New-York tribune., 1915-11-30
Thinks Vande Graaff De-
serves Recognition as
Football Tackle.
HAS KICKED ELEVEN
GOALS FROM FIELD
Some Figures Which Show Why
the Rutgers Eleven Earned
Such a Forward Position.
Bv HERBERT.

This is story Of the best" foot
ball player in all the South. if mass
of evidence duly submitted and duly
read counts for anything. His name is
W. 7. Bully Vande Graaff, and he is
a tackle on the University Of Alabama
eleven.
"Bully"-it is easier TO call him that
than his regular name, and anyway it
takes up less space-has been to Ala
bama what Mahan was to Harvard and
what Barrett was to Cornell. Accord
ing to the evidence, he is worthy of
place on any we'll organized All-Amer-
lea team. He must be if his deeds
measure up to the writing thereof. He
stands six feet two inches in his stock
ings and weighs 1s9 pounds, so that he
is well equipped physically to dc ali
the things credited.
A seyen-page letter and numerous
clippings represent him one Of the
greatest tackles of all time, and these
are borne out by man whose .udg-
ment on things football must be re-
spected. II is only fair, then, that this
lithe-limbed and long named fellow
should get the recognition apparently
so much deserved in this neck of our
broad land.
. Here's what Charles W. Greer says
of him in "The Birmingham Age-Her-
AID" or rather just little of what he
says:
Bully is natural star. He has
every necessity requisite for brilliant
performer; and more, he is one OF the
few gridiron warriors who has not a
single weakness.
with his weight and power. Vande
CRAFT is fast, quick. heady. He pos
sesses rare football intuition, while
his ability to analyze the opposing play
and to meet it in the making is one of
the most striking characteristics of his
play. lie is vast power on the de-
fence, is possessed Of wonderful
stamina and in backing up the Grim
son mot Harvard Crimson) line for
four seasons he has borne the brunt of
the Crimson defensive work.
"0n the offensive he is equally pow
erful, being one of the most difficult
men to tackle on the Crimson eleven,
and this season has proved himself 90
be the most consistent ground gamer
on his team. In addition, Bully is by
common accord awarded the title as
the premier punter in the entire South
land On more than one occasion his
spirals, shooting sometimes for seventy
yards and averaging tifty-ive yards for
the season, have saved his mates IN
times OF stress.
"On top of This he has no equal in
kicking goals from placement NJ dis
tances ranging from twenty-five to
siyty-six yards"
Bully has just turned twenty, enter
ing the University of Alabama when
only sixteen years old. Up to his last
game. on Thanksgiving Day, he had
kicked eleven goals from placement,
and in this respect certainly holds all
records for the season. In practice he
shoots them over from the 60-yard line
and has one to his credit of sixty-six
yards. All this being true, no All
America eleven would be complete
without him.
Pop Hart, the demon statistician OF
Rutgers football, has furnished me
enough figures on the eleven this year
to fll column. They are mighty in
teresting and the summary is herewith
appended.
In eight games forty-one punts were
made for an average of 1915 yards from
the line of scrimmage. Opponents
made sixty-fve punts for an average Of
thirty-six yards.
Rutgers ran back sixty-fve punts for
4i3 yards. an average of 6.3. while op-