ANECDOTES AND RECOLLECTIONS
In the latter eighties the signal from the quarterback to the center for
putting the ball in play was a pressure of the fingers and thumb on the
hips of the center. In the '89 championship game between Yale and
Princeton, Yale had been steadily advancing the ball and it looked as if
they had started out for a march up the field for a touchdown. In those
days signals were not rattled off with the speed that they are given
now, and the quarterback often took some time to consider his next play,
during which time he might stand in any position back of the line.
Playing right guard on the Princeton team was J. R. Thomas, more
familiarly known as Long Tommy. He was six feet six or seven inches tall
and built more longitudinally than otherwise. It occurred to Janeway,
who was playing left guard, that Long Tommy's great length and reach
might be used to great advantage when occasion offered.
He, therefore, took occasion to say to Thomas during a lull in the game,
"If you get a chance, reach over when Wurtenburg--the Yale
quarter--isn't looking, and pinch the Yale center so that he will put
the ball in play when the backs are not expecting it." The Yale center,
by the way, was Bert Hanson. Yale continued to advance the ball on two
or three successive plays and finally had a third down with two yards to
gain. At this critical moment the looked-for opportunity arrived.
Wurtenburg called a consultation of the other backs to decide on the
next play. While the consultation was going on Long Tommy reached over
and gently nipped Hanson where he was expecting the signal. Hanson
immediately put the ball in play and as a result Janeway broke through
and fell on the ball for a ten yards gain and first down for Princeton.
To say that the Yale team were frantic with surprise and rage would be
putting it mildly. Poor Hanson came in for some pretty rough flagging.
He swore by all that was good and holy that he had received the signal
to put the ball in play, which was true. But Wurtenburg insisted that he
had not given the signal. There was no time for wrangling at that moment
as the referee ordered the game to proceed.
Yale did not learn how that ball came to be put in play until some time
after the game, which was the last of the season, when Long Tommy
happening to meet up with Hanson and several other Yale players in a New
York restaurant, told with great glee how he gave the signal that
stopped Yale's triumphant advance.
* * * * *
Numerals and combinations of numbers were not used as signals until
1889. Prior to that, phrases, catch-words and gestures were the only
modes of indicating the plays to be used. For instance, the signal for
Hector Cowan of Princeton to run with the ball was an entreaty by the
captain, who in those days usually gave the signals, addressed to the
team, to gain an uneven number of yards. Therefore the expression,
"Let's gain three, five or seven yards," would indicate to the team that
Cowan was to take the ball, and an effort was made to open up the line
for him at the point at which he usually bucked it.
Irvine, the other tackle, ran with the ball when an even number of yards
was called for.
For a kick the signal was any phrase which asked a question, as for
instance, "How many yards to gain?"
One of the signals used by Corbin, captain of Yale, to indicate a
certain play, was the removal of his cap. They wore caps in those days.
A variation of this play was indicated if in addition to removing his
cap he expectorated emphatically.
Hodge, the Princeton quarterback, noticing the cap signals, determined
that he would handicap the captain's strategy by stealing his cap. He
called the team back and very earnestly impressed upon them the
advantage that would accrue if any of them could surreptitiously get
possession of Captain Corbin's head-covering. Corbin, however, kept such
good watch on his property that no one was able to purloin it.
Sport Donnelly, who played left end on Princeton's '89 team, was perhaps
one of the roughest players that ever went into a game, and at the same
time one of the best ends that ever went down the field under a kick.
Donnelly was one of the few men that could play his game up to the top
notch and at the same time keep his opponent harassed to the point of
frenzy by a continual line of conversation in a sarcastic vein which
invariably got the opposing player rattled.
He would say or do something to the man opposite him which would goad
that individual to fury and then when retaliation was about to come in
the shape of a blow, he would yell "Mr. Umpire," and in many instances
the player would be ruled off the field.
Donnelly's line of conversation in a Yale game, addressed to Billy
Rhodes who played opposite him, would be somewhat as follows:
"Ah, Mr. Rhodes, I see Mr. Gill is about to run with the ball."
Just then Gill would come tearing around from his position at tackle and
Donnelly would remark:
"Well, excuse me, Mr. Rhodes, for a moment, I've got to tackle Mr.
Gill."
He would then sidestep in such a manner as to elude Rhodes's
manoeuvres to prevent him breaking through, and stop Gill for a loss.
Hector Cowan, who was captain of the Princeton '88 team was another
rough player. In those days the men in the heat of playing would indulge
in exclamations hardly fit for a drawing room. In fact most of the time
the words used would have been more in place among a lot of pirates.
Cowan was no exception to the rule so far as giving vent to his feelings
was concerned, but he invariably used one phrase to do so. He was a
fellow of sterling character and was studying for the ministry. Not even
the excitement of the moment could make him forget himself to the extent
of the other players, and where their language would have to be
represented in print by a lot of dashes, Cowan's could be printed in the
blackest face type without offending anyone.
It was amusing to see this big fellow, worked up to the point of
explosion, wave his arms and exclaim:
"Oh, sugar!"
It would bring a roar of mock protest from the other players, and
threats to report him for his rough talk. While the men made joke of
Hector's talk they had a thorough respect for his sterling principles.
VICTORIOUS DAYS AT YALE
During the early days of football Yale's record was an enviable one. The
schedules included, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, University of
Pennsylvania, Rutgers, Columbia, Stevens Institute of Technology,
Dartmouth, Amherst, and University of Michigan.
It is interesting to note that since the formation of the Football
Association, in 1879 to 1889, Yale had been awarded the championship
flag five times, Princeton one, Harvard none. Yale had won 95 out of 98
games, having lost three to Princeton, one to Harvard and one to
Columbia. Since 1878 Yale had lost but one game and that by one point.
This was the Tilly Lamar game, which Princeton won. In points Yale had
scored, since points began to be counted, 3001 to her opponents' 56; in
goals 530 to 19 and in touchdowns 219 to 9, which is truly a unique
record.
It was during this period that Pa Corbin, a country boy, entered Yale
and in his senior year became captain of the famous '88 team. This
brilliant eleven had a wonderfully successful season and Yale men now
began to take stock and really appreciate the remarkable record that was
hers upon the field of football.
In commemoration of these victories, Yale men gathered from far and
near, crowding Delmonico's banquet hall to the limit to pay tribute to
Yale athletic successes.
"And it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet,
and the people shouted with a great shout ... they took the city."
In a room beautifully decorated with Yale banners and trophies four
hundred Elis sat down to enjoy the Bulldog Feast, and there honored and
cheered to the echo the great football traditions of Yale and the men
who made her famous by so vast a margin.
Chauncey M. Depew in his address that evening stated that for the only
time in one hundred and eighty-eight years the alumni of Yale met solely
to celebrate her athletic triumphs.
Pa Corbin, captain of the victorious '88 football team, responded, as
follows:
"Again we have met the enemy and he is ours. In fact we have been
successful so many times there is something of a sameness about it. It
is a good deal like what the old man said about leading a good life. It
is monotonous, but satisfactory. There are perhaps a few special reasons
why we won the championship this year, but the general principles are
the same, which have always made us win. First, by following out certain
traditions, which are handed down to us year by year from former team
captains and coaches; the necessity of advancing each year beyond the
point attained the year before; the mastering of the play of our
opponents and planning our game to meet it. Second, by the hard,
conscientious work, such as only a Yale team knows how to do. Third,
by going on to the field with that high courage and determination which
has always been characteristic of the Yale eleven, something like the
spirit of the ancient Greeks who went into battle with the decision to
return with their shields or on them. Sometimes they have been animated
with the spirit which knows no defeat, like the little drummer boy, who
was ordered by Napoleon in a crisis in the battle to beat a retreat. The
boy did not move. 'Boy, beat a retreat.' He did not stir, but at a third
command, he straightened up and said: 'Sire, I know not how, but I can
beat a charge that will wake the dead.' He did so and the troops moved
forward and were victorious. It is this same spirit which in many cases
has seemed to animate our men.
[Illustration:
Rhodes Woodruff Heffelfinger Gill Wallace
Stagg McClung Captain Corbin Bull
Wurtenberg Graves
PA CORBIN'S TEAM]
"But our victory is due in a great measure this year to a man who knows
more about football than any man in this country, who gave much of his
valuable time in continually advising and in actual coaching on the
field. I refer to Walter Camp, and as long as his spirit hovers over the
Yale campus and our traditions for football playing are religiously
followed out there is no reason why Yale should not remain, as she
always has been, at the head of American football."
Those were Corbin's recollections the year of that great victory. Time
has not dimmed them, nor has his memory faded. Rather the opposite.
From what follows you will note that a woman now enters the camp of the
Eli coaching staff, mention of whom was not made in Corbin's speech of
'88.
Pa Corbin prides himself in the fact that twenty-five years afterward he
brought his old team mates together and gave them a dinner. The menu
card tells of the traditional coaching system of Corbin's great team of
'88 and beneath the picture of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Camp appears in
headlines:
"HEAD COACHES OF THE YALE FOOTBALL TEAM OF 1888"
"The head-coaches of the Yale team," says Corbin, "were really Mr. and
Mrs. Walter Camp. They had been married in the summer of 1888 and were
staying with relatives in New Haven. Mr. Camp had just begun his
connection with a New Haven concern which occupied most of his time.
Mrs. Camp was present at Yale Field every day at the football practice
and made careful note of the plays, the players and anything that should
be observed in connection with the style of play and the individual
weakness or strength. She gave her observations in detail to her husband
at supper every night and when I arrived Mr. Camp would be thoroughly
familiar with that day's practice and would be ready for suggestions as
to plays and players to be put in operation the next day.
"This method was pursued during the entire season and was practically
the only systematic coaching that the team received. Of course there
were several old players like Tompkins '84, Terry '85 and Knapp '82, who
came to the field frequently.
"At that time it was customary for me to snap the ball back to the
quarter with my foot. By standing the ball on end and exercising a
certain pressure on the same it was possible to have it bound into the
quarterback's hands. It was necessary, therefore, for me to attend to
this detail as well as to block my opponent and make holes through the
line for the backs.
"While the rules of the game at that time provided for an Umpire as well
as a Referee, the fact that there was no neutral zone and players were
in close contact with each other on the line of scrimmage gave
opportunity for more roughness than is customary at the present time.
Neither were the officials so strict about their rulings.
"Prior to this time it had been customary to give word signals for the
different plays, these being certain words which were used in various
sentences relating to football and the progress of the game. As center,
I was so tall that a system of sign signals was devised which I used
entirely in the Princeton game, and the opponents, from the talk, which
continued as usual, supposed that word signals were being used and were
entirely ignorant of the sign signals during the progress of the game.
The pulling of the visor of my cap was a kick signal. Everything that I
did with my left hand in touching different parts of my uniform on the
left side from collar to shoe lace meant a signal for a play at
different points on the left side of the line. Similar signals with my
right hand meant similar plays on the right side of the line. The system
worked perfectly and there was no case of missed signal. The next year
the use of numbers for signals began, and has continued until the
present date.
"The work of the Yale team during the season was very much retarded by
injuries to their best players. The papers were so filled with these
accounts that the general opinion of the public was that the team would
be in poor physical condition to meet Princeton. As luck would have it,
however, the invalids reached a convalescing stage in time to enter the
Wesleyan game on the Saturday before the one to be played with Princeton
in fairly good condition.
"Head Coach Camp and I attended the Princeton-Harvard game at Princeton
on that day. Upon our return to New York we received a telegram from
Mrs. Camp to the effect that the score made by Yale against Wesleyan was
105 to nothing. One of the graduate coaches was much impressed with the
opportunity to turn a few pennies and he requested that the information
be kept quiet until he could see a few Princeton men. The result was
that he negotiated the small end of several stakes at long odds against
Yale. When the news of the Wesleyan score was made public the next
morning, the opinion of the public changed somewhat as to the merit of
the team. It nevertheless went into the Princeton game as not being the
favorite and in the opinion of disinterested persons it was expected
that Princeton would win handsomely."
Cowan the great has this to say:
"I happened to be down on the grounds to watch the practice just a few
days before the Yale game. They did not have enough scrub to make a good
defense. Jim Robinson happened to see me there and asked me to play. He
had asked me before, and I had always refused, but this time for some
reason I accepted and he took me to the Club house.
"I got into my clothes. The shoes were about three sizes too small. That
day I played guard opposite Tracy Harris. I played well enough so that
they wanted me to come down the next day, as they said they wanted good
practice. The next day I was put against Captain Bird, who had been out
of town the first day I played. He had the reputation of being not at
all delicate in the way he handled the scrub men who played against him,
so that they had learned to keep away from him.
"As I had not played before, I did not know enough to be afraid of him,
so when the ball was put in play I simply charged forward at the
quarterback and was able to spoil a good many of his plays. I heard
afterward that Bird asked Jim Robinson who that damn freshman was that
played against him. The next year I was put in Bird's place at left
guard, as he had graduated and fought all comers for the place. I was
never put on the scrub again.
"My condition when in Princeton was the best. Having been raised in the
country, I knew what hard work was and in the five years that I played
football I never left the field on account of injury either in practice
or in games with other teams.
"It is a great thing to play the game of football as hard as you can. I
never deliberately went to do a man up. If he played a rough game, I
simply played him the harder. I never struck a man with my fist in the
game. I do not remember ever losing my temper. Perhaps I did not have
temper enough.
"When we speak of a football man's nerve I would say that any man who
stopped to think of himself is not worthy of the game, but there is one
man who seemed to me had a little more nerve than the average. I think
that he played for two years on our scrub, and the reason that he was
kept there so long was on account of his size. He only weighed about 138
pounds, but for all the time he played on the scrub he played halfback
and no one ever saw him hesitate to make every inch that he could, even
though he knew he had to suffer for it.
"In the fall of '88, I think, Yup Cook played right tackle on the
Varsity. He was very strong in his shoulders and arms and had the grip
of a blacksmith. Channing, this nervy little 138-pounder, played left
halfback on the scrub. When he went into the line, Cook would take him
by the shoulders and slam him into the ground. Our playing field at the
time was very dry and the ground was like a rock. I used to feel very
sorry for the little fellow. On his elbows and hips and knees he had raw
sores as big as silver dollars; yet he never hesitated to make the
attempt, and he never called 'down' to save himself from punishment. The
next year he made the team. Everybody admired him.
"Football men must never forget Tilly Lamar, who played halfback. I
think he was one of the greatest halfbacks and one who would have made a
record in any age of football. I have seen him go through a line with
nearly every man on the opposing team holding him. He would break loose
from one after the other.
"Lamar was a short, chunky fellow and ran close to the ground with his
back level, and about the only place one could get hold of him was his
shoulders. He would always turn toward the tackler instead of away, and
it had the effect of throwing him over his head. The only way that the
Yale men could stop him at all was to dive clear under and get him by
the legs.
"You have always heard a lot about Snake Ames. Snake was a very
spectacular player, but one very hard to stop, especially in an open
field. He was very fast and during the last year of his playing he
developed a duck and would go clear under the man trying to tackle him.
This he did by putting one hand flat on the ground, so that his body
would just miss the ground; even the good tacklers that Yale always had
were not able to stop him.
"One of Princeton's old reliables was our center, George, '89. He may
not have got much out of the plaudits from the grandstand, but those of
us who knew what he was doing appreciated his work. We always felt safe
as to our center. He was steady and brilliant.
"It was during this time that Yale developed a wedge play on center.
There were no restrictions as to how the line would be formed, and Yale
would put all their guards and tackles and ends back, forming a big V
with the man with the ball in the center.
"Yale had been able to knock the opposing center out of the way till
they struck George. How well I remember this giant, who was able to hold
the whole wedge until he could knock the sides in and pile them up in a
bunch. Yale soon gave him up and tried to gain elsewhere.
"I must tell you about one more of Princeton's football players. Not so
much for his playing, but for his head work. During the years that I was
captain, in the fall of '88 the rules were changed so that one was
allowed to block an opponent only by the body. In other words, not
allowed to use hands or arms in blocking. It was Sam Hodge, who played
end and worked out what is known to-day as boxing the tackle. You can
understand what effect it would have on a man who was not used to it.
The end would knock the opposing tackle and send him clear out of the
play and the half would keep the end out."
I once asked Cowan to tell something about his experiences and men he
played against.
"The Yale game was the great game in my days," he said. "Harvard did not
have the football instinct as well developed as Yale, and it is of the
Yale players that I have more in mind. One man I will always remember is
Gill, who played left tackle for Yale and was captain during his senior
year. I remember him because we had a good deal to do with each other.
When I ran with the ball I had to get around him if I made any advance,
and I must say that I found it no easy thing to do, as he was a sure
tackler. And when he ran with the ball I had the good pleasure of
cutting his runs short.
"Another man whom I consider one of the greatest punters of the past is
Bull of Yale. I have stopped a good many punts and drop kicks in my
play, but I do not remember stopping a single kick of his, and it was
not because I did not try. He kicked with his left foot, and with his
back partially towards the line would kick a very high ball, and when
you jumped into him--on the principle, that if you cannot get the ball,
get the man--you had the sensation of striking something hard."
After Cowan had stopped playing and graduated he acted as an official in
a good many of the big games. He states as follows:
"You ask about my own experiences as an official, and for experience
with other officials. I always got along pretty well as a referee. There
was very little kicking on my decisions. But I was good for nothing as
an umpire. I could not keep my eyes off the ball, so did not see the
fouls as much as I should. You boys have probably heard how I was ruled
off the field in a Harvard-Princeton game in '88. I remember Terry of
Yale who refereed that game, above all others. There was a rule at that
time that intentional tackling below the knees was a foul and the
penalty was disqualification. Our game had just started. We had only two
or three plays, Harvard having the ball. I broke through the line and
tackled the man as soon as he had the ball. I had him around the legs
about the knees, but in his efforts to get away, my hands slipped down.
But at the moment remembering the rule I let him go, and for this I was
disqualified. I might say that we lost the game, for we did not have any
one to take my place. I had always been in my place and no one ever
thought that I would not be there. My being disqualified was probably
the reason for the Princeton defeat.
"I do not think that Terry intended to be unfair. The game had just
started, and he was trying to be strict, and without stopping to think
whether it was intentional or not. He saw the rule being broken and
acted on the impulse of the moment. I have since heard that Terry felt
very bad about it afterwards. I never felt right towards him until I had
a chance to get even with him, and it came in this way. The Crescent
Club of Brooklyn played the Cleveland Athletic Club at Cleveland. George
and myself were invited to play with the Cleveland club, and on the
Crescent team were Alex Moffat and Terry. Terry played left halfback,
and right here was where I got in my work. When Terry ran with the ball
I generally had a chance to help him meet the earth. I had one chance in
particular. Terry got the ball and got around our end, and on a long end
run I took after him, caught him from the side, threw him over my head
out of bounds. As we were both running at the top of our speed he hit
the ground with considerable force. I felt better towards him after this
game."
In such vivid phrases as these a great hero of the past tells of things
well worth recording.
* * * * *
Football competition is very strong. There is the keenest sort of
rivalry among college teams. There is very little love on the part of
the men who play against each other on the day of the contest, but after
the game is all over, and these men meet in after years, very strong
friendships are often formed. Sometimes these opponents never meet
again, but down deep in their hearts they have a most wholesome regard
for each other, and so in my recollections of the old heroes, it will be
most interesting to hear in their own words, something about their own
achievements and experiences in the games they played thirty years ago.
Hector Cowan, who captained the '88 team at Princeton, played three
years against George Woodruff of Yale. It has been twenty-eight years
since that wonderful battle took place between these two men. It is
still talked about by people who saw the game, and now let us read what
these two contestants say about each other.
"Of the three years that I played guard I met George Woodruff as my
opponent," says Cowan, "and I always felt that he was the strongest man
I had to meet and one who was always on the square. He played the game
for what it was worth, and he showed later that he could teach it to
others by the way he taught the Penn' team."
Says George Woodruff, delving into the old days: "Hector Cowan played
against me three years at guard, and he fully deserves the reputation he
had at that time in every particular of the game, including running with
the ball. I doubt whether any other Princeton man was ever more able to
make ground whenever he tried, although Cowan was not in any particular
a showy player. For some reason or other, Cowan seems to have had a
reputation for rough play, which shows how untrue traditions can be
handed down. I never played against or with a finer and steadier player,
or one more free from the remotest desire to play roughly for the sake
of roughness itself."
When Heffelfinger's last game had been played there appeared in a
newspaper of November 26th, 1888, a farewell to Heffelfinger.
Good-by Heff! the boys will miss you,
And the old men, too, and the girls;
You tossed the other side about as if they were ten-pins;
You took Little Bliss under your wing and he ran with
the ball like a pilot boat by the _Teutonic_.
You used eyes, ears, shoulders, legs, arms and head
and took it all in.
You're the best football rusher America, or the world,
has shown;
And best of all you never slugged, lost your temper or
did anything mean;
Oh come thou mighty one, go not away,
The team thou must not fail:
Stay where thou art, please, Heffelfinger, stay,
And still be true to Yale--
Linger, yet linger, Heffelfinger, a truly civil engineer.
His trust would ne'er surrender; unstrap thy trunks,
Excuse this scalding tear.
Still be Yale's best defender! Linger, oh, linger,
Heffelfinger.
Princeton and Harvard, there is cause to fear
Will dance joy's double shuffle when of thy Western
flight they come to hear. Stay and their tempers
ruffle. Linger, oh, linger, Heffelfinger.
John Cranston
"My inspiration for the game came when my country cousin returned from
Exeter and told me he believed I had the making of a football player,"
says John Cranston, who was Harvard's famous old center and former
coach. "At once I pestered him with all kinds of questions about the
requirements, and believed that some day I would do something. I shall
always remember my first day on the field at Exeter. Lacking the
wherewithal to buy the regulation suit, I appeared in the none too
strong blue shirt and overalls used on the farm. I remember too that it
was not long before Harding said: 'Take that young countryman to the
gymnasium before he is injured for life; he doesn't know which way to
run when he gets the ball; he doesn't know the game; and he looks too
thick headed to play the game anyway.'
"As boys on neighboring farms of Western New York, three of us, who
were later to play on different college teams, hunted skunks and rabbits
together. Had we been on the same team we would have been side by side.
Cook was a great tackle at Princeton; Reed one of the best guards
Cornell ever had; and I, owing to some good team mates, played as center
on the first Harvard eleven to defeat Yale. It is said that Cook in his
first game at Exeter grabbed the ball and started for his own goal for a
touchdown, and that Reed after playing the long afternoon in the game
which Cornell won, asked the Referee which side was victorious.
"I well remember that at Exeter we were planning how to celebrate our
victory over Andover, even to the most minute detail. We knew who was to
ring the academy and church bells of the town, and where we were to have
the bonfire at night. We were deprived of that pleasure on account of
the great playing and better spirit of the Andover team. A few of our
Exeter men then and there made a silent compact that Exeter would feel a
little better after another contest with Andover. The following three
years we defeated Andover by large scores.
"Any one who has played the game can recall some amusing situations. I
recall the first year at Harvard when we were playing against the
Andover team that suddenly the whole Andover School gave the Yale cheer.
Dud Dean, who was behind me, fired up and said it was the freshest
thing he had ever heard. At Springfield I remember one Yale-Harvard game
started with ten men of my own school, Exeter, in the game. In another
Yale game we were told to look ugly and defiant as we lined up to face
Yale, but I was forced to laugh long and hard when I found myself facing
Frankie Barbour, the little Yale quarter, who lived with me in the same
dormitory at Exeter for three years."
[Illustration: BREAKERS AHEAD
Phil King in the Old Days.]