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
In the old days men were taught to tackle by what is known as "live
tackling." I recall especially that earnest coach, Johnny Poe, whose
main object in football coaching was to see that the men tackled hard
and sure.
Poe, without any padding on at all, would let the men dive into him
running at full speed, and the men would throw him in a way that seemed
as though it would maim him for life. Some of the men weighed a hundred
pounds more than he did, but he would get up and, with a smile, say:
"Come on men, hit me harder; knock me out next time."
After the first two weeks of the season, Johnny Poe was a complete mass
of black and blue marks; and yet how wonderful and how self sacrificing
he was in his eagerness to make the Princeton players good tacklers.
But there are few men like Johnny Poe, who are willing to sacrifice
their own bodies for the instruction of others; and the next best
method, and one which does not injure the players so much, is tackling
the "dummy."
As we look at this picture of Howard Henry of Princeton tackling the
"dummy," we all remember when we were back in the game trying our very
best to put our shoulder into our opponent's knees and "hit him hard,
throw him, and hold him." Henry always got his man.
But the thrill of the game is not in tackling the dummy. The joy comes
in a game, when a man is coming through the line, or making a long run,
and you throw yourself at his knees, and get your tackle; then up and
ready for another.
I recall an experience I had at Princeton one year. When I went to
the Club House to get my uniform, which I wanted to wear in coaching, I
asked Keene Fitzpatrick, the Trainer, where my suit was. He said:
[Illustration: HIT YOUR MAN LOW]
"It's hanging outside."
I went outside of the dressing room but could see no suit anywhere. He
came out wearing a broad smile.
"No," he said, "it isn't out here, it's out there hanging in the air. We
made a dummy out of it."
And there before me I saw my old uniform stuffed with sawdust. I looked
at myself--in suspense.
After the men have been given the other preliminary work they are taken
to the charging board. The one shown here is used at Yale. It teaches
the men quick starting and the use of their hands. It trains them to
keep their eyes on the ball and impresses them with the fact that if
they start before the ball is put in play, a penalty will follow. A fast
charging line has its great value, and every coach is keen to have the
forwards move fast to clear the way.
Then after the individual coaching is over, the team runs through
signals, and the practice is on. Before very long the head coach
announces that practice is over, and the trainer yells:
"Everybody in on the jump," and you soon find yourself back in the
dressing room.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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