Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-09
Unusual Activity Among the
Foot Ball Men.
TEAMS HARD AT WORK
PROPOSED INTERNATIONAL CROSS
COUNTRY RUN.
Reform Legislation for Basket Ball
Growth Of Interest in the Asso-
citation Style Of Foot Ball.

II the present extraordinary activity on
the part of the foot bal! men In the big
colleges of the east is a fair criterion.
then gridiron enthusiasts may look forward
to an unusually thrilling season next fall.
Not in recent years have so many coaches
of the big six laid emphasis on the de-
STABILITY and necessity of spring foot ball
practice. Harvard. Yale. University of
Pennsylvania, Columbia and Princeton all
began spring practice last week which is
evidence that each wishes to be a little
stronger than the other when college opens
in the fall. Foot ball coaches have come
to understand that the fall season is alto
gether too short to condition a big squad
of men for the championship season. And
since faculties have declared against sum-
mer practice almost without exception they
have been forced to devote more time to
the spring practice.
Enthusiasm at Harvard.
OF the five colleges which started spring
practice last week, the efforts of Harvard
will be watched with the greatest interest.
Harvard had fallen so low in the foot ball
scale that the Crimson undergraduates and
alumni alike last fall threatened revolu-
ton unless Gar Bill Reid was made
head coach. Reid was finally given the
position at a salary of $500 a year. and
has now been at Cambridge for nearly a
month taking an inventory of his stock and
getting things under way for the fall. With
Reid in charge, Yale and Pennsylvania will
have much more fear of Harvard next fall
than they had in 1904. Reid has already
started work with large squad of candi-
dates who are taking work daily at punt
ing, kicking, falling on the ball and the
other rudiments of the game.
To keep the men in good physical condi-
ton Reid has urged one and all to try for
some of the other spring teams. Most OF
them are working with the track candi-
dates which is responsible for increasing
that squad to nearly two hundred men,
Harvard loses few players from the 1904
eleven, and with the memory of Reid
wonderful team of 1901 still fresh in mind
Harvard may fairly be expected to stand
the best chance of turning out a champion
ship eleven. Reid has rid himself of the
interference of minor coaches. He has de-
sirable material and he knows how to I'M
part the fighting spirit, which are the es-
sentias of championship eleven.
Camp Head Coach at Yale.
At Yale departure has been announced
from the usual method of making the pre-
ceding captain the head coach. In this case
ex-Captain Hogan could have had the posi-
ton had he desired it. But the great
tackle decided not to return to Yale in
the fall, and after determining upon Walter
Camp for the head coach Captain Shevlin
announced Fullback Owsley and Tackle
Bloomer as the field coaches. Both or these
men know the game thoroughly and are
competent to coach. Captain Shevlin got
the spring foot ball practice well under
way and then turned his attention to the
track team, which depends upon him to
win the hammer throw at the intercolle
gate championships in May. Yale will lose
several of her gridiron veterans next fall
But the Ellis have their missionary system
so well perfected that they should start the
season on comparatively even terms with
Harvard, in spite of the latter's acquisition
of Reid and a brand new coaching system
q ..s~ Activity at Pennsylvania.
Although Penn is not making as great
a splurge over spring practice as Harvard
and Yale, it is more than the Quakers
usually do. Field Coach Dickson has start
ed to work with a squad Of men made up
from those who are not candidates for any
of the other athletic teams. AS far as pos
Sible the men have been urged to work with
some of the other teams, where their serv-
ices will be of some practical value. Little
of the work on Franklin Field has been
done with the pigskin. Coach Dickson and
Captain Reynolds have sent their men on
cross-country runs and set them to playing
association foot ball, with some instruction
in the rudiments of the game.
Morley to Coach Columbia.
Columbia University has set at rest the
rumors that Foster Sanford the old Yale
center, would be called to coach again by
giving the position to Coach Morley, thus
approving once more the graduate coaching
system Morley will have the assistance of
eX-Captain Smith and several other famous
Columbia players who will relieve him of
the drudgery of detailed coaching and per-
NIT him to work on the strategy of the
game. With this additional assistance
Morley should raise Columbia out of the
ditch and make some of the other big
elevens tremble for their laurels.
At Princeton and Cornell.
At Princeton and Cornell there has been
even less foot ball activity than at the other
members of the "big SIX" but both of
these institutions are preparing to redeem
themselves for their many defeats last
season. At Cornell Coach Warner has just
closed an active winter campaign, In which
the foot ball men were taught punting and
the rudIments of the game. This is a novel
feature in foot ball coaching. but should
have its good results. Princeton has suffer-
ed several heavy losses by the failure Of
such men as Stannard and Ritter to pass
their examinations. and the prospects are
that the Tigers Will be weak In several
positions this fall
Foot ball games between representative
teams of the east and west appear to be no
nearer this fall than ever. The nearest
approach to 1t is the negotiations now go
ing on between Michigan and Amherst for
a game in New York on Thanksgiving day.
Amherst has been dropped by both Har-
ward and Yale for demanding too large a
percentage of the gate receipts. Michigan
is understood to have made arrangements
for the Thanksgiving date with one of the
western institutions, so can hardly play
Amherst on that date.
Although no official announcement has
been made there will In all likelihood be a
meeting Of the intercollegiate foot ball
rules committee at Philadelphia April 90
the occasion Of the University Of Pennsyl-
vanias relay carnival. These games will
bring all of the fool ball solons together
and give them their first opportunity to
deduce something tangible from the mass
of suggestions they have on hand.
CROSS COUNTRY RUNNING.
The first definite steps toward making
cross-country running international
sport have been taken by Cornell which
has been appointed committee to bring
about a meeting between oxford and Cam