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[Illustration: THREE VICTORIOUS PRINCETON CAPTAINS
HILLEBRAND, COCHRAN, EDWARDS]
FOOTBALL DAYS
MEMORIES OF THE GAME AND
OF THE MEN BEHIND THE BALL
BY
WILLIAM H. EDWARDS
PRINCETON 1900
WITH INTRODUCTION BY
WALTER CAMP
YALE 1880
MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY
NEW YORK
1916
Copyright, 1916, By
MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY
NEW YORK
Dedicated to John P. Poe, Jr.
Princeton '95
HONORED AND BELOVED BY HOSTS OF FRIENDS, HE REPRESENTED THE HIGHEST
IDEALS OF AMERICAN FOOTBALL, NOT ONLY IN LIFE, BUT IN HIS DEATH UPON THE
BATTLEFIELD IN FRANCE.
AS I THINK OF HIM, THE STIRRING LINES OF HENRY NEWBOLDT COME TO ME AS A
FITTING EULOGY:
VITA LAMPADA
There's a breathless hush in the Close to-night--
Ten to make and the match to win--
A bumping pitch and a blinding light,
An hour to play and the last man in.
And it's not for the sake of a ribboned-coat
Or the selfish hope of a season's fame,
But his captain's hand on his shoulder smote,
"Play up! play up! and play the game!"
The sand of the desert is sodden red--
Red with the wreck of a square that broke,
The gatling jammed and the Colonel dead
And the Regiment blind with dust and smoke.
The river of death has brimmed its banks,
And England's far, and honor a name--
But the voice of a school boy rallies the ranks,
"Play up! play up! and play the game!"
This is the word that year by year
While in her place the school is set
Every one of the sons must hear,
And none that hears it dares forget.
Thus they all with a joyful mind--
Bear their life like a torch in flame--
And failing, fling to the host behind,
"Play up! play up! and play the game!"
GREETING
I value more highly than any other athletic gift I have ever received,
the Princeton football championship banner that hangs on my wall. It was
given to me by a friend who sent three boys to Princeton. It is a
duplicate of the one that hangs in the trophy room of the gymnasium
there.
How often have I gazed longingly at the names of my loyal team-mates
inscribed upon it. Many times have I run over in my mind the part that
each one played on the memorable occasion when that banner was won.
Memories cluster about that token that are dear and sacred to me.
I see before me not only the faces of my team, but the faces of men of
other years and other universities who have contributed so much to the
great game of football. I recall the preparatory school days and the
part that football played in our school and college careers. Again I see
the athletic fields and the dressing rooms. I hear the earnest pleading
of the coaches.
I see the teams run out upon the field and hear the cheering throng. The
coin is tossed in the air. The shrill blast of the referee's whistle
signals the game to start. The ball is kicked off, and the contest is
on.
The thousands of spectators watch breathlessly. For the time the whole
world is forgotten, except for the issue being fought out there before
them.
But we are not dressed in football suits nowadays. We are on the side
lines. We have a different part to play. Years have compelled a change.
In spirit, however, we are still "in the game."
It is to share these memories with all true lovers of football and to
pay a tribute to the heroes of the gridiron who are no longer with us
that I have undertaken this volume. Let us together retrace the days in
which we lived: days of preparation, days of victory, and days of
defeat. Let us also look into the faces of some of the football heroes
of years ago, and recall the achievements that made them famous. And let
us recall, too, the men of the years just past who have so nobly upheld
the traditions of the American game of football, and helped to place it
on its present high plane.
William H. Edwards.
[Illustration: MY CORNER
"Fond memory sheds the light of other days around me."]
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.
[Illustration: 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!
[Illustration: THE OLD FIFTH AVENUE SEND-OFF]
FOOTBALL DAYS
CHAPTER I
PREP. SCHOOL DAYS
To every man there comes a moment that marks the turning point of his
career. For me it was a certain Saturday morning in the autumn of 1891.
As I look back upon it, across the years, I feel something of the same
thrill that stirred my boyish blood that day and opened a door through
which I looked into a new world.
I had just come to the city, a country boy, from my home in Lisle,
N. Y., to attend the Horace Mann School. As I walked across Madison Square,
I glanced toward the old Fifth Avenue Hotel, where my eyes fell upon the
scene depicted in the accompanying picture. Almost before I was aware of
it my curiosity led me to mingle with the crowd surging in and out of
the hotel, and I learned by questioning the bystanders that it was the
headquarters of the Yale team, which that afternoon was to play
Princeton at the Polo Grounds. The players were about to leave the hotel
for the field, and I hurried inside to catch a glimpse of them.
The air was charged with enthusiasm, and I soon caught the
infection--although it was all new to me then--of the vital power of
college spirit which later so completely dominated my life. I recall
with vividness how I lingered and waited for something to happen. Men
were standing in groups, and all eyes were centered upon the heroes of
the team. Every one was talking football. Some of the names heard then
have never been forgotten by me. There was the giant Heffelfinger whom
every one seemed anxious to meet. I was told that he was the crack Yale
guard. I looked at him, and, then and there, I joined the hero
worshippers.
I also remember Lee McClung, the Yale captain, who seemed to realize the
responsibilities that rested upon his shoulders. There was an air of
restraint upon him. In later years he became Treasurer of the United
States and his signature was upon the country's currency. My most vivid
recollection of him will be, however, as he stood there that day in the
corridor of the famous old hotel, on the day of a great football
conflict with Princeton. Then Sanford was pointed out to me, the Yale
center-rush. I recall his eagerness to get out to the "bus" and to be on
his way to the field. When the starting signal was given by the captain,
Sanford's huge form was in the front rank of the crowd that poured out
upon the sidewalk.
The whole scene was intensely thrilling to me, and I did not leave
until the last player had entered the "bus" and it drove off. Crowds of
Yale men and spectators gave the players cheer after cheer as they
rolled away. The flags with which the "bus" was decorated waved in the
breeze, and I watched them with indescribable fascination until they
were out of sight. The noise made by the Yale students I learned
afterwards was college cheering, and college cheers once heard by a boy
are never forgotten.
Many in that throng were going to the game. I could not go, but the
scene that I had just witnessed gave me an inspiration. It stirred
something within me, and down deep in my soul there was born a desire to
go to college.
I made my way directly to the Y. M. C. A. gymnasium, then at the corner
of Fourth Avenue and Twenty-third Street. Athletics had for me a greater
attraction than ever before, and from that day I applied myself with
increased enthusiasm to the work of the gymnasium.
The following autumn I entered St. John's Military Academy at Manlius,
N. Y., a short distance from my old home. I was only seventeen years of
age and weighed 217 pounds.
Former Adjutant General William Verbeck--then Colonel Verbeck--was Head
Master. Before I was fairly settled in my room, the Colonel had drafted
me as a candidate for the football team. I wanted to try for the team,
and was as eager to make it as he evidently was to have me make it. But
I did not have any football togs, and the supply at the school did not
contain any large enough.
So I had to have some built for me. The day they arrived, much to my
disappointment, I found the trousers were made of white canvas. Their
newness was appalling and I pictured myself in them with feelings of
dismay. I robbed them of their whiteness that night by mopping up a lot
of mud with them behind the gymnasium. When they had dried--by
morning--they looked like a pair of real football trousers.
George Redington of Yale was our football coach. He was full of
contagious fire. Redington seemed interested in me and gave me much
individual coaching. Colonel Verbeck matched him in love of the game. He
not only believed in athletics, but he played at end on the second team,
and it was pretty difficult for the boys to get the best of him. They
made an unusual effort to put the Colonel out of the plays, but, try as
hard as they might, he generally came out on top. The result was a
decided increase in the spirit of the game.
We had one of the best preparatory school teams in that locality, but
owing to our distance from the larger preparatory schools, we were
forced to play Syracuse, Hobart, Hamilton, Rochester, Colgate, and
Cazenovia Seminary--all of whom we defeated. We also played against the
Syracuse Athletic Association, whose team was composed of
professional athletes as well as former college players. Bert Hanson,
who had been a great center at Yale, was one of this team.
[Illustration:
H. Wallis Coxe Cochran Nessler Heffelfinger W. Winter Mills
Sanford Hartwell Morrison Graves Stillman
McCormick McClung L. T. Bliss
C. Bliss Hinkey Barbour T. Dyer
OLD YALE HEROES--LEE McCLUNG'S TEAM]
Recalling the men who played on our St. John's team, I am confident that
if all of them had gone to college, most of them would have made the
Varsity. In fact, some did.
It was decided that I should go to Lawrenceville School, en route to
Princeton. It was on the trip from Trenton to Lawrenceville, in the big
stage coach loaded with boys, I got my first dose of homesickness. The
prospect of new surroundings made me yearn for St. John's.
The "blue hour" of boyhood, however, is a brief one. I was soon engaged
in conversation with a little fellow who was sitting beside me and who
began discussing the ever-popular subject of football. He was very
inquisitive and wanted to know if I had ever played the game, and if I
was going to try for the team.
He told me about the great game Lawrenceville played with the Princeton
Varsity the year before, when Lawrenceville scored six points before
Princeton realized what they were really up against. He fascinated me by
his graphic description. There was a glowing account of the playing of
Garry Cochran, the great captain of the Lawrenceville team, who had just
graduated and gone to Princeton, together with Sport Armstrong, the
giant tackle.
These men were sure to live in Lawrenceville's history if for nothing
else than the part they had played in that notable game, although
Princeton rallied and won 8 to 6. It was not long before I learned that
my newly-made friend was Billy McGibbon, a member of the Lawrenceville
baseball team.
"Just wait until you see Charlie de Saulles and Billy Dibble play behind
the line," he went on; and from that moment I began to be a part of the
new life, the threshold of which I was crossing. Strangely enough the
memory of getting settled in my new quarters faded with the eventful
moment when the call for candidates came, and I went out with the rest
of the boys to try for the team.
Competition was keen and many candidates offered themselves. I was
placed on the scrub team. One of my first attempts for supremacy was in
the early part of the season when I was placed as right guard of the
scrub against Perry Wentz, an old star player of the school and
absolutely sure of his position. I recall how on several occasions the
first team could not gain as much distance through the second as the men
desired, and Wentz, who later on distinguished himself on the Varsity at
Princeton and still later as a crack player on Pennsylvania, seemed to
have trouble in opening up my position.
Max Rutter, the Lawrenceville captain, with the directness that usually
characterizes such officers, called this fact to Wentz's attention.
Wentz, who probably felt naturally his pride of football fame, became
quite angry at Rutter's remark that he was being outplayed. He took off
his nose-guard, threw it on the ground and left the field.
Rutter moved me over to the first team in Wentz's place. That night
there was a general upset on the team which was settled amicably,
however, and the next day Wentz continued playing in his old place. The
position of guard was given to me on the other side of the line, George
Cadwalader being moved out to the position of tackle. This was the same
Cadwalader who subsequently went to Yale and made a great name for
himself on the gridiron, in spite of the fact that he remained at New
Haven but one year.
It was here at Lawrenceville that this great player made his reputation
as a goal kicker, a fame that was enhanced during his football days at
Yale. Max Rutter, the captain of the Lawrenceville team, went to
Williams and played on the Varsity, eventually becoming captain there
also. Ned Moffat, nephew of Princeton's great Alex Moffat, played end
rush.
About this time I began to realize that Billy McGibbon had given me a
correct line on Charlie de Saulles and Billy Dibble. These two players
worked wonderfully well together, and were an effective scoring machine
with the assistance of Doc MacNider and Dave Davis.
During these days at Lawrenceville Owen Johnson gathered the material
for those interesting stories in which he used his old schoolmates for
the characters. The thin disguise of Doc Macnooder does not, however,
conceal Doc MacNider from his old schoolboy friends. The same is true of
the slightly changed names of Garry Cochran, Turk Righter, Charlie de
Saulles and Billy Dibble.
Charlie de Saulles, after graduation, went to Yale and continued his
wonderful, spectacular career on the gridiron. We will spend an
afternoon with him on the Yale field later.
Billy Dibble went to Williams and played a marvelous game until he was
injured, early in his freshman year. It was during those days that I met
Garry Cochran, Sport Armstrong and other Princeton coaches for the first
time. They used to come over to assist in coaching our team. Our regular
coaches at Lawrenceville were Walter B. Street, who had been a famous
football star years before at Williams, and William J. George, renowned
in Princeton's football history as a center-rush. I cannot praise the
work of these men too highly. They were thoroughbreds in every sense of
the word.
It was one of the old traditions of Lawrenceville football to have a
game every year with Pennington Seminary. What man is there who
attended either school who does not recall the spirit of those old-time
contests?
The Hill School was another of our football rivals. The trip to
Pottstown, Pa., was an event eagerly looked forward to--so also was the
Hill School's return game at Lawrenceville. The rivalry between the two
schools was keen.
Everything possible was done at the Hill School to make our visit a
pleasant one. The score of 28 to 0, by which Lawrenceville won the game
that year, made it especially pleasant.
As I recall that trip, two men stand out in my memory. One was John
Meigs, the Head Master. The other was Mike Sweeney, the Trainer and
Athletic Director. They were the two central figures of Hill School
traditions.
Interest in football was emphasized at that time by the approaching game
with Andover at Lawrenceville. This was the first time that these two
teams had ever played. Andover was probably more renowned in football
annals than any school Lawrenceville had played up to this time. The
Lawrenceville coaches realized that the game would be a strenuous one.
After a conference, the two coaches decided that it would be wise to see
Andover play at Andover the week before we were to play them.
Accordingly, Mr. George went to Andover, and when he returned, he
gathered the team around him in one of the recitation halls and
described carefully the offense and defense of our coming opponents. He
also demonstrated with checkers what each man did in every play and
placed emphasis on the work of Eddie Holt, who was acting captain of the
Andover team. To represent Holt's giant build he placed one checker on
top of another, saying, as I remember, with great seriousness:
"This topped checker represents Holt. He must be taken care of, and it
will require two Lawrenceville men to stop him on every play. I am
certain of this for Holt was a marvel last Saturday."
During the week we drilled secretly and most earnestly in anticipation
of defeating Andover. The game attracted an unusually large number of
spectators. Lawrenceville made it a gala day for its alumni, and all the
old Andover and Lawrenceville boys who could get there witnessed the
game.
When the Andover team ran out upon the field we were all anxious to see
how big Holt loomed up. He certainly was a giant and towered high above
the other members of his team. Soon the whistle blew, and the trouble
was on. In memory now I can see Billy Dibble circling Andover's end for
twenty-five yards, scoring a touchdown amid tremendous excitement.
This all transpired during the first minute and a half of play. Emerson
once said, "We live by moments," and the first minute and a half of that
game must stand out as one of the eventful periods in the life of
every man who recalls that day of play. No grown-up schoolboy can fail
to appreciate the scene or miss the wave of boyish enthusiasm that
rolled over the field at this unlooked for beginning of a memorable game
between schoolboys.
[Illustration:
Davis MacNider Dibble
de Saulles
Moffat Cadwalader Edwards Walton Wentz Geer Rotter
WE BEAT ANDOVER]
This wonderful start of the Lawrenceville team was a goading spur to its
opponents. Johnnie Barnes, an ex-Lawrenceville boy, now quarterback on
the Andover team, seemed fairly inspired as he urged his team on. Eddie
Holt was called upon time and again. He was making strong advances,
aided by French, Hine and Porter. Together they worked out a touchdown.
But Lawrenceville rallied and for the rest of the game their teamwork
was masterly. Bat Geer, who was later a Princeton Varsity player,
Charlie de Saulles and Billy Dibble, each scored touchdowns, making
three altogether for their school.
Thus Lawrenceville, with the score 20 to 6, stepped forth into a new era
and entered the larger football world where she was to remain and
increase her heroic accomplishments in after years.
It is needless to say that the night following this victory was a
crowning one in our preparatory football experiences. Bonfires were
lighted, speeches were the order of the hour, and members of the team
were the guests of honor at a banquet in the Upper House. There was no
rowdy "revelry by night" to spoil the memory of the occasion. It was
just one simple, fine and fitting celebration of a wholesome school
victory on the field of football.
LAST YEAR AT LAWRENCEVILLE
It was up to Billy Dibble, the new captain, to bring about another
championship. We were to play Andover a return game there. Captain
Dibble was left with but three of last year's team as a foundation to
build on. Dibble's team made a wonderful record. He was a splendid
example for the team to follow, and his playing, his enthusiasm, and
earnest efforts contributed much toward the winning of the Andover,
Princeton freshmen and Hill School games. There appeared at
Lawrenceville a new coach who assisted Street and George. He was none
other than the famous Princeton halfback, Douglas Ward, whose record as
an honored man in the classroom as well as on the football field was
well known to all of us, and had stood out among college athletes as a
wonderful example. He was very modest. I recall that some one once asked
him how he made the only touchdown against Yale in the '93 game. His
reply was: "Oh, somebody just pushed me over."
Fresh in my memory is the wonderful trip that we boys made to Andover.
We were proud of the fact that the Colonial Express was especially
ordered to stop at Trenton for us, and as we took our seats in the
Pullman car, we realized that our long looked for expedition had really
begun.
We had a great deal of fun on the trip to Boston. Good old George
Cadwalader was the center of most of the jokes. His 215 pounds added to
the discomfort of a pair of pointed patent leather shoes, which were far
too small for him. As soon as he was settled in the train he removed
them and dozed off to sleep. Turk Righter and some of the other fun
makers tied the shoe strings together, and hung them out of the window
where they blew noisily against the window pane.
When we arrived in Jersey City it was a treat for us to see our train
put aboard the ferry boat of the N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R., and, as we
sailed down the bay, up the East River and under the Brooklyn Bridge to
the New Haven docks, it all seemed very big and wonderful.
When the train stopped at New Haven, we were met by the
Yale-Lawrenceville men, who wished us the best of luck; some of them
making the trip with us to Boston. When we arrived in Andover the next
day I had the satisfaction of seeing my brother and cousin, who were at
that time attending Andover Academy.
The hospitality that was accorded the Andover team, while at
Lawrenceville the year before, was repaid in royal fashion. We had ample
time to view the grounds and buildings and grow keen in anticipation
and interest in the afternoon's contest.
When the whistle blew, we were there for business. My personal opponent
was a fellow named Hillebrand, who besides being a football player was
Andover's star pitcher. Later on we became the best of friends and side
partners on the Princeton team, and often spoke of our first meeting
when we played against each other. Hillebrand was one of the greatest
athletes Andover ever turned out. Lawrenceville defeated Andover in one
of the hardest and most exciting of all Prep. School contests, one that
was uncertain from beginning to end.
Billy Dibble played the star game of the day and after eight minutes he
scored a touchdown. Cadwalader booted the ball over the goal and the
score was 6 to 0. The Lawrenceville backfield, made up of Powell, Dave
Davis, Cap Kafer and Dibble, worked wonderfully well. Kafer did some
excellent punting against his remarkable opponent Barker, who seemed to
be as expert as he.
The efficient work of Hillebrand and of Chadwell, the colored end-rush,
stands out pre-eminently. The latter player developed into one of the
best end-rushes that ever played at Williams. Goodwin, Barker and
Greenway contributed much to Andover's good play. Jim Greenway is one of
the famous Greenway boys whose athletic history at Yale is a matter of
record. A few minutes later the Andover crowd were aroused by Goodwin
making the longest run of the game--fifty-five yards, scoring Andover's
first touchdown, and making the score 6 to 6.
There was great speculation as to which team would win the game, but
Billy Dibble, aided by the wonderful interference on the part of Babe
Eddie, who afterward played end on the Yale team, and Emerson, who, had
he gone to college, would have been a wonder, made a touchdown. George
Cadwalader with his sure right foot made the score 12 to 6. Enthusiasm
was at its height. Andover rooters were calling upon their team to tie
the score. A touchdown and goal would mean a tie. The Andover team
seemed to answer their call, for soon Goodwin scored a touchdown, making
the score 12 to 10, and Butterfield, Andover's right halfback, was put
to the test amidst great excitement. The ball went just to the side of
the goal post, and Lawrenceville had won 12 to 10. Great is the thrill
of a victory won on an opponent's field!
That night after dinner, as I was sitting in my brother's room, with
some of his Andover friends, there was a yell from outside, and a loud
knock on the door. In walked a big fellow wearing a blue sweater.
Through his open coat one could observe the big white letter "A." It
proved to be none other than Doc Hillebrand. Without one word of comment
he walked over to where I was sitting and said: "Edwards, what was the
score of the game to-day?" I could not get the idea at all. I said:
"Why, you ought to know." He replied: "12 to 10," and turning on his
heel, left the room. This caused a good deal of amusement, but it was
soon explained that Hillebrand was being initiated into a secret society
and that this was one of the initiation stunts.
It was a wonderfully happy trip back to Lawrenceville. The spirit ran
high. It was then that Turk Righter wrote the well known Lawrenceville
verse which we sang again and again:
Cap kicked, Barker kicked
Cap he got the best of it
They both kicked together
But Cap kicked very hard
Bill ran, Dave ran
Then Andover lost her grip
She also lost her championship
Sis, boom ah!
As we were about two miles outside of Lawrenceville, we saw a mass of
light in the roadway, and when we heard the boys yelling at the top of
their voices, we realized that the school was having a torch-light
procession and coming to welcome us. Great is that recollection! They
took the horses off and dragged the stage back to Lawrenceville and in
and about the campus. It was not long before the whole school was
singing the song of success that Turk Righter had written.
A big celebration followed. We did not break training because we had
still another game to play. When Lawrenceville had beaten the Hill
School 20 to 0, many of us realized that we had played our last game for
Lawrenceville. George Cadwalader was shortly afterward elected Captain
for the coming year. It was at this time that Lawrenceville was
overjoyed to learn that Garry Cochran, a sophomore at Princeton, had
been elected captain of the Princeton varsity. This recalled former
Lawrenceville boys, Pop Warren and Doggie Trenchard, who had played at
Lawrenceville, gone to Princeton and had become varsity captains there.
Snake Ames also prepared at Lawrenceville.
I might incidentally state that we stayed at Lawrenceville until June to
get our diplomas, realizing that there were many able fellows to
continue the successful traditions of Lawrenceville football, George
Mattis, Howard Richards, Jack de Saulles, Cliff Bucknam, John De Witt,
Bummie Ritter, Dana Kafer, John Dana, Charlie Dudley, Heff Herring,
Charlie Raymond, Biglow, the Waller brothers and others.