Football -- Juvenile fiction; Schools -- Juvenile fiction
Leonard sat on the bench on the Alton side of the field and watched
the kickers at work. There had been a good ten minutes of signal drill
for both squads and now only the punters and drop-kickers remained on
the gridiron. The game was about to start. Across the field the Kenly
Hall sections were cheering loudly each member of their team in turn.
The officials were talking earnestly on the side-line. Something white
fluttered across Leonard’s shoulder from the stand above and behind
him and settled at his feet. He stooped and picked it up. It proved
to be the two middle pages of the official program. He looked around
to see if any one would claim it. But no one did and he settled back
and regarded the thing. On each page, where they had faced each other
before they had torn loose, were the line-ups of the teams, Alton to
the left, Kenly Hall to the right, each boxed in by advertisements
of local enterprises: “White Swan Laundry--Special Rates to Academy
Men--You Can’t Go Wrong, Fellows!” “Bell and Falk, Photographers to
All Classes Since 1912.” “Lakeville Pressing Club--Best and Quickest
Service in the City--” Leonard’s attention wandered to the column of
names in the center of the page. “Alton,” he read. “Staples, left
end; Butler, left tackle; Stimson, left guard; Newton, center; Grant,
right guard; Wells, right tackle; Emerson, Capt., right end; Appel,
quarterback; Menge, left halfback; Reilly, right halfback; Greenwood,
fullback.”
His gaze crossed to the opposite list: “Hanley, left end; Pope, left
tackle; Tinkner, left guard; Henderson, center--” Interest waned, and
he returned to the first row of names; especially to the fifth from
the top. This was the first time Leonard had ever seen his name in a
regular program, to say nothing of one with a colored cover and costing
fifteen cents, and he was pardonably thrilled. It was, he reflected,
something to have your name down in the line-up, even if you didn’t
play!
And Leonard wasn’t going to play; at least, not much. He felt pretty
confident of getting into the game long enough to secure his letter,
and, if luck was with him, he might even play for five minutes or ten,
supposing Renneker or Stimson failed to last. But, in spite of the
official program, Renneker was right guard to-day and not Grant.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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