Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-11-14


half-back at the right side of the line
in a slanting direction behind the other
two backs. This tandem play con-
tains the elements of Princeton's mass
on tackle, which is today so formidable.
Edgar Allen Poe Of Princeton, quar-
back and captain of the great 1889
team, at that time accounted the
strongest aggregation ever got together,
was noted for his long, low dive tackl-
ing. When the dive tackle first came in
it was pretty and unusual sight to
see a man leave his feet at full speed,
sail through the air and shut up like
jackknife when he hit the runner. In
cidentaily, Poe was the inventor, or at
least the first wearer, of the present
rubber nose mask.
The Yale Harvard game in 1890,
which Harvard won, IL to 6, was re-
| markable for the playing of several
famous Harvard and Yale backs.
Trafford's brilliant kicking kept Yale
| from scoring through the greater part
| of the game, when Lee and Dean made
| two sensational runs for touchdOWns
| in quick succession, Lees around the
| end and Deans on q center play.
| Had the game lasted longer Yale might
| have tied the score. AS it was, she
| made the most heroic uphill fight that
has ever been seen, scoring one touch
down partly through the fast work of
her back, notably the famous McClung.
King, quarterback on the famous 1893
| Princeton team, was the equal of Nc
Cormack in versatility. He played full
back and half-back as well as quarter,
| Il lafo in, no
center which was alone able to cope
| with ButterWorths wonderful plunges.
| In spite of the strong tendency Of the
last ten years to develop the line-buck-
ing game at the expense OF the more
open style of play, and particularly at
the expense of kicking, there have been,
| nevertheless, a small number of bril-
| liant runners and kickers. Among these
are a trio of backs who played togeth-
er at the University of Pennsylvania,
| Knipe, Osgood and Brooke. Brooke,
who played from 1892 to 1895, inclusive,
| besides being a great line bucker and
| drop kicker, was one of the few great
! all-round kickers of the present era.
Brooke, in a Harvard game, be-
sides making one goal from the field,
averaged fifty-eight yards with his
prnts Gone covered seventy yards),
punting eight times over Brewers head,
four times in succession. That year
Brooke made in all five field goals.
knipes reputation is due partly to his
work in the great Yale-Pennsylvania
game of 1898.
| In order to understand the Importance
of his line bucking work in that game.
which eliminated in his crossing the
Yale goal line. 1t will be necessary to
recall the fact that since the Harvard
Yale game of 1890, Yalc's goal line had
not been crossed.
Dibblee, Ellis and Daily are :hree star
Harvard backs of recent years. Dibblee
is the most elusive runner of the last
ten years. His ability to keep on run
ming almost without a break in his
stride after being tackled and thrown, is
something which l have never seen
even family 81 preached. Ellis, in ':''
| developed urlling the inter to Il Won
dcrful degree, while Daily, nov o. Wet
Point, was the best Guarter-Da X Har-
ward ever had.
! Hudson, the Indian drop kicker of a
! few years ago, pupil of Bull, Of Yale.
deserves mention among the kickers Of
| the last ten years. But no account of
the back-ffed would be at all adequate
which SHOULD omit the two Western
wonders of i've H.ars ago-I1ers chhcrS
err and ODea. 1t is their work which
| helped to give the impulse to return to
! the more oren game, and TO the use of
kicking, now evidenced by the new rules
| of this season. Herschberger's remark
| able punting in the .rnicagoPennsyl-
vania game at Philadelphia in 1895, was
a revelation to Fasteners. His punts
frequently covered eighty yards.
ODea made his advent on the East
ern gridiron iE 80. When eleven men
from the University Of Wisconsin ran
out upon the Yale field, in November,
one of them had Il ball in bis arms.
He gave slight. careless turn TO his
Be dy and kicked it ncarl. the wh'l"
length of the field. ODea was six feet
tall and weiSle'l III pounds. He had
played football ir Melbourne, Australia,
where he Developed his wonderful kick
ing ability.
Yet within these few years there have
been backs the failure to mention whom
would leave the story incomplete. Men
like Graydon of Harvard: Bunker OF
W col l OIiit, NNcchcS anu AhOllGy VI ~
lurbia; Chadwick and Rockwell of
Yale, and Dewitt of Princeton.
Chadwick, a brother of the writer
was peculiarly adapted to the modern
game. owing to his ability to keep his
feet and to dodge in close quarters, and
his remarkable defensive work in back
ing up a rush line, and in many other
ways. The best examples of his Often
sive game are the two runs for touch
downs, each one made by a clean break
straight through the middle OF the
Princeton line, last year.
The first of these runs was made in
the face of an adverse score of 5 to U.
This performance won the game Tor
Yale, and nothing exactly like 1t mas
ever occurred in any championship
game since football was first played.
Dewitt of Princeton. while hardly
backfield player, deserves mention as
such by reason of his kicking ability.