Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-12-12
LIFE Of MODERN
FOOTBALL PLAYER.
He Usually Holds Out for About
Four Years on the
GridirOn.
TIE ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATION
Is Nerve, the Right Kind and Plenty
OF 1.-THE Story Of Bill
Morley.

How long does a football player usu-
ally last
BY the question It Is not meant how
long does he liye?' but how long is he
effective as a football player? Refer
ence is made to the bodied COLI
lege pig skin chaser. There are ex-
ceptlons, it is said, to all rules, but
among those who pose az experts, 1t is
generally conceded that the life OF a
football player is seldom more than
four years, After that he begins to
decline, sans nerve, sans power, sans
everything else except the memory Of
former Victories, applause, etc.
In the gentle 90 game of football 1t
Is not always the big. strong, husky
man who Is the most effective The
main qualification may be stated in one
little word
Nerve.
without that strength and speed
count for little or ndught. He may
have great speed; may be sure place
kicker and possess many other qualities
but without nerve he Will fall short
OF the ideal grIdiron warrior
In athletic parlance nerve means a
very different thing from what 1t does
In the ordinary usage of slang. Nerve
In football means the moral stamina,
that Is behind q player, the grit the
pluck, the bulldog courage, the never
sdy-dle spirit, II is the stuff that
great men are built Of whether their
occupation is on the grdlron or In or
ganizing trusts: and it Is not com.
mon quality although u certain brave
ry, a brayado, often goes by that name.
When "A player Is exhausted, his weary
limbs racked. his brain dazed, his
whole faculties under fearful strain,
when he lies helpless almost on the
ground, scarce thinking that he can
rise for the next play, when this is his
condition and he throws himself head
long into the play, or makes a dashing
tackle, or runs lodging, plunging down
the field, that's nerve. When a players
physical capacity Is exhausted, and he
goes on playing brilliantly and appar-
emily knows no such word as rest, be
assured that he Is not getting his sec
ond wind, but that he Is absolutely and
only playing on his nerve.
They tell "a story of Bin Morley, at
present Columbia's head graduate anna
teur football coach, and one of her
former great football men, that Illus
irates in a way what nerve can do
for a player Morley is a man OF
dauntless spirit of an unnagging de.
votlun TO his college, courageous, skill
ful. never thinking the game lost until
the referees whistle blows for the last
time. Two years or so ago Morley was
playing quarterback ON the Columbia
team, which met Annapolis Early I'm
the first half Morley was kicked in the
head and lay unconscious on the grid
iron. After a bit he recovered con-
seriousness to certain extent and in
sisted, despite protests from his fell
low players, the team physician, the Of
tclals of the game, and even the mem
bers Of the opposing team, on contiu-
uing his work with the Columbia
eleven.
Morley could scarcely stand; he stag
gered back and forth ON the field and
had fairly To drag himself 10 his feet
after each play His tired, racked IN
jured body would scarcely move, but he
made II and played good game, al
though at its finish he was out Of his
mead. That was nerve i'm one OF its
most splendid manifestations. You may
say That II was mechanical, physIolog-
lists may call II subconsclousness bui
any football man that is worth his salt
VIII tell you that It was nerve. Nor
ley, when ho coached the team last
year, refused 20 take one cent in pay
ment for his services, and moreover
consented ON the same terms To come
back To coach the team this year,
though he has large business interests
in New Mexico, his birthplace. But
those instances were not exhibitions Of
nerve. They We're instances OF cour-
age selt-sacriiice, patriotism and
loyalty to Alma Mater but they weren't
nerve,
There is another story they tell OF
another faotball hero, who gave a sim.
on-pure exhibition Of nerve. Just be-