Chapter II: Prologue

They say that no man ever made a successful football player who was lacking in any quality of imagination. If this be true, and time and again has it been proved, then there is no more fitting dedication to a book dealing with the gridiron heroes of the past than to a man like Johnny Poe. For football is the abandon of body and mind to the obsession of the spirit that knows no obstacle, counts no danger and for the time being is dull and callous to physical pain or exhaustion. It is a something that makes one see visions as Johnny saw them!

There is no sport in the world that brings out unselfishness as does this great gridiron game of ours. Every fall, second and scrub teams throughout the country sacrifice themselves only to let others enter the promised land of victory. It is a strange thing but one almost never hears any real football player criticise another's making the team, either his own or an All America. Although the player in this sport appreciates the loyal support of the thousands on the stands, every man realizes that his checks on the Bank of Cheers can never be cashed unless there is a deposit of hard work and practice. Perhaps all this in an indistinct and indefinite way explains why football players, the country over, understand each other and that when the game is attacked for any reason they stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of what they know down in the bottom of their hearts has such an influence on character building. And there is no one better fitted to tell the story of this and of the gridiron heroes than Big Bill Edwards, known not only as a player but far and wide as one of the best officials that ever handled the game. "A square deal and no roughing" was his motto, and every one realized it and accepted every decision unquestioningly. His association with players in so many angles has given him a particular insight into the sport and has enabled him to tell this story as no one else could.

And what names to conjure with! The whistle blows and a shadowy host springs into action before one's misty eyes--Alex Moffat, the star of kickers, Hector Cowan, Heffelfinger, Gordon Brown, Ma Newell, Truxton Hare, Glass, Neil Snow and Shevlin, giants of linemen. But I must stop before I trespass upon what Bill Edwards will do better. Here's to them all--forty years of heroes!

Walter Camp.

Yale's Captain, '78-'79.]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Hillebrand, Cochran, Edwards _Frontispiece_

My Corner

Walter Camp, Yale's Captain '78-'79

The Old Fifth Avenue Send-Off 1

Old Yale Heroes--Lee McClung's Team 5

We Beat Andover 11

Lafayette's Great Team 24

House in Disorder 30

Hit Your Man Low 32

Repairs 34

The Old Faithfuls 39

Jim Rodgers' Team 45

Cochran Was Game to the End 48

On to New Haven--All Dressed Up and Ready to Go 54

Hillebrand's Last Charge 60

Al Sharpe's Goal 64

Touching the Match to Victory 67

Alex Moffat and His Team 82

Old Penn Heroes 100

Pa Corbin's Team 108

Breakers Ahead--Phil King in the Old Days 125

Lookout, Princeton! 130

Barrett on One of His Famous Dashes; Exeter-Andover Game, 1915 142

Bill Hollenback Coming at You 147

"The Next Day the Picture Was Gone"--Jim Cooney Making a Hole for Dana Kafer 158

Johnny Poe, Football Player and Soldier 181

Northcroft Kicking the Field Goal Anticipated by the Navy and Feared by the Army 200

Cadets and Middies Entering the Field 224

Two Aces--Bill Morley and Harold Weeks 251

Vic Kennard's Kick 255

Sam White's Run 261

King, of Harvard, Making a Run; Mahan Putting Black on His Head 268

Princeton's 1899 Team 272

"Nothing Got by John DeWitt" 277

John DeWitt About to Pick Up the Ball 280

The Ever Reliable Brickley--A Football Thoroughbred--Tack Hardwick 284

The Poe Family 296

Just Boys 298

Hobey Baker, Walter Camp, Jr., Snake Ames, Jr. 303

The Elect 310

How It Hurts to Lose 337

Cornell's Great Team--1915 344

One Scene Never Photographed in Football 349

Harvard, 1915 354

The Greatest Indian of Them All 357

Learning the Charge 363

Billy Bull Advising with Captain Talbot 367

Michigan's Famous 1901 Team 370

Columbia Back in the Game, 1915 381

Close to a Thriller. Erwin of Pennsylvania Scoring Against Cornell 386

Crash of Conflict. When Charge Meets Charge 407

Ainsworth, Yale's Terror in an Uphill Game 416

Two to One He Gets Away--Brickley Being Tackled by Wilson and Avery 422

Snapping the Ball with Lewis. "Two Inseparables"--Frank Hinkey and the Ball 428

Marshall Newell 434

McClung, Referee, Shevlin and Hogan 450

CONTENTS

Chap. Page

I.--PREP. SCHOOL DAYS. 1-17

My First Glimpse of a Varsity Team--The Yale Eleven of 1891--Lee McClung--Vance McCormick--Heffelfinger--Sanford--Impressions made upon a Boy--St. John's Military School--Lawrenceville--Making the Team--Andover and Hill School Games.

II.--FRESHMAN YEAR. 18-29

The Freedom of Freshman Year is Attractive--Catching the Spirit of the Place--Searching for Football Material--The Cannon Rush--Early Training with Jack McMasters--Tie Game with Lafayette at Easton--Humiliation of being taken out of a Game--Cornell Game--Joe Beacham's Fair Admirer in the Bleachers--Bill Church's Threat Carried Out--Garry Cochran's Victories against Harvard and Yale.

III.--ELBOW TO ELBOW 30-41

Dressing for Practice--Out upon the Field--Tackling--After Practice, Back to the Dressing-room--How a Player Finds Himself--The Training Table--Team Mates--A Surprise for John DeWitt's Team.

IV.--MISTAKES IN THE GAME. 42-53

If We could only Correct Mistakes We All Made--Defeats might be Turned into Victory--The Fellow that let Athletics be the Big Thing in His College Life--The '97 Defeat--No Recognition of Old Schoolmates--My Opponent was Charlie Chadwick--Jim Rodgers the Yale Captain--The Cochran-De Saulles Compact--Cochran Injured--His Last Game--Ad Kelly's Great Work--Mistakes Caused Sadness--Cornell Defeating Princeton at Ithaca in 1899--No Outstretched Hands at Princeton for our Homecoming.

V.--MY LAST GAME 54-67

A Desire to Make the Last Game the Best--On to New Haven--Optimism--The Start of the Game--Bosey Reiter's Touchdown--Yale Scores on a Block Kick--Al Sharpe's Goal from the Field--Score 10 to 6, Yale Leading--Arthur Poe's Goal from the Field--Princeton Victory--The Joy of Winning--The Reception at Princeton.

VI.--HEROES OF THE PAST--EARLY DAYS 68-92

Treasured Memory of Those who have Gone Before--Where are the Old-time Heroes?--Walter Camp--F. R. Vernon--Camp as a Captain--Chummy Eaton--John Harding--Eugene Baker--Fred Remington--Theodore McNair--Alexander Moffat--Wyllys Terry--Memories of John C. Bell.

VII.--GEORGE WOODRUFF'S STORY 93-101

His Entrance to Yale--Making the Team--Recollections of the Men he Played With and Against--The Lamar Run--Pennsylvania Experiences.

VIII.--ANECDOTES AND RECOLLECTIONS 102-124

Old-time Signals--Fun with Bert Hansen--Sport Donnelly--Billy Rhodes and Gill--Victorious Days at Yale--Corbin's 1888 Team--Pa Corbin's Speech when his Team was Banqueted--Mr. and Mrs. Walter Camp, Head Coaches of the Yale Football Team in 1888--Cowan the Great--Story of His Football Days--He was Disqualified by Wyllys Terry--Tribute to Heffelfinger--Going Back with John Cranston.

IX.--THE NINETIES AND AFTER 125-163

The Day Sanford Made the Yale Team--Parke Davis--Sanford and Yost Obstructing the Traffic--Phil King--The Old Flying Wedges--Pop Gailey--Charlie Young--An Evening with Jim Rodgers--Vance McCormick and Denny O'Neil--Dartmouth and Some of Her Men--Dave Fultz--Christy Mathewson at Bucknell--Jack Munn Tells of Buffalo Bill--Booth Tells of his Western Experiences--Harry Kersburg--Heff Herring at Merton College--Carl Flanders--Bill Horr.

X.--COLLEGE TRADITIONS AND SPIRIT 164-180

College Life in America is Rich in Traditions--The Value of College Spirit--Each College Has its Own Traditions--Alumni Parade--School Master and Boy--Victory must never Overshadow Honor--Constructive Criticism of the Alumni--Mass Meeting Enthusiasm--Horse Edwards, Princeton '89--Job E. Hedges.

XI.--JOHNNY POE'S OWN STORY 181-193

Private W. Faulkner, a Comrade in the Black Watch, Tells of Poe's Death--Johnny's Last Words--Paul MacWhelan Gives London Impressions of Poe's Death--Anecdotes that Johnny Poe Wrote While in Nevada.

XII.--ARMY AND NAVY 194-225

Character and Training of West Point and Annapolis Players--Experience of the Visitor Watching the Drill of Battalion--Annapolis Recollections and Football Traditions at Naval Academy--Old Players--A Trip de Luxe to West Point--West Point Recollections--Harmon Graves--The Way They Have in the Army--The Army and Navy Game.

XIII.--HARD LUCK IN THE GAME 226-246

In Football, as it is in Life, We have no Use for a Quitter--Football a Game for the Man who Has Nerve--Many a Small Man has Made a Big Man look Ridiculous--Morris Ely Game Though Handicapped--Val Flood's Recollections--Andy Smith--Vonabalde Gammon of Georgia.

XIV.--BRINGING HOME THE BACON 247-285

Billy Bull's Recollections of Yale Games--The Day Columbia Beat Yale--Dressing Room Scene where Doxology Was Sung--Account by Richard Harding Davis--Introducing Vic Kennard of Harvard Fame--Opportunist Extraordinary--His Experience with Mr. E. H. Coy--Charlie Barrett, of Cornell--Eddie Hart of Princeton--Sam White--Joe Duff--Side Line Thoughts of Doctor W. A. Brooks and Evert Jansen Wendell--New Haven Wreck--Eddie Mahan talking--His Opinion of Frank Glick--George Chadwick of Yale--Arthur Poe--Story of his Run and of his Kick--John DeWitt's Story--Tichenor, of Georgia--"Bobbing Up and Down" Story--Charlie Brickley.

XV.--THE BLOODY ANGLE 286-295

Going Back to the Rough Days--Princeton vs. Harvard Fall of '87 at Jarvis Field--Luther Price's Experiences in the Game--Cowan's Disqualification by Wyllys Terry--The Umpire--Walter Camp was Referee--Holden Carried Off the Field--Bob Church's Valor.

XVI.--THE FAMILY IN FOOTBALL 296-305

Football Men in Two Distinct Classes--Those who are Made into Players by the Coaches and Those who are Born with the Football Instinct--The Poes, Camps, Winters, Ames, Drapers, Riggs, Youngs, Withingtons, etc.

XVII.--OUR GOOD OLD TRAINERS 306-336

Our Good Old Trainers--Jack McMasters--"Dear Old Jim Robinson"--Mike Murphy the Dean of Trainers--"The Old Mike"--A Chat with Pooch Donovan--Keene Fitzpatrick and his Experiences--Mike Sweeney--Jack Moakley--There is much Humor in Johnny Mack--Huggins of Brown--Harry Tuthill--Doctor W. M. Conant, Harvard '79, First Doctor in Charge of any team.

XVIII.--NIGHTMARES 337-348

Frank Morse, of Princeton on the Spirit in Defeat--Tom Shevlin's Story--Nightmares of W. C. Rhodes--A Yale Nightmare--Sam Morse--Jim Hogan--The Cornell Game of 1915 is Eddie Mahan's Nightmare--Jack De Saulles' Nightmare.

XIX.--MEN WHO COACHED 349-382

No coaches in the Old Days--Personality Counts in Coaching--Football is Fickle--Haughton at Harvard at the Psychological Moment--Old Harvard Coaches--Al Sharpe--Glenn Warner--The Indians--Billy Bull in the Game--Sanford, the Unique--Making of Chadwick--W. R. Tichenor, Emergency Coach of the South--Auburn Recollections--Listening to Yost--Reggie Brown--Jimmy Knox--Harvard Scouts--Dartmouth Holds a Unique Position in College Football--Ed Hall, the father of Dartmouth Football--Myron E. Witham, Captain of the Dartmouth Team--Walter McCornack--Eddie Holt's Coaching--Harry Kersburg's Harvard Coaching Recollections--Making Two Star Players from the Football Discards--Vic Kennard and Rex Ver Wiebe--John H. Rush--Tad Jones--T. N. Metcalf--Tom Thorp--Bob Folwell--At Pennsylvania.

XX.--UMPIRE AND REFEREE 383-406

"Why Did He Give That Penalty?"--Emotions of an Official--John Bell's Recollections as an Official--In the Old Days One Official Handled the Entire Game--Dashiell's Reminiscences--Matthew McClung--Conversation with John L. Sullivan--My Own Personal Experiences--Evarts Wrenn at Work--Dan Hurley--Bill Crowell--Phil Draper's Ideas--Wyllys Terry's Official Recollections--Explanation of the Cowan Disqualification--Pa Corbin--Joe Pendleton--Refereeing with Nate Tufts--Okeson.

XXI.--CRASH OF CONFLICT 407-433

The First Five Minutes of Play--A Good Start usually means a Good Ending--Bracelet in the Game--Lueder and Blondy Wallace--"I've Got You Buffaloed"--Tom Shevlin remarked: "Mike, This Isn't Football--It's War"--Bemus Pierce: "Now Keep your Eyes Open and Find out who it Was"--"If You Won't be Beat, You Can't be Beat," said Johnny Poe--Rinehart Tells how he Tried to Get even with Sam Boyle--Barkie Donald and Bemus Pierce--The Yale-Harvard Game at Springfield '94--Result; No Game for Nine Years--Frank Hinkey and Wrightington's Broken Collar-bone--Joe Beacham's Paragon--Sandy Hunt--Bill Hollenback.

XXII.--LEST WE FORGET 434-460

Marshall Newell--Gordon Brown--James J. Hogan--Thomas J. Shevlin--Francis H. Burr--Neil Snow--Billy Bannard--Harry Hooper--Richard Harding Davis--McClung.

XXIII.--ALOHA 461-464

Hail and Farewell--The Old Game and the New Compared--Exclusively Collegiate Sport--Isaac H. Bromley, Yale '53, Sums up the Spirit of College Life and Sport!

FOOTBALL DAYS