Los Angeles herald., 1905-12-03

season they have arranged schedule
running up to Thanksgiving, and every
game is with a team averaging from
eight to fifteen pounds heavier to the
man! 1t remains to be seen what they
will accomplish.
Now little something as to how
these boys from the kentucky institute
for the blind play the great game Of
football. In the first place, they de-
pend upon two senses, that of hearing
and that of touch-"muscular action"
is the way Trainer Gregory expresses
it. In only two respects does their
style of play differ from that put up at
Yale or Harvard or on any other grid
iron.
The first of these exceptions is found
in the ball, for instead of using the
regulation, or rugby ball. they employ
the association sphere. This is due to
the fact that the rugby ball, being
oval, does not ordinarily bounce in
straight line, but rather at a tangent.
If the game was one that did not re-
quire promptest sort of ACTON this
would not make any material differ
ence, for the blind players know just the
direction the ball has taken, but their
affliction does not permit them to turn
so quickly as their more fortunate
brethren, thus enforcing a, handicap
that is almost impossible to overcome.
AS the. association ball is perfectly
round and bounds in straight line
these blind fellows are enabled to follow
its course by the exercise of their Won
derfully developed sense of hearing.
On the kickoff they plunge down the
field, just as does any other team.
and they are generally right on top
of the man who captures 1t. Now and
then they make a mistake and tackle
one of their own team, but the error
is generally discovered before any
great harm has been done.
The second difference in play comes
in passing the ball 1t is never
snapped" back, but is passed directly
into the hands of the man who is to
make the play-and what these little
fellows don't know about tricks and
stunts peculiar to the great rugby game
Is not written in the books. When the
signals are toled off every man is on
the alert and they generally move as
one piece of machinery.
1t is here that what Trainer Gregory,
1r., calls muscular action" asserts it
self BY this he means that any move
ment, whether forward or to either side,
is instantly transmitted to the line
and by them to the backs as accurate
ly as though each of them had seen the
play. To put it perhaps a little plain
er, suppose the opposing side has the
ball. The signals are called off, the
Two sides come together, and then by
the mere touching of their opponents
they know to which side of the line the
ball has been passed or whether it is IA
straight line play No seeing team
could be blindfolded and successfully
accomplish this for no other reason
than that their mucular sense has not
been developed to such high perfection.
Some of the plays made by these
blind boys are really little short of Won
derful. In rushing the ball they are
particularly strong. 1t is only in de-
fensive tactics that they evidence any
sort of weakness and their inability
to see as their opponents see is hardest
to overcome. TO limited extent their
tackle work Is uncertain, but by de-
grees they are mastering this by de-
Veloping sense of hearing that permits
them to distinguished between the diff
ference OF the heavy step of the man
with the bah and the lighter fellow
who Is running along for no other pur-
pose than to act as Interference. To the
laynan there does not seem to be any
difference between the two, but Coach
Gregory, jr, and his blind footballists
say there is, and they certainly should
know.
"On offensive work" said Coach
Gregory, jrp II honestly think that INV
boys are vastly superior to any team
Of even weight How do / account
for that? Why, in this way. These
boys cannot see their opponents COM
ing at them with blood i'm their eve.
so TO speak, and they are not therefore
seized with any feeling of shrinking or
Of fear of Injury They literally plunge
blindly ahead, and they generally get
there sS'