Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-10-13
PLAYED ONLY ABOUT
TWENTY YEARS HERE.

The opening Of the foot ball season ~
1897 recalls - my mind that the game Is
rather young in Washinston-only about
twenty years old said an old-time L.
high player To a star representative the
other day
Up north in the various colleges prior
to 1880 the game was played for quite A
period. but the contests while attracting
attention from the students, did not hold
the gaze II tho public at large. and the
sporting editions before 1870 gave very
little space 70 the games
The first team organized here I'm Wash
ington was composed mostly If the Le-
nigh College boys who lived MP In the
NJ. ghborhood Of Dupont Circle AMI PLAY
ing under the name Of the Duponfs they
made quite a name locally for themselves.
Ralph Lee. the Welsh brothers Charley
Boynton. viii Emery and Oriway were
among the prominent payers They met
GEORGETOWN and all the unattached clubs
Of the city, and with the exception Of
Georgetown had no trouble I'm Debating
all Corners. This was in lsss
The first big boom that foot BAN eX-
perienced in Washington was due to CO.
terie of local newspaper men-ITarry West
the late Harry t.. Goodwin OF The Star.
William McGill Of the Critic and John
Hadley Doyle Of the Sunday Herald-who.
In ISIS conceived The idea OF bringing the
champion Princeton team here TO meet an
Washington eleven. The idea took
hold and the newspapers started in 10
boom the contest. GeyutinG columns TO the
game, one Of the papers publishing A half
page cut showing the positions Of the
players and the general rules Of the game.
The space thus given to this game was an
indication of what takes place every sea-
son throughout America
The Princeton team OF 1855 was per-
haps the greatest student team ever
turned out. Az a matter Of fact, II Il
stranger enters the trophy room Of the
Princeton Inn the first thing shown him
is the Photograph OF that Years team,
and he is told that II was the greatest
ever on that team Were Spike Dom
nelly. snake Amcs, the most celebrated
fullbaCk the game has ever produced; Gi-
rard. Ellis, the Poe brothers Janeway.
the Apollo. and q guard of whom 1t IS
written that no Yale man ever gained an
inch through his territory; Cowan. the
tackle, and Herman. the great halfback.
The all-Washington team was made up
of the Dupont Club boys. DR.. Lee Har-
ban of the Columbia Athletics. Sculin,
Pat O'DOnnell. the Grave brothers and
Dyer Of Georgetown. Sam King. the
Princetons' fastest Splinter. and Big Hall,
the leading player from Kendall Green.
The game attracted an immense gather
ing al the old National League grounds,
near the government printing office So
ciety turning out in style TO witness the
performance of something new for Wash
ington. a real up-to-date foot ball game.
AS a foot ball contest it tended only to
show off Princeton. as the Tigers ran up
4 score of Sc to o. their goals being
threatened only once and that on a fluke
that came near costing a touchdown
charged against them. something no other
team or college had done that year
LAS l said. Sam King was then Prince
tons Splinter. Being a Washington boy.
he played against his alma mater 10 help
out the Introduction of foot ball In one
OF the flying wedges. play then allowed.
Poe fumbled the ball, and in a twinkling
King had secured it, and down the field
he sped. with the whole Princeton eleven
after him. Snake Ames. also a sprinter,
outfooted the others. and il became a
race between the two. Ten yards from
the goal Ames caught him, hauled him to
the ground. got the ball on the tumble
and saved Princeton the ignominy Of being
scored against. 1t was a wonderful scene,
that race that day. and If you ask
Princeton man who was the greatest
Splinter Princeton ever possessed he Will
answer, with this race in mind. Ames
This foot ball awakening was followed
up. Under the auspices of the same band
OF newspaper promoters Secretary Tracy
of the Navy gave his permission for the
eleven representing the Naval Academy to
come over Christmas day to play against
practically the same team as the one that
met Princeton. This contest attracted
even larger and more fashionable crowd
than the one with Princeton, for besides
the fact that the President of the United
states honored the game with his pres
ence there were In the boxes nearly every
cabinet officer and the leading foreign
ministers, who were particularly anxious
to see Uncle Sans future admirals in a
real engagement for in those days foot
ball was an engagement. with it's flying V
shape and bettering ram formations that
were allowed under the rules. Naval
Academy had an easy time defeating the
ADMINISTRATIONS, as they ran up
score of 50 to o. despite the fact that the
locals were strengthened by some coll
legians home for the holidays.
These two games started the mill
agoing. The famous games between
GEORGETOWN and Columbia Athletics later
became the event of the cool season until
the unfortunate fatal injury to George
Bahan, a student of Georgetown in one
of these contests. which ended the game
for quite 2 period in this city.
when the rules were revised and the
wedge plays We're stricken out George
town returned to the game and again the
interest in the sport was revived by
games between Georg etown and Virginia,
and later with George Washington"