The San Francisco call., 1909-01-03

departed trorH our nome III IN
=. cago to. migrate to a ranch in
Southern California, I verify: believe
the only thing James regretted leaving
was his position as ha1fbaek on the
high school eleven IN. our suburb
7 regne tied Fnostz=yeil.s WON'T men
tion her name II am older than Jimmy
. by four years; and don't go IN fol-: foot
bali. except as. a. spectator. Fam. strong
for IL. that way, but sas. for -playingI the
=. gaIne.-too eonfoundediy hard on the
wind for mine; TO- say nothing. Of
scratching ones face and: hands so: =
Mother: and Sis regretted leaving
many things, or rather. everything.
They didn't want to live out west at
all. but DE-. Bradford had said. that
southern California was the place for
dad and. so dad; having. the price, de-
ctded. it was the. place for the whole
bunch. - !. =. :.
The FIRST thing Jffnr1x. did after we
got settled down on the. ranch dad 5
. brother. Uncle Henry. owned it and. it
, was ABOUT z5. miles. out Of s-----ln In. the
Mesa Vista. valiey5 was. to lopk around
Il. see if. there was any football mate
? rial in: the: country. The second: morn
ing 1on. the place. 7. think It was he
picked:~out a ;:Viry looking hired man
-of: nncle's.. and showed lairr- all the fine
points. about playing tackle. joe
tItat.wag' his. name, .gnd heMras-a a Mexi
cazi-:took il: good .naturedly enough
:until Iafnes bllttea him in the stomach
while Illustrating .how to- break
through to block a bnnt.:. This seemed
10 -Yek him considerably. and he used
up what little breath. he had. left cuss-
ing I'M ,spanish:. I've had.~one: year: Of
spanis4l:. and racogfrized seIne OF the
words The rest nc. self+respeeting man
would recognize. 4:
Jimmy. and Sis started right. in at the
Mesa: Vista high. school i was going to
loaf a year and then go. UP to stanford
to complete my: eollege~wor Jimmy
said i was a. lobster for not. going to
a school where. they played sensible
football instead. of the. aptiquated old
English game, but Jimmy is prejpdieed.
He had a football squad in. training
the second day. he was In school He
asked me to coach because i used to
have. a speaking acquaintance with
stagg. 7 took on the Job. with many
misgivings, having nothing else much
to do. :. ~.
As for. raw: material, there never
was a scholastic institution. better
equipped with husky youth than the
Mesa Vista Valley Union high school.
There were Just ii: boys and 20 girls
all good lockers, but young every
man Jack of them,-tlie boys. I mean
was a hay baler:for- strength. TWO or
three were pretty old. for hi gh. school
grade, and were big enough to have
made a college eleven. Most of them
had. seen the game played before the
schools and Y: NJ C.: A. in s., and
some Of the neighberipg towns had
teams and played frequently.
There is. plenty Of work at home to
occupy the time after school of the
average farmers boy WHO is seeking
an education FootbalI did not ap-
peal to the valley. fathers nearly So
much as IT did to the sons, and the
boys found It hard. TO take much time
from the 'raisin sorting and ether ranch
occupations TO devote. to practice.
This disguised Jimmy very much.
lie was so enthusiasts about the eleven
that he could hardly refrain from talk
ing OF it long enough to eat, and spent
the hours he should have: devoted TO
home study In constructing new PLAYS
and inventing signal systems. To have
that bunch OF yaps.'- as he put il re-
fuse 10 allow their sons: to use up
three valuable hours per day perfect
ing themselves in the manly art of dis
figuring each ether for life was too
much for him.
However, he made. the best of: the
situation. He was elected captain; of
course. and the way he talked football
and illustrated the various plays to his
husky. untrained.men. was. inspiring.
Coaching Was Sinpliied
Ny duties as coach consisted in. re.
plying yes" upon being asked il he
had not made a. good job. of it when
he dumped some unfortunate player
over in a heap while demonstrating to
him the proper method TO use. in tack
ling and no. when approached as 10
the form used in the same proceeding
performed by some one else on Jimmy.
Never more than yes" or no. under
any clrcumstances: An original opin-
ion volunteered by the coach was i'm
mediately. squashed by the. captain.
Isis arguments were so much more
forcefuf ana convincing than mine that
his teammates invariably. sided with
him.
nearly sthre~ Up. the. job at one
time. Jimmy illustrated the wrong
way to make a tackle. too high, .
using me as a dummy and without my