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
Another was furnished by W. H. Lewis, the Amherst captain and center
rush, against Williams in his last game at Amherst--the score was 0-0 on
a wet field. Williams was a big favorite but Lewis played a wonderful
game, and was all over the field on the defense. When the game was over
he was carried off, but refused to leave the field until the final
whistle.
One of the most thrilling stories of a man who was game, though
handicapped, is told by Morris Ely, quarterback for Yale, 1898.
"My most vivid recollection of the Harvard-Yale game of 1898 is that
Harvard won by the largest score Yale had ever been beaten by up to that
time, 17 to 0. Next, that the game seemed unusually long. I believe I
proved a good exponent of the theory of being in good condition. I
started the game at 135 pounds, in the best physical condition I have
ever enjoyed, and while I managed to accumulate two broken ribs, a
broken collar-bone and a sprained shoulder, I was discharged by the
doctor in less than three weeks as good as ever.
"I received the broken ribs in the first half when Percy Jaffrey fell on
me with a proper intention of having me drop a fumbled ball behind our
goal line, which would have given Harvard an additional touchdown
instead of a touchback. I did not know just what had gone wrong but
tried to help it out by putting a shin guard under my jersey over the
ribs during the intermission. No one knew I was hurt.
"In the second half I tried to stop one of Ben Dibblee's runs on a punt
and got a broken collar-bone, but not Dibblee. About the end of the game
we managed to work a successful double pass and I carried the ball to
Harvard's ten-yard line when Charlie Daly, who was playing back on
defense, stopped any chance we had of scoring by a hard tackle. There
was no getting away from him that day, and as I had to carry the ball
in the wrong arm with no free arm to use to ward him off, I presume, I
got off pretty well with only a sprained shoulder. The next play ended
the game, when Stub Chamberlin tried a quick place goal from the field
and, on a poor pass and on my poor handling of the ball, hit the goal
post and the ball bounded back. I admit that just about that time the
whistle sounded pretty good as apparently the entire Harvard team landed
on us in their attempt to block a kick."
Val Flood, once a trainer at Princeton, recalls a game at New Haven,
when Princeton was playing Yale:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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