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
Al Sharpe was one of the greatest all-around athletes that ever wore the
blue of Yale. He, too, recalls the Yale-Princeton game of 1899 at New
Haven, but the memory comes to him as a nightmare.
"When I think about the 11 to 10 game at New Haven, which Princeton
won," said Sharpe the last time I saw him, "I remember that after I had
kicked a goal from the field and the score was 10 to 6, Skim Brown
rushed up to me, and nearly took me off my feet with one of his friendly
slaps across my back. Well do I remember the joy of that great Yale
player at this stage of the game. Later, when Poe made his kick and I
saw that the ball was going over the bar, I remember that the thing I
wished most was that I could have been up in the line where I might have
had a chance to block the kick.
"My recollections of making the Yale team centered chiefly around three
facts, none of which I was allowed to forget. First, that I was not any
good, second that I couldn't tackle, and third that I ran like an
ice-wagon. Since then I have seen so many really good players upon my
different squads that I must admit the truth of the above statement,
although at the time I am frank to say I took exception to it. Such is
the optimism of youth."
Jack Munn, a former Princeton halfback, tells the following story:
"My brother, Edward Munn, was the manager of the Princeton team in 1893.
In the spring of that year there was a conference with Yale
representatives to decide where the game was to be played the following
fall. Berkeley Oval, Brooklyn, Manhattan Field, and the respective
fields of the two colleges all came under discussion, and I believe that
some of the newspapers must have taken it up. One afternoon in the
Murray Hill Hotel, when representatives of Yale and Princeton were
discussing the various possibilities, a bellboy knocked at the door and
handed my brother an elaborately engraved card on which, among various
decorations, the name of Colonel Cody was to be distinguished. Buffalo
Bill was invited to come up, and it seems that, reading or hearing of
the discussion about the field for the game, he came to make a formal
offer of the use of his tent. After setting forth the desirability of
staging the game under the auspices of his Wild West Show, he brought
his offer to a close with his trump card.
"'For, gentlemen,' said he, 'besides all the other advantages which I
have mentioned, there is this further attraction--my tent is well and
sufficiently lighted so that you can not only hold a matinee, but you
can give an evening performance as well.'
"And those were the days of the flying wedge and two forty-five minute
halves with only ten minutes intermission!"
Walter C. Booth
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