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
There is much humor in Johnny Mack. It is amusing to hear Johnny tell of
the experience that he and Pooch Donovan had in a Paris restaurant, and
I'm sure you can all imagine the rest. Johnny said they got along pretty
well with their French until they ordered potatoes and the waiters
brought in a peck of peas.
It is a difficult task for a trainer to tell whether a player is fully
conscious of all that is going on in a game. Sometimes a hard tackle or
a blow on the head will upset a man. Johnny Mack tells a story that
illustrates this fact:
"There was a quarterback working in the game one day. I thought he was
going wrong. I said to the coach: 'I think something has happened to our
quarterback.' He told me to go out and look him over. I went out and
called the captain to one side after I had permission from the Referee.
I asked him if he thought the quarterback was going right. He replied
that he thought he was, but called out some signals to him to see if he
knew them. The quarter answered the captain's questions after a fashion
and the captain was satisfied, but, just the same, he didn't look good
to me. I asked the captain to let me give him a signal; one we never
used, and one the captain did not even know.
"Said I, 'What's this one--48-16-32-12?'
"'That's me through the right end,' he said.
"'Not on your life, old man,' said I, 'that's you and me to the side
lines!'
"I remember one fall," says Johnny, "when we were very shy on big
material at Yale. The coaches told me to take a walk about the campus
and hunt up some big fellows who might possibly come out for football.
While going along the Commons at noon, the first fellow I met was a big,
fine looking man, a 210 pounder at least, with big, broad shoulders. I
stopped him and asked if he had ever played football.
"'Yes,' he said, 'I played a little at school. I'll come out next week.'
I told him not to bother about next week, but to come out that
afternoon--that I'd meet him at the gym' at one o'clock and have some
clothes for him. He came at one o'clock and I told one of the rubbers to
have some clothes ready. When I came back at 1:30 and looked around I
couldn't recognize him. 'Where in the world is my big fellow?' I said to
Jim the rubber.
"'Your big fellow? Why, he just passed you,' said Jim.
"'No,' said I, 'that can't be the man; that must be some consumptive.'
"'Just the same, that's your big fellow in his football suit,' said
Jim. 'The biggest part of him is hanging up in there on a nail.'
"_Some_ tailors, these fellows have nowadays."
Johnny Mack further tells of an amusing incident in Foster Sanford's
coaching.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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