The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-15
SAMUEL WHITE TIE GREATEST
 ATHLETE IF 1911
STORIES OF THE YOUNGSTERS PROWESS WITH INCIDENTAL COMMENT ON FOOTBALL RULES OF 19I2-EFFECT OF 4-DOWN RULE
By PHILIP BRUCE

By PHILIP BRUCE
 Who will oe the sam White of the 1912 football season?
 Sanford B. White won the football championship for Princeton last year, and for himself he gained recognition as the most brilliant athlete in the annals of American collegiate sport. His individual work won both the Yale and Harvaro football games of 1911. Many experts say that this years new rules will obliviate this individual starring; that the team whose players are of the greatest average strength will do the winning.
 Now, it is only the truth lhae these ex- perts know very little about what football is going to be like this year. under the new rules ways may be discovered to revolutionize the gridiron game. These experts no doubt reason thoughtfully in doping out the end of individual prom thence, but still it is the writers humble opinion that more than one of the import ant games of 1912 will be one-man vic tories, and that next Thanksgiving will see a new collegian crowned the hero of footballdom. It was Sam White last year and Ted Coy the year before, and it will be someone else this year There's a new one every year. Even when the hero of one season has another year in the games, he doesn't repeat.
 Most Important Change
 The most important change that will be brought about by the new rules is the al- lowance of four downs instead of three in hal yarrfS This it is widely claimed, puts a premium on the old-time game-the kill ll-the-tackle mass plays-giving a decided advantage to the heavy teams that are best at straight football. This argues that the 1912 star will be another catapulting line plunger of the Ted Coy type. A little thought, how ever, will make it clear to the student of the game that the husky fullback is not the logical candidate. A comparatively light man is more likely to be the owner of the face favored for display on the November sport pages. He will probably be a 1.-the, shifty sprinter with great abil- ity in lodging and shaking off taclSlers, and a particular knack of catching the forward pass and getting away with 1t fast.
 The reason for this lies in the fact that the forward pass will reach it's greatest development this year. This is the play that is going to make the high scores, and that is going to win games. And it is the star performer in this play who will be the star of the 1912 season. The four-down rule. coupled with the new rule which allows the attacking side to make forward passes of unlimited length, even across the goal line, opens up un- limited possibilities for the forward pass. AS the rule protecting the receiving of the forward pass is still in force, the uffense is given vast liberty in the use of this play. The right of the offense to make forward passes over the goal line will make it necessary for the defense to keep it's second line back instead of massing the whole strength on the line in the manner that caused so many fail ures to score last year after the offense had carried the ball down to the 10-yard line.
 Fame of White
 Princeton won't have Sam White this year, but she may have his successor. Walter Camp once said For briliancy of achievement no teams have produced so many stars as those of Princeton" Princeton has had men like McAIann, McNair, Moffat, Lamar, Ames, King and Dewitt, who alone have won a great game, and it has had Poe, who alone defeated Yale two years in succession, but never before Whites time has Prince ton or any other college had a man who Ey individual achievement won two base ball games from Yale and football game from both Yale and Harvard.
 Whites fame has not been forgotten with his graduation His achievements seem all the more marve.ous in retro spect. In 1911 he won Princeton's third and deciding baseball game with Yale. With the score a blank, White reached second base. Sterrett, who is now witt. the New York Yankees, drove a short hit into right field which Corey gathered up on the run and swiftly whipped to Merritt at third to catch White. White according to rule, should have slid to the base. Instead, he kept his feet and taking a daring chance rounded the bag and leaped for the plate. The ball seemed to strike Merritt's glove simultaneously with Whites foot on the bag. Some thing, perhaps Whites audacity caused Merritt momentarily to juggle the ball, and in that moment White slid across the plate with the winning run.
 White in Football
 Last autumn in the Princeton-Harvard game, Dunlap. Princetons left end. knocked the ball from the hands of Hol- lister of Harvard. who was about to try ulOp-klCh. Almost De1Ofe the ball touched the ground the ever alert White had seized it and was off for the goal 100 yards away, in race in which he distanced his pursuers and scored a touchdown Scorecly had the second halc opened when Gardner of Harvard rashly decided to scoop up a bounding ball on his one-yard line instead of falling on it, and instantly he was swept oyer the goal line in the strong arms of White for a safety and the deciding score of the game
 Two weeks later Yale in the first 10 minutes of play was driving Prince ton to the goal line with bewildering shift play. Suddenly, on a pass from center, the ball struck the ground at the side of Dunn. fullback for Yale Sam White, dashing in from end, picked up the ball from the ground as he would a baseball. Instantly he was In full stride for Yale's goal, so yards away, which he crossed carrying with him Arthur Howe, the Yale captain. who had tackled him on the five-yard line. And thus came football cham pionship to Princeton.
 Some Student, Too
 Last June at Princeton Yale led the Tigers by one run on the diamond Princeton was at bat with one man out and the bases full. It was Sam White who came to the plate in the crisis.