RAKED, FORE AND AFT
IN the training quarters, "Bull" Hendricks paced to and fro, his
forehead creased by deep lines as he wrestled with the problems that
beset him.
Six feet two inches in height and built in proportion, he was a fine
figure of a man. Despite his weight and bulk, there was nothing ungainly
or awkward about him. If he had not the grace of an Apollo, he had what
was better--the mighty thews and sinews of a twentieth century Hercules.
His massive chest and broad shoulders were capped by a leonine head,
from which looked the imperious eyes of a born leader of men. Few men
cared to encounter those eyes when their owner was angered. He was a
good man to have as an ally, but a bad one to have as an antagonist.
How he had obtained his nickname was a disputed question in college
tradition. Some maintained that it was due to a habit of plunging
through the opposing lines with the power and momentum of an enraged
buffalo. Others with equal likelihood held that it was an abbreviation
of "bulldog," and had been won by the grit and grip that never let go
when he had closed with an enemy. But whatever the origin of the term,
all agreed that either definition was good enough to express the courage
and power and tenacity of the man. Force--physical force, mental force,
moral force--was the supreme characteristic that summed him up.
In his college days, ten years earlier, he had been a tower of strength
on the greatest football team that had ever worn the Blue, and the part
he played in its triumphs was still a matter of college song and story.
It was the day when mass play counted heavily, when the "guards back"
and the "flying wedge" were the favorite formations; and the Blue would
never forget how, after a series of line plunging, bone-breaking rushes,
he had dragged himself over the enemy's goal line with the whole frantic
eleven piled on him, while the Blue stands went stark raving mad over
the prowess of their champion. That famous goal had won him an
undisputed place on the All-American team for that year and the
captaincy of his own team the following season.
His reputation clung to him after he had graduated, and even among his
business associates he was commonly and affectionately referred to as
"Bull." The same qualities of courage and tenacity that had marked his
student days had followed him into the broader arena of business life,
and he had speedily become prosperous. But the tug of the old college
had drawn him back for more or less time every year to help "lick the
cubs into shape" and renew the memories of the past. This year the call
had been particularly insistent, owing to two bad seasons in succession,
when the Blues had been forced to lower their colors to their exulting
rivals who had so many defeats to avenge. A hurry call had gone out for
the very best man available to stop the "tobogganing" of the team; and
as this by universal consent was "Bull" Hendricks, he had, at a great
sacrifice, laid aside his personal interests and come to the rescue.
A few days on the ground had been sufficient to show him that he was "up
against it." A herculean task awaited him. The material he had to work
with was none too good. The line was lacking in "beef" and the backs in
speed. There were exceptions, notably at center and full and quarter;
and here his falcon eye detected the stuff of which stars are made. But
it takes eleven men to make a team and no individual brilliancy can
atone for a lack of combination work. "A chain is no stronger than its
weakest link," and, in a modified sense, a team is no stronger than its
weakest player. That one weaker player would be unerringly "sized up" by
the sharp-eyed scouts of the opposition and they would plunge against
him like a battering ram.
Usually, at the beginning of the fall season, there would be an influx
of promising candidates from the leading academies and preparatory
schools. Fellows who had starred at Andover and Exeter and
Lawrenceville, some of them giants in bulk or racehorses in speed, would
come in as Freshmen and give the Sophs or Juniors a tussle for the team.
But "nothing succeeds like success," and the failure of the Blues for
two seasons in succession had tarnished their prestige and turned toward
other colleges the players emulous of football glory. The "Greys" and
"Maroons" had "gobbled" the most likely "future greats" and the Blues
had been replenished by a number limited in quantity and mediocre in
quality. Of his veterans, the right guard and left tackle had graduated
that summer, and their places in the line would be hard to fill.
Not that the coach felt discouraged. He didn't know the meaning of the
word. It simply meant that he would have to work the harder. Like
Napoleon, the word "impossible" was not in his dictionary. It was said
once of a famous educator that "Mark Hopkins at one end of a log and a
student at the other would make a university." With equal truth it could
be declared that "Bull" Hendricks on the coaching line and eleven men
on the field would turn out a 'Varsity team.
His task was the more difficult just now because he was practically
alone. It was too early in the season for the "old grads" to put in an
appearance. By and by they would come flocking in droves from all
quarters of the compass, eager to renew their youth, and to infuse into
the raw recruits some of the undying enthusiasm that they felt for their
old Alma Mater. Then every separate player on the team could have the
benefit of the advice of some famous former player in his own position,
who would teach him every trick and turn by which he had won his own
reputation. But at present most of the work devolved on him. He had to
teach the backs how to kick, the ends how to run down under a punt, the
guards and tackles how to interfere; and into all he had to infuse the
deathless determination to win that is the very heart and core of the
game. Like a new Atlas, he was carrying the football world on his
shoulders, alone.
No, not quite alone. There was "Reddy." And that sorrel-topped
individual was a host in himself.
Not one fellow out of ten could have told his real name. He was simply
"Reddy" and they let it go at that. His flaming mop of hair to which he
owed his nickname covered a shrewd if uneducated mind. For many years he
had been connected with the college as head trainer, and in this
capacity he had turned out so many winners that he had become famous in
the athletic world. He had supreme control of the physical training of
all the teams turned out by the college--track, baseball and
football--and none excelled him in sending their men to the post in
superb condition. He had an unerring eye for an athlete and knew how to
bring each individual to the very top of his form. Whatever was in him
he brought out to the full. He was a universal favorite in the college.
All the boys swore by him, although at times perhaps--for his temper was
as red as his hair--they were tempted to swear _at_ him. But if they
ever did, it was under their breath, for Reddy was an autocrat, and in
his own domain ruled with an iron hand.
Just now, he was, as he himself put it, "as busy as a one-armed
paperhanger with the hives." Dinner was over and the football
candidates, scrub and 'Varsity alike, were getting into their togs and
undergoing the searching scrutiny of Reddy. There were bad knees and
ankles and shoulders galore. He began at the soles of the feet and went
up to the crown of the head.
"Take off those shoes, Kincaid," he commanded. "The soles are worn so
thin that you can't help feeling the cleats through them. Before you
know it, your feet'll be so bruised that you'll be wanting a crutch."
"Those phony ankles again, eh," he remarked, as he noticed a slight
wobbling on the part of Anderson. "Here," to an assistant, "give me that
tape." And with the skill of a surgeon he applied strips of adhesive
tape along each ligament, leaving a narrow space down the instep free
from bandaging to allow free circulation of the blood. And when he got
through, the "phony" ankle was so protected that it was practically
impossible for it to turn under its owner.
So, step by step, he went up the human frame that he knew so well. Shin
guards were handed out to the forwards to help them against the fierce
hammering that they would have to meet. Pads were strapped below the
knee and left loose above to give free play to the joints. The thighs
were protected by fiber, and large felt pads covered the hips and
kidneys. Then with shoulder and collarbone pads, topped by a head guard,
the costume was complete. Then Reddy stood in the door that led to the
presence of the coach and not a man went through until the trainer's
critical eye pronounced him ready for the fray.
"Don't hurry," he said goodnaturedly, as some crowded past him. "'Tis
quick enough ye'll be getting in there, I'm thinking," and his eyes
twinkled, as he thought of the castigation that awaited them.
To tell the truth, they did not hurry. There were no bouquets awaiting
them. They knew that they were due for a raking fore and aft and that
they deserved it. No one could tell which one or how many would be
"fired" back into the scrubs. More than one of them, on waking in the
morning, wondered what made his heart so heavy, until with a qualm the
thought of "Bull" Hendricks came to enlighten him. That thought had
persisted all through the morning hours, and, if they were distrait in
the recitation rooms, the reason was not far to seek. Even Tom's
irrepressible spirits were somewhat tamed, although he had less to fear
than some of the others.
"Gee," he whispered, "it's like a funeral."
"Don't cheer, boys, the poor devils are dying," murmured Bert.
"They piled the stiffs outside the door,
There must have been a cord or more,"
quoted Dick.
The subdued way in which the boys filed in gave the coach his cue.
"Nice little flock of sheep," he purred. "Little Bo-Peep will miss you
pretty soon and come down here looking for you."
"There was a time," he flashed, "when a Blue football team was a pack of
wolves. But you're just sheep and the 'Greys' and 'Maroons' will make
mutton of you, all right."
"A football team!" he went on scornfully. "Why, you don't know the
rudiments of the game. You're a bunch of counterfeits. You can't tackle,
you can't interfere, you can't kick, you can't buck the line. Outside of
that, you're all right.
"Now this kind of work has got to stop. As a comic opera football team,
you're a scream. If the 'Greys' or 'Maroons' had seen you yesterday,
they'd have laughed themselves to death. But no Blue team has ever been
a joke in my time, and you're not going to get away with it, if I can
pound any brains into your heads or any strength in your muscles. If
Nature hasn't done it already, I don't know that I can, but I'm going to
try. The team I'm going to send into the field may be licked but it
shan't be disgraced. It's going to be an eleven made up of men--not
female impersonators. And I'll get them if I have to rake the college
with a comb."
From generals he came down to particulars, and his rasping tongue spared
no one, as he went over the plays of the day before and described their
sins of omission and commission. The men writhed beneath the lash and
their faces tingled with shame. But they were game and stood the
"lacing" with what grace they might, the more so as they realized that
the criticism, though bitter, was just. His whip tore the flesh and he
rubbed vitriol into the wounds, but behind it all was his immense
passion for victory and his pride in the old college that they loved and
wanted to serve as ardently as he did. It was a wry dose and they
swallowed it with a gulp, but it braced them to new endeavor, and deep
down in their hearts was forming a resolution that boded ill for the
scrubs, who had been gloating while the 'Varsity "got theirs."
"Now," the coach concluded, "I'd about made up my mind to fire half this
gang of quitters back into the scrubs, but I'm going to give you one
more chance. Do you get me? Just one more. For the next hour, you'll
practice tackling and passing and interference. Then when you've
limbered up your poor old joints, I'm going to line you up against the
scrubs. I want you to rip them up, eat them alive, tear them to pieces.
And heaven help the 'Varsity man that falls down on the job."
The boys saw some real practice that day. The coach was merciless. They
flung themselves against the dummy tackle until they were bruised and
sore. They ran down the field under punts until their breath came in
gasps. They practiced the forward pass until they were dizzy and seemed
to see ten balls flying over the field instead of one. But no one
complained or shirked, although every separate bone and muscle seemed to
have its own particular ache. A short respite, the 'Varsity and scrub
faced each other as they had the day before.
But the hour had struck for the scrubs. They faced their doom. To be
sure, they faced it gallantly, but it was doom none the less. From the
beginning they never had a chance. All the pent up rage of the 'Varsity
that had accumulated while they were being flayed by the coach was
poured out on the devoted heads of their opponents. They wiped out the
stigma of the day before and paid their debt with interest. It was a
"slaughter grim and great," and before their furious attack the scrub
line crumpled up like paper.
In vain Morley yelled to his little band to stand fast. They might as
well have tried to stem Niagara. Warren and Hodge tackled like fiends.
Dick at center and Tom at quarter worked together with the precision of
a machine. Bert's mighty kicks were sure to find Caldwell or Drake under
them when they came down, and three times he lifted the pigskin over the
bars. Then as the play was most of the time in the scrubs' territory,
the kicking game gave place to line bucking. Bert was given the ball,
and through the holes that Boyd and Ellis made for him in the enemy's
line he plunged like a locomotive. There was no stopping them, and the
game became a massacre. They simply stood the scrubs "on their heads."
Their own goal line was not even threatened, let alone crossed.
Touchdown followed touchdown, until when the whistle blew, the 'Varsity
had rolled up a score of 54 to 0 and their humiliation had been
gloriously avenged.
"Well, Morley," taunted Drake, as the panting warriors left the field,
"how about that 'false alarm' stuff?"
"Who's loony now?" crowed Tom.
"Only a spasm," countered Morley, with a sickly grin. "We'll get you
yet."
"Bull" Hendricks said never a word as the fellows filed past, but, as he
turned to leave the field, his eyes encountered Reddy's, and he favored
that grinning individual with a drawing down of the right eyelid that
closely resembled a wink. And when he was alone in his own quarters, he
indulged in a low chuckle.
"Pretty strong medicine," he said to himself as he lighted his pipe,
"but it worked. I guess I'm some doctor."