, 1908 58 Princeton 's attack in the late 90 's 68 Facsimile of Mr. Camp's draft of the first set of signals 70 The foot-ball team starting for the Polo Grounds in the old days 73 Coy, Yale, running back a punt, West Point, 1908 . . 77 A West Point run around Princeton's right end. West Point, 1908 84 Dartmouth making a 20-yard gain around Prince- ton's left end. Polo Grounds, 1908 90 Columbia vs. Syracuse at the Old South Field 99 vii DeLand 's flying interference as used by Harvard . . 102 Woodruff's flying interference as used by Penn- sylvania 103 Yost 's forward pass as used by Michigan 104 A play in a Harvard- Yale game 105 Veeder, Yale, making the forward pass, Yale Field, 1906 112 Princeton's early development of the on-side kick. . 121 An Army-Navy kick-off, Franklin Field, 1908 128 J. N. Sears, Harvard ; Lee McClung, Yale ; ' ' Hand- some Dan, ' ' a Yale mascot 134 Arthur Poe, Princeton; Truxton Hare, Pennsyl- vania ; John DeWitt, Princeton 143 Captain Daly, Yale ; Tobin, Dartmouth 149 Martin Heston, Michigan; Frank A. Hinkey, Yale; Adolph Schultz, Michigan 156 Hamilton Fish, Jr., Harvard ; Walter H. Eckersall, Chicago ; Harold H. Weekes, Columbia 165 Bull, Yale 's famous drop kicker 172 Kennard, Harvard, kicking the goal that won the game 178 "Tackle-back" play in its first steps, as illustrated by an incident in a Yale-Princeton game 187 Edward H. Coy, Yale; Thomas L. Sherlin, Yale; Walter W. Heffelfinger, Yale 193 West Point, punting. West Point, 1908 200 Minnesota vs. Iowa, Minnesota making a touch- down, 1905 209 Princeton running around Yale's right end, Yale Field, 1909 216 Ver Wiebe, Harvard's full-back, running with the ball, Yale Field, 1908 222 Williams vs. Amherst at Williamstown 231 Illinois forwards breaking through on an Indiana kick, 1909 237 Vlll A plunge by Ohio through Michigan 's line, 1909 244 A Yale-Princeton game at Princeton 253 An end run 260 Yale and Princeton 's teams running through signals before the game, Yale Field, 1909 266 Yale style of attack in 1898, Princeton, 1898 275 Borglum's group of foot-ball players 281 McCormick, Princeton, punting, Yale Field, 1909 . . 288 Straight drive on tackle— a strong Kansas play, 1909 297 Pennsylvania vs. Carlisle. Carlisle's quarter-back passing to a back, Franklin Field, 1906 304 "Waller kicking Princeton's only goal. Polo Grounds 310 Professor Alonzo A. Stagg, coach of the University of Chicago; William Edwards, Princeton; Fielding H. Yost, Michigan; "William Roper, Princeton 319 George Woodruff, Pennsylvania; Howard Jones, Yale ; Glen S. Warner, Athletic Director of the Carlisle Indian School 325 Percy D. Haughton, Harvard; William Reid, Harvard ; Lorin F. Deland, Harvard ; G. Foster Sanf ord, of Yale, who coached Columbia 331 Caricature, by Howard Freeman^ of two devotees of college sports ; Evert Jansen Wendell and Wal- ter Camp 336 The All-Time, All- America eleven as chosen by Mr. Camp 342 A punt by Mt. Pleasant, Carlisle's famous quarter- back. Harvard Stadium, 1907 354 Lafayette vs. Lehigh 359 INTRODUCTION TO WALTER CAMP'S LIBRARY OF SPORTS " Who misses or who wins the prize, Go lose or conquer as you can; But if you fail or if you rise Be each, pray God, a gentleman! " Before taking up the direct plan of this book I should like to seize upon the opportunity when, my dear sirs, I find you all together and in such good spirits that you will bear with a player and preacher for sermonizing a little. I will not bore you long, but to each of you I have a word to say — to you, my boy, just home from school for the short holidays ; to you, young man, whose college years are hastening by; to you, paterfamilias, who, relieved for a day of business or professional cares, can spare a moment to look back upon your own school and college days, over which the lapse of years has thrown a glamour that, hiding some of the hard realities, still lends a halo of romance to the incidents. There is the Rev. Dr. Sixthly, who on every seventh day spreads out before you, in choicest xi INTEODUCTION rhetoric, the tenets and doctrines of the church; there is the learned Professor Syntax, who looks after your construing; there is the new Professor Dumbell, who drags you willy-nilly through a com- plex system of chest-measurement and pulley- prescriptions ; and there is Dr. Birch himself, who switches you well for whittling the desk. I shall not trespass upon the field of any of these worthy developers of the young idea. The field I enter with you, my boy, is the playground, where you go out to meet your school rivals; I want you, col- legian, when you are after championships ; I want you, sir, when you are talking with your boy about his sports. " Be each, pray God, a gentleman! " It is an easy word, and a pleasant one. I don't doubt but that you all pronounce it trippingly enough, and have each one his own high ideal of what a gentle- man should be. Do you live up to it ? Or are you letting it come down a little here and there; so little, perhaps, that you hardly notice it until you make comparison? A gentleman against a gentle- man always plays to win. There is a tacit agree- ment between them that each shall do his best, and the best man shall win. A gentleman does not make his living, however, from his athletic prow- ess. He does not earn anything by his victories except glory and satisfaction. Perhaps the first xii INTRODUCTION falling off in this respect began when the laurel wreath became a mng. So long as the mug was but the emblem, and valueless otherwise, there was no harm. There is still no harm where the mug or trophy hangs in the room of the winner as indicative of his skill; but if the silver mug becomes a silver dollar, either at the hands of the winner or the donor, let us have the laurel back again. A gentleman never competes for money, directly or indirectly. Make no mistake about this. No matter how winding the road may be that eventu- ally brings the sovereign into the pocket, it is the price of what should be dearer to you than any- thing else, — your honor. It is quite the fashion to say ^' sentimental bosh " to any one who preaches such an old-fashioned thing as honor; but among true gentlemen, my boy, it is just as real an article as ever, and it is one of the few things that never ring false. The man who tells you that insufferable rot about being practi- cal and discarding sentiment, is not the man you would choose as a friend. He wouldn't stand by you in a pinch, and when we come to the reality, it is only the man who believes in such a thing as honor that is worth anything. So stick to it, my boy, and keep it bright. Carry it down into the small affairs of school and college. xiii INTEODUCTION If you are enough of a man to be a good athlete, and some one asks you to use that athletic ability upon their behalf, don't take money for it, or any- thing that amounts to pay. If you are on the school team or nine and go into training, don't break faith with your captain, yourself, and your fellows by surreptitious indulgences. This doesn't mean that if you see some other fellow smoke on the sly you are obliged to tell of it, nor does it mean that you must call him to account, unless you are the captain. If his standard is not so high as yours, that is his misfortune. If he asks your opinion, give it to him, if you like, but not in such a way as to leave the imp-nession that you are put out by your own longing for a similar indulgence. If you are the captain and you find a man breaking training in spite of your orders, and you consider it advisable to put him off, don't be afraid to do it. Gentlemen are not cowards, mentally or physic- ally. If a man comes to you and endeavors to affect your choice of a college by offers of a pecuniary nature, he does not take you for a gentleman or a gentleman's son, you may be sure. Gentlemen neither offer nor take bribes. Now, my young college friend, it is your turn. Eemember it is upon you that the eyes of the pre- paratory school-boy are fixed, it is toward you that xiv INTRODUCTION the younger brother looks for example, and what- ever you do in your four years' course, you will see magnified by the boys who come after you. Support your class and your college in every way compatible with your position. Gentlemen are not stingy, nor are they selfish. Play if you can and your class or college needs you. Pay if you can afford it, but do not allow a false pride to lead you into subscriptions beyond your means. Don't be ashamed of enthusiasm. A man without it is a man without a purpose. I remember a little incident of my own college course. I was a freshman, and knew almost no one in college except a certain junior. I had entered in two events in the fall athletic games, one a quarter mile, the other a hurdle race. I had run the quarter and been beaten, although I finished second. My opponents had all been upper class- men, and received no little encouragement from their friends. I felt very lonely and disgusted with myself and life in general when I got on the mark for the hurdle. I had but two competitors, and both had been cheered when they came to the scratch. Suddenly as we were getting on our marks I heard a voice half-way down the course call out, " You can do 'em," and I saw my junior friend waving his hat to me. It was not a classical remark, but it made me feel better. I was clumsy XV INTRODUCTION in getting off, and wlien we came to the sixth hurdle was nearly five yards behind the other two, but from that time on I could hear my friend roar- ing out, ''Go in!" "You've got 'em yetl " " Now you're over," as I went up each flight. I did finish first, and I had hardly touched the tape before he was patting me on the back. I don't sup- pose it cost him much to yell for a poor freshman, but I know that I always thought of him as one of the best fellows I ever knew, and in after years I have remembered enough of the feeling that was in my heart toward him to go out and try to make some others feel that even a freshman has friends. Apropos of this, a word to- non-contestants. In a boat-race or a foot-ball match the chances are that your own men will not hear your cheer, but the men who may try for the team or crew the next season do, and they are encouraged to better ef- forts by it. Now about, the treatment of your rivals. A gentleman is courteous. It is not courtesy upon a ball-field to cheer an error of the opponents. If it is upon your own grounds, it is the worst kind of boorishness. The same is equally • true of any attempt to rattle your opponents by concerted cheering or talking. Moreover, if there are remarkable plays made by your rivals you yourselves should cheer ; conceal any chagrin you may feel at the loss it may be to your side, but be xvi INTEODUCTION courteous to appreciate and applaud an excep- tional play by the opponents. After winning a race or a matcli, there is no reason why a good, healthy lot of young men should not do plenty of cheering, but there is every reason why they should not make their enjoyment depend upon insulting those who have lost. You can not take your hilarity off into a corner and choke it to death, and no one wants you to; but gratuitous jibes and jeers at the crestfallen mark you as a man who does not know how to bear a victory, a man whose pate is addled by the excitement or whose bringing up has been at fault. Finally, to non-contestants, I want to say a word regarding " celebrating." Primarily, do not, I beg of you, do anything because it looks smart. Enjoy yourselves, but do not try to " show off." Don't be '' tough." A little unusual hilarity, a tendency to believe that everything is expressly for the collegian, may be upon these occasions overlooked and forgiven, but be ready to appreci- ate the point beyond which it is carried too far; be ready to apologize quickly and instantly where offense is taken. Show that behind the jolly fun there is the instinct and cultivation of a gentle- man's son, and that the ebullition of enthusiasm, although it may be a bore to those who fail to xvii INTRODUCTION kindle at it, has nothing of the vicious element, and is thoroughly innocent of intentional offense to any one. Tf you find you are losing your head, go home ; you will not be sorry for it. Now for the contestants. I wish I could impress indelibly upon your minds the fact that with you rests the most enduring standard for amateur sports. With no disrespect to any class or con- dition — with the best regard for all strong legis- lation in outside athletic bodies — I say that the collegian's standard of purity in his sports should be the highest. The very fact of having the leisure to devote four years to a higher education, should be taken to involve the duty of acquiring a keener perception of right and wrong in matters where right and wrong depend upon a delicacy of honor. Gentlemen do not cheat, nor do they de- ceive themselves as to what cheating is. If you are elected the captain of a nine, team, or crew, read over your rules, and note exactly who are al- lowed as contestants by those rules, not by the custom of some predecessor, not by what you think some rival will do, but by the rules themselves. Having done that, never let a thought enter your head of making use of any man not clearly and cleanly eligible. You will save yourself many a future worry if you start fairly by looking into the record of every candidate at the outset. It is xviii INTEODUCTION your duty to know that every one of your men is straight and square. I know what I am talking about when I say that a college captain can, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, become pos- sessed of the exact truth regarding any man he thinks of trying. Don't investigate to see how much your opponent could prove, but investigate for your own satisfaction. In legislating, remem- ber that what a gentleman wants is fair play and the best man to win. When it is possible, without losing sight of this, to legislate for improvements in method, so much the better ; but primarily make every rule such that the probability of unfinished, drawn, or disputed contests is reduced to a minimum. What if, at the time, your side may be the weaker? Don't be a coward on that account. Face it like a man, and say with your whole heart that you are on the side of the men who want no chance of retreat or escape, only a fair contest and certain victory or defeat at the end of it. To what do all the technicalities amount when compared with the sincerity of men who come together to effect that result ? When the delegates earnestly desire rules that shall insure such a contest and such an issue, their work is more than half done. Don't take the coward's part and try to legislate means of avoid- ing the issue. xix INTRODUCTION Perhaps if you, sir, the father of these boys, have had patience to listen thus far to me, you will allow me to put in a word for the love they bear these sports and the pride they take in their school and college. Talk with them about these interests. You will lose no dignity by it, and you will gain a confidence from them worth having. When you see anything in their speech or conduct that be- tokens a lowering of the high ideal of gentleman- liness, don't hesitate to say so. You don't want your boy " hired " by any one. If he plays, he plays as a gentleman, and not as a professional; he plays for victory, not for money ; and whatever bruises he may have in the flesh, his heart is right, and he can look you in the eye as a gentleman should. "Be each, pray God, a gentleman! " WALTER CAMP. XX THE BOOK OF FOOT-BALL THE BOOK OF FOOT-BALL CHAPTER I EARLY HISTORY IT SO happened one fall that I had promised to postpone my summer vacation and take it at a place quite near to the home of two large foot- ball colleges, so that I might coach one of these teams for a few weeks previous to their champion- ship game. These two universities were so situ- ated that practice games with other university teams were out of the question, and each depended for this kind of preparation upon contests with a prominent Athletic Club eleven. I had a friend with me and on the day of our arrival we went out to see a game between the University team that I was to take in hand and this Athletic Club. The previous week the same Athletic Club team had played our principal rivals, and after a very exciting game the score had ended in a tie. Natu- rally my friend who was with me and I were very much interested in seeing what our future pupils THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL would do under the same conditions. We went out to tlie game and saw the Athletic Club team defeat our organization not less than 18 to 4, and their superiority was even more marked than this score would indicate. My friend remarked, ' ' Will any amount of coaching make this team a win- ner ? It looks like a losing proposition and I doubt if any one can cause them to make a satisfactory showing. ' ' Here, however, was a chance that had never come to me with the organizations which I had coached. These other teams meet each other but once in a season, and the next season the per- sonnel is so changed by the alteration of players that no fair comparison showing just what the coaching does can be expected. I was therefore more than pleased with the opportunity, for the team I had undertaken to coach was to play two more games with this same Athletic team on the two following Saturdays. Here, then, was a fair and square issue. I must confess that I was by no means sanguine, but I did feel that if there were anything in the theories I had formed of the game it ought to be possible to reverse that 18 to 4 score on the occasion of the third Saturday. I had the team and the coaches together the day after this defeat, and explained to them at considerable length what I should expect them to do and how carefully I wished them to follow instructions. 4 ? H EAELY HISTORY As they did not seem over and above hopeful, something was necessary to stir their spirits and I therefore told them that I believed confidently that if they would follow my instructions I could reverse that score in the two weeks that we had for practice. That night I talked with the captain of the team who was playing center and who, as the game was played in that day, was too light in weight to fill the place satisfactorily. I told him that I thought it would be necessary for him to look around among his candidates for a heavier center. '^ But," he said almost pathetically, " that is the only place I can fill and I am cap- tain." I explained to him that I was quite sure I could find another place for him on the team, but even if that did not develop it was necessary for him, in the interest of his organization, to stand the discomfiture of being removed from the team rather than to have his team lose with him on it, and he was finally persuaded to acquiesce providing we could find anybody else for the place. The next day as I was walking on the campus, I passed a well built person who mUst have weighed over 200 pounds. I asked a bystander who he was, and he gave me his name. I asked if he had ever played foot-ball, and he said, " Oh, yes. He came out with a team last year but he proved perfectly useless." " What was the trouble? " I asked. 7 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL "Oh! He simply could not ' get the hang ' of the game." This seemed rather indefinite, and I de- termined to interview the man myself. But first I went to the captain and asked him about this man. He knew him, but said, as my former in- former had done, that he had failed ignomini- ously, and he did not believe it was any use to try him again. I thought differently and asked the captain if he would not take me around and introduce me. He was perfectly willing to do this. When I broached the subject of foot-ball, my promising center said, *' It is no use trying me, for I can't do a thing at the game." " "Well," I said, " are you willing to come out and try? " He replied that he would be perfectly willing to give an hour or two a day to it and make another effort, but he did not believe that it would help out at all. The next day I had him out on the field, and at the end of the week he was playing the position regularly and to the entire satisfac- tion of the captain and the rest of the team. But he had received a new light, for as he told me afterwards he had gone in formerly on the belief that it was merely strength and brute force, and now he had satisfied himself that it was a question of learning how, and the use of brains every in- stant. On the following Saturday we met our Athletic team once more and they defeated us by 8 EAELY HISTORY a score of 12 to 6. The following week I had our captain playing tackle and putting up a good game there. I had made two or three shifts in the line, but had practically the same men I had seen play upon the occasion of my arrival. In- steady however, of working as individuals they were now already showing very marked indica- tions to an experienced foot-ball eye of coming team play, and I was quite satisfied that another week would find them a big surprise to their Ath- letic Club rivals. We worked steadily that week, although spending no more time than the previous week, and by Thursday night I was satisfied with the development. I had given them two or three new plays, more to keep their interest up than anything else, and it had had the desired result, for they were on tiptoe with expectation and an- ticipation of trying these plays. On Saturday the Athletic Club team appeared and naturally after their two defeats of our University team were more than confident of their ability to add a third victory to their record. That was at two o'clock in the afternoon. At five o'clock a no more as- tonished body of men could be found, for the Uni- versity team had defeated them no less than 20 to and had held them almost powerless from start to finish. It is needless to say that the next week we went on and defeated the rival university 9 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL team who had played the tie game with the Ath- letic Club team the week before my arrival. This instance I cite as a preface with an apology. There was no particular credit in my own work, as I believe any coach who had had a thorough drill could have undoubtedly accomplished a sim- ilar result. But it is very enlightening as indi- cating the part that brains take in the develop- ment of foot-ball teams. These men had learned to work together and with mutual understanding. It is not a game of brute force, or speed, or any- thing of that kind. It is a problem to be solved by the means of eleven men working together along lines for which that particular team is best adapted, and it is this side of the sport that of- fers such powerful fascination to all that become interested in it. When " Ted " Coy, the All- American foot-ball back of 1909, sat with Fred Daly, the captain of the Yale team of 1910, and talked over with the writer the prospects and possibilities of the Re- vised Eules, it became evident that those who had the making of the rules had succeeded at least in getting into deep water, yet at the same time em- phasizing all the more strongly the infinite variety of tactics and strategy on the part of coaches, the team, and individuals that this sport has always tended to bring out, XO EAJRLY HISTORY Rugby erected a tablet to Webb Ellis, who first recklessly seized the ball and ran with it contrary to rules and custom, but there was another man in history, it may be believed, several thousand years ago, who received the honor of the statue. His name was Aristonico Caristo. This statue '■;TlRiT,460K THE BAIL 01 BJJ ASMS m6 flW-flinj TTrli^ ^.y. TABLET IN THE RUGBY SCHOOL CLOSE. was erected by his fellow Athenian citizens for his surpassing ability in the game called Pheninda. The Lacedaemonians played at this sport, and later it was called Episcyrus and finally chris- tened by the Romans Harpastum. An excellent account of the game appears as early as 177 a. d. in a book by a Greek named Julius Pollux, dedi- cated to the Emperor Commodus. The Romans in their colonization always took with them their amusements, and so in settling Florence they planted there the game of Harpastum. Here the 11 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL game especially seemed to thrive, the Florentines giving it the new name Calcio, and until the early- part of the 18th century it was played constantly during the winter, especially in Carnival time. In 1898 a grand festival in honor of the 400th Anniversary of several important historical events in Florence was held and the game of Cal- cio was revived after one hundred and sixty years of quiescence. The game was played with twenty- seven players divided into fifteen runners placed in front, and these fifteen subdivided into three equal groups; then the five front men, as they were called, who endeavored to impede the oppos- ing runners, four half-backs and three backs. It is said that there was expended on the revival of this game $6,000. The Eomans passed the game of foot-ball on to the Britons where we find it mentioned as early as 1175 with frequent references to it in the next two hundred years. But here again comes in the point of tactics and strategy, and how these appeal in any form of sport to the human race. A game of personal physical contact was demanded by the sturdy Britons. They wanted a game of courage, strength and fair play, but what they did not know was that they demanded a game of skill and tactics as well, and when such a game was fux- 12 EAELY HISTOEY nisiied it ate its way into all their sports. It over- whelmed archery, which was then the popular form of diversion. The rulers issued kingly edicts forbidding it on this very account, but this made little difference to the yeomanry, who went on with their game just the same. In 1314 King Edward II issued a proclamation against its further playing in the city of London. The Mer- chant Guilds applied for its suppression as a nui- sance. An extract from the document reads as follows, " Forasmuch as there is great noise in the city, caused by hustling over large balls from which many evils might arise which God forbid, we command and forbid on behalf of the King such game to be used in the city in the future." King Henry VI in 1457 issued a decree that " football and golfe be utterly cryed down and not to be used." King Henry VII in 1491 fol- lowed up with this edict : ' ' In no place of this realme ther be used futeball, gelfe or other sik unprofitable sportes." For all this, in the time of Queen Elizabeth foot-ball was played in the city streets, on the commons and even in the coun- try lanes, with goals a mile apart perhaps, and Shrove Tuesday became the great foot-ball day when the whole populace went mad over the sport. Until 1583 Stubbes held it up as a '' bloody and murthering " practice. Then it began to take on 13 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL better form and more science, and as early as 1800 was adopted by tlie English schools and uni- versities as quite the leading sport. Something over fifty years later an Association was formed and some of the different games were harmonized. In 1871 the Rugby Union was formed and definite rules were enacted. From that time on Rugby, the game of carrying the ball, tackling, and the like has progressed on its course, while the Asso- ciation game with its kicking, dribbling and no tackling has kept its separate field. In the Amer- ican universities there was little that could be de- fined by the name of foot-ball until the early 70 's. Then there was a game played unlike anything that prevailed in other countries, but which had something of the characteristics of the Associa- tion game. But about this time Harvard, having visited Canada, had become inoculated with the game of Rugby, which was then being played by the Canadians, and they introduced it into the States in 1875. In this year the first game of this character took place between Harvard and Yale, but it was played under a compromise set of rules made up by representatives of the two universities intended to harmonize the Association and Rugby games, an event that even the venturesome Amer- ican was hardly capable of accomplishing. The next year, Harvard and Yale adopted the Rugby 14 Nf- M > w > P a EAELY HISTOEY rules entire as they stood, and from that time on, the game has gone on increasing in popularity. It seems, indeed, a curious thing that this sport which has always had such opposition, which is violent and does tend to accident unavoidable, should maintain its remarkable popularity. If the game stands the very severe test to which it will be put in the season of 1910, then the mys- tery will be deeper than ever, for players of the game in the United States for the last ten or a dozen years have suffered many changes to be made in their sport, and have cheerfully taken up new manuals caused by these changes until some three years ago it seemed as if the reasonable limit had been reached; that if the rules were made any more complicated the spectators would desert the grandstands and the players, rather than spend so much time and study of rules, would, themselves, desert the gridiron. But the year 1910 finds even a still more complicated code. Yet officials, coaches and players seem will- ing to meet it in the spirit of self-sacrifice and to make the most of it. It would seem that a return to simplicity would be welcomed on all sides, and possibly the pendulum will swing in that direction another year. But whatever the vagaries of rules, there seems to be implanted deep in the heart of the boy and man a desire that in his 17 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL youthful days leads him to indulge in this partic- ular form of sport, and in his older days to travel far, to put up with great inconvenience, and great expense, for the mere pleasure of one single hour of that concentrated delirium which apparently always seizes upon the otherwise sane individual when witnessing a contest of this kind. In this brief summary of the development of the sport, we should take more than passing cog- nizance of the fact that there are a great many varieties of the game developed from the Eugby stem. "Wherever the British colonies have gone they have introduced Eugby, but the game has almost invariably taken on new features on for- eign soil. To-day Australia has more than one variety developed from the Eugby game, and so has Canada as well as the United States. Out on the Pacific Coast the two universities, Stanford and California, are playing a modern Eugby which differs quite a little from the Eugby adopted by Yale and Harvard in the year of 1876 ; while the present game generally known as Intercollegiate Foot-ball, with the various pru- nings and graftings of the last thirty years, bears very little resemblance to the game that was pro- duced soon after the adoption of Eugby in this country. But when all is said and done, no form of the sport has compared with the American In- 18 EAELY HISTORY tercollegiate of the last twenty-five years in de- velopment of team work, strategy and tactics, and it is on this account that the game has acquired a remarkable following in the United States., 19 CHAPTER II FOOT-BALL IN AMERICA THE rules governing American foot-ball are an outgrowth or development of the English Rugby foot-ball game, the very name of which at once recalls to every reader the well-beloved '' Tom Brown." The credit of introducing these rules among our colleges belongs really to Harvard, who had learned them from the Canadians and were at the outset won by the superior opportunities offered by the new game for strategy and generalship as well as for clever individual playing. After Harvard had played for a year or two with our northern neighbors, Yale was persuaded to adopt these English rules, and in 1876 the first match between two American college teams under the Rugby Union rules was played. Since that time the code has undergone many changes, the greater number being made necessary by the absolute lack of any existing foot-ball lore or tradition on American soil. The English game was one of tra- ditions. " What has been done can be done ; what has not been done must be illegal,'* answered any 20 FOOT -BALL IN AMERICA [uestion wMcli was npt fully foreseen in their aws of the game. For the first few years our college players spent heir time at conventions in adding rules to settle trexed problems continually arising, to which the English rules offered no solution. In this way ;he rules rapidly multiplied until the number was juite double that of the original code. Then fol- lowed the process of excision, and many of the old JEnglish rules which had become useless were [dropped. Until the last few years the foot-ball I lawmakers changed but two or three rules a year. The method of making alterations has also been perfected. In order to avoid the petty dissensions incident to contests so recent that the wounds of defeat were yet tender, a Rules Committee of graduates was appointed, and all alteration of rules placed in their hands. They met once a year to propose any changes that appeared to them necessary. An Advisory Committee preceded this body, but with the dissolution of the Intercollegiate Foot- Ball Association the Advisory Committee disap- peared. But the break in foot-ball legislation did not last. This Rules Committee was called into being by the University Athletic Club of New York, at the request of several of the colleges. It was composed of non-partizan members who had 23 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL \ carefully watched the sport and endeavored to foster its best features while legislating against any objectionable tendencies. The rules promul- gated by this body were for years the standard for all the college games in this country. No change, then, was possible unless suggested by a body of men, not immediate participants in the sport, who had the benefit of past experience. This most excellent state of affairs was the result of suggestions emanating from an informal con- 1 ference held some years ago in New York, at which were present members of the faculties of Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. These gentlemen were at that time carefully watching the growth of the sport, and were prepared to kill or encour- age it according to its deserts. In 1894 the Uni- versity Athletic Club of New York proposed cer- tain changes, which were approved by the Advi- sory Committee, and were generally adopted throughout the country. When the University Athletic Club passed out of existence its rule-making body still continued to draft each year a set of rules which the colleges were privileged to adopt or not as they saw fit. This worked' well for several years but after a time a new association, the intercollegiate, ap- pointed a rules committee of seven members who have upon invitation from the old University Ath- 24 FOOT -BALL IN AMEEICA 4etic Club committee annually amalgamated with itiie older body and the fourteen members of the joint committee draft the rules. X '' How does the English game differ from the ^American? " is a very common question, and in -answering it one should first state that there are ^two games in England — one ' ' the Rugby, ' ^ and ,the other " the Association." These differ radi- cally, the Association being more like the old- fashioned sport that existed in this country pre- vious to the introduction of the Eugby. In the Association game the players may not run with the ball in their hands or arms, but move it rap- idly along the ground with their feet — ' ' dribble the ball," as their expression has it. Of course, then, a comparison between our game and the Association is out of the question. To the Eugby Union, however, our game still bears some resem- blance, the vital point of difference being the out- let to the '^ scrimmage " or '' down." In the English game, when the ball is held and put down for what they call a '' scrttmmage," both sides gather about in a mass, and each endeavors by kicking the ball to drive it in the direction of the opponent's goal. Naturally, there is a deal of pushing and hacking and some clever work with the feet, but the exact exit of the ball from the ** scrummage " cannot be predicted or antici- 25 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL pated. When it does roll out, the man who ij nearest endeavors to get it and make a rim or kick. The American scrimmage, while coming directly from the English play, bears now no sim- ilarity to it. Instead of an indiscriminate kicking' QUARTBB-BACK TAKING THE BALL. This shows the first stages of this play. Note the center snapping the ball back with his foot and the high play of the linemen. struggle we have the snap-back and quarter-back play. The snap-back snaps the ball back with his hands ; the quarter seizes it and passes it to any man for whom the ball is destined in the plan of the play or he may himself run with it. In other respects, with the exception of greater liberties in assisting a runner, that is, off-side interference, it would not be an impossible task to harmonize our game with the British. There are two general divisions of players — the ' * rushers " or * ' forwards, ' ' so called because they constitute the front rank of the foot-ball army ; and the backs, called the quarter-back, the half-backs or halves, and the full-back. The quar- 26 Jo c ; FOOT -BALL IN AMEEICA t4,r has been already described. The halves, of W|liom there are two, play several yards behind tlie rushers, and do the kicking or running work. The full-back is really only a third half-back, his work being almost the same as that of the halves. DEVELOPMENT OF THE NAMES OF THE VAKIOUS POSI- TIONS "When the sport of foot-ball was first introduced into our American colleges the players were called, according to their position, forwards, half- backs, and goal-tends. The forwards were also sometimes spoken of as rushers, and the goal- tends as backs. These latter names, apparently, were more suited to the tastes of the players, so they have become more usual, and the terms for- ward and goal-tend are seldom used. Beyond these general divisions there were neither dis- tinctive names nor, in the early days, distinctive duties. One of the first rushers to receive a spe- cial name was the one who put down the ball in a scrimmage. Originally the man who happened to have the ball when the down was made, himself placed it on the ground. It soon became evident that certain men were unable to perform this duty so well as others, and it was not long before the duty was delegated to one man. As he usually stood in the middle, he was called the center- 29 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL rusher. TMs name then gave place almost en- tirely to " snap-back," owing to the universal custom of playing the scrimmage by snapping the ball back with the hands. Later still the term center became popular once more. As the game, after starting with eleven play- ers, was then altered to fifteen, there was an open- ing made by these increased numbers for more positions. It was in the first days of fifteen men that the quarter-back play and position first ac- quired proper form. There was not only a quar- ter-back, but also a three-quarter-back — that is, a player who stood between the half-backs and the backs. With the return to eleven men the three- quarter-back disappeared, but the quarter-back, or man who first received the ball from the scrim- mage, still remained. The next position to assume prominence and a name was that of end-rusher. The two men who played on the ends of the forward line found un- usual opportunities for the exercise of ingenuity in the sport, and their duties were more manifold than those of any of the other rushers. They found opportunities to make runs, opportunities to drop back a little and make fair catches of short kicks (for it was then quite in vogue to make a short kick at kick-off), opportunities of running along with a half-back and receiving the ball from 30 FOOT -BALL IN AMEEICA him when he was likely to be stopped; in fact, to perform the duties of the position required so many qualities that the best all-round men were selected for the work, and it became quite a feather in a man's cap to be an end-rusher. After this there were but four men on the team who were not specifically classed and designated. These were the two next the ends and the two next the center. The latter took up the name of " guards," as they protected the quarter when the ball was snapped. The former were called ^' tackles," probably because, before the tricks in running were so highly developed as at pres- ent, a large share of the tackling did fall to them. This division of players is now universal, and each position has duties and responsibilities pe- culiar to itself. CHANGES FROM THE ENGLISH RUGBY The changes the game has undergone in its gradual development from the English Eugby are peculiarly interesting, showing as they do the in- ventive faculty of our college players. The way in which the quarter-back play was suggested and perfected illustrates this very strongly. Our players began exactly as the Englishmen, by put- ting the ball on the ground, closing around it, and then kicking until it rolled out somewhere. In the 31 \ THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL first season of this style of scrimmage play, tliey made tlie discovery that, far from being an ad- vantage to kick the ball through, it often resulted in a great disadvantage, for it gave the opponents a chance to secure the ball and make a run. The players, therefore, would station a man a short distance behind the scrimmage, and the rushers in front would manage so cleverly to assist the kicking of the opponents as to let the ball come through and back directly to this player, who had then an opportunity to run around the mass of men before they realized that the ball had es- caped. Soon an adventurous spirit discovered that he could so place his foot upon the ball that by press- ing suddenly downward and backward with his toe he would drag or snap the ball to the man behind him. At first, naturally, the snap-back was not sufficiently proficient to be always sure in his aim, but it did not take long to make the play a very accurate one, and in the games to-day, now that the hand is used instead of the foot, and the center or snap-back has undisturbed possession of the ball, it is unusual for him to fail in properly sending the ball to his quarter. Originally the quarter was wont to run with or kick the ball, but now as a rule he passes it to one of the halves or to a rusher who has come behind 32 FOOT -BALL IN AMERICA him, instead of making the run himself. The quarter then directs the course of the play, so that scientific planning is possible ; whereas in the old method the element of chance was far greater than that of skill. One frequently hears old players speak of the ' ' block game ' ' and its attendant evils. This was a system of play by which an inferior team was enabled to escape defeat by keeping continual possession of the ball while actually making but a pretense of play. So great did the evil become, that in 1882 a rule was made, to the effect that a side must make an advance of five yards or re- treat ten ^ in three scrimmages. The penalty for not doing this was the loss of the ball to the oppo- nents. This was later changed to a ten yard ad- vance and it was no longer legal to keep posses- sion by retrcv'^ting. A kick is considered equiva- lent to an advance, even though the same side should, by some error of the opponents, regain the ball when it comes down. The natural work- ing of this rule, as spectators of the game will readily see, is to cause a side to make one or two attempts to advance by the running style of play, and then, if they have not made the necessary dis- tance, to pass the ball back to a back for a kick. The wisdom of this play is evident. If they find 1 This was altered later to twenty yards. 33 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL they must lose tlie ball, they wish it to fall to their opponents as far down the field as possible, and so they send it by a long kick as near the enemy's goal as they can. One other rule, besides this one, has had a de- velopment worthy of particular attention. It is the one regarding the value of the points scored. At first, goals only were scored. Then touch- downs were brought in, and a match was decided by a majority of these, while a goal received a cer- tain equivalent value in touch-downs. Then the scoring of safeties was introduced; but only in this way, that in case no other point was scored a side making four less safeties than their oppo- nents should win the match. A goal kicked from a touch-down had always been considered of greater value than a field-kick goal, but it was not until the scoring had reached the point of count- ing safeties, that it was decided to give numerical values to the various points in order that matches might be more surely and satisfactorily decided. From this eventually came the method of scoring as follows : Goal from touch-down .... 6 points Touch-down failing goal .... 5 " Field-kick goal 3 " Safety by opponents 2 " 34 TOTJCH m GOAL FOOT -BALL IN AMERICA IN GOAL I GOAL! GOAL LINE GOAL LINE TOUCH IN GOAL I a ss J!)_ . n» r. I 3 TWENTY FIVE o YARD LINE i (/> P O OO g Q O i a: r s- TWENTY FIVE YARD LINE I i60FEET 18nr.6lN. TOUCH IN GOAL GOAL LINE I I GOAL LINE IGOALI Ui GOAL 35 TOUCH IN GOAL THE BOOK OF. FOOT -BALL THE POSITION OF PLAYEES IN SIMPLE PLAYS A few diagrams illustrative of the general posi- tion of the players when executing various ma- nceuvers will assist the reader in obtaining an in- sight into the plays. As there are no hard-and- fast rules for these positions, they are dependent upon the judgment of each individual captain; nevertheless, the diagrams indicate in a general way the formations most common. The first diagram shows the measurements of the field as well as the names of the general posi- tions of the two teams. While the front rank are all called forwards or rushers, distinctive names are given to the individual positions. These also are noted on this first diagram. The forwards of the side which has the kick, *' line up " even with the ball, while their oppo- nents take up their positions ten yards away. They are not permitted to approach nearer until the ball is touched with the foot. Of late years, now that it is the practice at kick-off to send the ball as far down the field as possible, the oppo- nents are wont to drop two forwards, near the ends of the line, back a few yards ; thus providing for a short kick. The quarter takes his place in a straight line back from the ball some sixty or seventy feet, while the two halves and the back 36 FOOT -BALL IN AMERICA stand sufficiently distant to be sure of catching a long kick. The positions of the side kicking the ball are not so scattered. All their forwards and the quarter stand even with the ball, ready to dash down the field, while the halves and back stand only a short distance behind them, because as soon as the ball is sent down the field they must be in proper places to receive a return kick from the opponents. The kick-off up to 1894 was more apt to be a " dribble," or a touching the ball with the foot and then passing or running with it. The result of this was that the opponents massed more com- pactly, the halves and quarter not playing far down the field, and the rushers at the ends not dropping back. The side having the kick, keeping in mind, of course, the particular play they in- tended to make, assumed positions that should the most readily deceive their opponents, if possible, and yet most favor the success of their manoeuver. For instance, the most common opening play was the '' wedge " or " V." In diagrams 2 and 3 are shown the positions in this play. As the players '' lined out " they assumed as nearly as possible the regular formation, in order that their opponents might not at once become too certain of their intention. As soon, however, as play had been called, one saw the rushers closing up to the 39 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL center and the player who was to make the run- ning dropping in close behind the man who was to play the ball. Diagram 2 illustrates the position at the moment of the kick-off. The kicker touched the ball with his foot, picked it up and handed it to the runner who was coming just behind him. Jbd. o o o NO. 2. ±rL o NO. 3. The forwards at once dashed forward, making a V-shaped mass of men, just within the angle of which trotted the runner. Diagram 3 shows them at this point. But this wedge no sooner met the opposing line, than the formation became more or less unsteady, exactly in proportion to the strength and skill of the opponents. Against untrained players the wedge moved without great difficulty, often mak- ing twenty or thirty yards before it was broken. Skilful opponents would tear it apart much more speedily. The same principles still apply, but al- terations in the rules have done away with these wedges. 40 FOOT -BALL IN AMERICA Now came the most scientific part of the play — namely, the outlet for the runner and ball. There were two ways of successfully making this outlet. One was to have a running half-back moving along outside the wedge, taking care to be a little behind the runner, so that the ball might be passed to him without committing the foul of passing it ahead. When the wedge began to go to pieces, the ball was dexterously thrown out to him, and he had an excellent opportunity for a run, because the opposing rushers were so involved in breaking the wedge that they would not get after him quickly. Diagram 4 illustrates this. The second, and by far the most successful when well played, was for two of the forwards in the wedge to suddenly sep- arate and in their separation to push their oppo- nents aside with their bodies, so that a pathway was opened for the runner, and he might dart out with the ball. Diagram 5 shows this. Mass and wedge plays have been very much curtailed, and with design, by the insistence upon more kicking. Every kick-off and free kick had come to be the signal for a wedge. Now, thanks to the rules, they can be used but seldom. The formation of the side which has the ball in a scrimmage, next occupies our attention. As stated before, it is customary for them to make two attempts to advance the ball by a run before 41 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL resorting to a kick. There is some slight differ- ence in the ways they form for these two styles of play. Diagram 6 shows the regular formation just previous to the run. The forwards are lined out, blocking their respective opponents, while the P^ "a O Oi B B B^ Cs* ® ^'S ^ O 13 td o as M B* B- -i: SO M p5 CO _ c. B 00 Cr M cr ff P? S" fa IM !? o« H O HfHfP #^ l^ ft sir g- ?; S § 3. P _ 70 FOOT -BALL IN AMEEICA complicated signals would feel a great relief from the mental effort could they return to four plays and a single sentence to memorize. Nowadays some teams go on the field with no fewer than sixty possible plays, each indicated by its own signal. GAME ON THE OLD POLO GEOUNDS If there were anything that might make a mo- mentary ripple upon the steady, resistless stream of New York life it should certainly have been one of these foot-ball games. While there are plenty of base-ball enthusiasts, they possess their souls and their enthusiasm in patience before they reach, and after they leave, the grounds. But the collegian has no sense of repression, and his en- thusiasm annually stirred up the sober, sedate dignity of Fifth Avenue from the Brunswick to the Park. A few years ago the wiseacres said: " No one will come to a game on Thanksgiving Day. New Yorkers will never give up their an- nual dinner for anything under the sun. ' ' At the last game played on that day forty thousand people postponed their annual dinner to see the Yale-Princeton match. Perhaps nothing will bet- ter illustrate the pitch to which the interest had attained than to take the ride to the grounds, first with the spectators, then with the team. Coaches 71 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL had been bringing as high as a hundred and twenty-five dollars apiece for the day, and even at that price were engaged weeks before the contest. Stages were resorted to. The old 'bus appeared in rejuvenated habiliments, bedecked with great streamers of partizan colors, and freighted with the eager sympathizers of the Orange or the Blue. Long before noon, tally-hos drew up before the up-town hotels, and were soon bearing jolly parties out to the grounds, in order to make sure of a place close to the ropes. The corridors of the Fifth Avenue, Hoffman, and Windsor had for twelve hours been crowded by college boys eagerly discussing the prospects of the rival teams. Any word from the fortunate ones who were permitted to visit the teams was seized and passed from mouth to mouth as eagerly as if upon the outcome of the match hung the fate of nations. The con- dition of Jones's ankle was fraught with the ut- most interest, and all the boys heaved sighs of relief at hearing that he would be able to play. Having talked over the state of affairs all the evening, and until noon of the momentous day, each boy was thoroughly primed to tell his sister (and particularly his chum's sister) all about every individual member of his own team, as well as to throw in the latest gossip concerning the op- ponents. He was frequently interrupted in this 72 FOOT -BALL IN AMEEICA 73 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL conversation, held on the top of the coach, by the necessity of stopping to cheer some house where his colors were displayed in the windows, or to salute some passing tally-ho from which the similarly colored ribbons dangled and banners waved. Arrived on the grounds, the coaches were drawn up in line, and while anxiously awaiting the advent of the two teams, the appearance of each Prince- ton or Yale flag became an excuse for another three times three. And how smartly the boys executed their cheers ! The Yale cry was sharper and more aggressive, but the Princeton boys put more force and volume into theirs. The fair faces of the girls were as flushed with excitement as were those of the men, and their hearts no less in the cheering. Having followed the spectators out, and seen them safely and advantageously placed, let us ride back and return with one of the teams. We find the men (who have been confined all the morning between four walls in order to prevent their talk- ing over the chances, and thus becoming anxious and excited) just finishing their luncheon. They eat but little, as, in spite of their assumed coolness, there is no player who is not more or less nervous over the result. Hurriedly leaving the table, they go to their rooms and put on their uniforms. One 74 FOOT -BALL IN AMERICA after another tliey assemble in tlie captain's room, and, if one might judge from the appearance of their canvas jackets and begrimed trousers, they are not a set of men to fear a few tumbles. Finally, they all have appeared, the last stragglers still engaged in lacing up their jackets. The cap- tain then says a few words of caution or en- couragement to them, as he thinks best. He is evidently in dead earnest, and so are they, for you might hear a pin drop as he talks in a low voice of the necessity of each man's rendering a good account of himself. Thoughtfully they file out of the room, troop down the stairs, and out through the side entrance, where the coach is wait- ing for them. Then the drive to the grounds, — very different from the noisy, boisterous one we have just taken with the admirers of these same men. Hardly a word is spoken after the first few moments, and one fairly feels the atmosphere of determination settling down upon them as they bowl along through the Park. Every man has his own thoughts, and keeps them to himself ; for they have long ago discussed their rivals, and each man has mentally made a comparison between himself and the man he is to face, until there is little left to say. Now they leave the Park and rumble up to the big north gate of the Polo Grounds. As they crawl leisurely through the 75 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL press of carriages, everything makes way for them, and the people in line for tickets stare at the coach for a glimpse of the players. They are soon in, and, jumping out at the dressing-rooms, run in and throw off outside coats, still keeping on the heavy sweaters. Now comes a slight uneasy delay, as it is not yet quite time to go out on the field lest their rivals keep them waiting there too long in the chill air. This is in truth the mauvais quart d'heure of the foot-ball player, for the men's nerves are strung to a high pitch. Perhaps some one begins to discuss a play or the signals, and in a few minutes the players are in a fair way to be- come thoroughly mixed, when the captain utters a brief but expressive, " Shut up there, will you?" and growls out something about all knowing the signals well enough if they'll quit discussing them. A short silence follows, and then they receive the word to come out. As they approach the great black mass of people and carriages surrounding the ground, they feel the pleasant stimulus of the crisp fresh air, and their hearts begin to swell within them as they really scent the battle. Just as they break through the crowd into the open field, a tremendous cheer goes up from the throats of their friends, and the eager desire seizes them to dash in and perform some unusual deed of skill and strength. 76 FOOT -BALL IN AMERICA The old Polo Grounds have fallen before the advance of city streets. That old enclosure, the scene of some most exciting college contests, will never again resound with the mad cheer of en- thusiastic spectators; but there will be handed down to boys coming after, the memory and story of some grand old games, and there will always be a touch in common among the old players who saw service on those grounds. Of late years the game has been transferred to New Haven and Prince- ton alternately, much to the regret of the New York enthusiasts. NECESSITY OF MODIFICATION An American usually takes even his sports more seriously than the Englishman. This is true not alone of foot-ball. But in such a strenuous game the results of this seriousness become more marked. Hence at the same time with the devel- opment of play there have come occasions for re- strictive legislation. The game becomes too severe, and is modified. Then combes an improved period. The game is about to go through another of its transformations. It is essential that the increased tendency toward mass play, from which come the more serious injuries, must be checked again at all hazards. The taking away of the assistance of the defensive half from tackle by 79 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL the forward pass has worked toward a renewal of the old heavy plays against this position. There is much to be done, but one can hardly doubt the willingness to act when reading such letters as these which came at the time of an ear- lier crisis in the life of the game : Chitnoor, India. I played foot-ball throughout my college course at Rutgers (1878-1882), and part of my theolog- ical seminary course (1882-1886). For four of those years I was regularly on the Varsity team, and captain in 1882, in the year, I think, in which Eutgers scored the touch-down against Yale, — the first, I think, — and when you arrived later in the game at New Brunswick and we first discov- ered your presence by a drop-kick for a goal from the field. But this is reminiscence. I have been in India for six years and my bicy- cle has carried me far and near, by day and by night, and I have no doubt that much of my en- durance is attributable to my foot-ball experience. In our mission there are three old foot-ball play- ers, and I fancy no one will question our claim to the greatest endurance and general good health. Melbourne, Victoria. I have watched with interest your close connec- tion with the game since I left New Haven, as also 80 FOOT -BALL IN AMERICA your efforts to effect such improvement as the condition of the game suggested. For ten years I have been out of touch with the Eugby game or any modification of it. The game played here, and watched by upward of fifty thousand people every Saturday for five months in the year, is as near as can be the game played at Yale when big Fulton was captain, and the following year — of course you remember it. Certain unimportant modifications have been made with a view of making it a fast game. At present I consider it a finer game, from a spectator's point of view, than the Rugby game played at Yale in 1879 and 1880. I sympathize with you in your efforts to free the game from any objectionable features as well as from false prejudice. ToTcyo, Japan. I of course do not agree with the opinion that foot-ball should be prohibited in the schools and colleges. There is quite too much good in it to justify the current wholesale denunciation on the score of the dangers involved. At the same time I should be glad to see changes made in the rules that would prevent, or at least limit, mass plays and other rougher features of the game. I certainly hope that the enemies of the game will not win, but that changes may be agreed upon 81 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL such as shall satisfy the public that American Eugby is really what it claims to be — a manly exercise and discipline, and rather a safeguard against than a cultivator of ruffianism in Amer- ican student life. Yet the certain net gains we have made seem to be permanent. We have surely improved the spirit of play. The charge of intentional brutality no longer stands. We have shortened the period of play, and lessened thereby the strain. The rec- ord of the Yale-Columbia game in November, 1872, showed something either of the way time was kept in those days, or else the ability of the team to keep going for an unlimited period. Think of this, those of you who feel that four fifteen minute periods may be too long. *' The first goal was scored in fifteen minutes, the second goal took fifty-eight minutes, and the third goal forty minutes. ' ' That fifty-eight-minute goal must have been trying on both sides. We have also brought the playing season to an earlier ending, and avoided some of the risks of former days on frozen grounds. Two games in the autumn of 1876 were specially remarkable on account of the weather conditions. It was hardly to be expected that the cold weather would hold o:ff much after the first of December, 82 FOOT -BALL IN AMERICA ^ yet the Yale-Harvard Freshman game was scheduled for Boston on December 2, and the Yale- Columbia 'Varsity for New York on December 9. The writer can speak from experience, because he played in each game. The Freshman caught the first of the exposures, playing in Boston with the thermometer below zero on a ground that had not, of course, been protected by straw, and was like cobblestones. The next week, with this experience in mind, I provided myself with some protection, not only dressing as warmly as possible, but carrying to the game a big pair of gantleted sealskin gloves. My regular position was half-back, and while play- ing in that position one had enough work during the first half to keep busy and comparatively warm, although the thermometer stood only seven above zero. But the man who was playing back, waiting for kicks, was gradually freezing to death, and in the intermission at the end of the first half I was told that I was to play full-back and let the other man warm up. Before going on the field, I put on my big fur gloves. After the game had been going about ten minutes, a Columbia man got through the line and passed the half-back, and I was left between him and the goal. I managed to get off one of the gloves, but there was no time to get rid of the other. I tackled the man and 85 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL brought Mm down, but as lie fell, Ms head struck the frozen ground. It must be confessed that my knowledge of anatomy at that time was slight. The man was stunned for a moment, and his scalp was slightly cut. I was sure that the man's head had broken open like an egg-shell, and that I had killed him, and I ran up to the captain and said that I wished to be taken out, as I had killed a man and could not play any more. I was much aston- ished and tremendously relieved when the man came to, and went on playing, his injury proving to be only a scratch. Such an accident was trivial, but the tendency toward mass play and injury this last season is serious. NECESSITY FOE FUETHER IMPEOVEMENT As was proved years ago by the introduction of the five-yard rule, and three or four years ago by the substitution for that five-yard rule of a ten- yard rule, there is just one specific against in- creased or increasing mass plays, and that is in the increase of the distance to be gained in three downs. As the tendency of the game is all the time toward improvement in team play, so the players outgrew the five-yard rule, and, taken with the weakening of support in the tackle caused by the defense in the forward pass, are in a fair way to outgrow the ten-yard rule. In fact, in the minds 86 FOOT -BALL IN AMEEICA of all there is once again too great a proportion of mass play, and the distance to be gained, there- fore, should be extended once more, or some other method adopted of preventing the hammering of heavy plays on the unprotected tackles. The public knows perfectly well, and so do the students of the game, that the one thing which tended most in this direction, as soon as the discovery was made by coaches, was the addition of certain features of the open game itself. It is indeed rather doubt- ful if coaches would persistently use mass plays on tackle, even if the ten-yard distance were not increased, did they not know that the defensive half-back and end must be pulled away from this tackle on account of the fear of the forward pass, thus leaving the tackle far more defenseless than ever he was in the old game. The other element which has once more added to the attractiveness of mass play is the difficulty of devising a defense to open play. After three years of experimenting, in which the increased distance to be gained has been strong enough to keep coaches working on more open play, they have learned that it is very difficult to provide a broad defense to the increasing possibilities of the forward pass and the on-side kick. They have discovered that providing such a defense takes . the half-back and end away from the tackle. 87 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL Hence the clever coach has begun to combine the two ideas by playing mass plays. While his op- ponents are guarding against open play, he can succeed in making several consecutive downs and, even more vital, in keeping possession of the ball for a very considerable period of time, — say, eight minutes to the opponent's two minutes, — if the opponent is playing an open game. The suc- cess of open plays like forward passes and on-side kicks is not greater on the average than one out of three plays, so the team playing the open game must have possession of the ball three times to execute one successful play. The side playing the close plays retains the ball something like four times as long, and hence has a very distinct ad- vantage. When the ten-yard rule was adopted there were two parties strongly demanding a change in foot- ball rules. One was the party that hoped to see injuries lessened, the other the party that did not make so much of this feature, but wished to see the play opened out as a matter of increased in- terest. It was not contended by either side, nor by the devotees of the old game, that any set of rules would eliminate accidents from foot-ball. But the accident arising from the use of the mass play is the point which seems to call most par- ticularly for action. Other accidents in the open O H H Id M u S 55 2S o h 2 H OH t^ < U FOOT -BALL IN AMEEICA are regarded in a different way even by the critics of the game. They may happen without any pos- sible means of limitation. But the feeling of un- fairness when one man is meeting a number is surely not without reason, and it is the best feature of the ten-yard rule that at least for three years it has been effective in curtailing that style of play. Hence it is evident that either that dis- tance must be increased once more or it will be- come a menace, especially as the discovery has now been made by coaches that the opposing tackle is far more vulnerable and less supported than in the old game. It may be necessary to make the distance fifteen yards in three downs, with a rever- sion to five yards in three downs when the fifteen- yard line nearest the goal is reached. It has also been suggested, and the experiment will be tried, that the attacking side should not be allowed to use their hands or arms to push or pull their own men, and that the man about to receive a forward pass be protected. The difficulty here is the great complexity of the rules necessary to effect this protection. It might have been better to limit the ta,ckling. However the game has always been subject to revision of rules as exigencies arose. Another experiment is that the halves be sub- divided by a three-minute intermission, the ball remaining in the same relative position but with 91 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL a change of goals, giving an opportunity to see that there are no exhausted or injured players who should be removed. > Many are calling for the abolition of the for- ward pass. Yet it does seem as if the attractive- ness of that play may still be preserved if the distance to be gained be increased, and at the same time open-field running be aided by forbidding tackling below the hips. The order of legislation should certainly be, first, the lessening of the danger incident to mass play and, second, the preservation of a fair balance between the attack and the defense. In this connection perhaps one point has not re- ceived its full emphasis. The game has furnished an opportunity not afforded in any other sport for the big, overgrown fat boy, who before the intro- duction of the game had no field in which he could shine, and hence too little incentive to exercise. The type of man who for the last twenty years has found in the foot-ball positions of center and guard a chance particularly designed for him was before the introduction of our modern game only a joke to himself and to others. He could not run fast, he was not agile, he seldom had any particular knack, and he found rowing, base-ball, tennis, and track sports, with the possible exception of weight- throwing, closed to him. That type of man — the 92 FOOT -BALL IN AMEEICA man tliat really needed the exercise and discipline far more than the lighter, more wiry type — has come to his own, and, if possible, we shonld keep him in athletics. Weight and static power, as it were, shonld have its chance as mnch as speed and agility, and it would be a pity not to keep some part of the play for such men. There will be injuries, but we should minimize these as far as possible, and every effort toward this end will be made. No foot-ball is wholly free from them. CHAPTER III THE NEW FOOT -BALL SO mncTi has been written and published malign- ing the sport of foot-ball that it has developed occasional champions who have taken up the cudgels in its behalf, and it may be true that the partizans to the game have sometimes, by this very attempt to see fair play done to the sport, perpetuated for a time certain of its evil features. Before taking up its ancient history in this regard, it is proper to make certain admissions that the level-headed believer in the sport would be quite ready to accord if he were taken at a time when by attack he was not thrown so strongly upon the defensive. In the first place, the development of the old block game, already commented upon in these pages, was an instance of this character. The game had become more and more concen- trated and much of the sport had gone out of it. Even these points were not, at the time, fully ad- mitted by the players until they were so empha- sized that there was no doubt of the issue. Then the five-yard rule was adopted, and not only saved the game but injected into it a wonderful amount 94 THE NEW FOOT -BALL of new possibilities. Its partizans who liad stead- fastly stood by it even in its waning excitement were only too ready to see the value of the new development, and within a season no one would have willingly returned to the old game. Very likely this must be the history of any sport of such a character. Certain revisions from time to time, owing to the development of the play, were neces- sary and unavoidable. Such revisions were almost always sturdily combated by the immediate players because they were more satisfied to con- tinue with the game they knew than to take up the intricacies and possibilities of a new manual. At the time when this five-yard rule was first pro- posed, there was apparently little chance for its adoption, but once taken up as an experimental revision it made its way instantly to successful permanence. In fact, it brought the game out of what might have proved its death struggle and started it on a new lease of life. The difficulties concerning the sport have, from time immemorial, been that the game being one of vigorous, physical, personal contact lends itself to that very strenuousness which must be con- trolled by rules as well as by the spirit of fair play. The tendency toward this even in legitimate play is a feature that must always receive the most careful consideration, as will be seen when 95 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL we take up the ancient history of the sport. This has always been a part of the criticism and prob- ably always will be. It is essential, therefore, that rule-makers be experienced in the play, and still more in the making of rules, otherwise the plays or alteration in the rules which promise to benefit the game, if made without due consideration, may turn out exactly the reverse and may introduce certain new and extremely undesirable features. Not even the best rule-makers may hope to be infallible, but they must be conscientious and work faithfully regardless of the two sides which always seem to be at odds, namely, that represented by the general public demanding spectacular fea- tures, and sometimes preying upon the feelings of those who are fearful of accidents, and the other side represented by the players who are never contented under probabilities of changes and who would, without any question, continue to believe in their own game, in spite of the argument or evidence that it should be altered. There is really much to be said in favor of foot- ball, and much has been well said and explains why the sport has acquired its tenacious hold upon players and spectators. History shows that the game of foot-ball has been severely criticized and denounced and even forbidden by law, but with singular insistence it continues to assert its vital- 96 THE NBTV; FOOT -BALL ity, and it never was more popular tlian in America to-day. East and West, North and South, it spreads. Whatever objection there may be to it, — or, rather, to the abuse of it, — the history of the sport would indicate that it is " here to stay," and the part of wisdom both of its advo- cates and its critics would seem to consist in en- deavoring to eliminate the objectionable features. This extraordinary vitality in the face of ad- verse, and even what was assumed to be prohibit- ive, legislation as far back as 1314, in the time of King Edward II, suggests that the sport serves some good purpose. Instead, then, of hoping for its abandonment, the more thoughtful have sought for, and, it is safe to say, have found a steady im- provement. The game is far less brutal than in the old days, and even its comparatively short life in this country has been marked by great progress in method and spirit. The physical and mental development produced in the individual player is not all that may be cited in its support. Those who look beneath the sur- face find in foot-ball in the United States some- thing to supply that lack of rigid discipline for which the American youth, except possibly at West Point and Annapolis, suffer in comparison with those of other peoples. Not only does the rigid training establish self-control in those who 97 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL play, but the game holds up a standard of dis- cipline to those who observe it. And it must be admitted that this side of the argument is a strong one, while the fact that it offers almost the ideal measure of effort followed by immediate relaxa- tion renders it far less a tax on the vital organs than the majority of our contests. As it involves personal physical contact, it al- ways will be a strenuous sport, appealing to the vigorous, healthy boy. THE VAST IMPROVEMENT IN" THE GAME Here in America there is no comparison in method and morale between the game played in the late seventies and early eighties and that now played. It is hardly the purpose of this article to do more than touch upon this feature, but one instance will perhaps suffice to show the contrast. In the old days, as now, striking with the fist was forbidden, but then a player would be three times warned for rough play before he was disqualified, whereas now not only is the first act of this nature punished with disqualification, but the player's side also incurs a severe penalty. There are of- fenders in all sports, but in foot-ball the penalties are now so severe that intentional offenses are rare. Moreover, the general spirit of the player has been successfully invoked. As to the methods 98 THE NEW FOOT -BALL of play, the improvement is evident to those who remember the old meetings of Yale and Princeton on the Polo Grounds in New York, when one side actually held the ball for an entire half, merely lunging up into the opposing lines with the ball. DEVELOPMENT OF WEIGHT PLAYS Following after more complete organization came the introduction of a variety of plays de- pendent largely upon the general theory of sud- denly concentrating the weight of attack upon a point in the opponents' line that could not be as quickly supported. Mr. L. F. Deland of Boston brought out with the Harvard team the flying- wedge, where the attack, by dividing its men into two groups and getting under headway, could con- ceal the direction of the attack until the two groups met and it was too late for the defense to adjust itself. Mr. Greorge W. Woodruff intro- duced a flying interference at Pennsylvania. In this play one wing of the line started before the ball was put in play, and swung around as inter- ferers for the play which followed them. From this later Mr. Woodruff introduced the play known as *' guards back," in which two heavy men next the center of the line were drawn back into the back field as interferers. Princeton, while making much of wedge plays in the early days, 101 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL 5 10 IS ae >6 SO 38 40 4S •0 •• 80 46 40 »B 30 »9 SO w to a mv XLL Pn2 jxn ^ OJQ. DELANO'S FLYING INTERFEKENCE AS USED BY HARVARD. When this play was introduced, there was no rale providing that the kick-off should be an actual kick ; but a man might touch the ball with his foot, and then pick it up and pass it. The quarter-back (1, in the diagram) stood with the ball in the center of the field, ready for the kick-off. On the right, diagonally back, was grouped a squad composed of the center, guards, and tackles, and one other heavy man. On the left, not so far back or so far distant from the ball, was another group containing four lighter men, including the one who was to receive the ball from the quarter. Before the ball was put in play these squads got in motion, the larger (right) squad starting at full speed, and the smaller (left) squad starting slowly, so that they would converge on the ball at approximately the same time. The quarter-back did not put the ball in play until the squads were virtually upon him, and then at the moment that they struck, the lighter squad executed a quarter turn to the left, joining the heavy squad, and the quarter-back handed the ball to the runner (2, in the diagram), thus protected, and the mass moved at full speed very nearly in the direction already indicated by the squad of heavy men. The play could be turned to the other side, though rather less advantageously. 102 THE NEW FOOT -BALL » • ♦ oo o o oo o 6 10 IS 20 25 30 35 40 4S 00 ss CO 4S 40 3S 30 2» 20 IS 10 6 WOODRUFF'S FLYING INTERFERENCE AS USED BY PENNSYLVANIA. This play was Introduced previous to the enactment of rules for- bidding momentum plays. The quarter-back (1, in the diagram) first gave the signal, say, for the left half-back to run with the ball. Then having given this signal, and still before the ball was snapped, the quarter-back would call out, " Play ! " Even then the ball was not snapped, hence the opponents must still stay on side — that is, on their side of the ball. Meantime, at the word " Play," Woodruff's left-end and left-tackle started quickly on the full run, and, holding together, passed at full speed behind the quarter-back, gathering into their group as they passed the full-back and right half-back, who started, too, and these four abreast would strike the opponents' left flank with great force and swing (the dotted circles in the diagram indicating the secondary positions). While the first part of this was being done, the center-rush waited, and the ball was not put in play until this moving group of players were well across the middle. The center, or quarter, gaged this by counting three after calling out " Play," and at the next count the ball would come back and be passed to the left half-back (2, in the diagram), who ran out behind this massive but rapidly moving wall of men. " Guards-back " waa a later development of this same play. 103 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL » »0 ;• 9] m OQOOOO/6 oT~ &- •.:.--/04 « / 00-02 G 10 IS 20 Z9 30 39 40 4S 60 63 60 48 40 3S 30 2S 20 IS 10 9 YOST'S FORWARD PASS AS USED BY MICHIGAN. To understand Mr. Yost's excellent planning it should be stated that the rules allow the player to throw the ball toward his opponents' goal under these restrictions : — that the player must be in the back field ; that his pass must not cross the line of scrimmage within five yards to one side or the other of the point where the ball was put into play ; that the ball must be caught by one of his own men, playing either on the end of the line or in the back field at the time when the ball was put in play. Schultz (1), the center) passed the ball to Wasmund (2), the quarter-back, who ran back diagonally a step or two and passed it further back to AUerdice (3), who had rim back diagonally about four yards when the ball was snapped, and who then laade a long pass to MacGoffin (5). Walker (4) was to block the opposing end. MacGofiin concealed himself behind Embs (6) so that he could swing around and run straight through the large gap, and be in position to receive AUer- dice's pass. Embs was to be seven yards from Schultz. The ball would cross the line within the five-yard limit, only if the play were considerably hurried, for this would cause Wasmund to pass to AUerdice without a stop, and AUerdice to be drawn toward Wasmund instead of moving backward before passing. This would not give MacGoflln time to get in proper posi- tion. Otherwise the pass should go clear. The dotted circles indicate the secondary position of the players. 104 THE NEW FOOT -BALL has usually been specially marked for brilliancy of individual performance. The detail and devel- opment of plays is interesting, and few spectators realize the difficulties and discouragements in- volved in making these advances. CALL FOB MORE OPEN PLAY But to return to the development of the play through rules. From the time of the enactment of the old five-yard rule, brought about by the closeness of formations in play, up to a few years ago the game had been gradually acquiring ele- ments of the same old style of mass play. This was true despite legislation which, while forbid- ding certain groupings of men, only temporized with the situation. A real revulsion of sentiment was needed to bring about another increase of this distance. This came, and at once and of necessity it threw upon the players themselves the burden of opening the play. That upheaval came from the public, and it forced the enactment of the ten- yard rule. This doubled the distance to be gained, and in the twinkling of an eye mass plays became a thing of the past, not to be resurrected for some three years when coaches discovered that the fear of the perfected forward pass made them once more profitable, just as the old '' block '* game had fallen before the five-yard distance. 107 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL OLD FOOT-BALL SUCCUMBS TO THE NEW The year 1905 was the first year of this ** new foot-ball," as it was called; that is, the introduc- tion of the ten-yard rule, the forward pass, and the on-side kick. It was indeed new foOt-ball, strange enough to players and coaches alike. To say that there was much thought expended upon the possi- bilities of these new rules is to put it mildly. Every one was at sea, and while the rules com- mittee was confident that the new legislation would render the game far better and more at- tractive, there was naturally great opposition from former players, and an immense variety of opinions was heard as to how the new code would work out in actual play. Indeed, there was almost as great a divergence of opinion among the coaches as to which of the changes offered the greatest possibilities. Some contended that a team developed along the old lines would put to rout any team that wasted time upon the " new- fangled notions." Two teams, Dartmouth and Syracuse, were among the number that stuck to the old-fashioned foot-ball in spite of the ten-yard restriction. The Dartmouth coach published an interview voicing his sentiments upon this point, and it should be remembered that he had been one of the most successful of the coaches in the pre- 108 THE NEW FOOT -BALL ceding year. At Yale, tlie forward pass attracted the most attention, while at Princeton the on-side kick, it was believed, contained the elements of the greatest ground-gaining possibilities. At Harvard, Mr. Eeid was working zealously upon both lines of attack, making experiments and noting results. PLAY IN" A CHAOTIC STATE Thus October opened with affairs in a more or less chaotic state, no one sure of his ground and every one watching intently for the first indica- tions of some organized play that should prove the germ of a real ground-gaining attack. The writer had the pleasure of journeying to Prince- ton with Mr. Eeid to see Princeton play her open- ing game. We sat with Mr. Fine of Princeton, and it is needless to say that all three watched with the greatest interest the first attempts at the use of the new code. Some of the forward passes were very successful, but they appeared to depend more largely upon the disorganized condition of the defense than upon the execution of the play itself, and the throw passed perilously near the five-yard limit from the center, which in itself would have vitiated the play. But Princeton was open to conviction, and continued to try out the on-side kick and the forward pass. The next op- 109 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL portunity for the attainment of real knowledge came when Syracuse met Yale at New Haven. The writer had just talked with Dr. Hutchins, who had been in charge of Syracuse the previous sea- son, and who assured him that Syracuse was very strong. In fact, this was in the early days of the mighty Horr, a perfect giant of a man, and others who made up an imposing array for the New York State team. But Syracuse had stuck to old- fashioned foot-ball, and the game proved a revela- tion to them as well as to the spectators, for Yale ran up an appalling score by the use of new foot- ball, making some fifty-odd points, while Syracuse failed to score. It should be added here that the adoption of new foot-ball began at once at Syra- cuse, and so well was it carried out that Syracuse defeated West Point at the end of that same sea- son and has been a dangerous factor ever since. It was Dartmouth's turn next to receive new light on the theory of old foot-ball versus new. Th@ Hanover team went to Princeton, and in spite of its power and force at plunging formations, was defeated by more than forty points. Those two games virtually settled all issues between the two schools of foot-ball, and every one hastened to plunge into the mysteries of the new regime. The Indians proved in the early season the most adaptable, and simply " played " with Pennsyl- 110 a: w >■ THE NEW FOOT -BALL vania, a lesson which the team of the Quaker City- took so to heart that Pennsylvania has ever since been among the foremost in developing the new game, and has upheld Eastern foot-ball by her defeats of Michigan. THE DEFENSE SUCCESSFULLY MEETS NEW ATTACK But it was not all plain sailing even for those who had been so ready to adopt the new style. It was easy enough to defeat a team that had paid no attention to the forward pass or on-side kick, but it was a far different proposition when it came to a game between teams both using the new plays. Soon the defense began to be heard from. On some fields the second eleven had learned their lessons so well that they quickly anticipated the attack of the Varsity, and scores became less fre- quent. The forward pass was smothered by the alertness of the defense, and the on-side kick was accurately judged and taken by the defense. As in a later game the Indians found the on-side kick of Harlan, Princeton's half-back and Princeton's watchful defense to the Indians' forward pass, altogether too much for them, so many other teams which at first had scored easily, found the problems of attack were being readily solved by the defense. Then came a chapter of worriment for the coaches of the big teams. Old players be- 113 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL gan once more to say : " I told you so. Under the new rules two teams equally matched cannot score." But the rules were there and there to stay, and active coaches could not merely sit down and fold their hands. At Yale use was made of the freshman team for trying out plays and many experiments were made with the 'varsity. The greatest work was expended along the line of the forward pass, in the belief that in such a play lay the yet undiscovered germ of victory. But time was slipping by, and all had been hazarded upon that one belief. Thus far nothing had come of it save the simple forward pass over the corner of the line which all teams were using, and which the defense was solving better and better every day. The case really began to look desperate, and was not rendered any the less worrying by the fact that many believed that more time wasted over the experiments would be fatal. NEW IDEA FOE DELATIN"G THE PASS One night while studying over the problem of how to get men down the field in a position to take a longer forward pass, the thought suggested it- self, '^ Why not let the full-back take up a posi- tion as if to kick, and then, as soon as the ball was passed to him, let him run directly back toward his own goal, say five or even ten yards, and turn 114 THE NEW FOOT -BALL and throw the ball? " The time elapsing while he was thus running back would allow the ends and possibly a half-back or a tackle, if the end was dropped back, just so many more seconds to run down the field, whereas if the pass were made from the full-back's usual position, these men could get only a short distance down the field be- fore the ball was thrown. It was really from this first step that there came the development of the play that won for Yale her Harvard game that year, and the play that was later given to Annap- olis by a coach who went down there directly after the Harvard game, and by means of which Annapolis scored the touch-down against West Point. But this is anticipating, for the play, when finally developed, bore little relation in appear- ance to this first crude attempt. In trying the play out, it became at once apparent that the mere sight of the full-back thus running back, an un- usual proceeding, would put the defense on its guard at once, and then backs and probably ends would retreat also. Hence the problem was to find a means of securing the same amount of elapsed time before the ball was passed and yet not make patent to the defense that such a pass was coming. 115 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL ADDITIONAL DECEPTION IN THE PLAY This was solved by the pretense of a try-at-goal from a drop-kick or kick from placement. Such a move was sure to draw the line of the opponents, but the time thus taken up was only half as long as necessary. Hence a second '' fake," so-called, was added to this first movement. As soon as the ball came back, Veeder, the Yale back and drop- kicker, who had been apparently preparing for a drop-kick and getting his line, started on a wide- swinging end run, as if the whole affair had been a deception to draw the end rusher in, so that he, Veeder, might run clear out around that end. Now, it can easily be seen that the time taken up in the pass back from the center, plus the time taken up by Veeder in running out toward the end, would be considerable and would give the Yale ends, Alcott and Forbes, time to run a long dis- tance down the field. Then when Veeder had run a considerable distance out, he passed a long, high throw down the field to Alcott. It developed that even more men than Alcott, also eligible to receive the pass, could reach the point determined upon. PLAY APPAEENTLY A JOKE Now, the strangest thing of all was that to the team itself this play, when first tried, looked so 116 THE NEW FOOT -BALL silly that it was dubbed the '' Twenty- three " play, and that was the signal used for a time to indicate the procedure. Still, it was carried on only in secret practice, for the very principle it contained was enough to be suggestive. At the time of the Harvard-Indian game, which was while this play was still in embryo so far as its perfected form was concerned, the writer went up to Harvard to see that contest. There he again met Mr. Eeid, who was somewhat discouraged as to the possibilities of getting anything more out of the forward pass than the one already men- tioned over the end of the rush-line. The writer, while not fully hopeful, said that he believed there was still more in it. The play was further worked upon and tested in a simple form in the Princeton game. The writer's nephew overheard a conver- sation between two older enthusiasts on the way home from that contest which gives some idea of how the play worked in its crude form. ' ' Why, ' ' said one, ' ' I didn 't care much for the Yale team. They didn't seem to know what they were going to do. I saw a man actually start to make a kick, then try to run with the ball, and finally toss it ' any old place ' down the field." 117 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL FIlSrAL POLISHING AND SUCCESS The final step in perfecting the play came in having Veeder run out rather more parallel to the scrimmage-line, and thus get a little farther out. The object of this was still further to deceive and draw out of position the man in the back field, the half-back. This will be appreciated by play- ers. The man in that position being rather farther back than usual after the play started, hesitated to come up ; but when he saw the man with the ball actually outside the defensive end, it was difficult for him not to believe that his end had been actually circled by the runner, or at least was in imminent danger of being circled, and it was therefore obligatory upon him to come up. This proved to be the case in practice. The play was smoothed out, and Veeder perfected himself in the whole series of moves. What Yale then waited for in the Harvard game was to reach a point near enough to the Harvard goal to make it seem a probable play to have "Veeder try a field at the goal. Anywhere within forty yards or so was sufficient. The opportunity came, the signal was given, and all went as it was planned. The Harvard team moved in the proper grooves, and when Veeder launched his pass for the first time, there was no one near Alcott, who was only a few 118 THE NEW FOOT -BALL yards from the Harvard goal-line. In fact, it was that very great opportunity for an immediate touch-down that led to temporary failure, for Al- cott was so eager to go over the line with the ball that he fumbled it. But once set in this position, with Harvard kicking out, it was simply a ques- tion of time, and the play was soon repeated. Al- cott this time, while not so free, caught the ball cleanly, thus giving Yale a first down so close to the Harvard goal that two plays sent the ball over for a victory won purely upon the perfecting of the possibilities of the long forward pass. THE FUTURE OF NEW FOOT-BALL To gather any very definite idea of what foot- ball is to be like under the new rules requires con- siderable study, as has already been proven, in the case of officials, captains, players, and in fact all who are practically interested in the matter. The majority of the legislation passed, except that relating to the forward pass, however difficult it may be to put in execution, is fairly clear in its statements. Hence it is simplest to take up the comparatively clear parts first and note their ef- fect on the game. The quarter-back, or man who first receives the ball when snapped back in the scrimmage, is no longer obliged if he runs with the ball to cross that line of scrimmage at least 119 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL 5 yards out from tlie center. He may now plunge directly through, the middle of the line, or cross if at any point where he has an opportunity. This means that the defense must be more watchful, and also means that the offensive team has prac- tically four backs. The ball may not be snapped directly to either of the men standing on the line of scrimmage next to the snapper back. This legislation is working around in a circle as has a good deal of other law making. Twenty- five years ago, or so, the quarter-back was privi- leged to run with the ball exactly as he is now under the Eules of 1910, but after he had been dropped on by a big line-man of the opposing side, and particularly after there had been one or two experiences of games being played in the rain and in the mud where these same opponents were ac- cused of attempting to drown the quarter-back, the rules were changed and he was forbidden to run with the ball across the line of scrimmage at all. This lasted for many years, when finally a privi- lege was once more accorded t» him to carry the ball forward provided, as stated above, he crossed the scrimmage-line at least five yards out from the center. Now, here we are in 1910 having swung entirely around the circle, back to the orig- inal starting point. The removal of these restrictions, and the re- 120 THE NEW] FOOT -BALL moval of similar restrictions regarding the for- ward pass crossing the line of scrimmage, has ren- dered it unnecessary any longer to mark the field with the longitudinal lines, so that the field once more takes on the old aspect of the gridiron. While formerly a player who had been removed from the game could not come back to participa- tion, a rule has been made this year allowing such a player (provided, of course, he had not been dis- qualified or suspended by an official) to return to the game once at the beginning of any subsequent period. There seems to be a variety of opinion about this rule, but it is clear enough. The object of those who advocated the rule was to save a player when there was doubt about his condition by taking him out, and then if he proved all right sending him in again, as preferable to the methods employed by some teams of keeping a man in al- though he may have received a bad shaking up simply because no quite as an available substitute was on hand to take his place. It is generally believed by the supporters of this rule that it will work out as they think, and will be of consider- able advantage in lessening the danger of playing exhausted players too long. On the other hand, those who do not favor this feel that it will not operate as above, but quite the reverse, and further than this, that it may be abused. 123 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL The game has been shortened so that the total playing time is now only an hour. The two halves of thirty minutes each are further subdivided again, so that the game now consists of four periods of 15 minutes each. The usual 15 min- utes intermission is allowed between the second and third periods, but between the first and sec- ond and third and fourth, the teams will not be permitted to leave the field, and while the goals will be changed, the ball will be placed at the same relative position in the field, the down and point to be gained remaining the same as when time was called. Furthermore, the time allowed will be but three minutes, and during that time only the offi- cial representative who looks after the physical condition of the players will be allowed to go upon the field. It is hoped by this means to still further reduce the danger of exhaustion and injuries on account of that exhaustion. Those who prefer the old time are quite sure that this division will work detri- mentally, that players will exhaust themselves just as much, and that the three minutes is not more than the captain can call for at any time. Furthermore, that this change of goals every 15 minutes will prevent any team from carrying on a consistent play, and that this break will make the game more of a coach's game than ever. 124 THE NEW FOOT -BALL Crawling has been forbidden. By crawling is meant any attempt to advance the ball by the run- ner after the ball has been declared dead. This is another rule enacted in the interest of safety, because the little, plucky runner in the past has very often been put to take the last inch towards his opponents' goal, and the opponents, realizing that in some cases inches are of the utmost im- portance, have dropped on the runner when he was endeavoring to do this ; hence with crawling forbidden, and a penalty attached, it is hoped that this will be prevented. A rule has been made compelling the side hav- ing possession of the ball to place at least seven men on the line of scrimmage when the ball is put in play. This is not as great a change as many people seem to believe, for by the rules of last year and for some seasons past, if there were not seven men on the line, there must be at least six, and the seventh man must keep a position outside of the outside foot of the man on the end of the line. However, this will prevent such dropping back of the end as was sometimes practiced al- though, it must be confessed, not very effectu- ally last year. A man is not considered on the line of scrimmage unless he is within one foot of it. But the most important legislation of all is that 125 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL forbidding the player on the side in possession of the ball to make use of his hands, arms or body to push, pull or hold upon his feet the player car- rying the ball, and also the prohibition of inter- locked interference, — that is, the players of the side having the ball holding on to each other in any way, either by encircling with the arm, or seizing with the hand, or any other method. To those educated in foot-ball in the last decade this is an innovation indeed, and no one can tell how it may work out. The advocates of the rule are sure that it will solve the problem of injuries, iand that there will be no more pounding of tackle which proved so serious last year. The opponents of the rule say that an unprotected and unsup- ported back-field man meeting unaided by push- ers holding on to him or protecting him from the sides and behind will be unable, if he does much of any running, to last out the game because he will be met by big heavy line-men, and driven back with extreme force, and that the very fact of the backs having so much to do, and being less phys- ically qualified for hammering than the line-men, will mean a much more serious exhaustion for them. Forbidding of locked interference seems to have met with general approval and will certainly do away with having mass plays. 126 < 0\ S-P. THE NEW FOOT -BALL Flying tackles have been prohibited. This rule has given rise to a great deal of discussion, for although the intent was good, there is a very wide divergency of opinion as to just in what consists the danger in tackling, and probably the reason why flying tackles came to be regarded as danger- ous was from actual experience, but in many cases the actual experience might mean a man undertaking to tackle in some unusual way, or unusual position, and meeting with an injury. The difficulty in ruling will be that the prohibition is defined as follows : '* A player in tackling must have at least one foot on the ground." If a man, therefore, is endeavoring to go around an end, and a half-back is running at full speed to reach him, it is going to be a very difficult question as to what will happen, for we all know that a man running at speed has both feet off the ground at once, and if it is a close thing, even the half-back must tackle when he is on the run, or lose his man if he stops. But none of these rules offer any difficulties at all compared with the rule regarding forward pass, which applies also to the kick. This rule reads as follows: Section 2. No player of either side while in the act of catching a forward pass shall be tackled, thrown, pushed, pulled, shouldered or straight- 129 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL armed until he shall have caught the ball and taken more than one step in any direction, pro- vided that any such interference which is inci- dental to a bona fide attempt to catch or inter- cept the pass shall not come within this prohibi- tion. The above section is the most vital in the rule, and it is upon the basis of this protection offered the man who is to receive the pass that the play is likely to develop. But the difficulties surround- ing such protection presented themselves to the Eules Committee as soon as they endeavored to work out a practical plan. In the first place, in- terference is the keynote of the American game, and interference means preceding the runner with the ball by another team-mate who, in the ordi- nary course of events, pushes out of the way or interferes with would be tacklers of the man car- rying the ball. Such a man may be close in front of the runner, or he may precede him a very con- siderable distance. Now, unfortunately, for any simple plan, this interferer was the most likely man to receive the forward pass, the runner toss- ing the ball to him just as he found himself likely to be stopped. If, therefore, it was made a foul to run into this interferer because, perchance, he might receive a forward pass, it also opened the way for the man to continue as an interferer, and 130 THE NEW FOOT -BALL the would-be tackier being obliged to avoid him would have little chance to get at the runner. Hence the complications surrounding the situa- tion. Whether it has been solved by the new rules time alone can tell, but the best step in this direc- tion was the one compelling the man who makes a forward pass across the line of scrimmage to be at least 5 yards back of that line of scrimmage when he makes the pass. As the same conditions regarding interference obtain when a man is ma- king a kick, it is not necessary to legislate that the kicker also should be at least 5 yards back; in other words, that the kicker might not run out as though he were going to circle the end and then suddenly kick the ball. This would offer compli- cations in case of instead of kicking he made a forward pass, and thus it seemed wise to make the same restrictions as governed the latter. But this step led to still another. Every-one who knows modern American Intercollegiate foot-ball understands the former play of an end-rusher on a kick. He was the most important factor, for he would run down the field under a kick and en- deavor to prevent the catcher from running the ball back, and a good end became very expert in this kind of work. It therefore devolved upon the side receiving that kick to prevent by all legiti- mate means this end from getting down the field. 131 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL One man was always detailed to stop Mm, and in the case of a remarkably good end it was not un- usual to set two men at the task of impeding his progress. But under the new rules introducing the forward pass this end was a very likely man to receive the forward pass and naturally the op- ponents, if they were forbidden to run into him or interfere with him on a forward pass, must like- wise be forbidden to run into or interfere with him on a kick. Hence we shall see this season a very extraordinary condition of the ends going down the field under a kick immune from any im- peding by opponents until they have gone at least 20 yards. It looks now as though it would take remarkable agility on the part of the man re- ceiving the kick if he is to stand any chance of making a good run back up the field. Just how this provision will affect the on-side kick no one can tell until the season has had time enough to develop. The provision making it necessary for a kicked ball to go twenty yards before it is con- sidered an on-side kick, that is, before it puts the kicker's side on-side, would tend almost inevitably to limit very much the scope of this play. On the other hand, this provision that gives a 20 yard clean zone of protection for the ends would give them a far better chance to get down to an on- side kick than they ever had under the old ruling, 132 THE NEW FOOT -BALL Hence it may be that clever coaches will be able to work up this play to a point of effective execu- tion. Up to this writing, the first and most prominent effect of the introduction of the new rules has been to shorten the vacation of the players on several of the big teams. Harvard and Annapolis got squads together as early as the first of Sep- tember, and most of the teams had men back by the 15th. Much of this summer practice may be deprecated, and great as the relief was when it was brought to a minimum as it was in the last five or six years, it is only fair to admit that with such vital changes as have been made in the sea- son of 1910 a certain amount of preliminary work was essential in case injuries are to be avoided. This is true from the very nature of the rules themselves, for men who have not had a week or two of conditioning at least could certainly never undertake to play in the back field of a team under the modern rules, for to go up without any push- ing and pulling and buck the line would be too severe a task to ask of any back who was not in pretty fair shape. The officials are likely to have the hardest time of all, for their work has been multiplied, and it will indeed be an argus-eyed man who can watch all the points necessary. At first it is likely to 136 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL prove confusing, but it is the hope that as players become accustomed to the rules, and the officials to watching the play under the new conditions, matters will simplify themselves considerably. 136 CHAPTER IV PERSONALITY IN FOOT -BALL PERSONALITY will be a great feature in the new game just as it has always been in any well known progress in this sport. In 1875 an attempt was made to reconcile a game in which the ball could be batted but not carried and the player could not be tackled with real Rugby, a sport in which the player could be tackled and the ball could be carried but not batted. Harvard defeated Yale under this compromise some six goals to nothing, and this paved the way for the introduction of Rugby union rules. FIRST AMERICAIT INTEECOLLEGIATE EUGBY POOT-BALL In the autumn of 1876 the first real Rugby con- test took place between elevens from Harvard and Yale. From that beginning, progress was rapid both in development of play and increase of gen- eral interest. Up to that time few besides the players and would-be candidates manifested any desire to witness the games; but in the next decade public interest increased amazingly. The 137 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL game took on organized methods, individual play- ers became known for their prowess, and the be- ginnings of marked " hero-worship " of promi- nent players could be noted. But Rugby foot-ball had a kind of inherited right to that feature, for its very beginning, as marked by a tablet in Eugby School, came from the independence and initiative of one William Webb Ellis, who, little knowing how much was to follow, broke in upon the established custom of foot-ball as then played by one day seizing the ball in his hands and running with it. Thus the bold Ellis became the pioneer of the adventurous spirits of Rugby foot-ball and blazed the trail for a new branch of the time-honored sport which even hundreds of years before his day had been met with rebuffs. A professor in an American university said a few years ago : ' '■ The boys are trained to consider as the hero not the moral champion nor a mental expert, but the successful tackier or the heavy rusher. ' ' Three hundred and twenty years before him, in 1583, Stubbs wrote of foot-ball : ' * A bloody and murthering practice . . . and he that can serve the most of this fashion he is counted the only felow and who but he! " Fifty years before him, in 1531, Sir Thomas Elyot wrote: " Foote Balle, wherein is nothinge 138 PERSONALITY IN FOOT -BALL but beastly furie and extreme violence "; and a hundred years before that, in 1424, a proclamation of King Henry VI was issued which ran: *' The King forbiddes that na man play at the fut ball under the payne of iiiid." Does not the fact that these successive criti- cisms and even edicts failed to stop the game sug- gest serious consideration of what gives it this astonishing vitality? boys' standakds Are the boys trained to set up a false standard of hero-worship? Is it not possible that nature has implanted in the boy an admiration for the example of physical prowess rather than for what we are pleased to call the moral champion or the mental expert, and that nature has for all these hundreds of years laughed at the attempts to change that boyish standard? Dr. Lambeth has said that ^' The boy intellectual is only a small part of the whole boy," and so far as I can con- strue the evidence. Dr. Lambeth is right. An Englishman, writing of the many vain attempts to change boy nature, concludes his article with the words, " It is a fearful responsibility to be young, and none can bear it like their elders." Is it not the part of wisdom to recognize these con- ditions, which hundreds of years and thousands 139 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL of boys have sliown to exist, and, instead of be- moaning the fact that youth is bound to set up physical standards rather than mental ones, to keep those standards and to merge them with the moral? If we teach him to play, we have some chance to teach him fair play, and as the very essence of his training for his games is physical and moral cleanliness, so we are helping him along that road by showing him that the best ath- lete is the moral athlete. Moreover, in his game he learns obedience to authority, even though it be only that of his own chosen captain ; he learns discipline, even though it be only that which is set up by his fellows. All our schools have learned that the best government is that in which the higher-form boys take the major part, and into that government enters as a large factor the very hero-worship of the small boy for the big boy — the would-be athlete for the school standard- bearer in sport. So, on the whole, it is not entirely bad that there should be these stars in athletics, for most of them acquire their shining qualities through a clean life, practical self-denial, discipline, obedience, un- murmuring pluck, and a good deal of patience. The one thing that the college does for a boy is to take the conceit out of him ; indeed, it may be doubted whether it does not go a bit too far in this 140 PERSONALITY IN FOOT - BALL direction. Surely the honors of the gridiron are not likely to be mistaken for eternal fame in the life that succeeds the undergraduate days, and meanwhile the pursuit of these honors has trained faculties that go far to make the successful man. With this as an apology or explanation, let me recount some of these exploits. LEE MO CLUNG The man who, by consistency and repetition of performance, made the greatest contribution to the attack in foot-ball of all the early players was Lee McClung, at that time a student from Knox- ville, who became captain of the Yale 'varsity team, and has recently been promoted from the treasurership of Yale to that of the United States. His contribution was in the nature of the turning run outside the tackle. I happen to have in my possession the graphic scoring of the game in which he made these brilliant runs in the Prince- ton game at Eastern Park, Brooklyn. The play by means of which those runs were started will be instantly recognized by the players of that day and by those of several later teams at Yale as the *' Twenty- thirty " play, the numbers between twenty and thirty being used as signals for it. It seems simple enough in these days of more com- plicated plays, but there has never been a man 141 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL quite so well adapted to execute it as McClung. He was essentially a dodging runner, and in his early foot-ball days would repeatedly be caught from behind, because he was not particularly fast. But when by practice he had succeeded in increas- ing his speed, he came to his own in marvelous fashion. In this play he would start as if about to circle the end, and then, after almost reaching the opposing end-player, would shoot so easily and yet so suddenly in toward tackle that the end would almost close his arms upon the empty air or shoot headlong where he thought McClung should be. Nor was that all. Once started through this opening, McClung would go zigzag- ging or, rather, swaying down the field, threading his way in bewildering fashion through what looked to be certain tacklers. And yet a line drawn from the point where he first made his turn down to the end of his run or his touch-down would prove almost a straight line. This he ac- complished by swinging his upper body from his hips, while his feet preserved very nearly a straight line. The scorings, shown in these few plays of this game, just as they were jotted down in my note-book play for play, as the game was in progress, indicate five runs by McClung, gain- ing ninety-nine yards and making two touch- downs. Twenty-nine thousand, eight hundred 142 PERSONALITY IN FOOT -BALL people, a very large crowd for those days, watched this game from the stands in Eastern Park and saw Yale win by a score of 32 to 0, a result very largely attributable to the sensational running of this man alone. Princeton's stars But for brilliancy of individual effort no teams have produced so many stars as the elevens from Princeton. From the days of Dodge and McNair, Moffat and Hector Cowan, Ames and Lamar, down through the Poes, King, Suter, DeWitt, and a host of others, every few years there has been a Princeton man who has performed some ex- traordinary deed that has snatched victory from the very jaws of defeat. The two deeds of Arthur Poe and, later, of DeWitt, are typical of this. ARTHUR POE Arthur Poe was essentially the type of the emergency man. He was the man always on the spot when needed. He entered Princeton in the fall of 1896 as a member of the class of 1900. He played substitute quarter-back once during that year. The following year he played in the Frank- lin-Marshall game, and although that was the only game he played during that year, he secured a touch-down in the second half. 145 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL In 1898 he was the regular right end and played in a majority of the games, securing a touch-down in the Brown game. On November 12, Princeton met Yale. Yale proved the stronger in the run- ning game, and three times carried the ball up to the Princeton thirty-yard line, only to lose it on downs. Finally Yale carried it inside the ten- yard line. There the signal was given for Durs- ton, who was playing in the back field with Ben- jamin and McBride, to go around into the line, and the mass started toward Princeton's goal, when suddenly Poe broke out from that mass with the ball in his arms and ran the entire length of the field for a touch-down, which Ayres of Prince- ton converted into a goal, making the score 6 to in Princeton's favor. Once more Benjamin, Durston, and McBride in the second half carried the ball down within Princeton's twenty-yard line, McBride having the ball, when once more from the mass Poe emerged with the ball and ran the entire length of the field. The touch-down was not al- lowed, however, as the referee had called the ball down in McBride 's hands before Poe secured it. The following year Poe played right end throughout the season, occupying that position on November 25, when Princeton came to New Haven for the game with Yale. The contest was ex- tremely exciting, the two sides being evenly 146 PEESONALITY IN FOOT -BALL matched. Eeiter on a long ran carried the ball almost to Yale's goal-line, and on the third try put the ball over. Wheeler converted the touch-down into a goal, making the score 6 to in Princeton's favor. Yale then forced Princeton, and Wheeler, endeavoring to kick out from his ten-yard line, had his kick blocked by Brown, McBride, the Yale captain, falling on the ball for a touch-down. When the game was resumed, Yale had the ball on Princeton's forty-yard line and Sharpe of Yale dropped back for a try at a field goal, which proved successful, thus putting Yale in the lead. The game continued in this way until there were only two or three minutes left to play. At this period Yale had the ball on its forty-yard line. A fumble resulted in Princeton securing the ball, but it looked absolutely hopeless, with less than a minute to play, and the ball still thirty yards from the Yale goal-line. Princeton lined up for another running play, but, as a last desperate chance, a suggestion was made that Poe should try for a drop-kick. One of Princeton's strategists tells me that Poe was only a fair drop-kicker, no better than the ordinary lot usually found in a squad, and his se- lection for the play was more for his reliability and steadiness in critical positions than for any other reason. However, with a little more than 147 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL thirty seconds left to play he was dropped back, the ball was passed to him, and he sent it sailing over Yale's goal, thus winning the game. This young man's exploits have been sung in a Princeton book of poems. & never mortale Manne shall knowe How ye Thynge came aboute — But from yt close-pressed Masse of Menne Ye Feete Balle poppeth oute! & Poe hath rushed within ye Breache — Towards Erthe one Second kneeled, — He tuckes ye Balle benethe hys Arme, & Saunteres down ye Fielde. Ye Elis tear in fierce pursuite; But Poe Eludes yem alle ; He rushes 'twixt ye quyverrynge Postes & sytteth on ye Balle. But Arthur Poe hathe kyckt ye balle (Oh woefuUe, woefuUe Daye !) As straighte as myghte Dewey's Gunnes Upon ye fyrste of Maye. JOHIT DE WITT The record made by DeWitt of Princeton for effectiveness in scoring with both kick and run has never been equaled by a line-man. In 1902 he scored all the points that were made by his team not only against Yale, but also against Cornell. In the Cornell game this resulted in a victory for 148 PEESONALITY IN FOOT -BALL Ms team by a score of 10 to through his two drop-kicks. In the following year his play in the Yale game proved quite as effective, and deserves more detailed consideration. The two teams were fairly well matched, but it was not long before Yale's attack proved the stronger, and they se- cured a touch-down and a goal. Then they pro- ceeded carefully down to the goal again. Here while in the very act of threatening the goal they were penalized, and Mitchell, the Yale kicker, then dropped back for a drop-kick at goal. It was a comparatively short kick, and there was no one in that throng probably that felt for a moment any trepidation about Yale. They knew that Mitchell might miss the kick, but yet the ball was in front of Princeton's goal, and Yale minds were easy. But in the twinkling of an eye a most start- ling change came about. Mitchell caught the ball rather slowly, and DeWitt, breaking through the line, sprang in front of the ball just at the moment that Mitchell kicked. The ball shot up in the air and back over Mitchell's head. At the same time DeWitt, with the impetus acquired, passed Mitch- ell, and, the ball bounding up into his hands, he started yards ahead of any of his pursuers and ran the length of the field for a touch-down, from which the goal was kicked. Thus in a few seconds the apparent advantage of Yale was turned into 151 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL a goal for Princeton, and the score was tied 6 to 6. Yale forced the play once more, but could not succeed in getting another score, and it looked as though the game would result in a tie. Princeton made a desperate attempt at a drop-kick from the right-hand side of the field at a bad angle, DeWitt getting off a poor kick which was partly blocked by the Yale forwards, the ball not even crossing the goal-line, and Yale falling on it just outside the goal. Bowman of Yale, who had replaced Mitchell at back, kicked out, the ball falling at the forty-five-yard line, where Princeton made a fair catch. Then the hearts of the spectators were in their throats once more, for it was seen at once that DeWitt would try for a place-kick goal. Carefully he sighted the ball, and in another mo- ment stepped up and shot it with unerring aim a good distance over the goal, scoring five more points, and winning the game 11 to 6. It is only fair to say that the following year Mitchell be- came one of the best kickers Yale has ever devel- oped and was largely instrumental in Yale's vic- tories. In fact, Mitchell might yield the palm only to Butterworth (who will always be remembered for his running as well) and Bull, an earlier drop- kicker famous in Yale's annals. 152 PERSONALITY IN FOOT -BALL GEORGE CHAD wick's RUNS Though DeWitt's remarkable achievements seem phenomenal when told in detail, on one occa- sion he was matched by Chadwick of Yale, the man who first demonstrated the immense possibil- ities of deceiving the opponents so that they them- selves would open the line for the opposing run- ner. There had been much speculation as to the rela- tive merits of the Yale and Princeton teams, neither having had a first-class organization the year before, but both promising a far better record for the season of 1902. DeWitt, famed far and near as a kicker, and really a giant in phy- sique, was the most promising man on either team. But in Henry and Davis as ends Princeton offered two men who had been " All- America material " the year before. Yale had, however, upon her team, certain men whose names were to become equally famous, among them Glass, the giant guard, Shevlin as end, and Chadwick, the Yale captain and half-back. The game began with Yale having the kick-off, Princeton having won the toss. Bowman of Yale kicked the ball down close to Princeton's goal, where McClave ran it back to Princeton's thirty- yard line. DeWitt was at once called upon for 153 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL a kick, and lie sent the ball past the middle of the field into Yale's territory. It was secured by Yale, bnt on a second running play Yale fumbled, and Princeton secured the ball, carrying it fifteen yards farther into Yale's territory. After one running play, DeWitt was called upon for a drop- kick. This was from the fifty-yard line. Despite the desperate attempts of Yale to block the kick, he got the ball off well, and missed the goal only by inches. This set the Princeton stands wild with excitement and correspondingly depressed the Yale sympathizers, and had not a little effect upon the Yale players ; for a man who from the fifty-yard line misses one's goal only by inches is a dangerous factor in a foot-ball game. Bowman punted out to mid-field, where Princeton secured the ball, and DeWitt again dropped back for a kick ; but a poor pass spoiled his attempt. After a few exchanges, a fumble gave Princeton the ball between Yale's forty and forty-five yard line. Here DeWitt was sent back again for a kick, and standing just short of Yale's fifty-yard line, he sent the ball as true as a die over the goal-bar for the first score of the game, twelve minutes after time had been called, making Princeton 5 in the scoring of the day and Yale 0. The two teams changed sides, and it was easily apparent that the general crowd was so impressed 154 < ^ PERSONALITY IN FOOT -BALL with this kicking of DeWitt's that even the Yale partizans felt the case was desperate. As soon as the two teams lined up, Bowman kicked the ball off, and Princeton, although fumbling, recovered it on her fifteen-yard line. DeWitt was called upon at once to kick, and sent the ball to the mid- dle of the field. On the very next down a play that had been worked out during the season, and which was specially adapted to contingencies of the game on that day, was about to be used. The writer, on the side lines, recognized the signal, and waited with considerable anxiety to see whether the movement of the players would be according to his predictions. The ball was snapped and the play started. Almost instantly a gap opened in the Princeton line through a division of their own forces, and straight through this gap shot Chadwick, untouched, and carrying the ball. He had one man, the quarter-back, to pass. This man he side-stepped to the left, and went straight on to the goal for a touch-down, covering a dis- tance of fifty-seven yards. The goal was easily kicked, so that three minutes after Princeton's scoring a lead, the tables were turned, and Yale stood 6 to Princeton's 5. Nor was this the only time that Chadwick 's run was tried. It was brought off again in the latter part of the first half, and from the middle of the field, with the 157 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL same formation. Once more he was sliot througih. the line, running half the length of the field for a second touch-down. There was no scoring in the second half, but these two individual runs by Chadwick had won the game for Yale. TIPTOF OF WEST POINT A West Point player named Tipton showed the possibilities of the dribbling kick suddenly in- troduced into a Rugby contest. His feat was one of the most striking instances of individual cool- ness backed by brains and was performed in the Army-Navy game played at Philadelphia on November 26, 1904. The two teams were probably as nearly matched as any two teams that have ever gone on the gridiron. The game had been in progress for ten minutes without any definite ad- vantage to either side when Torney, the West Point full-back, punted the ball to mid-field. Norton, the Navy quarter-back, endeavored to catch the ball, but fumbled it. Tipton, the Army center, a man of exceptional activity, after snap- ping the ball to Torney, followed the kick down the field, and with such rapidity as to be close to Norton when that unfortunate youth fumbled the ball. Having no time to pick up the ball, which rolled close to the ground, and seeing clear space in front of him while the Navy men were 158 PERSONALITY IN FOOT -BALL almost on him from behind, Tipton kicked the ball a half dozen times, following it and leaning over, ready to pick it up if the opportunity offered. Again the ball rolled, and the Navy men all coming close upon him, he kicked it again, and finally for the third time, sending it across the Navy's goal- line, where he fell upon it for a touch-down. This undoubtedly proved the turning-point of the game, for up to that time the Navy had held the contest within West Point's territory, but this touch-down of Tipton's gave West Point the score and also the benefit of the wind, and altered the entire as- pect of the game. Tipton's name was on every lip that night, and for several years thereafter the play was referred to and attempts at imitation were made. DAIiT OF HAEVABD The most brilliant individual performer that Harvard has placed upon the gridiron is un- questionably Daly, the quarter-back. His contri- bution was, however, more of a general nature. It is difficult in the case of this young man to pick out particular games and startling incidents, be- cause he was almost always doing something that was above the ordinary. Moreover, the credit for his work is divided between Harvard and West Point, for probably his most brilliant run was 159 . THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL made when, representing West Point, he virtually ran through the entire field of Navy tacklers for a touch-down. When he secured the ball he was a little to the left of the center of the field and well into West Point's territory. His first step or two was dodging the first man, and then he started a little on the diagonal toward the center, which drew some of the Navy men in that direction. Thereupon making a light turn, he headed down the field, and was never stopped. For Harvard his recoveries in the face of ad- verse conditions were perhaps the most remark- able of all. There is hardly any better demonstra- tion of that than the game with Pennsylvania when the Harvard center passed the ball back over Daly's head not once, but even three times when Daly was back for the punt. It was so far over his head that Daly was obliged to turn and run for the ball, and yet in every case he secured the ball, dodged his man, and got in his kick. And that brings us to still another point of Daly's ability, which was his excellent kicking. For a small man he secured surprising distance, and was able to get his kick off under adverse cir- cumstances. Dudley Dean of Harvard was another excellent quarter, and with Lee, the Harvard half-back, was principally instrumental in winning the game at 160 PERSONALITY IN FOOT -BALL Springfield against the Yale team, captained by Ehodes, upon which McClung, the Yale half-back, made his first appearance. But besides these men. Harvard has a long line of stars who advanced the standard of play in individual positions — like Billy Brooks, Waters, Lewis, Brewer, Newell, the Hallowells, and a host of others. A SO-CALLED BLUNDER But there is another side to the shield, and a player takes his chance of responsibility that may bring, instead of glory, contumely and abuse. This occurred in the last Michigan- Chicago game, played in 1905. . In 1904, Michigan had defeated Chicago 22 to 12, and for some years it had seemed well nigh an impossibility for Chicago or, in fact, any of the teams in the Middle West to defeat the Michigan aggregation. The game of 1905, therefore, took on added interest, and was spectacular in the ex- treme. It was cold, but there had been a little snow, so that the ground, though hard, was less dangerous. Eckersall, the Chicago kicker, was in good form and doing excellent work, particularly in his punting, but Garrells of Michigan was vir- tually holding him. The game had gone so long that it seemed unlikely that either side would score. Chicago had the ball just past mid-field, 161 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL and what wind there was, thougli not directly be- hind them, favored them. They had failed to gain, and Eckersall dropped back for a kick. The ball went a little low, but the kick had unexpected steam in it, so that it traveled rather farther than the Michigan backs had expected and crossed the goal-line. There the Michigan quarter secured it, and had just an instant to decide what his play should be. Now, as matters turned out, the whole re- sponsibility of the game was thrown upon his shoulders, and many were the criticisms heaped upon him, though it has always seemed to me that from a foot-ball point of view his play was right and would have succeeded nine times out of ten. Let it be understood that the game was so nearly over that a drop-kick or a kick from placement would undoubtedly have won, and there was some wind favoring the attacking side and making it difficult to kick out after a touch-back without giv- ing Eckersall a chance for a fair catch and a place- kick goal. If the Michigan quarter could succeed in running the ball out into the field of play, Michigan would have a chance to use running plays, and probably advance the ball several yards, and even kick the ball out of bounds, so that in the remaining time Chicago would have no chance to use the ability of Eckersall in the kicking line. 162 PEESONALITY IN FOOT -BALL If, on the other hand, the Michigan quarter touched the ball down where he secured it and made a touch-back, there was no possible way save by an extraordinary kick by which his side could put the ball far enough out so that they would not run the danger of a free kick at their goal. With this in mind, undoubtedly, the Michigan quarter, immediately upon securing the ball, ran diagonally across his goal, thus avoiding the men who were nearly on him, getting it into the field of play. He had gone a yard or two into the field of play when Catlin, the big Chicago end, reinforced by another Chicago player, struck him. The Michigan man was so small and the Chicago man so big that the men went crashing back over Michigan's goal for a safety, which settled the game in Chicago's favor. It was a cruel blow for the little Michigan back ; but even though it turned out badly, it has always seemed to me that his judgment was correct. INDIVIDUALISM IIT A TEAM That a team is similar to an individual in sud- den turning of spirit has upon occasions been manifest on the foot-ball field. A most notable in- stance of this was in the Pennsylvania-Cornell game of 1902. The game was played at Philadel- phia, and Cornell, owing to some very excellent 163 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL early work and to the fact, perhaps, that they had been defeated by Princeton only by the drop-kick- ing of DeWitt, came down very pronounced favor- ites. They were eager and aggressive, carried the ball without great difficulty, and before the end of the first half, had scored twice. The Pennsylvania team, dogged and silent, had fought back to the best of their ability, but apparently, and in accord- ance with all predictions, were outclassed. How- ever, when the intermission had elapsed, almost from the start of the second half the two teams seemed to have exchanged dispositions. Pennsyl- vania took up the play eagerly and confidently, and Cornell endeavored to play safe, and very soon the spectators began to realize that Pennsylvania was outplaying Cornell. Before long they had scored a touch-down from which a goal was kicked. Then Cornell fought desperately to hold her lead, but in vain, for although time was sliding by fast, Pennsylvania forced the play until they finally succeeded in securing a touch-down at the extreme corner of the field. It was a very difficult situation, for they must convert the touch-down into a goal in order to win. It was impossible to kick the goal from the angle if the ball was brought straight out. They therefore decided upon a punt out. The crowd and players were in the greatest sus- pense, for this was Pennsylvania's chance for 164 5: d PEESONALITY IN FOOT -BALL victory. The ball came out true and clean, was heeled virtually in front of the posts, and the goal was kicked. Two recent Yale-Princeton games have shown a similar transfer of spirit. LAMAE^S RUN" One of the most magnificent dashes ever made on a foot-ball field was the run made by Lamar of Princeton, in the game with Yale which was played upon the Yale field November 21, 1885. The game had been an unusual one in many respects. Princeton had come to New Haven after a long wrangle about the place of playing, and had brought a team supposed by experts throughout the country to be sure winners. The Yale team was a green one, and none of her partizans hoped for more than a respectable showing against the Princeton veterans. But Peters, the Yale captain, had done wonders with his recruits, as the game soon showed. His team opened with a rush, and actually forced the fight for the entire first half. They scored a goal from the field upon the aston- ished Princetonians, and, in spite of the valiant efforts put forth against them, seemed certain of victory. The feeling of the Princeton team and her sympathizers can easily be imagined. The sun was low in the horizon, nearly forty minutes of the second half were gone, and no one dared 167 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL to hope such failing fortunes could be retrieved in the few remaining minutes. The ball was in Yale's hands, half way down the field, and on the northern edge. For a moment Captain Peters hesitated, and consulted with another of his players as to whether he should continue the run- ning game and thus make scoring against him impossible and victory certain, or send the ball by a kick down in front of his enemy's goal and trust to a fumble to increase his score. Perhaps not a dozen men knew what was in his mind. A kick was surely the more generous play in the eyes of the crowd. He settled the ball under his foot, gave the signal, and shot it back. The quarter sent it to Watkinson, who drove it with a low, swinging punt across the twenty-five-yard line and toward the farther goal post. It was a per- fect kick for Yale's purposes, difficult to catch and about to land close to the enemy's post. A Princeton man attempted to catch it, but it shot off his breast toward the southern touch-line. Lamar, who had been slightly behind this man, was just starting up to his assistance from that particular spot. As the ball slid off with its force hardly diminished, he made a most difficult short- bound catch of it on the run, and sped away along the southern boundary. The Yale forwards had all gone past the ball, in their expectation of get- 168 PERSONALITY IN FOOT -BALL tmg it, as they saw tlie missed catch. Lamar, therefore, went straight along toward the half- back and back. Watkinson, the kicker, had hardly stirred from his tracks, and the entire play had occupied but a few seconds, and he was therefore too near the northern side of the field to have even a chance to cut off the runner. Lamar, with the true instinct of the born runner, saw in a moment his opportunity, and ran straight along the south- ern edge as if he intended to get by there. Bull and his comrade (who then were inexperienced tackier s) were the two men in his pathway, and they both bunched over by the line as the Prince- ton runner came flying down upon them. Just as he was almost upon them, Lamar made a swerve to the right, and was by them like lightning be- fore either could recover. By this time two or three of the Yale forwards, Peters among them, had turned, and were desperately speeding up the fiield after Lamar, who was but a few yards in advance, having given up several yards of his ad- vantage to the well-executed manoeuver by which he had cleared his field of the half-back and back. Then began the race for victory. Lamar had nearly forty yards to go, and, while he was run- ning well, had had a sharp " breather " already, not only in his run thus far, but in his superb dodging of the backs. Peters, a strong, untiring, 169 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL thoroughly trained nmner, was but a few yards behind him, and in addition to this he was the captain of a team which but a moment before had been sure of victory. How he ran! But Lamar — did he not too know full well what the beat of those footsteps behind him meant? The white five-yard lines fairly flew under his feet; past the broad twenty-five-yard line he goes, still with three or four yards to spare. Now he throws his head back with that familiar motion of the sprinter who is almost to the tape, and who will run his heart out in the last few strides, and, al- most before one can breathe, he is over the white goal-line and panting on the ground, with the ball under him, a touch-down made, from which a goal was kicked, and the day saved for Princeton. Poor Lamar ! He was drowned a few years after grad- uation, but no name will be better remembered among the foot-ball players of that day than will his. bull's kick The season of 1888 had opened with a veritable foot-ball boom. The previous season had ended with a close contest between Harvard and Yale, while Princeton, although occupying third place, had had by no means a weak team. Eeports of the preliminary work of the three great teams, while conflicting, pointed in a general way to an in- 170 BULL Yale's Famous Drop Kicker PERSONALITY IN FOOT -BALL creased strength at each, university. The Boston papers were lauding the work of the Harvard team, and the New York papers returning the compliment with tales of large scores by the Princeton men. Advices from New Haven showed that Yale had a far greater wealth of material from which to draw players than either of the others, so that although the actual strength of the team could not be learned, it was certain that the lugubrious reports from the City of Elms had little foundation. In this state of affairs, the first game, which was scheduled to be between the Crimson and the Orange and Black, was eagerly awaited. The game was played at Princeton, and an enormous crowd assembled to witness the match. Both sides were confident of victory, and Princeton was also determined to avenge the de- feat of the former season. The day was perfect, and the game a thoroughly scientific one. Although Harvard battled manfully up to the very last mo- ment, she could not overcome the lead which Princeton had obtained early in the game, and was at last forced to return to Cambridge defeated. The hopes of Princeton soared up that afternoon to the highest pitch, and those who were well posted on the relative merits of foot-ball players agreed with them that their prospects were indeed of the brightest. Had it not been for news which 173 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL came over the wires that evening from New Haven, it would have been concluded that Prince- ton would find an easy prey in Yale. But that news was something startling. It seems that the Yale-Wesleyan championship game had been played that same day. Harvard and Princeton had each already met Wesleyan, but neither had scored over fifty points against that team. The astonishment of all foot-ball men was great, then, when the news came that Yale had made the al- most unprecedented score of 105 against the Middletown men. This, then, was the state of af- fairs previous to the Yale-Princeton match. Har- vard was now out of the question, owing to her defeat by Princeton, and all interest centered in this final contest. The day, while not very promis- ing in its morning aspect, turned out propitious toward noon, and fully fifteen thousand people crowded the Polo Grounds before the players stepped out on the field. A perfect roar of ap- plause greeted the entrance of the rival teams, and as they lined out facing one another, not even the most indifferent could help feeling the thrill of suppressed excitement that trembled through the vast throng. The game began, and for twenty- five minutes first one side gained a slight advan- tage, then the other, but neither had been able to Bcore. The Yale men had a slight advantage in 174 PERSONALITY IN" FOOT -BALL position, having forced the ball into Princeton's territory. So manfully were they held from ad- vancing closer to the coveted goal, that people were beginning to think that the game might result in a draw, neither side scoring. At this point Yale had possession of the ball. That slight change in position, — that massing of the forwards toward the center and the closing up of the back, — that surely means something! Yes, Princeton sees it too, and eagerly her forwards press up in the line with their eyes all centered on the back, for it is evident he is to try a drop-kick for goal. This bright-faced, boyish-looking fellow, with a rather jaunty air, is Bull, Yale's famous drop-kicker. He seems calm and quiet enough as he gives a look of direction to the quarter, and with a smile steps up to the spot where he wishes the ball thrown. There is a moment of expectancy, and then the whole forward line seems torn asunder, and through the gap comes a mass of Princeton rush- ers with a furious dash; but just ahead of them flies the ball, from the quarter, straight and sure into Bull's outstretched hands. It hardly seems to touch them, so quickly does he turn the ball and drop it before him, as with a swing of his body he brings himself into kicking attitude, and catching the ball with his toe, as it rises from the ground, shoots it like a bolt just over the heads of the 175 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL Princeton forwards, and — down lie goes in the rusli ! The ball, however, sails smoothly on, high in the air, just missing by a few feet the wished- f or goal. A sigh of relief escapes from the troubled breasts of Princeton sympathizers as they realize that for a time, at least, the danger is past. The Orange and Black bring the ball out for a kick-out, and work desperately to force it up the field, hav- ing had too vivid a realization of danger to desire a repetition. Again, however, they are driven steadily back until the Yale captain thinks he is near enough to give Bull a second opportunity, and at a signal the formation for a kick is again made. Bull, a little less smiling, a trifle less jaunty in his air, again takes his position. Again Princeton opens up the line and drives her for- wards down upon him, but again that deadly drop sails over their heads ; this time a foot nearer the black cross-bar. Another kick-out by Princeton follows, and another desperate attempt to force the Blue back to the center of the field ; but with a maddening persistency, and with a steady plung- ing not to be checked, the gray and blue line fights its way, yard by yard, down upon the Princeton territory. Captain Corbin glances once more at the goal, sees that his line is near enough, and again gives the signal. Bull steps up for the third 176 PERSONALITY IN FOOT -BALL time, and his smile lias flown. He realizes that twice have his ten men carried the ball for him up to the very door of victory, only to see him close that door in their faces. His lips are firmly set as his resolve shows itself in every line of his well- knit frame. He settles himself firmly on his feet and gives the signal for the ball to come. For the third time the little quarter hurls it from under the very feet of the plunging mass, and this time Bull sends it true as a bullet straight over the cross-bar between the posts. With a yell of delight the Yale men rush madly over the ropes and seize the successful kicker. In the second half Bull has but one opportunity; but he takes advantage of that one to score another goal, and when the game is over is borne off in triumph by the rejoicing Yalensians, the hero of the day. KENlir Ann's GOAL Another equally remarkable kick will always loom large in the football annals, and that was the one made by Victor Kennard of Harvard in the Yale-Harvard game of 1908. The two teams had come through the season with some remarkable performances by each, most notable perhaps being Yale 's recovering when Princeton led them at the end of the first half 10 to and Yale finally suc- ceeding in winning the game in the second half. 179 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL Harvard's work had been steadier but not so bril- liant. The excitement was intense when the teams met, and before the game was over it was clearly- shown why the interest was so great, and further than that it was demonstrated upon what a care- fully planned move the game eventually depended. Victor Kennard, already mentioned, was a can- didate for the back team at Harvard. Before the season commenced, Harvard's captain and coach determined to secure a drop-kicker upon whom reliance could be placed, as in a close game, every- thing might hang upon this one opportunity and its successful seizing. Kennard was the man chosen, and even in the summer he practised this specialty daily. He even perfected the finer points by practising with a center who would pass the ball to him, and he experimented with shoes to find out what type insured him the best results. Nourse, the Harvard Varsity center, was his room mate, and these two men worked together. By midsummer, Kennard had reached a standard of more than fair perfection, but still kept up his steady work, and was occasionally sent into games, although his first attempt in the opening game of the season against Bowdoin resulted in a failure. His next try was in the Springfield Training School game and he shot the ball over from the 35 yard line mark. He was thrown into the Indian 180 PERSONALITY IN FOOT -BALL game with a chance of 45 yards, and while the ball went straight, it did not reach the goal. But to return to the Yale and Harvard game. Yale started off with a rush and nearly threw the Harvard team off its feet with the force of the attack, carrying the ball down to the 15 yard line, but here they were stalled. Harvard returned with an equally fierce attack and carried the ball well into Yale's territory. The fortunes of war seemed favoring first one side and then the other, but only reached really dangerous scoring distance after this first rush of Yale's when in the second half Harvard, after a magnificent effort, had car- ried the ball down to Yale's 20 yard line. The first down Yale held manfully, and Harvard made no gain. The second down, they reached Yale's 15 yard line, the ball just delivered to the left of the goal. Just as they were about to start another play, time was called and Kennard was sent out from the side lines where he had been held as a substitute. He takes his position and in a remark- ably short space of time for a line-up of this kind, gives the signal and the ball is placed, and he shoots it unerringly over Yale's goal for the only score of the game. 181 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL *' TED " COY *' Ted " Coy of Yale is probably to-day tbe best known player on the foot-ball gridiron. Blond of coloring, of a winning personality, the embodi- ment of fair play and hard play, he stood out in the season of 1910 as one of the most marked of gridiron heroes. When he went into the Yale and Harvard game as captain of the Yale team, he stripped at 190 lbs. and stood out as the type of the finest of college foot-ball players. He knew that the game was to be a hard one, and that he, himself, so far as his physical condition was con- cerned, owing to a slight operation in the early part of the season, was nothing like what he had been the year before so far as running endurance was concerned, but his year of captaincy had de- veloped resourcefulness and coolness in him to a degree, and he felt morally certain of every man on his team, and that he could rely upon each to do his part of the work when called upon. He knew the fierceness of the Harvard attack and what it would cost in the way of using up of tackles before the game was over. When one of his best tackles went under on the initial play of the game, it was an added blow, but it only spurred Coy to greater personal effort. As soon as Lilly, the injured tackle, was carried to the side 182 PERSONALITY IN FOOT -BALL lines, Coy began to carry out his plan of campaign. Answering the Harvard attack with just as little expenditure of force on the part of his team as was necessary, tightening np only as the danger approached, and not trying for the last yard, but concerting every bit of strength in his power, and sweeping them out of difficulty and danger by a long punt whenever necessary, he gradually worked his way down into Harvard's goal and shot a drop kick over. Two more points were added by the aggressiveness of his line in block- ing a kick of Harvard's, and then to crown the final moments of his captaincy, he sent another kick over from a difficult angle and against a cross wind, and passed out of foot-ball history as one of Yale's greatest players. I am sorry that the space devoted does not en- able me to take up the play of the Indians — Hud- son, Johnson, Pierce, and others — as well as the wonderful kickers in the West like Herschberger of Chicago, O'Dea of Wisconsin, or the quarter- backs like Eckersall and Steffen of Chicago, or Heston of Michigan, probably the best half-back the West has ever produced ; but I hope to have opportunity to touch upon these in later chronicles. 183 CHAPTER V GENERAL STRATEGY THE CONFERENCE AND AGEEEMENT IN the winter of 1899-1900, before an open fire at New Haven, with sleet and snow beating at the windows and the wind howling a gale outside, three men sat thrashing out the never-failing sub- ject of foot-ball strategy. One was the captain of the next year's team at Yale, the second was the field coach, and the third was a graduate adviser. '' It 's the fundamentals we must work on," said the field coach. " The reason why we had such a close call last year was because we have been gradually drifting away from the good old prin- ciples of blocking your man, getting through, and tackling low. I tell you, any team that masters those fundamentals in the first month can then build up a game that will win." ' ' That 's true, ' ' said the captain. * ' We worked on other things so much that we were certainly weak in the cardinal principles." " I agree absolutely with that," said the ad- viser, ' ' but I also believe that in the general sys- tem the possibilities of offense are not half ex- 184 GENERAL STRATEGY hausted, and that a set of plays can be given a team that will simply annihilate the defense of the opponents, provided, of course, the men know straight foot-ball." ^' By Jove! it wonld be pretty fine," said the captain, ' ' if we could do that ! " ' ' It can be done, ' ' said the graduate ; ' ' but it will be the hardest for you and the coach to carry it out." '' What do you mean by that?" queried the coach. ' ' Because the plays will be entirely unsatisfac- tory to everybody while they are being put in practice. By the first of November every one will criticize them, bemoan the time spent upon them, and predict the direst failure, if they are con- tinued. ' ' ' ' Do you really mean that ? ' ' '' Certainly I do, and then it will be up to you to ' stand the gaff,' as they say, and carry them through until they begin to have their effect. The first week they may work a little from their very novelty and because the men are interested. Then before the individual members of the team have had sufficient practice to make them complete every movement with precision, the defense will prove the stronger. The scrub will stop the plays or tangle them all up; the team will first lose con- 185 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL fidence, tlieii ambition, and finally you will find even your best men, wMle not in rebellion, desirous of dropping the plays and going back to the simple ones upon whicli they have been drilled in the past." '' I can't believe that," said the captain. ' ' They must see that it is practice — practice that is needed." ' ' But that is just what they cannot believe, and even you and your coach here will be ready to abandon the plays." " Not if you say they are good." ' ' Well, if my judgment of pace and the present defense is not all wrong, I am sure the plays will come out all right if you will keep at them to the end. ' ' " We '11 stick to them fast enough," jauntily returned the captain, '' It 's a bargain, then," said the graduate. " I '11 lay them out and give them to you. ' * THE CRITICAL PERIOD The winter passed, and the spring and summer. Fall practice began, and the series of plays was put into effect. They were based entirely upon the theory that the opponents had been taught to play low and to charge forward immediately upon the snap of the ball. The lines of attack were so 186 GENERAL STRATEGY disposed as to make this very charge of each man in his line place him in such a position that except by tremendous effort he could not recover his bal- ance so as to oppose effective resistance to the attack. The new plays necessitated a heavy full- back, and no other being at hand, one of the tack- les, Perry Hale, was taken from the line and made the regular full-back. Another green player was placed at tackle. By the first of November great was the criti- cism of the team. It was " slow, painfully slow." A respectable end run was certainly out of the question. The back field, to use the expression of one of the coaches, was ^' slower than molasses in January." Finally the captain called up the graduate one evening and said that he thought they would have to put the full-back up at tackle again and get a faster, lighter man who could get up pace enough to keep up with the rest of the backs. " But that means the abandonment of the plays, ' ' said the graduate. '' I know; but every one says they never will work, and something must be done." ''Where's McBride? " asked the graduate, naming the field coach. " Over in his room at the hotel," said the cap- tain. 189 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL *' I am going down to see him. Don't do any- thing till I see you later." ' ' All right ; but things look pretty dark. ' ' "When the three men met later in the evening, it was a depressing occasion. The captain re- ported that almost every man on the team had lost confidence. He had talked with them individually, and all wanted the back field speeded up and Hale, the heavy full-back, put into his old position at tackle. The coach said that he was hearing noth- ing else from the coaches who had seen the game in New York against Columbia. It was indeed a serious time, but it was finally agreed that the present positions and plays should be maintained until the game with the Carlisle Indians, and if by that time and in that game they did not show their worth, the graduate was will- ing to see them abandoned, and Hale sent up into the line at tackle, and a faster back field developed. Only one who has either captained or coached a foot-ball team can appreciate the feelings of these three men on the eve of the Indian game. Each knew that failure then meant too short a time to develop the team along other lines. They had virtually burned their bridges behind them, and were now to stake their season on the work of the next afternoon. On that evening a still further chance was de- 190 GENERAL STRATEGY termined upon. The big full-back was sueb a fac- tor in himself that the graduate urged an even greater hazard, but a better test of the plays. He suggested that another man, Dupee, should re- place Hale for that game — a man not nearly so powerful, but one who knew the plays and would by the experience of a game fit himself to take the place of the full-back in the later championship games with Harvard and Princeton should any in- jury incapacitate the regular man. This seemed indeed too much, but was finally accepted, and the two teams lined up. THE rUSTAL ACCOMPLISHMENT From the very start the Yale team, with its new plays, marched down the field through and over the bewildered opponents, six, eight, ten, a dozen yards at a down, until the coach of the Indians exclaimed: '^ I cannot understand what is the matter with my men. I never saw them so com- pletely at sea." The final score was 35 to 0, and the plays had * ' made good. ' ' The Princeton game was won 29 to 5, and the Harvard game 28 to 0, and within a year half the teams in the country were playing " tackle-back " plays. In the game of that year Harvard played against Yale no fewer than twenty men. They were considerably heavier 191 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL than the Yale men, and yet the majority of those who were taken out were not injured, but rather so exhausted by their efforts to meet these plays as to make it advisable to replace them with fresh men. THE STEATEGY OF THE GAME But while in American intercollegiate foot-ball the development of players is of great interest, still more appealing to those who enjoy the sport for its strategical possibilities is the study and development of plays. In 1908, Mr. Haughton, the coach of the Harvard team, defeated Yale as related in the last chapter by the successful de- velopment of a kicking-machine in the person of Kennard, who previous to and throughout the season had practised short, accurate drop-kicking. As the critical moment came when the situation was advantageous for the exhibition of this man's specialty, Kennard was sent in; the ball came back to him. He calmly sent it over the Yale goal, and the game was won. McCaa of Lafayette won the game against Brown by the exhibition of his remarkable goal- kicking prowess, while Thorpe and Balenti of the Carlisle Indian team shot goals from place- ment at almost any distance and from any angle against their opponents, who lined up before them 192 \ |^^^R^H| '4C ^«Bij|a|g| ^^H| Hf'"^ EDWARD H. COY THOMAS L. SHEVLIN Vaie Yale ^4iN»^ k nk ^?f •» "^t_^- WALTER W. HEFFELFIXGER Vnh' GENERAL STRATEGY almost gnashing their teeth in the powerlessness of their defense. Miller, a second-string quarter-back of Pennsyl- vania, ran almost at will through the Cornell team on Thanksgiving Day, while Coy of Yale plunged through the Princeton team in his second half of their game to two touch-downs, turning what looked like certain defeat into remarkable victory. Some of the highest scholarship men in college have been attracted to the foot-ball field mainly on account of the brains necessary in the possibil- ities of the sport. One salutatorian at Yale fought his way through over two years of unrelenting work on the second team up to the position of quarter-back on the Varsity, and was fully as proud of this exploit as of his other achievements. It is indeed a strangely fascinating sport. The " Game of War " is a favorite expression and the sentiment behind it accounts for the won- derful hold the mimic battles of the gridiron have always had upon the class of men who see little in simple contests of strength and endurance. It is the strategy of the game that appeals to them either as players or observers, and from first to last this is the strongest feature of the American Intercollegiate game. Some of the strategy con- sists in the proper handling of the Eleven during 195 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL the actual moment of contact. Another part con- sists in so maneuvering on the field as to place the opponents in a disadvantageous position. Still another part may go further back and begin in the early development of the team and players. There is a strategy towards opponents and a strategy at home. Oftentimes it is entirely inad- visible to let the players know what the final out- come of some theories of plays is intended to be. They are better to be taken along step by step with apparently no method and then blended into a completed whole. There may be strategy em- ployed even in the case of a single individual, and it may be very effective in his development. If he were told all at once what was finally expected of him, he never would take the intermediate steps that are absolutely essential in making a finished player. This has been made apparent over and over again in the coaching of individual positions. One coach may have failed utterly to develop a player for a certain position, and another coach taking the same man and progressing step by step, in a week turn him out a thoroughly capable exponent of the play. But even these suggestions do not begin to depict the possibilities and the necessity of brains in connection with the sport. On the occasion of a visit the writer once made to a coach on the eve of a big match, in fact only 196 GENEEAL STRATEGY a week from the time of Ms game, he went through his plays in secret practice in order to get the writer's judgment on these plays. Many of them were excellent. Among them were some forward passes which were deceptive, but which even if they came off were likely to gain only a few yards, there being very little chance of getting the runner completely free. At the same time it was true that if the pass were intercepted, there was prac- tically no protection for the play, and the oppo- nent who intercepted the pass was likely to make a run of considerable length, possibly even a touch-down. It had not occurred to the coach and captain just what this kind of a gamble meant, and upon the writer showing them that they were putting up their stake of a touch-down against op- ponents ' stake of four or five yards, they deter- mined to cut these plays out. This is only a small instance of the test to which strategic moves in the game of foot-ball should be submitted. Modern strategy on the gridiron must take cognizance and that, too, very careful cogni- zance, of the theory of chances. It is an excellent thing to deceive the opponents, and upon decep- tion of the opponents rests a great deal of suc- cessful work in foot-ball, but if a play requires so much elaboration as to make it doubtful whether a team can always execute it satisfactorily even 197 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL if left to themselves, it is decidedly a question whether they will be able to execute it with safety when their opponents are endeavoring to solve it and prevent it. If, then, the play requires so much tune to perfect, and in addition happens to be a play which failing gives the opponents an unusual chance for a run, it is not worth the labor expended upon it. Another instance of wasted strategy lies in the development of plays in which the ball is passed through two hands, but the time of that passing is such that the final runner with the ball reaches the position he is aiming at in the line in practically the same elapsed time that would have been consumed had the pass been a direct pass. Many coaches waste their time on such moves as this only to find that the opponents stop the play without difficulty. The value of a play of this nature depends upon its timing. The time should be either shorter or longer than the time consumed in a direct pass and run. Then there is a chance to find the opponents off their balance through coming through too quickly, or unprepared through inability to start properly. Much of the modern strategy of the game is de- pendent upon deceiving the opponents through the medium of false or indirect starting of the back-field men. Delayed passes are likely to be- come popular again. In this, the. eventual runner 198 GENERAL STRATEGY with, the ball does not make his start until a fake run has been put well under way. Fake kicks, that is plays where the opponents expect the full- back to kick the ball, but instead of that he either runs with it, or the ball is passed quickly to a back-field man, who is nearer the line, for a quick shoot through, depend almost entirely upon get- ting men off their balance. Those who are charg- ing through to reach the kicker and block his kick are going so rapidly that when hie makes his fake, and turns the play into a run, they are entirely unable to check their speed, and he may circle them without difficulty. Coy, the Yale captain, played a new development of this fake kick in the West Point match in 1909. He dropped back as if for a kick, but turned the play into a run, and tben having been cautioned on account of a recent injury not to run with, the ball, just as he was about to encircle the end, he sent a long, low punt down nearly seventy yards into West Point's ter- ritory. This was an added development that caught the opponents entirely unprepared. The masking of plays by having the backs four men in a line parallel to the scrimmage line, the ball being passed to any one of them, and the run- ner then turning and running behind them, is ca- pable of considerable development, as it is diffi- cult for a line-man on the opposing side to see, if 201 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL the man makes his shift properly just at what point he is likely to strike, whereas a direct inter- ference sent on or outside tackle has now become so common and easily diagnosed that the oppo- nents place the runner almost by instinct. The combination of run with forward pass is a good one and has already been worked effectively, but is capable of still further development. Under the rules of 1910, the runner must see to it that in the course of his run, if he proceeds to turn it into a forward pass, he must be at the time of making it at least 5 yards back of the line of scrim- mage. On the other hand, he may stand back and fake a forward pass and then run on with the ball. This deception is greatly added to by making a double pass, and in fact several of the most effect- ive forward passes are worked out from double passes. The old criss-cross promises much in this respect and especially if it be aided by another play in the form of an on-side kick. GENERALSHIP Elsewhere I have gone into the detail of the individual positions and here I shall pay more attention to giving captains and players some brief suggestions in the generalship of the game, and developing combinations that will enable them to get the most value out of the material they 202 GENERAL STRATEGY have. In the first place, there is no point npon which more depends than the absolute power of the captain. Upon this one of the best writers upon English Rugby Union foot-ball is thoroughly in accord with me. I refer to Mr. Harry Vassall. The captain should have sole power to select his team. He may take the advice of his coach, or of committees; but the putting of a man on or the dropping of him off should rest in his hands alone. In this way only can he properly fulfil the duties of his position and secure the thorough command over his men that such a position demands. He should be a masterly man, and so self-reliant in emergencies that his men will naturally stand by him and look to him for advice, help, and com- mands. His relations with his men should, how- ever, be such that he is always ready to listen to suggestions, — never, or very seldom, on the field, but after the play is over. One of the great secrets of good team play lies in adapting each play most carefully to the men taking part in it. If a team be a heavy team, but with no fast runners, the general study must be toward wedge forcing, not interlocked, and pusK playing, being sure to get the interference ahead of the runner — that is, the team must be taught in every possible way to make use of their weight : not to attempt to outpace their opponents, but to 203 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL crusli them back. If, on the other hand, the team be a light, fast one, the development of the play should be along the lines of quick and deceptive movements, combined with double passes, criss- crosses, and a fair variety of trick plays. In many cases a team may be in neither category, that is, neither especially heavy nor, on the other hand, below the average in weight or above it in point of general activity. Then the team play must be based upon the especial capabilities of some one or more men, usually those behind the line. With a good punter every possible advan- tage should be taken of the kicking game. The ends should be given the greatest attention, so as to render them sufficiently fast and expert in tack- ling to be sure of holding the ground gained by the punter. The center should be made absolutely certain of his long snap-back, so that he may be able to place the ball exactly where the kicker wishes it. The tackles should also be taught to back up the ends in going down the field, and thus every possible means be employed to make the exceptional punting sure of reaping its due re- ward. In case a team has a very fast, strong half- back, a man far above the average in running abil- ity, not only should plays be developed which call for him to carry the ball to the extent of his en- durance, but, if he be a good catcher of punts, he 204 Iv GENERAL STRATEGY should be the man sent back to catch the kicks of the enemy, and thus secure additional opportunity for the display of his running ability. Often- tiiies it is just the running back of a punt that so depresses the opponents and encourages the side wiiose man accomplishes the run as to open the way directly to a touch-down. In making all team and combination plays in foot-ball there are several distinct points to be borne in mind, and from the very beginning of his foot-ball days the player and captain who wishes to succeed must study his play in relation to these points. To take these up in order, the first is to make use of a play, if possible, for which the op- ponents are the least prepared. This may be ac- complished in two distinct ways. It may be done by masking or disguising the play, or it may be done by making the move and getting the ball in motion quickly before the opponents are ready for any play at all. The first method is by far the easiest, because it depends only upon a few easily learned tricks of formation. The latter is the more difficult, because it takes the greater part of a season's entire practice and coaching to make a team competent to play a fast game. But it is well worth while to combine the two, for they go admirably together, and a fast team is almost al- ways a clever one, and usually a very reliable one. 205 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL To disguise a play, the simplest method is tc study- out an arrangement of men of such a nature that the resulting move — the final outlet for the i un- ner — may be varied without alteration in the first formation. Thus the interference may be formed which shall start forward with the runner in Ihe center and yet let him out either directly in front or at one side or the other. The signal given in- dicates to the runner and his assistants which out- let will be used, and the opponents are utterly unable from the position of the men to tell which the outlet will be. This prevents them from mass- ing their men, and so renders the success of the play far greater. Similarly an occasional pre- tended kick altering into a run may prove very successful, as well as being demoralizing to the opponents. In such a case the ball is passed back as for a kick, and the man who receives it instead of kicking it dodges his man and runs for the end ; or the ball may be passed to some one else who has escaped observation and who darts through the line from close quarters. This play serves still another purpose in that it alarms the opponents and prevents their coming down so rapidly and freely at the kicker in future plays, because they remember the pretended kick and endeavor to guard against it. The criss-cross or double pass is another excellent example of a 206 GENERAL STRATEGY disguised play, the ball being passed by the quar- ter to one of the backs, who starts rapidly for one end of the line, but after going a few steps hands, or tosses, the ball to his companion who is going in the opposite direction and who carries the ball to the other end, which has probably been more or less weakened by the efforts of the men on that side to cross over and protect the end they fancied was to be assailed. One of the most remarkable of these disguised plays was the opening wedge practised by the Harvard team in 1892 more fully described in another chapter. This play was made by dividing the team into two parts, one consisting of the heavier men, the other of the lighter, but faster, ones. These two parts were placed the former some ten and the latter some fifteen yards behind the ball, and out two-thirds of the way toward touch on each side. A runner was placed behind the heavier mass, a pretending, or '^ fake," runner nearer the middle, and a man at the ball to put it in play. At a given signal the two bodies of men started converging toward the ball, which was not put in play until all were close upon it. Then, while the ball was being played and handed to the runner, the two bodies united and, turning toward the side of the lighter and faster men, moved diagonally up the field. The play was susceptible of a complete change in di- 207 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL rection by sending the combined masses to either the right or the left, as well- as by using the fake runner, and was therefore a capital development of the masked play. - Working along the lines as suggested by these examples, the player and captain may bring out plenty of original plays, for the possibilities of the game in that direction are by no means ex- hausted. As to the use of his men in combination plays, the captain must consider that, while disguising plays is advisable, there are extremes. For in- stance, the methods that require hard work of each member of the team while only half enter into the real play, should not be resorted to too frequently, because it exhausts the men without compensating gain; and when the opponents se- cure the ball, the defensive play is found materi- ally weakened by the condition of the men. Coy of Yale in 1909 gave a splendid example of hus- bandry in energy of his team to meet Harvard's fierce mass attack. But besides the various advantages to be gained by taking the opponents at unexpected points, or by rapidity of play attacking them when unpre- pared, one should also consider the value of a per- sistent assault upon a known weak point. As ex- amples of this, one may consider the case of a 208 GENERAL STRATEGY team whose halves and backs are poor catchers. In this case a judicious use of long high punts of a twisting variety, well followed up by the for- wards, will often result in securing touch-downs, or repeated long gains, from their muffing. Here it is not material that the play be disguised; in fact, sometimes the very knowledge that the kick is coming, will render a poor catcher all the more unsteady and nervous. Again it may be well known that the center of the line of the opponents has proved in former matches essentially weak, and in that case undisguised forcing of that point may give repeated gains, besides discouraging the balance of the team, who are powerless to prevent the advance. Or one end may be weak, and grow even weaker when forced to continual effort. The same man should not be made the runner by the assaulting team, but kept fresh by the vari- ation of their action, and throwing the hardest work successively upon different men, while the same two or three men of the opponents are forced to meet it. The more men that are given a chance in these plays the better, because their combined force results in materially adding to the strength of the play. There is one other vital point which should be always borne in mind by the captain when using his plays in a game, and that is the possibility of 211 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL an accidental loss of the ball. This caution applies more particularly to trick plays and passing than to mass plays, because in the latter the loss of the ball seldom means a serious matter. In a trick play, however, the very formation of the men is likely to operate disastrously, by giving the oppo- nent who secures the ball a chance for a long run. In passing, also, especially long passing, the same caution must be observed, and the cardinal rule, therefore, in both cases is not to venture such plays when within one's own 25-yard line, on ac- count of the risk of the opponents securing a touch-down if a fluke be made. GENEEAL STEATEGY OF THE GAME It would be to leave the subject of foot-ball but half completed, did one fail to touch upon the larger strategies of a campaign, and to show how the almost unlimited lesser plays, when properly grouped, prove irresistible in advancing the ball. The first thing to be considered is the material at the captain's command. The foot-ball player can never be educated to a pitch of machine-like per- fection, nor will any amount of training make him absolutely untiring. It is therefore necessary to start with the premise that no one or two men can do all the work. The object must be to use each man to the full extent of his capacity without ex- 212 aENEEAL STRATEGY hausting any. To do this scientifically involves placing the men in such positions on the field that each may perform the work for which he is best fitted, and yet not be forced to do any of the work toward which his qualifications and training do not point. From this necessity grew the special divisions of players as indicated in another paragraph. It might seem that this division of players would take all responsibility from the captain's shoulders; but it does not do this by any means. It only insures some sort of regu- larity of work for each individual. For instance, a rusher unless it be his special forte will hardly be called upon to drop-kick a goal, nor will a half be often forced to snap-back the ball. There still remains the possibility of giving any one of these men so much work of his own special kind to perform as will exhaust him, and thus make it impracticable to call upon him when he is most needed. Here is an element quite dissimilar to any entering into our other popular sport, base- ball. If one might suppose that it were possible in that game to let the most rapid base runner do as much of the running for the rest of the nine as the captain chose, we should have a temptation similar to that which assails the foot-ball captain. It would not be improbable that this chosen run- ner would become exhausted under certain circum- 213 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL stances ; and should he happen to be the pitcher as well, the results would prove fatal to the suc- cess of his nine. It seems as if no amount of calm reasoning can convince the average foot-ball cap- tain of this fundamental principle. Year after year has the '' one man " game been attempted, and year after year it has brought to grief the team attempting it. Nor is it enough for a captain merely to transfer the play from one player to another in order not to exhaust any. He must do this at the proper time, and not at haphazard. His best runner will be needed at some critical moment, and at just that moment must he be used. Rush-line men must not be given too much run- ning to do early in a game, or their tackling and getting through will suffer. It is a serious mis- take to take the edge off their strength until one is certain of the style and force of the adversary's running. As a policy which, while not infallible, will be most uniformly successful, the following may be laid down : Save the rushers as much as possible until the enemy have had an opportunity to send two or three of their (presumably) best formations against them; then, if the line holds these men without difficulty, the rushers can be used more freely for general play. The halves and back should not be given any 214 55 a" GENERAL STRATEGY tackling to do in the beginning of the game. In- sist upon the rushers attending to their business so thoroughly as to avoid all possibility of a run- ner coming through. It may seem a strange thing to make such a statement as this, but coaches will bear me out when I say that there are many teams which go into games with a line of rushers who do not get warmed up until a runner or two have come clear through them and been tackled by the halves or back. This is all wrong, and can be prevented by a few words before the game. These ideas regarding the use of material will suggest the details to any thoughtful captain. Sudden unexpected plays are often of great value when close to the goal-line. In the fall of 1878 Yale and Princeton were de- ciding the championship at St. George's. Noth- ing had been scored during the first half, and the second half was well along. The many strategies of each team had been nearly exhausted without an advantage to either side. Yale was hard pressed within her twenty-fi!ve-yard line, and Princeton had succeeded in getting possession of the ball. This was in the days before the rule had been made preventing running by the quarter- back. McNair, one of Princeton's best runners, made a beautiful dash over on the western edge 217 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL of the field, going out of bounds within a few yards of Yale's goal-line. Instead of playing the ball from touch, the Princeton captain elected to bring it out fifteen paces, which brought it within a few yards of Yale's western goal post. Both sides lined up. Every man who played in those days or who plays now knows how a team banks the forwards in the center when they are forced up against their goal-line. He also knows how these same forwards lean down, low, pressing closely against the opposing rushers in order that they may have a strong foothold and prevent the enemy from forcing them back over the line. That, then, was the position of the Yale forwards. They were playing particularly close to the ground because Withington, the Princeton quarter, a nimble and clever runner, had several times during the game ducked under and through them for a gain of sev- eral yards. All was anxiety of the most intense kind. The two lines seemed hardly able to re- strain themselves as they surged against one an- other. This was in the days before hurdling was forbidden. Suddenly the Princeton snap-back's foot shot the ball back into Withington 's arms, who, instead of going under as all expected, sprang into the air directly over the shoulders of his own rushers and on to the backs of the Yale forwards, who in the very effort of rising to check 218 GENEEAL STRATEGY him only assisted in turning him over the goal- line, and Princeton had won the game. A few years later Yale retaliated with an equally clever manoeuver. The game was at the Polo Grounds, and Richards, the Yale captain, had just made a field-kick goal, which had been dis- allowed by the referee owing to an off-side play. The ball had been kicked out by Princeton but forced back in the Yale hands until they were again within kicking distance. Richards came up as if for another drop-kick, and Princeton's rush- ers nerved themselves for a desperate rush at him in order to stop the kick. The ball was snapped, and Twombley, who was playing quarter, received it and made a swift turn towards Richards. In- stead, however, of throwing the ball, he held it, but the Princeton forwards went by him like the wind straight at Richards. Beck, who was play- ing next the end on the right, had dropped back on a line with Twombley, who instantly passed him the ball, and he was over the line with it be- fore the astonished Princetonians realized that they had been deceived. The next point to be considered is the adver- sary. In the great games, a captain usually has some knowledge of his rivals' strength and re- sources before he faces them on the field. Even though he may not have this knowledge, fifteen 219 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL minutes of play ought to give him a fairly accu- rate idea of the weaknesses and strong points of his adversary. It then remains for him to take advantage of this knowledge. It is well nigh a rule, so common is it, that a team has a strong side and a weak one. Without intention, this state of affairs comes to exist toward the end of a sea- son. At this weak side of the opponents, then, must the early efforts of a team be directed. When a punt becomes necessary, let the ball be driven over on that side. When an opposing run- ner comes, force him in that direction. Keep a steady press upon the weak side, and before the game is half over the result will be most marked. Next, if the opponents in the line prove to be high tacklers, a captain should make constant use of his low runners, ' ' bucking the line ' ' hard and often. If the opposing backs are new or green men, he should see that they have plenty of kicks to catch. Another important point is to make the most of any natural advantages, existing at the moment, in the force and direction of the wind, the slant and condition of the ground, and the position of the sun. These are elements of success which no team can afford to ignore. In the days of two forty-five minute halves the writer has seen a team start out with a strong wind and the sun at 220 GENEBAL STRATEGY their backs, and actually throw away half an hour of the first three quarters by a running game with- out score. Then, evidently realizing their mis- take, they began to kick, and succeeded in making two goals in the remaining fifteen minutes. Whenever a favorable wind is anything more than moderate, a captain is inexcusable who exhausts his men by holding too closely to his running game, no matter if his runners be excellent. A wind which blows diagonally across the field is by no means to be despised; for if a captain will work the ball to the windward side, on his runs and passes, his kicking will be greatly assisted. The sun, too, plays an important part, particu- larly when it is low in the horizon so that a low punt, driven hard at the half-back, forces him to face directly at the sun in making the catch. Regarding the general conduct of a final game, or the one upon which depends the championship : From the less important minor games, and from the daily practice, the captain has learned not only the caliber of his team, but also their strong- est and weakest plays. Now comes a most diffi- cult act for any captain, namely, the elimination of all plays that are not sufficiently well executed by his men to be classed on the average as success- ful plays. Many plays that are peculiarly success- ful against weaker teams are, from their very 223 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL nature, useless against well-disciplined opponents. Such plays must be classed witli the unsuccessful ones, and must not be used in the critical game. The object of eliminating all these plays is two- fold. Certain ones of them must be given up be- cause they would risk the loss of the ball; and others because they would needlessly exhaust the men. As an illustration, let us take the play of short double passes when running. This has al- ways been a tempting play. It appears scientific and skilful. It gains distance rapidly, and against a weak team gives the team practising it an ap- pearance of superiority not to be denied. The reason for this is that a weak or undisciplined team take it for granted that they must all make for the man who has the ball, and there is, there- fore, a rush of several men at the runner. He passes the ball and they all dash after it again. This work quickly tells upon them, and they be- come tired out and discouraged, so that the run- ners have everything their own way. With a thor- oughly disciplined team all this is changed. One or two men may tackle together, but the line as a whole remains steady, and when the runner passes the ball the man receiving it has a tackier upon him almost at once, so that he too is com- pelled to pass the ball to still another, who may expect a similar fate. As all this passing must 224 GENEEAL STRATEGY be rapid, and generally backward, nothing is gained, but, on the contrary, some ground is lost. In addition to this, there is always the chance — and by no means a small one — of losing the ball in this quick passing. Another illustration is the case of long end throwing, or passing the ball to a runner stationed well out on the side of the field. This play is unquestionably strong against rushers who bunch toward the ball, and in the smaller games it has resulted in many a touch-down. Against veterans, however, the play fails, because both the end and tackle are on the alert and carefully guarding any player who is stationed at the end. By the time the ball reaches him one or the other of these men is so close to him that he fails to get a fair start and is usually downed in his tracks. Then, too, it will sometimes happen that an unusually watch- ful and agile tackle will jump through and actually catch the pass before it reaches the runner. Such a catastrophe has too severe consequences to make the risking of it otherwise than an extremely doubtful venture. A man who thus gets the ball is in a fair way to realize a touch-down from it, for the only player who has a good chance at him is the back, and the best tackier on a field must have an unequal chance against a runner who has the entire breadth of the field in which to dodge 225 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL him. Yet again, the runner to whom the pass is made may muff the ball. This, although not nearly so serious as an intercepted pass, always results in loss of ground and sometimes loss of the ball as well. The consideration of such plays as the two men- tioned gives one a fair insight into the methods by which the captain must weigh each play before entering a game of importance with rivals who in skill, strength, and strategy are presumably the equal of his team. 226 CHAPTER VI THE FIELD, COSTUMES AND TRAINING WHILE the game lias in the last ten years grown rapidly in popular favor, it would not be fair to suppose that all of the thirty or forty thousand spectators who gather to witness one of the great matches have clearly defined ideas of the rules which govern the contest. Many of the technical terms they hear used are also Greek to them, and it would undoubtedly add to their enjoyment of the game to give a few clues to chief plays of interest. While awaiting the advent of the players, one looks down on the field and sees a rectangular space a little over a hundred yards long and a trifle more than fifty yards wide, striped trans- versely with white lines, which give it the aspect of a huge gridiron. These lines are five yards apart, and their only purpose is to assist the referee in judging distances. There is a rule which says that in three attempts a side must ad- vance the ball ten yards under penalty of sur- rendering it to the opponents. The field is there- 227 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL fore marked out with these five-yard lines, by means of which the referee can readily tell the distance made at each attempt. The gallows-like arrangements at the ends of the field are the goal- posts, and in order to score a goal the ball mnst be kicked over a cross-bar extending between the posts by any kind of a kick except a '' punt." That is, it must be by a " drop-kick," which is made by letting the ball fall from the hand and kicking it as it rises from the ground; by a " place-kick," which is from a position of rest on the ground; or finally even from a rolling kick. A punt is a kick made by dropping the ball from the hand and kicking it before it strikes the ground, and such a kick can under no cir- cumstances score a goal.. Scoring is only pos- sible at the ends of the field, and all the work one sees performed in the middle of the ground is only the struggle to get the ball to the goal. Players to be eligible to take the ball must be " on-side," that is between the ball and their own goal. A fair catch may be made of an oppo- nent's kick provided the catcher makes a signal of his intention by raising his hand in the air. If he does not do this he may be tackled and thrown as soon as the ball touches him. The attacking side, the side in possession of the ball, may not use their hands or arms on opponents, but the 228 THE FIELD, COSTUMES AND TRAINING opponents may use their hands or arms to break through or get the runner. The attacking side must have seven men on the line of scrimmage that is the forward line. Any of the four men in their back field may make a forward pass provided he is five yards back of the line of scrimmage when making it and it must be caught by one of the men on his end of the line or a man who was in the back field when the ball was put in play. Any man who is five yards back of the line of scrimmage may kick the ball. This is usually done on the third down. Such then is the general plan of the game which is ruled over by four offi- cials, the referee, umpire, field judge and lines- man. THE FIELD AND MATERIALS As this book may fall into the hands of boys who have the wish and the spirit to become foot- ball players, but who do not enjoy the advantages of those in large preparatory schools or colleges, I shall take up the very beginning, and speak of the laying-out of the field, as well as the make- shifts sometimes rendered necessary. The ground for a field ought to be 400 feet long by 200 feet wide, although the field of play of regulation size is only 330 feet long and 160 feet wide. The addi- tional distance at the ends is desirable to allow 229 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL space for touch-downs and for kicks crossing the goal-line. The space beyond the sides, or touch lines, is advisable in order that a player may not, when forced into touch, be pushed against a fence, and so run the risk of an injury. If it be impos- sible to get a field allowing space at the ends and sides, it is better to cut down a little from the regulation measurements in laying it out, so as to allow at least ten feet at the ends and eight feet at the sides. Having marked out the outer bound- aries with plainly appearing lime lines, the mark- ing of the transverse lines is next in order. These run across the field from side to side at every five yards, thus making 21 lines between the ends, or, counting the end lines, 23 in all. Of these the 25-yard lines — that is, the fifth one out from each goal — should be broader than the other, to dis- tinguish the line of kick-out. Also the middle of the field — that is, the center of the eleventh five- yard line — should be marked with a broad white spot to indicate the place of kick-off. The easiest and most satisfactory way to do this marking is, after the outer boundary lines are made, to stretch the tape down each side line, and drive small stakes every five yards. Then let two boys hold a string from one stake to the opposite one while the marker is run over the string. The setting up of the goal-posts is the next undertaking, and is 230 THE FIELD, COSTUMES AND TRAINING not an easy matter. To determine tlieir position stretch the tape across the end of the field, and mark the middle of the end line — that is, 80 feet from each side. Then measure off each way a distance of 9 feet 3 inches, and the two points for the posts will be thus determined. The posts themselves may be of any material available, and of any size timber; but the best post is of cedar or chestnut, — although pine will answer, — ta- pering slightly, and about four inches by three inches at the base. The posts should be sufficiently long, so that, when set securely into the ground, they shall stand over 20 feet high. A cross-bar, sufficiently over 18 feet 6 inches long to allow for its lap, should be fastened across these posts ten feet from the ground-level — that is, so that when set up, the upright posts shall be exactly 18 feet 6 inches apart, and the cross-bar ten feet from the ground. I have given these measurements in this way because it will be found much more conve- nient to cut the posts to the proper height, and secure the cross-bars, before the posts are set up in the ground. The posts should have no braces attached to them, but be made firm by sinking them, and packing them well down into the ground. It is dangerous to put braces upon them, because the players may trip over them, or be forced against them, and so sustain serious injury. The 233 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL field having been marked out, and the goal-posts erected, one at each end as above described, the ball must be next considered. This unfortunately cannot be of home manufacture to advantage. On account of the skill to be acquired in properly- handling and kicking it, it is best that players should never use anything but the regulation ball. It is possible, however, to secure second-hand balls from almost any of the crack teams, and that too at a considerable reduction from the cost price. The regulation ball is of the size No. 5, and the English ball was formerly standard; but within the last years the Intercollegiate Association has accepted an American ball made by Spalding, ''J 5." Few people understand how a foot-ball field is taken care of and nursed to be in condition for one of the big games. During the spring and sum- mer it is seeded, parts of it are turfed, it is care- fully watered, in many cases being under the direct charge of experts from an Agricultural Experiment Station, and everything is done to prepare it for the gruelling work to which it must be submitted during the two months of actual play. For it must be remembered that the biting of leather cross-pieces on the sole of shoes worn by the giants of 200 lbs. or over pushing, pulling and lunging in a daily desperate encounter puts a 234 THE FIELD, COSTUMES AND TRAINING severe strain upon tlie turf. Probably if there were one scrimmage on tbe reader's front lawn by twenty-two of these players, he would have a clearer idea of what the turf must be prepared to stand. The grass is left a little long in the fall so as to make a softer bed for falling players, but it soon loses its softness and begins to take on a harder, baked condition, and then lucky is the gridiron that does not suffer by either being played upon during or immediately after a heavy rain, for it is when the ground is softened up and wet that these cross-pieces tear the turf in a most exasperating manner. However, with all this care, some parts are worn pretty smooth before the time of the big game. Then, after November has come in, it is necessary to take some care regarding frost and particularly during the few days previous to a big contest. Then the gridiron is covered deep with straw over night to keep out frost or snow, if it should fall, and all this straw is raked off for the practice and put on again at night. Out in Minnesota, they have a specially designed cart rake for this purpose which enables them to perform the work of clearing and spread- ing with only one man in an hour or two, whereas in most of the Eastern fields it is a longer job and requires more men. 235 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL THE COSTUME I have elsewhere commented at length upon the clothing, but I want to add a word about the use of protecting material. There is no reason why a foot-ball player should subject himself to the needless ache of old scrapes and bruises, as he did some years ago. If it added anything to the value of the sport, he might continue to suffer; but it does not. Therefore I would say most emphatic- ally that if a player receives a bruise or scrape on the shin, he had better put on a shin-guard at once, and continue to wear it at least until the need for it is past. If his knees are scraped or bruised he should have a few pieces of sponge sewed into the knees of his trousers, and he will find that the hurt will not trouble him further, and will speed- ily get well. Any severe bruise in the muscles of the leg should be protected until the soreness dis- appears. An injury to the nose or mouth can be protected by the use of a nose-guard, and bruises on the head by padding the cap. Similarly a pad is worn over a tender ear, and held in place by a band of surgeon's plaster over the forehead. All this may give the casual reader a false impres- sion of the accidents of the game; but these bruises and scratches are not serious, and the reason for thus protecting the injured member is 236 THE FIELD, COSTUMES AND TRAINING not that the injury itself is of any moment, but that the player may still enjoy his sport without the irritation caused by some of these slight mis- haps. . In the earlier days of foot-ball the old-fashioned woolen jersey gave place, in great measure, to the less comfortable but more serviceable canvas jacket. This change was first made by a team of Trinity College, of Hartford. There had been a few rumors afloat to the effect that there was a new foot-ball garment, made of canvas, which ren- dered it almost impossible to catch or hold the wearer. No one at the other colleges had paid much attention to this report, and it was not until the Trinity team stepped out of their dressing- rooms at Hamilton Park, that the Yale men first saw the new canvas jackets. Strange enough they appeared in those early days, too, as the Trinity eleven marched out on the field in their white jackets laced up in front. It gave them quite a military air, for the jackets were cut in the bobtail fashion of the cadets'. The men in blue looked contemptuously down on the innovation upon the regulation jersey, and it was not until they had played for nearly half an hour, and had had many Trinity players slip through their fingers, that they were ready to admit that there was some vir- tue in the jacket. The Trinity men, bound to give 239 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL the new costume a fair trial, had brought some grease out with them, and each jacket had been thoroughly besmeared. They were therefore as difficult to grasp as eels, and it was not untU the Yale men had counteracted this by grasping great handfuls of sand that they were able to do any- thing like successful tackling. This, then, was the beginning of the canvas jacket, and although the greasing process was not continued (in fact, it was stopped by the insertion of a rule forbidding it), the jacket itself was a true improvement, and it was not long before all the teams were wearing them. The superiority of the canvas jacket over the jersey lies in the fact that it gives much less hold for the fingers of the tackier, and also that it does not keep stretching until it offers an easy grasp, as does the jersey. Many men now wear jerseys with only parts of canvas jackets ex- posed. The next article of the foot-baller's costume which demanded particular attention was the shoe. Probably, in spite of all the trials and the great exercise of inventive faculty bestowed upon the sole of a foot-ball man's shoe, there is next to leather spikes nothing better than simple, old- fashioned straight cross-leather strips. They are shown in diagram I of the accompanying cut. One of the earliest plans was to lay out these strips 240 THE FIELD, COSTUMES AND TRAINING in various different lines across the sole, in order to present an edge no matter in what direction the foot was turned. This gave rise to as many- styles as there were men on a team. The cuts show a few of these (diagrams II, III, IV, V). Rubber soles were also tried, but they proved heavy, and when the ground was wet they did not catch as well as the leather strips. "We have not yet seen a trial made of the felt soles which are now used in tennis, but these probably would not answer for kicking, as they would not be suf- ficiently stiff. A recent improvement in shoes has been the introduction of an ankle-supporter of leather, which, having been tried by the Yale team for several years, has proved almost a complete safe- guard against sprained ankles. It consists simply of a thin anklet going about the ankle and under the instep, and lacing tightly. It may be attached to the shoe or not, but always goes inside. An- other improvement has been in the form of leather 241 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL or rubber spikes, supplanting the old-fa sliioned straight strip across the shoe. These offer a bet- ter hold for the runner, and do not require renewal any oftener than the old strip. The trousers also have quite a history. At first, several of the teams wore woven knickerbockers made of the same material as the jersey. These fitted them tight to the skin, and although they offered very little obstruction to the freedom of a man's gait, they neither were things of beauty nor did they prove much of a joy to the wearers ; for when a hole was once started, it spread most amazingly. Another serious feature was, that when a game was played on frozen ground every tumble and slide left its mark not only on the trousers, but also on the player's skin beneath, as these trunks offered almost no protection. The next remove from these '' tights," as they were expressively called, was to flannel knickerbockers. These prevailed for a season, but they were not stout enough for the rough work of the game, and many a youth has needlessly enlisted the sym- pathy of the tender hearts in the audience, when his comrades gathered about him and bore him from the field, only, however, to reappear again — such a plucky young man ! — in a few moments. Some of the more knowing ones noticed that the trousers worn by the young man on his second 242 S H THE FIELD, COSTUMES AND TRAINING appearance were not the same as those in which he began the game. Corduroy was tried with no better results than flanneL The most approved cloth no\^ in use among the players is a sort of heavy fustian, and even these are thickly padded at the knees and along the sides of the thighs. The caps ran through a series of changes from a little skull-cap to the long-tasseled affair called a toboggan toque. The only really serviceable in- novation was a cap with a broad visor, to be worn by the backs and half-backs when facing the sun. The stockings are thicker than they used to be, but otherwise there has been no change. The foot- ball player of to-day puts on a suit of flannels underneath his uniform, and if his canvas jacket is a little loose or the day cold, he wears a jersey next the jacket on the inside. His shoes are of stout leather with leather spikes on the soles; and, if they have become a little stretched from constant use, an extra pair of socks underneath the woolen ones gives his feet a more comfortable feeling. He is better dressed to avoid bruises than the old-time player, but the canvas jacket is hard to play in, and such men as the quarter-back, who have little opportunity to make runs, but much stooping to do, still cling to the jersey. The back also can dispense with the canvas jacket if he finds 245 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL it very irksome, but as a rule every one but tlie quarter is better dressed for service if in canvas rather than a jersey. It will be seen clothing is a very considerable factor in the game of foot- ball. The history of the uniform is interesting, but the main feature about it must always be its special adaptability. The canvas jacket was a remarkable garment for some purposes. A prop- erly fitted jacket of this kind makes a man very difficult to tackle. The writer has one in his pos- session that he wore for three years because it was so effective in this way. It happened to be a perfect fit for the purpose, for when standing per- fectly erect there was just a little slackness in the back which became practically skin tight, not only across the shoulders, but from the shoulders down about to the elbow and wrist as soon as the back was bowed and the arms brought together, as in grasping the ball. A jacket a little tighter would have been undesirable, while a little looser would hardly have served a similar purpose. On ac- count of the uncomf ortableness of canvas for some players, these jackets gave place to jerseys, or a combination of jersey and jacket. The trousers are now of heavy material, well padded, and even made in conjunction with the elastic belt or body of the suit so that no leather belt is necessary. These trousers lace up instead of button. 246 THE FIELD, COSTUMES AND TEAINING- Shin guards are sometimes worn either inside or outside of the stockings. The stockings are of heavy wool, and the shoes of leather, the kickers having specially made boxed toed shoes. DIET To come to the more particular points of the diet and exercise suitable for a foot-ball player. There is probably nothing that is quite so injuri- ous to the work of a good foot-ball player as to have the digestion out of order. In the old days, diet was very strict, foolishly so, and the men became very irritable under it. Especially was this the case when they were deprived of a suit- able amount of liquid. Now-a-days everything is changed and the diet is a liberal one, and the men are kept in far better condition with less wear and tear upon nerves and temper. But this is not to say that the matter of diet should be left to any man's fancy, for there are too many boys who would fancy the wrong things. Plain, simple food, and good quarters to eat it in should be the rule and the luncheons, that is provided the team prac- tices early in the afternoon, should be light. There is no reason why men in usual good health, of foot-ball age, should not be easily kept in good condition, particularly as this is the time of year when the weather is especially propitious; the 247 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL gradual increasing cold of autumn, the bright crisp days, the short, vigorous, snappy exercise with a spice of interest and strategy about it, usually tends to give men a good appetite and sound, refreshing sleep. In fact, it is almost usu- ally the case that foot-ball men gain markedly in strength and weight under the training season, although toward the end the nervous tension may cause some falling off in weight as may also in- tense competition between two or three men for a position. Long experience has shown that men who are training for this sport must not be brought down too fine. They should be under- trained rather than overtrained. The reason for this is that an overtrained man becomes too deli- cate for the rough, hard work, and perceptibly loses his vigor after a few sharp struggles. The season of the year is favorable to good work, and it is not difficult to keep men in shape. They should be given a hearty breakfast of the regula- tion steaks, chops, stale bread ; nor will a cup of coffee hurt a man who has always been in the habit of having it. Fruit also can be had in the early part of the season, and it is an excellent thing to begin the breakfast. About ten or eleven o'clock the men should practise for a half -hour or so. The rushers should be made to pass the ball, fall on it when it is rolling along the ground, 248 THE FIELD, COSTUMES AND TRAININa and catch, short high kicks. They should also be put through some of their plays by signal. The half-backs and back should practise punting and drop-kicking, not failing to do some place-kicking as well. The quarter-back should pass the ball for them, and also do some passing on his own account in order to increase the rapidity of his throwing as well as the distance to which he can pass the ball. The half-backs and back should be made to take all the fly-catching they have time for, and it is best to have some one running toward them while they are performing the catch, that they may become accustomed to it. A very light lunch should be served at about one o 'clock. It should consist of cold meats, toast, warm pota- toes, eggs if agreeable; in fact, no great restric- tion should be placed upon the appetite of the men at any of the meals, except where certain things manifestly disagree with certain individ- uals. Nothing very hearty should be given them at noon, however. At half -past two — or, better, at three — they should start for the grounds, and then play against a scrub team for an hour and a half. When they have had their baths, and been well rubbed down, it is about five o'clock, and in an hour from that time they will eat more dinner than any other set of men in training. No alco- holic beverages are permissible except for par- 249 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL ticular cases — as for a man who is getting too ' ^ fine ' ' a little ale is not ont of the way and may give him a better appetite and better night's rest. Plenty of sleep is indispensable. One other feature should be mentioned, which is, that as the rule for foot-ball games is " play, rain or shine," a team must practise in bad weather. Notwithstanding the fact that one would naturally predict colds for the men from practice in the rain, experience teaches quite the opposite. A cold is almost un- heard of, and when it does occur is always trace- able directly to some foolish exposure after the playing is over; as, for instance, remaining in the wet clothes. This must on no account be al- lowed. If the men are put into their baths, and dressed immediately after in warm, dry clothes, they will never take cold. The above points are the vital ones in foot-ball training, and give a general view of the course to be pursued. The smaller technicalities every cap- tain must discover for himself. THE PLAYEES As to the game itself, it often happens, not only at small towns, but even at schools, — and in my time I have known it to happen on the 'varsity field, — that there are not enough players to make up eleven on a side. Many times the sport is not 250 ^ THE FIELD, COSTUMES AND TRAINING ■undertaken because it is not possible to be sure of twenty-two men. Now, this is a great mistake ; for even if short six men, almost all the plays can be effected, and the sport be just as enjoyable and equally good practice. If short one man on a side, drop out a half or a back, playing with but two men behind the quarter; if short two men on a side, drop the half or back and one rusher; if short three men on a side, drop the half or back and two rushers. The game can be played by still smaller numbers in like fashion; but less than eight on a side breaks up the method materially. To consider the other side of the question, which now is by far the more common in the large schools and colleges — namely, how to use more than twenty-two men. The side which opposes the 'varsity — ^the scrub side, as it is called — in the old days was wont to make up by numbers, in the days of early practice, what it lacked in physique and skill. The second eleven, as it is called, even though composed of more than eleven players, should be under the direction of a com- petent captain, who handles them as the captain or coach handles the 'varsity. The great value of the second eleven depends upon the ability of its captain, and a large proportion of the strength and skill of the 'varsity comes directly from the opposition which the second eleven can daily offer. 251 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL In the early days of practice, as I say, the numbers of the second eleven can be almost unlimited — that is, the captain may play three, or even four, extra men in the line, and four, or even more, ex- tra behind it. But after a time, when team play for the 'varsity begins, it is well not to give the second eleven more than two extra men in the line, although there may still be kept several extra men behind it, as halves and backs. With the last week or two of practice, no extra man should be allowed in the line, and only one extra half or back. Sometimes it is also advisable, particularly if the second eleven is exceptionally strong, to play half an hour each day of the last week or so with but eleven men, so that the 'varsity may make a fair test of all its trick plays and combina- tions, and learn what the difficulties may be in carrying them out against the regular number of players. There is one other way of practising a 'varsity team; for instance, when, after mid-season, they have become so strong in their playing as to make it impossible to give them really hard work with- out adding to the number of players upon the scrub side. This method is one of the most effect- ive I know of when there is a ground admitting of it. I refer to practising upon a field not level and having the 'varsity team play up hill. The 252 it ::[ Jul ■>■. I |::^:^.:: \_^;^^ r. . ^^ '■;J_; \ ^ y. { "i ^'•^^'''"- ^--^^^1 _y.,! w pip 1 f:'^ :_ i J m If i ..,r ■'/ HH^ ' ^S^l §::'■ '''^-'•■^ \< BBy^ i R' ^1 1 -■"•:i'' "*■ • B'' a F^ ..:, 'MW i IBhO^ ::>■--•<'' ■5f ..-:'■: ■■ i ' f.-^^'^'^ ; V iPl^ If \ 1 ■ .^'■^.•;4^ ' '-»■ I'-, t i / i - -■■.Mr - :'*.' fSL HT n THE FIELD, COSTUMES AND TEAINING great advantage of this is that it preserves the conditions existing in a match of an equal number of men and yet gives the scrub side the advantage in all pushing and mass plays. I have seen a team trained upon such a ground, and found that the advantage of it was marked. THE GOOD POOT-BALL PLAYEE " What makes a good foot-ball player! " is a question asked over and over again. Many are the answers given, but no answer is correct that does not contain the word " pluck." The same elements that go to make up excellence in any of the other field sports are requisite in foot-ball; but while in certain of the others that peculiar type of courage called pluck is required only in a moderate degree, in foot-ball it is absolutely in- dispensable. Many a man has said: '' Oh! I am too small to play foot-ball; I couldn't get on the team." Such a man makes a mistake. Look at the records of our players, and see how full they are of the names of small men. Withington, Gush- ing, Harding, Hodge, Beecher, Eckersall, and twenty others, have played weighing under a hun- dred and forty ! Nor has it been that their deeds have been remembered because performed by such small men. These men made points as well as rep- utations. There is a place on the foot-ball field for 255 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL a man, no matter what he weighs ; and that brings to mind a remarkable pair of boys and what they did for a Yale team at one time. One was the son of a United States senator from Massachusetts, and the other a younger brother of a well-known Brooklyn lawyer. They were classmates at Yale, and had done more or less foot-ball work during the course. These two men weighed about a hun- dred and twenty-five pounds apiece, or together a little over the weight of the 'varsity snap-back. In that year the 'varsity team was suffering from a combination of two disorders — over-confidence and lack of strong practice. None knew this bet- ter than these two little chaps, for they understood the game thoroughly. One day, then, they ap- peared at the field in their foot-ball toggery, and without assistance from the 'varsity captain set at once to work upon organizing the '' scrub side," as the outside or irregular players are called. One of them played center and the other quarter, and it was not many days before the scrub side began to have a game and a way of its own. The overfed, underworked university players began to find that they couldn't have things all their own way. Such tricks were played upon them that they were forced to awake from their apathy. These two boys began to show them the way to make use of brains against weight and strength, 256 THE FIELD, COSTUMES AND TRAINING and tlie scrub side, that a week or two before had been unable to hold the 'varsity even enough to make the contest interesting, actually had the au- dacity to score against them once or twice every afternoon. How those two ever got such work out of the rabble they had to handle, no one knows to this day; but it was the making of the 'varsity team, for it speedily developed under this ex- perience into one of Yale's strongest teams, and I have often heard one of that team re- mark since that he'd rather play against any team in the Association than against the ' ' scrubs ' ' led by ' ' Pop ' ' Jenks and ' ' Timmy ' ' Dawes. This brings us to another quality: the brains of a team. That team is the best which has the most brains. Foot-ball is, even now, an undevel- oped sport. There is room for an almost infinite number of as yet unthought-of plays. Every sea- son brings forward many new ones. If a player wishes to devote a little of his spare time to a fascinating amusement, let him take pencil and paper and plan out combinations in the evening, and try them the next day. He will soon find that he is bringing out not only new but successful plays. Some think that the captain of the 'varsity team is the only one who has an opportunity to try this ; but if two or three on the scrub side will 257 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL make the attempt they will find that a 'varsity team is no more proof against a new scheme than the veriest scrub team in existence. In fact, often- times the 'varsity players are so sublime in their own consciousness of superiority that they are the simplest men on the field to lead into traps and defeat by a little exercise of ingenuity. If a boy at school isn't on the first team, he can get to- gether a few men of the second team and have the satisfaction of actually showing his betters how to play. '' Play not for gain but sport," is thoroughly sound ; but it means play honestly and hard, not listlessly and carelessly, and make it your sport to win. Then if you lose, put a good face on it; but go home and think out a way to win next time. Brains will beat brute strength every time if you give them fair play. Endurance is another element of success. Plenty of dash when it is necessary, but behind it there must be the steady, even, staying quali- ties. For these, good training is chiefly respon- sible; because, although natural endurance does exist in some men, it is not common, while the en- durance of well-trained men is a thing that can be relied upon with confidence. A direct case in point was a victory of Prince- ton over Yale in 1878. Upon the Yale team were 258 AN END RUN THE FIELD, COSTUMES AND TRAINING some three or four men — upper class men — who thought that they had done enough training in former years, and they therefore made but a pre- tense of following out the rules of strict training. The example of these men affected several of the other players to such an extent that there was great laxity. Up to the time of the final contest, this team had performed well, and it was generally believed that they would have no great difficulty in defeating Princeton. In the first half of the game they pressed the Orange men hard, and several times all but scored. In the dressing-room at intermission there was a general impression that, with the wind, which would be in Yale's favor the second half, they must surely win. The second half began, and it was not many minutes before the Yale men found themselves steadily losing ground. There was in the Princeton runners a resistless force that kept Yale retreating nearer and nearer to her own goal. At last, by a brilliant play, Princeton suc- ceeded in making a touch-down from which a goal was kicked. During the remainder of the game, Princeton, although making no further score, held Yale fast down inside the twenty-five-yard line, and the Blue went back to New Haven with a very salutary lesson on the evil of neglecting the laws of training. 261 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL These are laws wMcli no foot-ball player can afford to ignore. There are two things to be borne in mind about conditioning the foot-ball player, first his physical side, and the other his mental side. A man may be physically in first class shape and yet be prac- tically useless to his side, just as we all know that a man who knows how he ought to play may be physically incapacitated from carrying out the orders of his brain. EAELY TRAINING The physical side we have treated of somewhat in training and diet, but there are a few other added cautions to bear in mind. In the first place, men ought to take some reasonable care of them- selves before they come back in the fall, and the captain and coach should see that they are written to and this thing impressed upon them. A man has no business to come back in such a condition that he is unable to run once around the field at a moderate pace without a manifest case of ^' bel- lows to mend, ' ' and yet there are plenty of candi- dates who show up in this condition and who are a nuisance to themselves and to their coaches for a while simply on account of their carelessness dur- ing the latter part of their vacation. It would be a foolish coach who would send nis 262 THE FIELD, COSTUMES AND TEAINING men into a line-up tlie first day they appear on the field. In fact, very few coaches now scrimmage their men nntil they have had them at work in a general way for a week or ten days. Then they begin with a very few minutes and work up gradu- ally. If this were not done, there would be a great many accidents, and very likely good men would be out for a season. In many institutions spring practice is also indulged in. This is not particu- larly valuable for anything in the line of develop- ment of team play, but it is excellent practice for the kickers and good preparation for quarters and coaching. But to return to the fall. After the men have reached the point of scrimmaging, the early prac- tice will have put' them in good shape as far as signal work is concerned for simple plays. They are driven along with this kind of work for a day or two, and by this time comes their first game. From that time on, the season is a rush of work in which every hour, and in fact almost every minute counts. The foot-ball season is the short- est of that of any sport, and it seems as if more must be done in a limited time than could be asked of any ordinary human being. The men must be taught individual work, and then moulded into a team, the team must be taught its plays, faulty execution must be patched up, and all sorts of in- 263 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL dividual playing the drop-kicking, punting, pass- ing, snapping the ball back, place-kicking, holding the ball and the like must be practiced up to the point of finished skill, and then just before the important games, the weak places must be cut out, strong places polished to smoothness, and all the time substitutes prepared for their position, and the general physical welfare of the team watched with the closest scrutiny. THE MElSTTAli SIDE The mental side of it has a good deal of atten- tion off the field. The men are shown plays laid out on blackboards in the evenings. They are taught to ask questions about their own duties and special plays, and they have an opportunity to see what the general strategy of the play is like. They are also talked to by the coaches in the evenings and generally prepared for the work of the afternoon's practice. Then, further, they are usually put through signal practice in the evening, as new plays require special signal work and oftentimes old sets of signals are replaced by new. The forward pass came into the American In- tercollegiate game of foot-ball something over four years ago. It was a makeshift designed to bolster up an attack which it was felt had been so radically weakened that it needed something of 264 .^^•"OtU THE FIELD, COSTUMES AND TRAININa this nature. It was also in the line of an answer to the appeal of many, that they would like to see the ball oftener. Forward passing is a Rugby heresy. The cardinal rule in Rugby always was that the ball must neVer be passed in the direction of the opponents' goal. It might be passed di- rectly across the field, or back, but never forward. Moreover, the rules of on and off side in Rugby preclude the possibility of a man receiving a ball passed from one of his own players if he, the recipient of the ball, was ahead of the ball. Hence it was with feelings of considerable trep- idation that people who had studied Rugby foot- ball saw this innovation in the Rugby game. The writer's prediction was that within a year or two after its introduction it would become perfected to such an extent it would force the defending side to withdraw their half-backs from their position of protecting the tackles, and that the second or third year would see these players at least eight yards back of the line of scrimmage; that when this happened there would no longer be any for- ward passing to speak of, but that the heaviest and most atrocious form of massed play that the game had ever seen would be- used on the thus defenseless tackles. Furthermore, that as soon as the teams learned that it would not pay to try to intercept the ball when the opponents made a f or- 267 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL ward pass, it would be necessary for any team who practiced forward passing to supply an unlimited demand of end-rushers,, for almost every forward pass would mean the laying up of one or more of these players. The average layman can easily un- derstand that these predictions were nothing re- markable in the way of prophecy, for it must be apparently patent to anyone that if, for instance, a base-ball were batted over the head of a center- fielder so that he turned and was running with the ball in an endeavor to catch it, and an opponent came out onto the field and dropped across this runner's knees, there would be an immediate va- cancy for a substitute center-fielder. Whether the Eules of 1910 will correct these evils, or prove too complicated to do so, is a ques- tion that at this writing has not been determined. An attempt has been made to preserve the for- ward pass, and it has rendered necessary a pretty complex set of rules and put a considerable strain upon officials. Nothing but the work of the season will disclose whether the play may thus be kept in the game. In the first year of the forward pass, Yale de- veloped a play described in another portion of this book, which was the best development of strategy in connection with the pass brought out through the season, and with it won the Harvard 268 THE FIELD, COSTUMES AND TRAINING game. In the following year, Michigan developed a still more elaborate forward pass, which was very spectacular and effective. In the year be- fore, the Indians developed excellent forward passing which proved too much for their oppo- nents until they met Princeton who had developed the defense, which consisted in taking care of the recipient. This put a stop to almost every chance that the Indian had, and it was that kind of de- fense which developed steadily, so that last year forward passing was very little used where this defense was practised, and when the passes were used the ends or backs usually suffered. 269 CHAPTEE VII THE DEVELOPMENT AND PLAY OF THE DIFFERENT POSITIONS TO understand the development of the individ- ual position in American foot-ball one must hark back to the original Rugby ' ' scrum. ' ' Foot- ball players of Great Britain, in spite of their great conservatism, have developed their scrum- mage slowly it is true but surely, so that it is better for any historian of the sport to go back to their game of the 70 's, for it was from this game that American foot-ball sprung. The Rugby Union rules of 1875 were adopted in that year between Yale and Harvard just as they stood. The " scrummage," which soon became " scrim- mage " to the Americans, playing as they did without tradition, proved entirely unsatisfactory. They endeavored to follow the Rugby Union rules exactly and with lowered heads they formed about the ball, and then endeavored by pushing and pull- ing each to drive it in the direction of the op- ponents' goal. Very soon, however, they discov- ered that success in their efforts along these lines was a very barren success, for the side which suc- 270 THE DIFFERENT POSITIONS ceeded in driving the ball through actually pre- sented the ball to the backs of the other side for a run out around the end. Naturally it was not long, as already stated in this volume, (for neither side would thus kick the ball through) until the play came to a standstill. Then a clever spirit found it possible to so place his foot upon the ball as to snap it backward instead of driving it through, and from this came the '' heeling out " which now characterizes both English and Ameri- can foot-ball. But the American was not content to rest at this point but further developed this snapping back, first with the foot, and later with the hand, and now with both hands. With this development came a still further specialization in the play, for the forward who was the most skilful in manipulating the ball became the center- rush, and to him was given the duty of always snapping the ball back. Then, as the two men on his right and left hand became his supporters and protectors to the back who received the ball, they became the guards, while the man who re- ceived the ball, instead of being one of the backs, came up closer to the line and became the quarter- back. From this point development was rapid, the end men on the line being called end-rushers, the men next to them soon acquired the name of tackles, while the back field divided itself into 271 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL half-backs and full-back. As these divisions be- came more pronounced so did the duties of each man, and instead of a foot-ball player being able to go out and take any position, specialists were developed for each one of the places. Grradually the middle of the line became heavier and more powerful, while the ends and backs took on greater speed. Foot-ball became not foot-ball if one may understand by that term a game of kicking the ball, for only one or two men were developed into kickers, two or three others into runners, and the rest into bulwarks of protection, and the game of American Foot-ball became the most distinctly and definitely organized of any of the games of that character. Each position in the foot-ball field has certain special duties of its own. THE CEN-TEE The position of center has developed amazingly in the last ten years. Primarily his work was comparatively simple. He snapped the ball back to the quarter, and got in the way of the oppo- nents. On the defense, he pushed his opponent out of the way, or sprang through if he was particu- larly agile. "When the innovation was made in the play that necessitated his snapping the ball all the way back to the full-back for a kick, his province 272 THE DIFFERENT POSITIONS became more prominent, and it required a better man to fill the position. When, in addition to this, he was asked on defense to play a little back of the line and perform some half-back work as well, his duties became stil more arduous. Now that the quarter-back is permitted to run with the ball and cross the line of scrinrimage at any point, the center will indeed have his hands full, for watch- ing against this is an added responsibility which will fall not a little upon his shoulders. The general requirements for a center are that he shall be strong and powerful enough to resist plays jammed at the line behind an opposing guard and center, that he shall be active enough to take care of the two guard openings, and that on his own attack he is firm enough to hold his position well as he snaps the ball back to the quarter. Then for general skill, he should be able to make a thoroughly satisfactory pass for a kick, and also do good passing for runs by half-backs, that is, without passing the ball through the quarter. The center should also be strong on his legs, and by constant practice work up a firm stand or poise, for it is often desirable that the center should not have his rear foot too far back because standing in this knifelike position he offers less protection. In the old days there used to be a belief that 273 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL the center must be a tremendously large and heavy man; and it is quite true that for a period of years the man who formed the keystone in that arch must, of necessity, be heavy and powerful. Yet there were men who played the position in excellent form who did not come up to these re- quirements. Such men were men who weighed close to 180 lbs. at least and who were not liable to overtraining and going fine, and who had ex- traordinary activity. With the new rules forbidding pushing and pulling, and hence cutting down somewhat the concentrated weight in the force of an attack, the center has a still greater opportunity for activity and somewhat less a demand for avoirdupois. It is doubtful, however, if under any system of foot- ball that even resembles the American Intercol- legiate we shall ever reach the point where pounds are not an advantage in this middle position in the line. In the first place, the center must form some sort of a bulwark, and when he is in a . position of just having snapped the ball back he requires some weight to withstand a sudden push of an opponent. Moreover on defense, that is when not in possession of the ball, weight com- bined with activity is very essential in forcing a way through the line to get at the runner. The difference in style of play between a very 274 M > O PI n H M > H n o ?; THE DIFFEEENT POSITIONS heavy center and a lighter, active man in these days is that the heavy center is expected to block up the middle of the line and crowd his way through, forcing his man back, while the active, light center is played a little back of the line any- way, and if the play comes through the middle he jumps up to meet it, whereas if it is directed on or off tackle he runs across behind his own line and aids in protecting the attacked position. There is one thing to be said of the lighter and more active center in the present game, and that is if he has the right spirit he can get into position more quickly and keep his team more on the jnmp, and in this way be more able to disconcert his op- ponents with varied attack than a slower heavier center for whom the team is obliged to wait on almost every line-up. It should be borne in mind that all degrees of speed of attack depend quite largely upon this position, for the ball must come into the center's hands every time, except on cer- tain fakes, before it is put in play and that this man absolutely determines how fast the game may be played. As to the style of snapping the ball centers vary and there is much discussion. There is no question, however, but that the most expert are those who hold the ball with their hands on the side and their fingers on the end, in such a posi- 277 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL tion tliat a snap of the fingers suddenly backwards shoots the ball to the quarter. There are others who simply lift the ball from the ground with a toss to the quarter-back. In this case the quarter stands rather farther back, and probably with the development of the new game where the quarter can run with ball, the quarters will no longer stand as closely to the centers on the majority of the plays as they have done in the past, and this will make a longer pass essential. A center should bear in mind that he is the one who knows what the play is going to be, and he should make the most of this by not allowing his opponent to know just when he is going to snap the ball. Then he should suddenly let it go and immediately throw himself into position to aid the play, thereby preventing the center from com- ing through, pushing him from one side to the other, taking a guard out of the way, or any of the various things that may be done under the rules by the center to aid the runner. There is another opportunity for a quick and aggressive center, and that is when the opponents are making a kick. Constant practice and work on the theory of breaking through has made many a center able to suddenly and unexpectedly break through and to block the kick, thus gaining for his side a most extraordinary advantage. 278 THE DIFFEEENT POSITIONS Finally the center should always be watching Ms opponent when the ball is being brought in from the side lines, or about to be put into play from any point, so that no fakes should be worked on him. THE GUAUD Many of the great stars of the past have played the position of guard. Men like Heffelfinger, Hare, Glass and a long list of others have made this position one of great prominence, and it is a place of importance in any style of game that is played. The guard must be powerful in every respect, and in addition to this he needs a certain amount of quickness. It is true that a guard may be serviceable even though he is slow, but he can never be a star in the position. On the defense, the guard must assist the tackle and the center. He must be able to stop anything that comes, and not only check it, but hold it. Furthermore, under the latest rules, he must himself watch care- fully for quarter-back runs and be ever ready to intercept a quick dash of this kind on either side of him. In meeting interference, he must never permit it to crowd him back, but must be able to turn it and put all his weight on it. His play on the offense is of equal importance, for he must insure the safety of his quarter or 279 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL backs wlien they are getting the ball from the center. He must allow no man to shoot through and mess up the play. He should occupy as much space as possible and yet insure what is called a " tight line " from tackle to tackle from which to get the plays off, and get them off with security. A guard has a somewhat easier time of it than the center because he is not loaded with the work of handling the ball and getting it back to the player. Apart from this, and in fact because of this, he must do more work than the center. On the attack, he should go across into the inter- ference, and constant practice in starting is es- sential to enable him to do this. With the modern rules, it does him no good to get behind the play and push. He must be speedy enough to get in front of it, or his assistance is useless. If this does not lead to the gradual reduction in weight of guards in selection, it certainly will lead to that by training them down if they are made to do the work. The great thing in guards is strength and endurance for they have to run a great deal farther than the center in addition to having to sustain the same amount of pounding. A guard should go into the interference in almost every play, and that means about three times the amount of running that the center has to do. Then on the defense, the three center men are all 280 borglum's group of foot-ball players THE DIFFERENT POSITIONS alike except that a guard sometimes has the op- portunity to go down the field under a kick. The guard should put it up to the center in regard to the matter of breaking through and endeavoring to stop a kick by the opposing full-back. These three men in working together very often succeed in some arrangement by which two of them can make an opening for the third and let him through almost clear. There is plenty of opportu- nity to study on this feature of the play, and when three men have worked together through a season they ought to be very proficient at it. A guard should also remember when he is on the defense that watchfulness is essential. In these days of a sudden quarter-back dash, he should always be on the alert. Then, too, he can tell by the action of the opponents what play is likely to eventuate and assist his team mates by calling out to them. Some sudden change in the back field is even more apparent to the guard and center than to anybody else and a shift of this kind by a forward pass may be discerned almost instantly and the backs warned. A guard should make the greatest study of the position of his feet and body to be effective in blocking and getting through. There are two positions which should be avoided. One is with both feet squarely up in the line ; and the other is 283 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL the reverse, one foot withdrawn to a full reach directly behind the other. In fact the man who has both feet up in the line and is liable to be pushed off his balance is preferable to the man who stands with his rear foot in a straight line, extended back behind the other, for the first player will at least, when he is bowled over, occupy considerable space, whereas the other man is like a knife edge, and his opponents slip past him with- out difficulty. The ideal position is with one foot partly back, just far enough to get a good brace, and yet occupy all the space laterally possible; then, and most vital of all, the head up and the hips low. A man in this position has the greatest possible advantage in making his effort. THE TACKLE The tackle is an ideal position, but it requires a remarkable man to fill it to perfection. He must have something of the weight and strength of a guard, the agility and speed of an end, and the dash and snap of a half-back, for his position is a pivotal one, and his work is made up of part line work and part end work. The ordinary tackle simply fills the position. The real tackle not only fills the position, but is on the alert every instant helping out anybody within his radius and eventually becoming such a menace to the op- 284 THE DIFFEEENT POSITIONS ponents that they switch their attack over on to the other side of the line. On the defense, he smashes interference and gives his back and end a clear chance to get at the running. Unfortu- nately, with the introduction of the forward pass, the half-back has been withdrawn to such a dis- tance that the play of the tackle has suffered greatly and has become mere brute strength and endurance. Instead of smashing the interference more or less upright, he now goes down like a big log to cause the interference to fall over him, and the runner to fall over his own interference. But this weakness in rules will probably be rectified somewhat and the tackle will come back once more to his own. When his team has the ball, he blocks hard and firm, and he may even run with the ball himself going around behind his own line and re- ceiving it from the quarter. If he is playing on the kicker's side of the line, he must block and block long. If on the other side, he blocks for an instant only, and then he is down the field with the rapidity of an end, and often is the man who seizes the would-be runner with the ball. The steady progress in the play of tackle has been so remarkable that it seems as if the position would pretty soon reach its height of develop- ment. But further changes in the rules open up new fields. During the two or three years of the 285 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL heaviest massed play, the position of tackle has deteriorated. The nien occupying the place have had too much pounding to endure, and too little brilliancy of play was possible. Let us hope that the new rules will somewhat alter this, although they have not gone far enough yet to bring back the finer point of tackle play. It is still essential that the tackle be a heavy man who can stand a lot of weight plays being pushed on and over him, for even without the interlocked interference, and no pushing and pulling, the tackle is going to have a lot of men sent at him at full speed with the runner behind him. If the tackle 's defensive half could come up and assist him all would be well, but that player is kept back from eight to ten yards on account of fear of the forward pass, and the tackle must therefore meet this kind of play entirely unsupported. However, as already stated, the lessening of the solidity of this mass which comes at him will help a good deal, and a tackle will have some chance to use his head. There is very little time for the man who plays this position to diagnose the play. He must start instantly on the snap of the ball and shoot him- self into the opposing territory. As soon as he gets there, he should check himself and look, and if possible get the runner. This, of course, would be exceptionally good fortune, for usually the 286 THE DIFFERENT POSITIONS runner is protected by the interferers. Then it behooves the tackle to smash that interference in order that some of his team mates behind him may be able to get the runner if this interference is cleaned up. In the days of the interlocked in- terference and pushing and pulling, the tackle was forced to go down under the feet of the inter- ferers and cause them to fall in such a manner as to block the way of the runner. If he did not do this, the runner gained at least eight or ten yards before he was reached by the defensive half-back. This is somewhat altered by recent changes in rules. The tackle need not bother his head much about the forward pass except to this extent, and this is vital : The tackle when he sees a man stand- ing back in position to make a forward pass must rush upon him with as much speed as possible and force the pass ; that is, he must make the opponent let go of the ball just as quickly as possible, and in this way more than in any other will he aid his own team. The more a forward pass is hurried the less accurate it is likely to be, and the less dis- tance the recipient is likely to get. On attack the tackle makes every effort to block his man and prevent him from getting in and spoiling a play. On a kick, the tackle blocks just a moment, and then goes down the field under the play. The left tackle for a right-footed kicker need hardly block 289 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL at all, but the right tackle must block long enough to be sure the kicker is safe. The tackle" also has an opportunity like the guard for breaking through on the opposing kicker, and he should always be ready to take advantage of this, bearing in mind however that he should keep his eyes open for fakes and tricks which are most easily brought about from a kick formation. The position of the tackle on defense has been discussed ever since foot-ball became a game of position play. Those who have made the greatest success, however, have been tackles who played rather wide and who kept in motion so that it was difficult for the opponents to plan with certainty just where the tackle would be at a given instant. Plenty of practice should be devoted to quickness in starting as well as strength in pushing and shooting through. THE END This position has become one of the greatest importance and requiring experience and head work in a marked degree. In fact, in the recent days of the forward pass, it has become a position of great danger. The injuries may not be as serious as those to the tackle but they have proved to be incapacitating to the players, some of the 290 THE DIFFERENT POSITIONS teams having needed in the last year or two six and even eight ends to carry them through the season. This has come from the defense that has been provided against the forward pass, for that defense consisted in bowling over the end who was intended to take the ball, and this knocking over a man in a defenseless position with his eye fixed on the ball that was coming, and his hands up to catch it, had become a serious menace to the game. The latest rules help out somewhat on this, but it is doubtful if there will not be many accidents ■caused by two men, opponents each of the other endeavoring to catch a ball that has been tossed in the air. The rules forbid running into an end, as was formerly done, but they allow a man to try to take the ball, and that means a situation that has very dangerous possibilities. Imagine a base-ball player with a fly ball knocked over his head running after it having an opponent running in the opposite direction, and both en- deavoring to catch the ball. That is exactly the position that the end has to face. One of the special provinces of the end is to run down the field under a kick, and in this respect his work under the new rules will be much simpler for the opponents are forbidden to block him until he has run twenty yards. Formerly, the opponents put not only one man but two men against a good 291 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL clever end in order to prevent his going down the field and tackling the man making the catch. It would appear that under the present rules the man who takes the kick is likely to have very little chance of making a good, effective run back of the punt. But to return to the general work of an end. He must be a lively, dashing player with endur- ance and adaptability as well as clever intuition in sizing up the plays of the opponents. He should not be overworked, but should be kept in good condition so that he may be keen for the work at all times. On the attack he is usually called upon to box the tackle, that is, to prevent the tackle from getting through. In this he is aided by his own tackle, but he should be strong enough to at least hold the tackle temporarily by himself. On the defense his work is varied. He must look out for end runs and balls that come just outside of tackle. He must, according to the method he has played, either break up the play early, or else look out for the forward pass. When the ends are sent in, they endeavor to hurry the play and the half- backs attend to anything in the line of a forward pass. When the ends are held back, they look out for an end run and at the same time, by watch- ing the end and moving quickly, they may inter- cept a forward pass. In meeting interference, an 292 THE DIFFEEENT POSITIONS end must be cool and watchful and endeavor to work it out toward tlie end, watching his opportu- nity, and at the same time never losing sight of the runner. Nothing but natural ability coupled with experience can make an ideal end. Intuition is probably the greatest thing for an end to possess, and that quality is called upon more and more as the game develops. To be able to diagnose a play instantly, and to get into position for it, is one of the essentials of end play to-day. This has been rendered most marked by the introduction of the forward pass and the on- side kick, and no end is of much use to a team to- day who has not this power of discernment de- veloped to a high pitch. There are various ways of playing the ends, dropping them back, putting them up and shooting them through, letting them alternate with a tackle or half-back, and a number of others. But with the single exception where an end is driven straight through, there is no method of playing the position where a quick diagnosis of the play is not an extreme essential. Hence it is that veteran ends are generally the best, and by *' veterans " is not meant men who have held the position without improvement simply because of former prestige, but men who have played the position under varying conditions and have made use of their brains to study methods, and hence 293 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL have perfected themselves in all departments of the game. On the attack, that is when their own side have the ball, the ends, as stated, are supposed to box the tackle. This has been the cnstom for years and still continues, but with a greater variety of play it is often deemed advisable to have the end pretend he is going to box the tackle and then slip up into a position where he may receive a forward pass. He may also deceive his opponents by making them suppose the play is going to be a kick and then obtain a position for receiving a forward pass. Still again he may be an apparent interferer in a wide run and secure a forward pass, and finally he may pxetend to box the tackle, and then whirling around cross back of his own line and receive the ball in a criss-cross. As already stated, the work of an end going down the field under a kick is not nearly as severe as under the old rules, and does not require any particular amount of development except actual speed. The end should remember, however, to slow up before he reaches his man and thus avoid a flying tackle. THE QUAETEE - BACK The quarter-back as a regular position may eventually disappear under the latest rules be- 294 THE DIFFERENT POSITIONS cause of the privilege given to the first man who receives the ball of running anywhere, that is, crossing the line of scrimmage at any point. The quarter-back, half-back and full-back may all play in a line parallel to the scrimmage line, and re- ceive the ball and dash through, or go out around the end without the intervention of an added pass. However, there will be some duties left to the quarter-back, usually in handling the team, giving the signals and general work of this nature. The quarter-back shares the duties of the captain when the game is being played. In fact, he is practically in charge of the team when the game is on, and the captain will only stop him when he gives a play that is likely to be unsatisfactory. Up to that point the captain allows him to run the team. Hence it is that the quarter must know every play and the capabilities of each man in the play. He must work out from practical experience his own theories of chances, and be able to compute to a nicety the outcome of any one of his plays. He must bear in mind that it is inadvisable to tire out any of his best men for his attack must not be forced to the extreme until he knows by the play of his opponents how much defensive work he will be called upon to perform. Hence a quarter-back should be a man of brains, of foot-ball brains, the combination of good, hard practical sense withi 295 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL just enough imagination to make him willing to try a risky play at times when a risky play is the only one that can pull out the game. He should also be of sanguine disposition and not subject to discouragement. As a rule, the quarter is a small man, not because there is anything about the position that demands diminutive size, but because big men as a rule are not of exactly the disposition to carry out the work. The quarter should study his line and players, keep them well up to their work and drive them when necessary. He should be an absolutely certain catcher of punts, so that he may be sent to the back-field to do this work. Perhaps outside of an ability to drive a team rapidly and strongly, the best qualification for a quarter-back is that of perfect confidence in his men and plays. He should' be an optimist and that optimism from him should permeate the en- tire team as it often will. He should keep the play fast, and yet not work any one man too much. He should have clearly in mind the strength of each particular play, and where it is likely to be most effective, and finally he should know what is probable scoring distance for his team. He should know what play will take one yard with certainty, and what play, while it may lose two or three yards, may possibly bring off ten or fifteen. It is this study of chances and confidence in himself 296 « o > 2 > > 10 t- 2 S "^ s o o ^^ o > THE DIFFEEENT POSITIONS that makes the winning quarter-back. Of course there are other points about this position that are of great importance. As for instance, his ability to handle the ball cleanly and well; the certainty of catching the punts in case he is the man sent back into the back field to handle them ; the clean- ness of his tackling in case he is the last man between opponent and his own goal, and his own ability to execute or handle the forward pass. In fact the quarter-back has had so much to do that it has been impossible for any man to fully and entirely fill the position. Whether the change in the rules which permits the quarter-back cross- ing the line of scrimmage with the ball at any point is likely to make his duties simpler or more complicated is a question. If it should develop that the old-fashioned quarter -back is dispensed with, and the ball is passed indiscriminately to any man in the back field, it will probably dis- tribute the duties somewhat more evenly and thus relieve the overburdened quarter. But in many teams it is likely to accomplish the reverse, that is, add to the quarter-back's other duties a greater amount of running, and that will mean more ex- haustion. However, quarters have always had a position of great responsibility^-, and the men who have occupied that position have usually re- 299 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL sponded to its demands so well that one may trust them equally in the future. THE BACKS In the early days, there was quite a difference in the work of the half-back and full-back, but now there is almost none at all, and a man who can play one of the positions can play the other, too. Of course a right half-back may have some dif- ficulty in playing left half-back at first, and either half-back may show a little greenness if played as full-back, but nothing to prevent an interchange of the men in the positions at any time, if they have two or three days' practice. The prime feature of the back field is harmony and confidence in each other. Men for the position should be powerful and fast, with good heads and able to size up a situation quickly. They should be par- ticularly keen on the game and, if possible, keep in the best condition by occasional changes so that they are eager to get in and play. Under the new rules, much more is required of them than under the old. Not only is their work on defense very complicated in watching for forward passes and that sort of thing, but on the attack, the fact that they are deprived of the assistance of their team mates who formerly pushed, pulled and dragged them along is going to be a serious handi- 300 THE DIFFERENT POSITIONS cap and means a great deal more pounding for tliem to endure. It is more than advisable, there- fore, that a captain and coach secure a fine array of back-field timber by the very beginning of the season. It is likely that they will all be needed by the time of the big games. Men have always been proud to play in any position back of the line. The stars of the grid- iron have a clearer chance to shine in these positions than in any other. They are the brilliant attacking force. They are also the sole defense when a man breaks through. Their play is more apt to be in the open and observed than that of the line-men. They help and aid each other ; throw themselves into the breach when necessary, and tackle their opponents with a recklessness that always appeals to the on-looker. But for all this showy quality there is a lot of hard work for the backs to do in preparation for their positions. In the first place they should practice with great per- sistence quick starting. They should also have plenty of education on the use of the hand or arm in warding off tacklers, and should be taught how to use their feet in dodging. Beyond this, the backs must all learn to strike their opening with accuracy and have their speed on when they reach it. They should also have daily practice not only in rendering interference for their team mates but 301 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL also in meeting interference by the opponents. It will not do to let backs play haphazard. Every move of the back, no matter how brilliant and unexpected it may look to the grand stands, if it is going to be successful should have been planned out and practiced daily for weeks. One thing is a cardinal quality for men of the back field, and that is their ability to hold on to the ball. Many a back has lost the game for his team by a failure to squeeze that ball when it was passed to him in a critical time. And it is well for every man who plays the position to bear this in mind constantly. A fumbling back field will ruin the best line that ever stood up because after a little experience that line will never charge but will be turning around to see if the ball has been fumbled. The backs must learn the signals perfectly, and be able to go through them without a hitch. Ability to punt is, of course, essential in one of the backs at least, and is a very advantageous thing in the others for if two, or even all three of the men, are good punters it offers an opportunity almost unequalled in deceiving the opponents with kick, forward pass, on-side kick and run, any one of these ap- parently starting from the same formation. Before concluding this section on backs, a point should be made of the very great importance of concealing the play from the opponents. Prob- 302 THE DIFFERENT POSITIONS ably one play in every three even now executed by the ordinary team is betrayed by some one in the back field of the attacking side before the play starts, or just as it is about to start, and this gives the opponents an opportunity to meet it, whereas if the play were brought off without any of this indication it would be doubly difficult for the op- ponents to meet it. This cannot be impressed too strongly upon the back field men. 305 CHAPTEE VIII KICKING, CATCHING AND PASSING PROBABLY there is greater fascination in tlie running game than in any other department of foot-ball. When a man has once tasted the pleasure of getting that leather oval under his arm and then running, apparently madly, but with a cool head and proper use of hand and arm in ward- ing off tacklers, he never forgets it and he is always longing to repeat it. There is no play that brings the spectators to their feet to such wild enthusiasm as a good run. Men have got the ball on the kick-off and run over the entire field of their opponents for a touch-down. Not a few of them have this record. Daly, formerly of Har- vard, performed it while on the West Point team, and Eckersall and Steffens of Chicago have both accomplished it. One of the most spectacular runs was made by Thorne of Yale at the time he was captain in a game with Princeton at the Polo Grounds. It was particularly exciting because Thorne passed so many men. It was on a regular play from scrimmage, and when he was once started, it seemed as though every man on the 306 KICKING, CATCHING AND PASSING Princeton team had a chance at him, but he still staggered and twisted and turned until he reached the goal-line. There have been plenty of runs quite as long but not nearly as thrilling. Chadwick, for instance, of Yale, on a special play twice ran half the length of the field against Princeton and Met- calf, his team mate, ran the same distance the fol- lowing week on the same play against Harvard. But for excitement, these runs did not compare with that of Thorne. Weekes of Columbia, who scored on Yale, was one of the most brilliant of end-runners. But to go back to the earlier days. Ames of Princeton and McClung of Yale were the two most striking dodging runners that the game has seen, while Kelly of Princeton and Wright and Dibblee of Harvard had both speed and head work com- bined. Bunker of West Point was one of the greatest plungers of the game, but Heston of Michigan combined all the styles with the use of straight arm and side sweep, dodging runs and straight plunges to an extent unequalled by any- one. Butterworth of Yale was far ahead of any man of his day in ability to follow interference. This he did so neatly and cleverly as to be able to repeat when a man using his interference less and himself more would shortly have been incapac- itated. And this list is not nearly complete 307 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL for there are dozens of other men who deserve mention for their exploits and skill in this line. The especially skilful features of foot-ball out- side of team play are the kicking, catching, and passing. It is in these that the novice finds him- self immediately inferior to the expert, and it is upon these that individual practice is essential. Of the three, passing belongs more particularly to the province of one player only — the quarter- back ; for it is he who must receive the ball from the snap-back and deliver it to some other player yet in the modern game it is an essential of any good back. His passes vary, being sometimes long, — nearly across the field, perhaps, — and at other times consisting merely of handing the ball to a man, or even holding it to be taken out of his hands by the man as he goes by. All this requires practice ; for there is a right and a wrong way. In the short passing, the wrong way upsets the man who receives the ball ; and in the long passing, the quarter may not be able to throw the ball swiftly enough to have it reach the recipient safely. Long passes are best made by holding the ball like a spear and sending a spiral but these are not the kind used by the quarter in feeding his backs. The best way for a quarter to make a long pass across the field is to place the ball in the hand so that the end rests upon the point where the fingers join the 308 KICKING, CATCHING AND PASSING palm. The fingers are curled up so that the ball if held in the hand rests as though in a cup at its base, and lies against the fore-arm with its side. In throwing it, a side-arm swing is used, and the ball is whirled through the air turning upon its short axis, the fingers giving it an additional snap as it leaves them. The ball should be sent as nearly on a line as possible. In short passing, not so much force is needed, and when handed to an- other player it should be held by the quarter by the ends, one hand on each end and the arms a little extended, so that the runner may grasp it securely without striking the quarter's body. Catching is something to be learned only after days of constant practice, and it is one of the most important points in the play of the two half-backs and the back. As a punt may traverse a distance of fifty yards, a muif may mean a loss of that distance, plus whatever the lucky man- securing the ball may afterward gain in an almost clear field. A muif is the most serious mistake that a player behind the line can make. To be a good catcher, a man must have the- natural qualities of coolness and pluck, and he must perform the act properly. The ball should not be caught as a base- ball is, — in the hands only, — but the arms should assist, while the body — and even the upper part of the leg — may add to the absolute security of 311 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL the catch. There is one spot where the ball must not be caught, and that is on the chest. More backs are guilty of this error than any other one on the list. A man who catches the ball high, or takes it on his chest, is never a sure catcher, and almost always gets into difficulty before a game is over. The ball should be caught low, — "in the stomach," as the boys express it, — that is, below the chest, and where, by bending the body forward and stooping perhaps a trifle just as the ball settles into the hands and arms, it renders it almost impossible for the ball to escape, even though the player be tumbled over. The best catchers make this kind of a pocket for the ball, using the hands and arms to catch it, and also the body to make it sure, sometimes even drawing up the leg a trifle; but this last is hardly neces- sary. Kicking is divided into three kinds — place- kicking, punting, and drop-kicking. No one of these varieties has been sufficiently developed by American players. It is only necessary to state that men have place-kicked goals from the middle of the field, to demonstrate the fact that we are not up to the highest mark. We have brought out but one side of place-kicking, — namely, the goal-kicking from touch-downs, — and even that imperfectly. Long place-kicking from 312 KICKING, CATCHING AND PASSING fair catches is too seldom seen, and mainly be- cause there are no men who can perform the part. A fair catch, when there is no wind, or a favoring wind, should yield a goal from as far back as the forty-yard line with moderate frequency, and be more than a " fighting chance " from ten yards back of that. To place-kick, the ball should be pointed, for short kicks, nearly upright, and then lowered as the distance to be kicked increases, but the point never brought so low that the force is not in a line with the long axis of the ball. The placer of the ball should hold it with the lacing up, and the kicker should sight along the upper seam. The placer should hold the ball with both hands, just off the ground, resting his elbow ; the lower hand should be well under, but not upon the lower tip, and the fingers of the upper hand steadying the ball just above the lacing. As he sets the ball down, he turns his under hand flat on the ground so that it does not interfere with the ball, and steadies the ball with one or two fingers of the upper hand as it is kicked out from under by the kicker. He does not let go of the ball. The kicker should '' cock up " the toes of his foot well, so that the foot is firm and the toe of the shoe catches the ball just below. the lower point. In punting, the ball is kicked with the instep 313 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL and not with the toe. The ball should be dropped — not tossed ; merely dropped — from the hand to the foot as the swing is being made, and should be struck upon the point by the top of the instep. The swing may be a straight one or somewhat of a side swing, but the foot strikes the ball squarely in either case. The ball should not be too near the ground; something over a foot in the clear is the proper height, except for special kicks, and the full weight of leg and body put into it, as here- after described, for the drop-kick. Accuracy should be an aim of the punter as much as dis- tance. He should practise daily at some kind of a mark, and steadily increase his distance from that mark. A little felt padding over the top of the foot and instep, so that the shoe laces snugly, is conducive to good punting as well as good kick- ing of all kinds. There are three distinct styles of drop-kicking, and all of them good: first, the drop-kick, using but one hand to hold and drop the ball, the point being toward the goal, and taking a good, slightly side, swing in the kick; second, holding the ball in a similar position, but by the use of both hands ; and third, holding the ball in both hands, but with the point tilted backward, or away from the goal. In all three cases the dropping of the ball and the kicking are similar. The ball is dropped directly 314 KICKING, CATCHING AND PASSING to the ground, falling so that it strikes the turf not exactly upon the point, but leaning off the perpendicular some twenty degrees or so. Just as it strikes, or rather just as it rises off the ground, the foot swinging forward catches it squarely with the toe and drives it as it does in a place-kick. Good drop-kickers send the b*all fifty yards and over, although few of them are danger- ous in a game unless they get nearer than that. Drop-kicking as well as punting should be practised with men coming down at the kicker in order to accustom him to the conditions which he will find always prevailing in a game. It is the duty of the captain to determine when in a game a drop should be tried, and his decision must de- pend upon the accuracy and reliability of his kicker, the score and time of the game, and, finally, the condition of his team as to their ability to reach the line without losing the ball if the drop be given up. Not nearly enough has ever been written under- standingly of the kicking game. In fact, many captains and coaches are really at sea in their surmises as to the way this part of the game may be used. It is simple enough for any strategist to realize that when it comes to a third down with little possibility of making the required distance in one more attempt, it is eminently advisable for 315 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL him to call upon his punter, and drive the ball over as many of those white cross-lines as possible. He also knows how vitally important it is that his end should follow up a kick, and see that the opposing back who catches it is not permitted to run it up in a broken field some twenty or thirty yards. But it is about here that the theories of a good many on the kicking game come to an abrupt end. Those who feel that this covers the extent of the province should have seen some of the old-time players like, for instance, '' Snake " Ames of Princeton, who could swing around one or two tacklers and then at full speed place a long, low punt on the side least expected by the back field of his opponents. Or Homans, of Princeton, who through an entire half by his clever work with his foot stalled off the Yale team far better than even his friends could have hoped as was demonstrated by the second half when Yale was wise enough to hold on to the ball and go for the running game, scoring on this basis some four or five times. Nor were either of these men more remarkable in kicking ability than George Brooke of Pennsylvania and Frank Butterworth of Yale, although the two former could kick on the run with greater facility. Harlan, a recent half-back of Princeton's, was also a good kicker on the run, while the average backs of to-day must come to a full stop before they can 316 KICKING, CATCHING AND PASSING get their foot in fair operation. Bull of Yale, as has already been noted in these pages, was a won- derfully accurate drop-kicker. But Eckersall of Chicago bears the record in this respect. No chapter on the kicking game would be complete, however, without reference to Hirschberger of Chicago and O'Dea of Wisconsin, two marvelous punters of the Middle West, who for average steady distance were more than the peers of any men who have sent the pigskin over a dozen or more of the white five-yard lines, and their drop- kicking was nearly as long although not as ac- curate as that of Eckersall. Harlan of Princeton, already mentioned, was one of the most accurate on-side kickers that the new game has produced, and his little run out towards tackle followed by a low, shooting kick was one of the most dangerous plays to opponents that has been devised. Mitchell of Yale, although he started out his career badly by having his attempted drop-kick blocked by DeWitt of Princeton, who thereupon ran the length of the field for a touch-down, be- came the following year one of the most accurate of kickers. He, of all the men I have seen play, could from almost any position in the field place a punt so that it would strike just inside the side line and bound out, covering a distance with such a kick of fifty yards. He seemed able to gauge the 317 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL wind with great accuracy. The most difficult kick- ing proposition that I ever saw put up to a man fell to the lot of Hare of Pennsylvania in the Pennsylvania-Cornell game at Philadelphia one year when there was a snow and sleet storm with a perfect hurricane of wind driving down the field, and nobody but Hare could even get the ball over Pennsylvania's own rush-line into Cor- nell territory when trying to kick against the blast. Nor did Hare succeed in doing it every time, but when he managed to get all of his muscular force squarely on to the ball, he did succeed in getting it over their heads. Vorhis of Penn State and McCaa of Lafayette were also two star drop- kickers, as was Hudson of the Indians and Tibbott of Princeton. But the game is not so simple even for the best of kickers unless the rest of the team are able to give them their opportunity. The line must hold properly or a disaster may result. The case already mentioned of Mitchell is one in point. While it is true that a more experienced kicker or even Mitchell himself a year later would have held his kick and thus saved the worst feature, still for all that his line was responsible for letting DeWitt through. The Yale line came through on Minot of Harvard last year and blocked a kick that very nearly resulted in a touch-down. One blocked kick of Princeton's last year in the Yale 318 PROFESSOR At.ONZO A. STAGG Coach of the University of Chicago WILLIAM EDWARDS WILLIAM ROPER Princei07i KICKING, CATCHING AND PASSING game resulted in a touoh-down against the Orange and Black. Another feature of the kicking game is the ability of the ends and tackles to go down the field and hold the distance gained. In former years, when they placed sometimes two men against a good end to keep him from succeeding in this work, it was a mark of the highest skill for a man to go down in time to stop the run back, but there were many remarkable ends who could suc- ceed in doing it even under those conditions. Now the rules are so altered that the end has every chance, for he is protected for the first twenty yards of his run from any interference of this nature and consequently the distance gained by kicks is likely to be effectually held. The above suggestions can hardly be called directions, for to make them as extended as one would like would take up an almost indefinite num- ber of pages. They are merely suggestions that even the novice can begin his work upon and be sure that if he will supplement them with ideas of his own and unremitting practice he will be able to make himself a player of value to any team. The sport is farthest of all college sports from the limit of its development, and the boys now in the lower forms of the preparatory schools will play better foot-ball in their college teams than that we are seeing now, if they will but put the same in- 321 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL terest in it that their predecessors have. Play strictly under the rules, but never be afraid of a play because it is a new or unheard-of one, is the best advice I can give to the coming players. 322 CHAPTEE IX THE CAPTAIN AND THE COACH THE CAPTAIN" THE sine qua non of a captain is an ability to lead men. In foot-ball this is particularly essential. For out of a squad of 150 or 200 men, he has under him on the field at the time of play ten men who must be willing to sacrifice all idea of self to the advantage of the team, must be ready to put out every last ounce of strength upon any occasion, when called upon, and finally must feel that whatever is done is done right and with sound judgment. If they have not this feeling of con- fidence in their leader, they will inevitably under pressure go to pieces, and the game will be lost. The ability to gather men together when things look dark, the ability to infuse them with renewed courage, each of these must be an attribute of the successful captain. But outside of this, he must be a foot-ball strategist. He will have the aid of his coaches it is true throughout the season, but even with this aid unless he is able to handle his team on the field, he will find himself at a loss when the trial comes. It is also true that he is 323 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL nobly supported through the province of the quarter-back, for it is this individual who gives the signals and practically chooses the plays. But the captain must keep watch of these too, and if the quarter-back is making an error of judgment, the captain must step in and correct that error. He must, therefore, know the ability of his men and the value of each play. He must keep con- tinual watch of the varying conditions. He must know where the enemy's line is the weakest, and he must also know where his greatest strength lies. He should be wise in his judgment of the condition of each man in his team, how much work can safely be placed upon any one of his backs, and how much strength should be reserved for defense in meeting any particular attack of the opponents. He should also realize that in justice to his team he, himself, must not take on work that is likely to use him up before the game is over. If he is a good captain, it is essential that he should last through, and if he is a poor captain it should be found out before he ever goes into the game, and he, himself, should know it and make way for a better man. Many a season has been wrecked through letting a poor captain go on too long, and games have been lost through the folly of a good captain working himself to ex- haustion in the first half. 324 HOWARD JOSES yaJe THE CAPTAIN AND THE COACH Of the earlier captains who became famous in the game, the name of Baker of Yale stands out as the pioneer in his university's foot-ball history. Harvard had taken up Eugby foot-ball while Yale, under Baker, was still playing the old college game, and Baker it was who captained the Yale team in their first contest with Harvard of Rugby foot-ball. Whiting, the Harvard captain, had met with an injury in their Canadian trip, and Curtis was their acting captain at the time. After the game had been introduced, Yale made remarkable progress, and it was several years before Harvard was able to turn the tables. When it was accom- plished, it was under the captaincy of Arthur J. Cumnock, who possessed remarkable qualities of leadership, and who with the assistance of some remarkable players like Dudley Dean, quarter- back, Everett Lake, later Lieutenant Governor of Conn., and James Lee, half-backs, eventually suc- ceeded in defeating Yale. In Princeton's history, Hector Cowan, that captain and tackle, was always a heroic figure. Truxton Hare of Pennsylvania also stands out as a leader, as did also Torrey of the same university. Bert Waters was another Harvard leader, who, unfortunately, in his year of captaincy was himself incapacitated, although he played part of the game. Then followed at Harvard, separated by some years, Dibblee and 327 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL Campbell, both winning captains, but Burr, whose team won, was another captain who was unable to play in his great game. Princeton seemed to run to tackles in captaincies. Lea, Hillebrand and Pell, the latter captain for two years, were in- stances of this. DeWitt was also a winning Princeton captain. At New Haven, owing to the number of winning teams, it is difficult to select particular instances, but Eay Tompkins was one of the early heroes who showed exceptional quality, followed by Lee McClung, now Treasurer of the United States, Vance McCormick, later Mayor of Harrisburg, Hinkey, the so-called '^ silent " cap- tain, Gordon Brown, Chadwick, Hogan, Shevlin. and Biglow. Coy, mentioned elsewhere in these pages, is too well remembered to need an intro- duction. Chicago produced many star captains, probably the most noted being Eckersall and Steffens, while Columbia had in Morley an ex- ceptional leader, as did Minnesota last year in McGovern. COACHING The time was, upon the introduction of the game, when a captain could easily do all of the coaching that was expected, and if some of the older players came back for a few days, it was merely to look over the men and give a few words 328 THE CAPTAIN AND THE COACH of advice as to the conduct of the important match. If one could give the rushers a little lecture stimu- lating them to hard work in the game, and a bit of encouragement to the halves, the duty of the coach was performed. To-day the available men — those who have served upon the best teams as players — are as eagerly sought after for coaches as are experts in any branch of sport, and every team is put under the hands of a coach for at least part of the season. And it is this coaching by men who know the game thoroughly that has done so much for the sport. It has spread the knowl- edge of the finer points of the play — not alone the strategies, but the best methods — as no other system could have done. East, West, and South the skilled players have gone, not to play, but to teach the coming foot-ball player how to use his strength and skill to the best advantage. The duties of the coach are manifold. He must know the most approved training, and must be able to direct the diet and amount of exercise to be taken. He must be able to handle a team with- out having any member get '' too fine," or over- trained, and see that the men are in condition to stand the hours of a match. He must be able to preserve good discipline among the men, and, greatest perhaps of all, be able to make them work in perfect harmony. These are the duties of the 329 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL captain as well, and the coach and the captain must always work together upon these points ; but without any conflict of their powers, the captain should always remember that a coach ought to be positive. The suggestions I have endeavored to embody here are for captain, coach, and player; but they are intended for suggestions rather than absolute directions ; and just as any one must need special exigencies with special methods, so must the coach remember that if his governing prin- ciples be correct, he can often, to advantage, vary the application. COACHES There is one side of the game which has a par- ticular element of interest to the spectator as well as to the player, and that is the coaching. As the rules lend themselves to the development of team play, organization, and strategy, so it is that the best results are obtained through the use of orig- inal plays mapped out by the experience of the coach, and the detail perfected by a number of men taking up the parts and organizing the play on the field. It is very attractive to any one who follows the practice to see the play thus developed, polished, and perfected. Of coaches Mr. Lorin F. Deland, who devised the flying wedge for Har- vard, was the most ingenious on defensive tactics. 330 LORIN F. DELAND Harvard G. FOSTER SANFORD Of Yale, who coached Columbia THE CAPTAIN AND THE COACH Closely following him was Mr. George Woodruff, who did much for Pennsylvania's foot-ball, while for practical work on the field Mr. G. Foster San- ford was pre-eminent. Mr. Fielding H. Yost has only had opportunities in the Middle West foot- ball, but he has put Michigan well at the top. Professor Alonzo A. Stagg of the University of Chicago is a most ingenious coach, and under the forward pass has shown some of the best work. Mr. H. L. Williams has done the same for Min- nesota. No man has accomplished more remark- able performances than Mr. Glenn Warner with his team of Carlisle Indians ; while men like Mr. Eeid and Mr. Haughton of Harvard and a dozen later coaches are coming to the front with origi- nality and understanding of men which the con- ditions of the new rules render invaluable ad- juncts. An ideal staff of coaches might be chosen from these to develop a team with Messrs. Deland, Woodruff, and Stagg to devise plays, with Messrs. Yost and Sanford to put them into execution, while men like Brooke and Williams of Pennsyl- vania could be called upon to handle the back field problems. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COACH But where did the coach come from, and why did he come? He was developed by the exigencies 333 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL of the case, and lie came because team play began to take tbe place of ineffective individual effort. The American loves to plan. It is that trait that has been at the base of his talents for organization. As soon as the American took up Rugby foot-ball he was dissatisfied because the ball would pop out of the scrimmage at random. It was too much luck and chance as to where or when it came out, and what man favored by Dame Fortune would get it. So he developed a scrimmage of his own, a center-rusher, or snap-back, a quarter-back, and soon a system of signals. One could no more pre- vent the American college youth from thus ad- vancing than he could stop their elders with their more important and gigantic enterprises. But all these things led to team play, at the sacrifice, perhaps, of individual brilliancy, but with far greater effectiveness of the eleven men in what for them was the p-rincipal affair of the moment — the securing of goals and touch-downs. At first the captain was the coach, but as he was also a player, he soon found that he could not play and at the same time secure the proper perspective of the whole. So sometimes he stayed out, and some- times he played upon the scrub, or second, eleven in practice, in order to see more of the play and its development. Then he realized that some one should stay out all the time in order to judge the 334 THE CAPTAIN AND THE COACH effectiveness of various plays and methods, and as lie could not secure satisfactory results from tlie body of his substitute players, he naturally turned to graduates, men who had played the game knew its possibilities, and could gauge the progress. At first Rugby foot-ball was confined to a few large institutions, but it gradually made its way, and as the smaller institutions took up the game, they called upon the veterans of the older teams for men who could hurry them over the preliminary stages and bring about perfected play. But this is only the beginning of the story. A great deal of most unwelcome prominence has been forced upon the coach largely through the desire of people to be fed with sensation and mystery, I remember going on a vacation and taking advantage of it to coach a team in a col- lege where the game had only been recently adopted. The college was located near a large city, and as a friend of mine had gone with me to coach the rival college, there was considerable in- terest manifested, and the newspapers were full of foot-ball. This was long before the function of the foot-ball coach was understood, and in this locality he must have been regarded as something between a prize-fighter and a rubber. My friend and I were invited b}^ some old acquaintances to attend an assembly ball, and in one of the pauses 335 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL I was much astonished and a good deal edified to hear an elderly lady say, staring at us, '' Those men, the foot-ball coaches — why they can actually dance! " Then there was a full-page advertise- ment in one of the morning papers, with our photo- S3AI.TER By permission of the " New Haven Union " CARICATURE, BY HOWARD FREEMAN, OF TWO DEVOTEES OF COLLEGE SPORTS: EVERT JANSEN WENDEL, AND WALTER CAMP. graphs — excellent ones, too, though where ob- tained I cannot imagine — but full-length figures were added and each was draped in one of the enterprising clothier's latest fall overcoats, and underneath was the legend, ' ' How Mr. Camp and Mr. would look in our overcoats." But those were the early days of coaching, and it was 336 THE CAPTAIN AND THE COACH not many years before the coach was regarded as the possessor of all possible knowledge. I have heard it said of late years by a head coach who spoke feelingly that every new line in the rules meant new furrows in the brain of every coach in the country, and I am inclined to believe he was not exaggerating. Perhaps a brief de- scription of what every head coach is doing throughout the country would show why this is so. At any institution where there is a foot-ball team, there are two, three, or at times a dozen coaches. Most of these men are graduates who come back for a week or two to help out with their experi- ence ; and this in itself is an admirable thing, for it acquaints the undergraduate with the graduate and does much for both of them and for the cementing of the bonds of friendship. But the head coach usually stays through the season, and he and the captain are responsible for what is called the development of the team. He should take much of the worry of the season off the cap- tain's shoulders, and it need not be supposed that the captain will in this way suffer from a lack of duties. THE STREITUOIJS LABOES OF THE COACH The coach works out the individual duties of each man in a play, — for instance, deciding who 337 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL is to take the opposing end, who is to be respon- sible for keeping the opposing tackle from break- ing through, and who is to make the play safe. That is so arranged that in case of a fumble the opponents may not have a clear field for a touch- down. In addition to this, he lays out the defen- sive formations against possible plays, and, in these days of forward passes and on-side kicks, against sudden surprises. Besides all this, he teaches the individual detail of position play — how to kick, block, interfere, tackle, and the like. Then it usually devolves upon him to devise a set of signals by which the quarter-back may indicate to his own team which man is to take the ball, what play is to be used, and at what point in the opponents ' line that play is to be directed. These signals should be simple enough for his own team to master thoroughly and yet not so simple that opponents will discover them. Apropos of this, I remember sitting on the side- lines once with the coacTi of a minor team and in the middle of the first half saying to him : " There is something wrong with your quarter-back." Whereupon he looked at the young man and said : " No, I think not. He seems to be all right.'* And in truth he did seem quite physically right as he ran up to make the next play. But what I had noticed was the peculiar way in which the quarter- 338 THE CAPTAIN AND THE COACH back acted while he was giving his signal and the hesitating way in which he was handling the ball. The next play brought the ball directly over to our side of the field and within a few feet of where we were sitting. As the quarter ran over he caught sight of his coach and running straight up to him said : ' ' Take me out. I 've forgotten the sig- nals ! ' ' And sure enough, for as soon as the coach had replaced him the little chap told us that having recently been given a new set of signals he sud- denly found that he had forgotten them and the only way he had made the last few plays was to call over his signal and then let the back grab the ball out of his extended hands because he did not know which man he had signaled for. Perhaps the yoimg man was not so much to blame for for- getting his lesson as the coach for having given him too long and hard a task. Finally the coach answers inquiries as to the condition of the team and its chances, indeed act- ing as a buffer between the captain and over-eager coaches, solicitious reporters, and the world gen- erally, besides at times being called upon to see that some player of importance who is taking sport more seriously than his studies realizes that his perspective is warped and that he must keep up his standing if he is to be eligible for the team. A coach once came to me for some advice a short 339 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL time before Ms important game. I saw that he was extremely nervous, but endeavored to pay no attention to that fact and not betray to him that I thought him very much on edge. Finally he could restrain himself no longer and he burst out with: '' Don't I look badly? I weighed 180 lbs. when I took up this job six weeks ago and now I weigh only 157 and I guess it will finish me." On the day of the game the coach is usually easily distinguishable on the side-lines by his drawn and pallid face and by his nervousness if the game is close. At intermission he may be called upon not only to explain to his pupils how they may best meet a form of attack which during the first half has played havoc with their defense, but also to exhort to renewed effort an apparently defeated team. Upon the whole, the coach after the experi- ence of one season is more than likely to conclude that it is far less wearing to be in uniform and an actual player than to take the game by proxy and shiver on the side-lines. 340 FRANK A. HINKEY Yale JOHN DEWITT PriMceton rrLjjLCt Copyright, iaj3, Ijy J. F. Renlschlel MARTIN HESTON Mickizan THE ALL-TIME ALL-AMERICA ELEVEN AS CHOSEN BY MR. CAMP CHAPTER X ALL - TIME ALL - AMERICA TEAMS AS a fitting climax to this series of foot-ball sketches, I have been asked to select an *' All- America team of All- America teams." To explain this let me say that individual prowess in the sport of foot-ball is now most prominently recognized in the selection, at the close of each season, of what is known as the '* All- America team," or a team chosen from the star players of all the various elevens in the country. The fiction of it is that these would be the men named for a team to represent this country against any foreign organization in an international contest. Such a contest is impossible, owing to the differences in rules of the sport, but the selection is annually made. This choosing of All- America teams began just twenty years ago through the publication of such a selection by the writer. This choice was published in the columns of a periodical devoted to outdoor games called " The Week's Sport."* It seemed at once to strike a popular note, and in 1 Mr. Camp's first selection, as quoted from " The Week's Sport," read as follows: "To return to the Association, taking; the players on a rating based upon their actual work in games, the All- America 343 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL a few years others were making similar choices, until last year no fewer than a hundred news- papers or periodicals advanced "their candidates for such honors. Nor has the plan been confined to foot-ball, similar selections having been made in other sports. To be chosen a member of the All- America team in foot-ball falls to the lot of few men who have not practised certain virtues, and practised them for several seasons. To their elders it may seem a foolish casting of the lime-light upon boys whom, in their maturer views of things, they regard as unable to stand the flattering notice. But if these elders could only know these young men as they are known among their intimates, they would speedily be disabused of the delusion that the boys are in danger of being spoiled in any such fashion. Year after year a boy sees the class ahead of him go out into the world and knuckle bravely down to hard knocks and hard work, sees his own turn coming, and gets a fairer perspective of the re- lation of things than his timorous elders give him credit for. To pick, then, an All-America team of All- America teams, to look over the various groups of the last twenty years and choose from them men team would be composed of the following players: 1, Cumnock; 2, Cowan; 3, Cranstcn; 4, George; 5, Heffelfinger; 6, Gill; 7, Stagg; S, Poe; 9, Channing; 10, Lee; 11, Ames. 344 ALL-TIME ALL-AMEEICA TEAMS who towered above the heads of their fellows, one team of all, seems like a selection that must be, perhaps, one of only personal feeling, judg- ment, or prejudice, call it what you will. The only excuse I have to offer is that I have known most of these players well, and from what I know of them I believe that if all were gathered into one group and a team were to be selected to play, they would be willing to abide by my judgment and take their turn from the side-lines as willingly to my call as to that of any other man. Foot-ball players seem to be peculiarly unselfish in this respect, and in all the other sports I have never seen one that could compare with it in this attribute. I have seen men who expected to play sit on the side-lines, and I have seen men pulled out and substitutes sent in, and I have yet to see the man who has not been glad of the good work of the man who was taking his place, ready to clap him on the shoulder when he went in, and to praise him when he came out. It is truly team work that develops a higher grade of unselfishness than any other sport in this respect. THE ALL-TIME ALL-AMEEICA TEAM Since the year when the All- America team was first selected the feeling has grown to such an ex- tent that now this roll of honor is doubly and 345 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL trebly worth trying for. To be chosen on the team means that a man must surpass hundreds of his fellows, must go through worry, grief, hard work, and probably several periods of discouragement. As it is always the highest satisfaction to measure The All-Time All- America Team End HiN^KEY, Yale. Tackle Fish, Harvard. Guard .Hare, Pennsylvania. Center Schultz, Michigan. Guard Heffelpinger, Yale. Tackle DeWitt, Princeton. End Shevlin, Yale. Qnarter-back. . . Eckersall, Chicago. Half-back. ..... Heston, Michigan. Half-back "Weekes, Columbia. Full-back Coy, Yale. oneself with one's fellows, and then to pass through a test whereby outside judgment places a man at the top, so it is that in various posi- tions on the All-America team no man succeeds in reaching the goal without having earned his place. The chances are that, with the selection so close, many men fail by a slight margin; but it is equally true that no man secures the place without having gone through a siege that prepares him for almost anything that may come after. 346 ALL-TIME ALL -AMERICA TEAMS Hinkey of Yale, unlike most of tlie men selected on this team, would look light and fragile. In fact, in the days when he played, he always ap- peared to have no body, but everlasting spirit. His name has grown to be a standard of end play in the colleges. What gave him his special prom- inence was the fact that his intuition was never at fault as to where the ball was or would be. He had a way of sifting through interference like a shadow and invariably picking out the man with the ball. He was specially clever in adapting him- self to any form of attack which opponents might send at him, and although weighing a scant 150 pounds, he seemed never to have any difficulty in boxing his tackle and giving his runner a fair chance to get by. He was equally a student of the game, and recognized the possibilities of any play with keenest precision. Fish of Harvard has made a name for himself at tackle both as a product of the plays that were effective before the introduction of the new game and as a man who took to the forward pass and the on-side kick more naturally than any other tackle. In addition to this, he was a leader of men, and much of the attack and defense of his team was built about him. There is no man who has been developed since the introduction of the forward pass who could equal him at receiving the 347 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL ball. He is six feet three, and the stretch of his arms up into the air, as can be readily appreciated, is considerable. Furthermore, he had a way of so planting himself upon his feet that the men whose province it was to knock over the man receiving the pass alm'ost invariably found Fish immovable. He was often down the field ahead of his ends, and was a certain and deadly tackier. As an interf erer he was equally good, and on the whole he is the best rounded-out of all the tackles that have played the position. Hare of the University of Pennsylvania stood out an heroic figure in all the games he played. His position was nominally that of guard, but in the defensive work it was often his province to get out from his position rapidly enough to prevent end runs by opponents. Training close to 200, he had far greater speed than any line-man save possibly an end, and when in action he seemed able to overtake even the fast half-back. He was like many men who while under the watch possibly might not defeat a smaller man on the 100-yard track, yet when starting for his opponent on the foot-ball field, his burst of speed seemed always enough to enable him to overtake his man. In ad- dition to the work that he did at guard both on offense and defense, he was for a time the reliance of Pennsylvania as a punter, and was called back 348 ALL-TIME ALL-AMEEICA TEAMS of tlie line to do the kicking. I remember vividly the game played between Pennsylvania and Cor- nell in Philadelphia, on Thanksgiving Day, 1898, when in a gale of snow and sleet and on a mushy field Hare was forced repeatedly to do the kicking for his side up into the wind. He was a mag- nificent runner with the ball, and as an interferer opened up pathways for others that helped im- mensely. Schultz, a center on the Michigan team, was, everything considered, probably the best center that ever played the game. Big, strong, and fast, he combined all the defensive and offensive qualities of the best line-men with the speed, sure tackling, and intuition as to what to do on the in- stant that are winning qualities of the defensive back. In addition to this, his passing was excel- lent, as he had plenty of speed for his kicker, steadiness for his quarter, and ability to pass in directions other than in a straight line which made him specially valuable in certain formation plays. Heffelfinger is still a name to conjure with in foot-ball annals. In his first year at New Haven he was rather raw-boned and clumsy, but although he soon began to gain weight, he also increased in speed and aggressiveness. He was one of the first guards to succeed in getting from his position in the line out to the end rapidly enough to interfere 349 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL for a running half-back. This trick he performed successfully during the rest of his course, and it added greatly to the scoring ability of his team; for there were no ends or backs who could shoot through or over Helf elfinger and reach the runner, provided that runner connected at the proper place. He was of great assistance in pulling and dragging his man forward, and in addition was very fast down the field. He improved every year, and is even yet recognized as the most won- derful guard that ever wore cleated shoes. John DeWitt of Princeton played as guard, but was often taken into the back field, and with his speed and agility would have made an ideal tackle for the modern game. He was more muscular and powerful even than Fish, and carried more weight. Furthermore, his breaking through, as instanced in one or two Yale games, was such as to equip him particularly for the place of tackle. In addi- tion to all this, he was a long-distance drop or place kicker as well as a powerful punter. His defensive work in stopping the more modern mass plays on tackle would be invaluable to any team. Shevlin of Yale was a combination of speed and weight that can be found only in a man who is of extraordinary muscular development. He was well over 180 pounds, and every bit of that was the soundest kind of muscle and at the same time 350 ALL-TIME ALL-AMEEICA TEAMS muscle entirely under control. He could get down the field as fast as any light-weiglit sprinter, and wlien he did thus cover a kick, it is easy to under- stand how, with his size and breadth, he would inevitably smother an attempted run back. One of his most remarkable feats was running back the kick-off. He started in instantly upon catch- ing the ball, and reached his high speed almost at once. He wasted no time in attempting to run around or back or look for openings. He realized that there was a point where he and the opponents must meet, and the faster he ran, the farther up the field that point would be. Upon occasions he was successful in games in running back the entire length of the field. But these two points were only a part of his value to a team. I doubt if there ever has been any tackle so big or powerful that Shevlin could not undertake the contract of boxing him, and carrying out the contract, too. His defensive work and his intuition as to how far he could creep in toward his tackle were aston- ishing. Eckersall of Chicago was one of those wonderful products that the West has turned out in the line of quarter-backs. Cool, experienced, a beautiful handler of the ball, he fed his backs with perfect precision, used his plays with judgment, was a sure catcher of punts, and a deadly tackier. In 351 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL one of his most important games I remember see- ing him go up to meet Heston, the Michigan half- back, who had come through the line and was starting on a fair run for a touch-down. Heston was a man who used the straight arm exceptionally well, and Eckersall knew this. He recognized that if he endeavored to meet Heston squarely, and Heston should reach him with that arm, it would mean a touch-down. Acting instantly upon his judgment, he turned with Heston and ran parallel with him, Heston trying to reach him with his jabbing arm, while Eckersall worked in behind it until he could take Heston from behind. The instant he reached this position he tackled, and both came down, and the touch-down was saved. Apart from all his work of this character, Eckersall was a long-distance punter and the won- der of his time as a drop-kicker. It was dangerous to let him get anywhere .near the goal, for his ac- curacy was phenomenal. Finally, he was a first- class runner in a broken-up field, and would often run a punt back in spite of good ends, gaining half the distance of the kick. Heston of the University of Michigan was the star half-back that the West has produced. Heavy, thick-set, and fast, he could use either arm in warding oif tacklers, and he ran with great speed and power. Even when a man seized him 352 ^^^1 ' i» '^'i.*'' #» •. ■ ''t'SMHtj^; ; \ 1 ''^^^^^^^^^■l ' fli [ 'i^H^^^H ' ^^^^^^^^^^^1 1 '^B O to OS S < 0. ALL-TIME ALL -AMERICA TEAMS tliere was a fair chance that Heston, with his speed and weight, would tear loose, whereas when he had an opportunity to get his man in front of him, his deadly straight arm would bowl the tackier over. He was specially strong on plays just off tackle, but he could buck the line with immense vigor also. Weekes of Columbia was the best end-runner, for a man of his weight that the game has seen. He was stockily built, yet not short ; powerful and fast, and had that particular burst of speed at the right moment that enabled him to circle almost any end. "While Heston might have a shade the better of him on striking the line, it would be little, and Weekes equalized this with his greater dash at the moment of circling outside. Coy of Yale has the most remarkable combina- tion of qualities that have been gathered together in any player on the gridiron. Stripping close to 193 pounds, a remarkably fast runner, and with high-knee action, it was almost impossible to stop him from in front when he had acquired full head- way. He had sufficient speed to make his runs from kick formation a very difficult proposition for op- ponents, whereas when he received the kick and ran it back there was no telling how far he would go. In Harvard and Princeton games in his sophomore and junior years it became dangerous 355 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL for opponents to kick the ball, for Coy, if he had a fair start, would as likely as not run it back the whole length of the kick. As a punter he had tremendous power, and with this he combined great accuracy and distance in drop-kicks, so that in one Princeton game he tried a kick from mid- field, and with no favoring wind nearly reached the goal. This was with the ball in no too good a condition. As a tackier and defensive player among men of his weight and strength he was ex- ceptional, while his all-round knowledge of the game was such that he could play at end as readily as at full-back, and in the early part of his career was an excellent tackle on his freshman team. SUBSTITUTE ALL-AMEBICAS Since the above chapter was written on the All- America Team of All- America the writer has been importuned to add, as he does annually in making up the regular All- America team, two substitute Elevens. This is particularly difficult owing to the lapse of time and changes in the game which neces- sitate the comparison not only of the men as they played but of their ability to meet unusual exi- gencies, and in fact their general quality of foot- ball brains in conjunction with their physical ability. Beginning, then, with ends, Campbell of Har- 356 ALL-TIME ALL -AMERICA TEAMS vard and Grlaze of Dartmouth would be the next choice to Hinkey and Shevlin. Nor would these two latter fall short in comparison with the original selection. Campbell was a wonderfully pertinacious player, with speed and judgment and almost unlimited endurance. Glaze of Dartmouth was perhaps faster than any of the other three, but lacked a little of Hinkey 's wonderful ability to sift through any interference and diagnose any style of attack, while Campbell would fall short, naturally, of Shevlin 's tremendous physical power. After these two, the selection is then more dif- ficult, but probably the best combination would be Dague of Annapolis for speed and activity and Cochran of Princeton for general all-around ability and power. Coming to the tackle position, that well remem- bered figure, Newell of Harvard, would receive first choice, with Horr of Syracuse next. Newell was one of the most active ground-covering tacklers that has ever played the position, and while he would not be able to do the kind of stop- ping that Horr of Syracuse did in the modern heavy plays against the tackle position his activity would in a measure make up for this, and if he were given a powerful end would ' ' make good ' ' in the position. Horr is a physical giant and wonder- fully fast for a man of his weight. Furthermore, 357 THE BOOK OF FOOT -BALL he is available as a kicker and forward passer, and may be deceptively sent behind the line for this purpose. The other pair would be Bunker and Draper, Bunker of West Point and Draper of Pennsylvania. Bunker was one of the best built men that has ever played the position to combine power and speed, weighing close to 200 pounds. It was not until his tremendous drive was felt that his opponent realized what he was facing. Draper was experienced and at his prime was a first- class breaker of interference, a good tackier and excellent in assistance. The guard positions would fall very naturally to Glass of Yale and Tobin of Dartmouth. The former has always been a close rival in the regard of many foot-ball enthusiasts with men like Hef- felfinger and Hare. Big, active and original in his methods he invariably accomplished almost any end he was sent out after, and he could be relied upon for his steadiness. Tobin, although not as large, was not unlike him and had in addi- tion qualities of leadership which made him of great value to the line. The third team would have Brown of Yale, that noted and wonderful captain, one of Yale's best, who produced such ex- cellent results with his team, and Erwin of West Point, one of the most active and aggressive 358 ALL-TIME ALL -AMERICA TEAMS guards that ever bothered the back field of an opposing team. Hardly any efforts put forth by line-men seemed able to stop Erwin when he deter- mined to come through and that activity was a great asset. Hooper of Dartmouth would have the position of center on the second team. He was one of the stars of the position and went far towards de- veloping it along modem lines. Next the position on the third team would go to Lewis of Amherst and of Harvard, a player of the olden day, but one who would be of importance to any team to- day. Powerful and untiring, and with a good head, he always fed his quarter-back well, and was wonderfully active on the defense. The position of quarter would come to Daly of Harvard and West Point. Daly was a wonderful player and has never been surpassed except by the wonderful all-around work of Eckersall, and if Daly were available to-day, with the privilege of running by the quarter-back crossing the line of scrimmage anywhere, he would be doubly danger- ous to his opponents. The place on the third team would go to Johnson of the Carlisle Indians. Probably more expert in the distinctive duties of the quarter than either of the other two men selected owing to his greater experience, but not quite the equal of the first in physique and all- 361 THE BOOK OF FOOT - BALL around development, yet, withal, he was an excel- lent general in the back field. Butterworth of Yale and Brooke of Pennsyl- vania would take the two full-back positions on the other teams, both of them admirable kickers, but their ability was by no means confined to that particular branch. For half-backs, Kelly of Princeton and Hubbard of Amherst would make a pair for the second team that would take a lot of stopping. Kelly alone, and unaided, with his dash and fire would take heroic gains against a victorious team, as he did on one occasion in New Haven against Yale, while Hub- bard of Amherst was a wonderfully clever runner in all kinds of formation as well as in the open. The third team would have on it Mayhew of Brown and Ames of Princeton. Few players of the pres- ent day remember the latter, although they are all familiar with the former. Ames had all of May- hew 's slipperiness and in addition was a wonder- ful kicker, and possessed the ability of kicking a long punt while on a dead run, a feat that was very effective to his team. Mayhew is remembered al- most too well to need any description, and it is sufficient to say that this running back for Brown University was in any game and against any team a serious menace whenever he secured the ball. 362 ALL-TIME ALL-AMEEICA TEAMS ALL -AMERICA TEAM First Eleven Second Eleven Third Eleven End .... HiNKEY, Yale Campbell, Har- Dague, Annapo- vard lis Tackle . . DeWitt, Prince- Newell, Harvard BtjNker, West ton Point Guard . . Hare, Pennsyl- vania Glass, Yale Brown, Yale Center . . ScHULTZ, Michi- Hooper, Dart- Lewis, Harvard gan mouth Guard . . Hbffelfinger, ToBiN, Dartmouth Erwin, Pennsyl- Yale vania Tackle . . Fish, Harvard HoRR, Syracuse Draper, Pennsyl- vania End .... ShevijIN, Yale Glaze, Dart- Cochran, Prince- mouth ton Quarter . EcKERSALL, Chi- Daly, Harvard Johnson, Car- cago lisle Half-back Heston, Michi- gan Kelly, Princeton Mayhew, Brown Half-back Weekes, Colum- Hubbard, Am- Ames, Princeton bia herst Full-back Coy, Yale Butterworth, Brooke, Penn- Yale sylvania 363 NOV BS B\i^ } copy del. to Cat. Div.