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
Jim spent his last hours in New Haven, and later in a humble home on the
hillside in Torrington, Conn., surrounded by loving friends, and the
individual pictures of that strong Gordon Brown team hanging on the wall
above him, a loving coterie of friends said good-bye. Many a boy now out
of college realizes that he owes a great deal to the brotherly spirit of
Jim Hogan.
[Illustration: McCLUNG, REFEREE SHEVLIN HOGAN]
Thomas J. Shevlin
There is a college tradition which embodies the thought that a man can
never do as much for the university as the university has done for him.
But in that great athletic victory of 1915, when Yale defeated Princeton
at New Haven, I believe Tom Shevlin came nearer upsetting that tradition
than any one I know of. He contributed as much as any human being
possibly could to the university that brought him forth.
Tom Shevlin's undergraduate life at New Haven was not all strewn with
roses, but he was glad always to go back when requested and put his
shoulder to the wheel. The request came usually at a time when Yale's
football was in the slough of despond. He was known as Yale's emergency
coach.
Tom Shevlin had nerve. He must have been full of it to tackle the great
job which was put before him in the fall of 1915. Willingly did he
respond and great was the reward.
When I saw him in New York, on his way to New Haven, I told him what a
great honor I thought it was for Yale to single him out from all her
coaches at this critical time to come back and try to put the Yale team
in shape. It did not seem either to enthuse or worry him very much. He
said:
"I just got a telegram from Mike Sweeney to wait and see him in New York
before going to New Haven. I suppose he wants to advise me not to go and
tackle the job, but I'm going just the same. Yale can't be much worse
off for my going than she is to-day."
The result of Shevlin's coaching is well known to all, and I shall
always remember him after the game with that contented happy look upon
his face as I congratulated him while he stood on a bench in front of
the Yale stand, watching the Yale undergraduates carry their victorious
team off the field. Walter Camp stood in the distance and Shevlin yelled
to him:
"Well, how about it, Walter?"
This victory will go down in Yale's football history as an almost
miraculous event. Here was a team beaten many times by small colleges,
humiliated and frowned upon not only by Yale, but by the entire college
world. They presented themselves in the Yale bowl ready to make their
last stand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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