Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-11-18
DAME RUMOR KEEPS
COACH HELSlMAN BUSY
Chief Mentor of Penn Football Team Issues Statement
Saying That Schedule Is Too Hard and Team Wos
Fortunate in Winning the Games 1t Did

Franklin Field these days is infested
with n spook who hides under the name
of Dame Rumor. This spook rumoT
during the past few days or since the
disastrous defeat suffered by the Red
and Blue at the hands of Dartmouth
has been buster than even the spook
lest of spooks should be. She has cir
culatcd through the ozone of the his
tOric field stories that were at times
without foundation and stories that had
some basis of fact but which could not
be tracked down and other stories that
seemed to twccdlc and then fit away.
Yesterday the old girl made Frank :
lin Field n beehive of industry for the
scribcs and the coaches. A noted New
York sporting critic. Daniel by name,
wrote a story in Gotham paper criti-
ciZing the IIciSman regime and ar
raigning the Red and Blue as team
saving that they looked like an eleven
that had been ovcrscrimmagcd. that
they had no pep or spirit and that in
addition it was one of the worst teams
tJ represent the Red and Blue in two
decades. Naturally the story caused
more than ripple of excitement on the
ouirt sound waves around Franklin
Field.
After dcnials had been secured from
several angles that Coach Ilcisman
would be forced to resign at the end of
this year. the anticlmaX was reached.
Wharton SinklCr, IL member ot the
Rcd and. Blue football committee.
denied cmphatically that Mr.. Hcisman
would be fired at the end of the year.
A little later the coach himself stated
that he had nothing to say regarding
the report except that he would do all
=, ,,,n.nr f,r J)nnn until hn Ung
notified to do different.
Later Coach llCiSman iSSuCd.a state
mcnt denying that the Penn team had
been ovcrScrmmagCd. and that the
schedule as whole was entirely too
difficult Il one for 50 green team.
Heisman's Statement
The coach also stated cmphatiCally
that the Red and Blue reached their
top form against Pitt both mentally
and physically and that some unrX e.
planned thing must have happened be-
tween the Pitt and Dartmouth games
to cause such a reversal of form.
mot ono team since Delaware -
said Coach IIcisman in his statement,
'but was possessed of better men
who knew moro football and were Il
blamed sight better all around than we
were. Really, every team since Della
ware should have beaten us. feel
that we did wonders to win those
games.
My men are human beings, not steel
| machines. Simply because they cannot
do what steel machines should do they
are blamed 1t is nobody's fault and
certainly not the coachcs.'
About the Dartmouth game the coach
had the following to say: "InStcad OF
! playing Dartmouth we should have faced
team our scrubs could have beaten
easily, and yet Saturday after Saturday
we are forced to meet the best teams in
the country, teams that are latently and
! dynamically better than we are. Wei
| ask, how can we be asked to duplicate
what representative teams have done il
the past game after game? The psychol
ogy Of this is obvious.
"The team reached the peak Of It's
physical and mental condition againS
Pittsburgh. No human being or groul
of human beings can be expected to kecl
at this peak for an indefinite period"
| DENYING the statement that his team