Middletown transcript., 1909-01-30

bent forward in his characters.
tic attitude, with his large hands
slowly caressing his knees.
He looked across his shoulder
at Trainer Ryan.
He's o gritty little cub, hessald,
and a clever booter, but he hits
his line like a tack hammer.
The big trainer nodded.
He needs beef, he growled.
They were watching Bob Craw'
ford, the scrub fullback.
That lean and rangy youngster
had just fallen back for a punt.
A moment later the coach Ell.
bowed the big trainer.
Terry, he said, the boy is bet.
ter than Nesbit. I'll try him on
the varsity tomorrow.
The left halfback of the regu-
lars dodgedand squirmed. through
the scrubs and carried the ball
back to their ten yard line. Here
he was prettily tackled by CraW,
ford and the two players went
down together. It was a hard
fall and Crawford, stunned and
winded, had to be helped to his
feet and then from the field, bis
knees wobbling and his head
dropping.
He's too light, growled the big
trainer.
However, the coach had his
way, after the fashion of coaches,
and Bob Crawford became the
varsity fullback. Seasoned by
experience and refined by mis-
haps, he had done his lean and
lanky best to advance the glory
of old Harwood, and so, when
Thanksgiving day brought the
great game Of the year, it found
him ready to enter the contest
and stay long as he could last
His clever punting bad been
material factor in the unbroken
string of victories scored by the
Harwood eleven, although Happy
Bob" was invariably carried off
the field before the game was
finished. He hadn't the .physi-
que to stand the rough scrim-
IMAGES, and in only two contests
did he enter the second half.
But he was up and smiling the
day after a laying out, and that's
why he was Happy Bob. "
Good nature was a dominant
quality in "HappyBob's" make up
and it was we'll known through.
out Harwood that you couldn't
get him mad.
The game with Chase was al
ways the big contest of the year,
and as the records for the pre-:
vicus annual matches showed five
victories for each college there
was possibly even more than
the usual interest this year.
Chase had a stonewall line and
a fine set of plunging backs, bat
there wasn't a real punter on the
team. On the other hand Har-
wood was light and aggressive,
depending upon the speed of Ii r
halfbacks and the booting Of her
fullback to make up for the lack
of beef and Drawn. This sharp
contrast between the teams prom
ised to make the struggle I'M
usually interesting
I sizeit up this way, said Coach
Belden to Trainer Ryan the morn.
ing of the contest, IF we're to
score, it will be in the first half.
I'm afraid those Chase hDnks IF I
beef will exhaust our spiders long j
before the game is over, so we
must play 'em off their feet at
the very start. Il
Going to use Crawford? asked |
the trainer.
Going to start him Wen need /
his punting. Of course I'm afraid
he can't last. I've heard some
nasty rumors about putting him {
out, and one good scrimmage
may do the business. :
He's too light!was the only com. t
ment. II
The assembling Of the greatest i
crowd Of the year; the efforts Of
the rival rooters to outdo each s
other's vocal efforts; the vocifer-
bus greetings extended to the 7
athletic heroes as they trotted
onto the gridiron; the prelimi- f
nary warming up and the expec- !
ant waiting for the first kick of,
we're all very much after the y
Usual fashion. G
Bob Crawford's father and b
mother were in the grand stand j
ind so was a pretty girl with o
4arwood colors, who showed fa- s
roritism by answering Bob u
Crawford" to the query Who's Fl
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