The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-11-29


legiate Athletic Association of the
United States This body will hold IT'S
annual convention in New York the
last week in December, and one OF the
principal topics for discussion Will be
the prevalence of fatal accidents TO
football players and the remedy for
them. The matter has been brought
TO a head by the death of the halfbacH
Christian of the Virginia football team.
The |. C. A. A U. S. is practically
sure to suggest some sort of remedy.
This is the body which forced the
changes in the game four years ago
and it has been growing IN power ever
since. By appointing football rules
committee of it's own this body then
forced an amalgamation of the two
committees and thereby secured the
adoption of a number Of very import
ant changes This is the body when
will find some solution for football ac-
cidents, if there is such a solution.
The opinion is unanimous among
ootbal players and coaches that many
of the fatal accidents OF this year nave
,een due to players participating IN
the game without proper condltlonlns
and to a faulty system OF tackllnS
The latter is probably more respon-
sible for serious accidents than any
thing else. Mike Murphy, the UnlVer-
sitv of PENNSYLVANIA and former ale
trainer, and the best authority in this
country on football injuries, contends
that the wrong system of tackllng
produces most of the injuries. Mr..
Murphy does not believe in the flying
tackle. in which a man dives head
oremost at a runner with the ball.
This view is based on the fact that
a clever dodger can always eVade the
man who makes this long flying tackle.
the result being that the man making
the tackle is usually the one injured.
This method of tackling is highly spec
tacular when it succeeds, but 1T is be-
coming absoluete with the big teams.
The most slillful open-field tackler
this country ever produced was PROB
ably Charles Daily, the former Harvard
quarterback. DAILY never made fly
ing tackle. In fact. he met the runner
and tackled from the side or behind.
On account of his speed Daily never let
player runner get away from MN,
and he never hurt himself or the run
ner in such a tackle. According to this
theory the remedy for football injuries
is in teaching a less deadly form OF
tackling. Englishmen who have seen
our game contend that the t? ckllng IS
almost wholly at fault and that if it
were either eliminated altogether or
modified football fatalities would be
much less fire uent than they are
1t is likely that another effort will
be made this fall to secure the MEM
bership of Harvard, Yale, princeton
and Cornell in this association. Al
though they have been asked many
times to join they have refused to give
up their individuality by Joining suc'
an association. Of the big SIX the
University of Pennsylvania and Dart
mouth are the only institutions that
have joined Just why the four in
stitutions mentioned refuse to join is
not evident. The officers of the assO-
citation take the ground that if these
institutions are anxious to effect foot
ball reforms they should be willing to
cast in their lot with the association.
At present there are a good many
evils in football that need concerted
action to remedy. This action can
never be secured as long as some OF
our leading universities hold alOOf from
an organization effected to correct
these very abuses.
Why Princeton Lost.
A great many Princeton graduates,
as we'll as some of the undergraduates
would like to discover why Princeton
continues to lost to Yale. The crush
ing defeat which Yale administered to
the Tigers makes the seventh success
Size year in which Princeton has been
unable to score a victory over the Els.
When the present season opened a new
coaching system at Princeton promised
better things. The outline of Prince
toms prospects indicated that the
coaches were unusually optimistic and
the belief spread that this was to bf
Princeton's year. The team that wore
the Orange and Black against Ya'C
was almost as heavy as the Ellis, and
the men had the benefit of the mos
skillful coaching that Princeton cOulC
supply. Yet Princeton was Overwhelm-
ed and old alumni are beginning to ask
how much longer they must wait fo'
team that can defeat Yale.
In discussing the reasons for Prince
toms failure to win her share of ath-
lite honors it has been freQuently
pointed out that Tigers with less thar
half the student body that Yale poss-
esses can hardly expect to compete or
terms of equality with the Ellis. Thi'
is one of the most potent reasons fol-
PrincetOn's failure. To those who have
seen Yale-Princeton games in recen7
years, it has been only too evident that
Princeton teams lacked the condition
that Yale possessed. This was shown
particularly in the two years tina
Princeton outscored Yale in the firsl
half, only to lose out in the second.
That factor undoubtedly had much
to do with this years defeat.
It is a notorious fact that since the
days of Jim Robinson Princeton has
not had a really competent trainer
Not one of Robinson's successors has
been in the class with him. Mike Muir
ply of Pennsylvania, Johnny Mack o.
Yale, Jack Moakley of Cornell or Don
Ovan of Harvard. This is a part of Tho
training which Princeton steadily ig
nores. In these days the physical con-
ditiOn of the players is of as much i'm
0Ortance as the football knowledge
they possess. Princeton is likely t.
suffer from the reoponing of the dis
cussiOn of her gridiron future. Prac-
tically everything possible has ALREADY
been tried. but so far without avail.
Honors Even at San Francisco