The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1915-09-24
FORWARD PISS IS lD0DT
TO CONE INTO IT'S oWI
BY GEORGE r. HOLMES
TINTED Press STAFF Correspondent


NEW YORK. Sept. 24.-Keen
students OF football believe that
the much maligned forward pass
VIII come into its own this season.
ana that more of the open style
game viii be exhibited than In
years. II they are right. II marks
the capitulation OF raft of East
ern critics and particularly Eastern
coaches, who heretofore have gazed
down with rather lofty disdain on
that play.
The East for years has looked as
Rance at the forward pass. II has
oeen regarded as last ditch resort
TO De used in the last half or quar-
ter In final desperate attempt to
pun game out OF the fire. II was
100 DANGEROUS. they contended. and
~ never would work against real
~ formidable defense.
The first big intcrsectional COM
"a, IN 1913 gave EN- jolt. Little
Notre Dame, with a rafting good
football team and no reputation.
came East to meet Uncle Sans Army
aggregation at West Point. What
happened is history now. The Hoos-
iers simply buried the Soldiers I'M
aer an avalanche of skillful pass
ing, executed by little Gus Dorias
anu ms mates. rhe Army was
squelched, 35 to 10. The East gasp
ed. This wasn't football, at least
not as she was played in the East.
However 1t didn't take the Army
long to get hep" to the situation,
and in the annual Army Navy scrap
that same year, the Soldiers won
hands down. The victory was d.
reetly attributable to clever pass
ing. Other Eastern coaches. how
ever, have been slow in following
suit.
There still seems to be wide d.
Versity of opinion about the merits
of the spiral tossing. Its opponents
say that it is too dangerous, that
under present rules loss more often
results than gain. They also rise
10 remark that it is too quick-that
the whole aspect of game can be
changed in less than a minute, and
for that reason they Iken it to stock
market speculation-y you're "a mill
lionaire one minute and a pauper
the next
Be that as it may. it is generally
conceded that the forward pass adds
a lot to the game from the specta-
tors viewpoint. Two teams, both
good on defense, vainly bucking at
each others stonewall lines, and re-
sorting to futile end runs, doesn't
appeal TO the populace as does the
quick flight of the oval with half a
dozen boys ready to hop on the neck
of the fellow who receives it, Too,
there is always probability that
someone will leap high in the air,
grab the ball and make the spectac-
ular run through a jagged field
that never fails to bring the stands
to their feet. The opponents of the
pass obtain their argument in cases
like this, that il is too dangerous.
Its supporters come back with the
argument that when team is de-
veloped in skillful passing as was in
the Notre Dame eleven in 1913, this
danger is reduced to an unimport-
ant minimum. Therefore the whole
question SINNERS down to ques-
ton of developing skill in passing.
and while the pass may be bad for
one team it may be the saviour OF
another
The younger school of players
that has come up since 1912 and
1913 are better drilled in passing
the ball and getting away with it
after the catch than the boys of the
old school. So. is the forward pass
isn't already here it's coming strong,
and in the opinion OF most coaches