Football days : $b memories of the game and of the men behind the ballEdwards, William H. (William Hanford)
General
Football days : $b memories of the game and of the men behind the ball
Edwards, William H. (William Hanford)
Football
Scattered over the seven seas are those who heard the reveille of
football at Annapolis. From a few old-timers let us garner their
experiences and the effects of football in the Service.
C. L. Poor, one of the veterans of the Annapolis squad, Varsity and
Hustlers, has something to say concerning the effect of football upon
the relationship between officers and men.
"Generally speaking," he says, "it is considered that the relationship
is beneficial. The young officer assumes qualities of leadership and
shows himself in a favorable light to the men, who appreciate his
ability to show them something and do it well. The average young
American, whether himself athletic or not, is a bit of a hero worshipper
towards a prominent athlete, and so the young officer who has good
football ability gets the respect and appreciation of the crew to start
with."
J. B. Patton, who played three years at Annapolis, says of the early
days:
"I entered the Academy in 1895. In those days athletics were not
encouraged. The average number of cadets was less than 200, and the
entrance age was from 14 to 18--really a boys' school. So when an
occasional college team appeared, they looked like old men to us.
"Match games were usually on Saturday afternoon, and all the cadets
spent the forenoon at sail drill on board the _Wyoming_ in Chesapeake
Bay. I can remember spending four hours racing up and down the top
gallant yard with Stone and Hayward, loosing and furling sail, and then
returning to a roast beef dinner, followed by two 45-minute halves of
football.
"One of our best games, as a rule, was with Johns Hopkins University.
Paul Dashiell, then a Hopkins man, usually managed to smuggle one or
more Poes to Annapolis with his team. We knew it, but at that time we
did not object because we usually beat the Hopkins team.
"Another interesting match was with the Deaf Mutes from Kendall College.
It was a standing joke with us that they too frequently smuggled good
football players who were not mutes. These kept silent during the game
and talked with their hands, but frequently when I tackled one hard and
fell on him, I could hear him cuss under his breath."
M. M. Taylor brings us down to Navy football of the early nineties.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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