The Lake County times., 1916-11-13
Little Community of 400
Souls Produces Team That
Amazes Sporting World
by Thirteen Years Of Vic
tories.
~ EVENING services in the church
at. Pine Village. Ind. had pro-
14 erassed through two h,,rnns and

at. Pine Village. Ind. had pro-
- gressed through two hymns and
to the stage where the congregation
expected prayer. All bowed their
heads reverently when the clergyman
stepped forward and said
! Il wish to announce that Pine VIII
| lage defeated wabash this afternoon
by the score OF 80 to o.
There was momentary pause and
then the flock laughed and cheered
before resumipg devotions.
This incident is advanced in a con-
sideration of the team that was un-
defeated for thirteen years up to two
weeks ago and that went FIVE years
in a stretch without being scored on.
1t resolves itself into the study Of
team that has a town behind it in
every move. To quote Clair Rohde,
manager OF the eleven and its center
from the outset:
No one man on the Pine Village
team makes a touchdown-the team
makes 1t. And If the game is played
in Pine. Village the town makes it."
The Why OF II.
For a ready understanding why an
1 organization representing a communi-
~ of 400 can play other independent
teams off their feet year after year it
is necessary to go into a preamble.
We in Chicago keep our eyes on the
big scores and follow the fortunes of
Yale and Harvard. of the Midway uni
versity and Minnesota. barely consci-
Gus >of the fact that football is played
keenly and scientifically by numbers
of elevens made up of college gradu-
ates and hired men broken into the
game Alumni of Indiana, Purdue and
Notre Dame abound in Indiana with a
fondness for the sport that was not
shut or with leaving school Your
graduates of big-town universities
who quit the game and follow city
Hvelihoods would find 1t hard to take
up training and be fit for a tussle of
wind and muscle on hard ground. But
the Indiana man who goes back to the
farm needs little conditioning and
plays until he is 35 or so.
Hence in Pine Village there are sew
eral university men that are availtble
while Lafayette. Fort Wayne. Wabash
and other towns play every Sunday in
the fall with the vigor of youth and
/ the understanding of veterans
The same is true of Ohio. with To-
ledo, Canton. Massillon and Cincin-
natl. (You will observe that the ord
er Is not suggested by population.) Of
course there is no embargo on hiring
athletes. and Pine Village paid Jim
Thorpe $3.50 and expenses for one
game last year. Now he is playing
regularly with Canton. Last Sunday
King, who starred for Harvard in
1 1915 against Princeton. worked with
Pine Village at Fort Wayne for a con-
sideration- on this basis the outfit
with the longest bank roll might
lraa 4l1~ t1o
not be representative OF the town
! Then there would not be the patron
age or the same enthusiasm.
How The Team Began.
The beginning of Pine Village on
the gridiron came with the formation
of an eleven that bucked Morocco a
little TO the north. annually, and was
/ conceded local championship by
! beating Rensselaer, in 1903 1t was
never humbled until two weeks ago,
when the Cincinnati Celts visited Pine
Village and trimmed the home boys.
9 to 6. The alibi for the visitors
! touchdown was that an onside kick
went over the line and that a Pine
\ Villager was not alert enough to falf
on it first. The following Sunday Pine
Village played Fort Wayne and lost, !
+ to 0, going up against a strong ag-
] EISSdllOn Ol NOtTe lame graduates
/ Its schedule for the season probably
viii send il against the North Ends
of Chicago. either here or in Indi-
annapolis.
! The Chicago visitors dropped off the
train to view community that has
a bank, a grain elevator and lumber
yard. but a football team first. last
and always. Numbers of the athletes
strolled the streets wearing sweaters
with W. |. c. on the right side of the
( breast and elongated p on the 9TH
er. The w ]. c. stands for western
independent champions and the p
naturally for Pine Village. These
coats are more a mark of distinction
than the lettered sweaters passed out
! to graduating players in final univer-
sity games. They are the garb Of the
elect in town where man with
beard like King Lears discusses end
runs and the kid of Il forecasts the
plays in game as they are run off.
Fat And His Training.
The visitor was housed and fed by
Clair Rohde. previously referred to,
who is evidently the most promising
farmer of the community and the
mentor of the town. Every man. wom-
an and child addresses him as Fat"
which. if accurate, would not seem in
dicative of speed. but in reality is an
illustration of triumphant training.
Rohde was at his best in the morn
ing when he led the way to the barn
and admitted three eager calves who
applied themselves with great avidity
to the fountains supplied by their
mothers. He timed them and then
chased them away, to their evident
displeasure, and pulled UP a stool
athwart the cow with the crumply
horns. On her protruding hip bone
he hung his hat and proceeded to talk
football.
This is what gives a man strong
hands," he said he directed alter
nate streams against the eide of the
pail with music and meter; land 1t is
q part Of our system Of training. If
we need a little hardening we wrestle.
One of our players and our coach Ed
Davis, is a wrestling instructor at In