Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-08
Foot Ball Efficiency at Penn.

The rule providing for the passing OF
a baton in relay racing as substitute Tor
the present method Of touching OF VIII
not affect the intercollegiate champion
ship. but it must be used by all colleges
in the association which promote relay
races The chances are that the Univer-
sity Of Pennsylvania will adopt this at
its relay carnival
That the new powers in control OF foot
ball at the University of Pennsylvania pro-
pose to make efficiency the watchword has
ample evidences in the appointment or A.
B. Ziegler as assistant to George Brooke
and the instructions issued to him to begin
preliminary work Immediately. The day
following the announcement OF Ziegler
appointment he had squad OF nearly
twenty men doing outdoor work on
Franklin Field. This is an innovation
never before attempted at Pennsylvania,
but is a part of Brooke's plans to develop
the best team Pennsylvania is capable
of producing.
Pennsylvania, i'm fact, is the last of the
big universities to adopt preliminary
spring practice, though the kind the
Quakers have inaugurated should be
termed winter practice. On one or two
issued calls for candidates to report III
the spring. but such practice was never q
success. due in part to lack of enthusiasm
by the coaches and also to lack OF the
There is absolutely no room for argu-
ment as to the value of such preliminary
work The kind that Zeigler is attempt
ing to do Is Of the very greatest inn.
weakness has always been in the line.
Zeigler is a man of unbounded enthue-
iasm, and since he was an all-American
guard himself he ought to teach the
PENNSYLVANIA candidates a lot this spring.
Not only will this sort Of practice save
the Red and Blue a few weeks work
in the fall, but it will enable the coaches
to secure full knowledge of the material
from which the 1913 team must be built.
What winter work Yale does will be
conducted under the direction of Capt.
Ketcham. The Ellis enjoy the distinction
Of having been the first big university to
attempt winter practice, and they think
so much Of it that they have been doing
1t for three years.
The actual outdoor work will not begin
until April 15, when Howard Jones, the
new coach. will arrive at New Haven.
Yale men are pinning all their faith on
the ability of Jones to turn out a winning
eleven. Their confidence in him is based
upon what he did in 1909 when he coached
the team captained by L. FL. Coy. That
eleven was probably the greatest Yale
ever had, for it went through the season
not only without being scored upon but
without permitting a team to reach even
it's twenty-yard line. The suggestion has
been made that the wonderful material
Yale had that year was as much respOn-
sible for the Ellis record as Jones' SUI
perior coaching. but Jones also had re-
markable success with the Syracuse team
the preceding year, and Yale men think
they have made no mistake in securing
his services for this fall.
The opinion advanced by Capt. Ketcham
that Yale would not agree to identify her
players with numbers probably means
that in neither the Yale-Princeton nor
the Yale-Harvard game will this common
sense method be used. Ketcham explains
his opposition to this reform with the
statement that such system would have
It is difficult to treat such arguments
as this with patience. The reform was
suggested for the benefit of the spectators.
who make foot ball financially possible.
But as a matter of fact such a system
of Identification would be OF absolutely
no service to the opposing team, for since
the players always face each other they
would not have time, even il they did
have the inclination. to carefully observe
the numbers of their opponents The
most incOnsiderate of the foot ball public
and foot ball reporters. and should con-
slider this suggestion from an unselfisll
standpoint. Both Cornell and Pennsyl-
vania have expressed themselves in favor
of such reform and the chances are
that when they meet on Franklin Field
Thanksgiving day this sensible innoya-
ton will be tested.
at Annapolis that hereafter the Middies
must not row I'm races of greater length
than the Henley distance, which is one
mile and five-sixteenths, means that the
sailor crews will not be seen at Pough-
keepsie for some time. The Navy au-
thorities take the position that two, three
or four miles are entirely too long for
oarsmen and are. likely to be attended
with dangerous results. Practically all
of the coaches whose crews row at
Poughkeepsie have agreed that shorten
ing the course from four to three miles
would be distinct benefit to the oarsmen
and would not detract anything from the
interest In the race. In spite Of this the
stewards have never taken any action.