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
Myron Witham relates a humorous incident that happened in practice when
McCornack was coach at Dartmouth. "Mac's serious and exacting demeanor
on the practice field occasionally relaxed to enjoy a humorous
situation. He chose to give a personal demonstration of my position and
duty as quarterback in a particular formation around the end. He took my
place and giving the proper signal, the team or rather ten-elevenths of
the team went through with the play, leaving Mac behind standing in his
tracks. Mac naturally was at a loss to locate the quarter, during the
execution of the play and madly yelled, 'Where in the devil is that
quarterback?' But immediately joined with the squad in the joke upon
himself."
McCornack coached Dartmouth in the falls of 1901 and 1902. He brought
the team up from nothing to a two years' defeat of Brown and two years'
scoring on Harvard. The game with Harvard in the fall of 1902 resulted
in a score of 16 to 6, Dartmouth out-rushing Harvard at least 3 to 1.
McCornack then resigned, but left a wealth of material and a scientific
game at Dartmouth, which was as good as any in the country. This was the
beginning of Dartmouth's success in modern football, and for it
McCornack has been named the father of modern football at Dartmouth.
The greatest compliment ever paid McCornack, in so far as athletics were
concerned, was by President William Jewett Tucker of Dartmouth, who told
an alumnus of the institution:
"The discipline that McCornack maintained on the football field at
Dartmouth was to the advantage of the general discipline of the
institution."
For ten years after McCornack had stopped coaching at Dartmouth, the
captain of the Dartmouth team would wear his sweater in a Harvard game
as an emblem to go by. The sweater is now worn out, and no one knows
where it is.
If Eddie Holt's record at Princeton told of nothing else than the making
of a great guard, this would be enough to establish Holt's ability as a
guard coach. Eddie and Sam Craig played alongside of each other in the
Yale defeat of '97. Holt says:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account