The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1915-11-17

had never attended any other college
and then came upon the field in uni
form, punt so yards, make perfect
long passes and handle himself in
every way as finished football play
or and make the varsity in a day or
two.. who would not know that he
was a man playing under false pre-
lenses?
Can any one think that the stu
dent body would be fooled? Would
the faculty authorities, DR.. Calhoun
and Prof, CAN'T, charged with re-
sponsibility for carrying out the
faculty and S. 1. A. A. rules. sit by
and wait for some one to produce
legal proofs Of a fact obvious In it
self? Not likely.
And what would players think
who for years had been working as
scrubs and substitutes with ambitious
eyes fixed upon the varsity places Cf
honor to see these places gobb,ed up
ny newcomers, and how would coll
lege explain the resignation Of prac-
tically all these itinerants after the
football season closes?
THE bet that Carolina will defeat
Clemson Is always easy to get at along
odds, because defeat comes to Glenn
son only about every tenth year.
What is there but the one-year rule
to prevent, for example, , bunch Of
gamblers in Columbia hiring IL ex-
pert football players, sending them
TO the university without the knowl-
edge or consent of the faculty or stu
dent body. to register from South
Carolina towns (perhaps under as
sumed names), to qualify by falsify-
ing their certificates as to previous
experience, and the receipt OF COM
pensation, and then aided by silent
newspapers, to place all over South
Carolina bets on Carolina at odds Of
5 to L? Only the one-year rule can
prevent such a possible imposition on
the most honest institution-only the
one-year rule can save the Carolina
Clemson game from being made q
possible implement of gambling and
nothing sooner than that would ut
terly ruin intercollegiate athletics.
Clemson and the university are
both members of the Southern Inter-
collegiate Athletic association, which
gives to each of its members the right
to choose whether or not it will adopt
the one-year rule for football play
ers. Will not the university follow
Clemson's example in choosing the
one-year rule and at a blow stop the
mouth Of criticism and disarm the
gambler or the over Jealous alumni Z?
II not. there should be no more foot
ball games between these two State
institutions. The danger to the cause
OF athletics and proper relations be-
tween the two institutions is too
great to hazard 1t by q repetition Of
the conditions of this past season, or
even the 1914 game i'm which two
men who had qualified were used.
Better no game. unless the annual
contest between these ancient rivals
can be had without suspicion, distrust
and recriminations."
The Columbia State "in view Of the
seriousness Of the imputations thus
made" brought the article in ques-
tion to the notice of William Spencer
Currell. president Of the University
OF South Carolina, and suggested that
1t would be well that the article be
reproduced in The State, along with
any comment upon II that he as head
of the university might care at this
time to make" President Currcll
commented as follows:
Dean l.. T. Baker and the presi-
dent of the university began an in
vestigation Immediately after the
Newberry game, when we received
our first intimation that any ineIigi-
bic men were candidates for the uni
versity football squad.
Two OF these players were found
just before the game to be ineligi-
bic under S. l. A. A. rules and their
names were at once withdrawn from
our list OF men eligible for S. /. A. A.
games. Another students credentials
were found to be unsatisfactory,
hence he was dropped from the uni
Versity rolls, just before the Clemson
game. Another player, apparently
fearing that he would share the same
fate. left the institution Immediately
after the Clemson game, in which he
had played less than five minutes.
Against other young men who arc
mentioned in the list published by