Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-12-29
The "AIl America" Football Eleven.

| it is the strongest aggregation that
can be found in this country. 1t
will be so ticketed in the sporting an
n,als. The plain fact remains how
ever that it is simply Mr.. Whitney's
personal judgment touching the rela-
tive merits of leading football players
| in a comparatively few of the big uni
versities. If Mr.. Whitney has ever
extended the field Of his observation Of
football stars beyond this comparative
ly small and select circle, there has
been very little in his "All America"
teams for a number of years past to
indicate it, Now this is a large
country, with many hundreds of
universities and colleges outside of
the favored few from which Mr.
Whitney is accustomed to select the
stars who scintillate in his "All Amer
ica'' team. All of these institutions
have football clevens, many of which
are exceedingly strong aggregations.
Why then should they be so persis-
tently ignored in the selection of Mr.
Whitney's laurel crowned heroes of
the gridiron? 1t may he urged that
because the great universities have SO
large a selection in the working out of
their players. and because they employ
very eminent coaches, therefore it must
follow that about all the superior foot
ball ability in the country is to be
found within their favored precincts
The fact remains. however. that the
smaller universities and colleges Offer
in the aggregate. a vastly larger stu
| dent body from which to select and de-
velcp players, than do the few big uni
vcrsities that come from year to year
within the narrow range of Mr.. Whit
ney's vision as he makes his annual
survey of the football field, and awards
| his crowns Of glory. Moreover many
| of them are employing as coaches the
same stars who have in times past oc-
cupied shining places in Mr.. Whitney's
football armament. Is it conceivable
then that, with all this wealth of ma
terial and with all this high class
coaching, these smaller universities and
colleges should have developed no star
players superior to any that could be
| found in a half dozen big universities?
We think not neither do we think that
an "All America" eleven which in it's
| makeup simply ignores these thousands
| of players, is entitled to special respect
| from lovers of fair play in the world of
sport.
| Mr. Whitney is certainly assuming a
great deal when he picks out
| from a few big universities n
team of star players and COM
Ilaccntly assumes that they are the
best in all America, 1t seems to
us that a work of this character should
be cone with a vastly wider view of the
| field of sport as it touches the educa-
| tional life Of the country, than has.
|
| past. 1t is preroSterous to assume
| that the small universities and colleges
| can have no part in the production Of
| star players. or that the brain and
| Drawn that produces them is segrcgat cd
| in few big universities. Now that Mr..
Whitney has made his selection of
1
by 20 means follows that a team could
not be selected from the wealth Of
strong material in the smaller uni
vcrsitics and colleges whose players
have been unnoticed, that could defeat
| it on the gridirnn. Is it not then an
unwarrantcd assumption to name a
team constituted as Mr.. WEitncy's
| team is an "All America" team? We
confess that this is our view of it, Not
only does such an assumption appear
| 90 us unwarrantcd, but we should feel
| that we were characterizing it mildly
in calling it presumptuous and pre-
IoStcrouS.
So hidc-bound is Mr.. Whitney in this
matter Of selecting his "All America
team that it is reasonably safe to pre-
diet five years in advance the big uni
versitics that will be represented upon
it, For instance take Mr.. Whitney
"All America" team for 1906:
Forbes. Yale, ........................... End
| Bicrlow. Yale ........................Ta Tackle
| Burr. Harvard ....-.--................'I udrd
| Newman. Cornell Center
| Zicgler. Pennsylvania ................ Guard
| Osborne. Harvard Tackle
| WiSt"r. Princeton .........-...........En End
| DILLON, PrlnCe,on .'3'ih 'tr
Knox. fa.e =, ~
| Holcnback. Pennsylvania ............ Halt
| EckcrSall, Chicago ...........Fuli bacR
1t will he noted that just six of the
big universities are permitted to figure
in this charmed circle. viz. Harvard
Ynle Princeton. Pennsylvania. Chicago
Cornell. These universities constitute
the practical limits of Mr.. Whitnt y:
l ,f h,l fol CO ind,