The Washington herald., 1920-11-28
NAVY DOWNS
eRMY, I TO 0;
KOEHLER HERO
900 at Polo Grounds See
Mddies Win Spectacu-
lar Football Match.
TOUCHDOWN IN FOURTH
Nebraskan Breaks Through
Defense After Spirited
Navy Attack.

NEW YORK. Nov. 27.-onee back
in the year 0o03 some wise phil
osop6er said that a straight line
was the shortest way between two
points.
This afternoon in front of $4,000
nower-bedecked. fur-clad specta-
tors. the Navy proved that the old
rule had lost none of its veracity.
The Navy beat the Army, Z to D,
in their twenty-third annual battle
at the olo Grounds today.
Ben Gund KoehIer, a 21-year-oid
boy OF 15s pounds from Geneva, Ne
, braska, scored the touchdown that
gaye the Midshipmen victory and
evened the count with the Army OF
eleven games to eleven in a thirty
year period.
Honors Are Divided.
But-to young Clyde King. who
booted the Navy TO a victory last
year and who stroked the Navy
crew to a world record at Brussels
last summer: to Eddie willkie, ELL
wrestler from the Olympic games;
to Country. Moore, the tackle from
the mountains of Virginia and to
Harry Albert Bolles, of Seattle, goes
the credit for drawing the straight
est line between victory and de-
feat
That line of young admirals op-
ened holes In the heavy Army de-
fense that a fleet OF motor trucks
could have driven through
And through the holes that these
young husky midshipmen opened,
the spectacular young Ben Gund
KoehIer plunged for his touchdown
All the CeIebrities There.
Secretary Baker, Gen. Pershing.
Gen. Macarthur and all the striped
and braided officers of the army
were there on the side lines to see
the brilliant Walter Edward French,
the Army tank OF Morristown. ". J.,
stepped before he started.
Secretary Daniels and all the ad-
mirals of the navy with their arms
. crowded with gilt tape were there
to see the glorious triumph of the
navy over the army.
william G. McAdoo, Herbert
Hoover. ]. p. Morgan. Judge Lam
-
baseball. and fve State governors.
the crea mof New York society, who
might be classed as neutrals. were
there. sitting in the gray shadows
that settled down on Coogan's Bluff,
content to see the better team win.
The better team won-all agreed.
For two long periods fought in the
Navy territory; throueh thirty min
utes of f-ttle fought IN the shadow
of their own goal posts. the Navy
team caused its blue -blanketed goat
on the side lines to bleat with
anxiety.
Navy at First Out-reneraIled.
For two periods and a half of a
bitterly-fought battle the Army ont
maneuvered the Navy. For thirty
seven and a half minutes of a man
to-man conflict the Navy stands
were moaning-"Can they hold
against it?'
Then suddenly in the dying min
utes of the third quarter, as a bolt
from the dusk that was gathering
over the crowded ampitheater. the
Navy punch was loosed.
The Midshipmen took the ball in
midfield.
Twenty-year-old Vincent Paul
Conroy, of Ogden. Utah, and the
youthful Koehler broke through the
holes that the gallant line opened.
for yards and yards.
The Army defense collapsed.
Up in the stands where the gray
clad cadets were gritting their teeth
until their jaws hurt with exhorta-
tions-"hold 'em Army"-down the
field where the trainers were run
~.
faces of the faltering young gener-
als-alI over the big hollow filled
with humanity. the hunch spread
that the Army was gone
The Army was gone.
A criss-cross play on the 12-yard
line worked early in the final period
His Hands Like Coal Heaver's.
Conroy. the Ogden boy, whose
hands resembled those OF a Dread
naught coal heavens, took a pass
from center. feinted a run to the
left. passed the ball to Ben Gund
Koehler and he squirmed through
the Army line for a touchdown.
Clyde King, he of the educated
toe, made the count to with a
The game was over then.
Conroy. by two fumbles on the
Army's 1o-yard line later in the
fourth period prevented what seemed
like a sure second touchdown. But
the Middies were satisfied.
The Cadets bet their lives and fu-
ture on French. But he was a
marked man from the first TO the
last whistle. He did get away for
varying runs from 10 to 30 yards
but never when those runs would
means a touchdown.
Capt. Ewen's Gloried Exit.
Capt. Eddie EVEN, of Portsmouth,
n. H, covered himself with glory
In the last game he will play for
the Navy. He was a mass of flying
legs and arms In the midst of the
Army interference and three times
he threw the great French, the Sec
ond best scorer Of the East. for Is
yard losses.
The Army had nothing but French.
When he stopped all hope was lost.
And the Navy stopped him in his
tracks. ... .r--
The battle was the usual exhibit
tion of color and spectacle
The Midshipmen in their. trinfl
looking blue. were there 1900
strong: the Cadets in their somber
gray held forth in equal numbers
The great hero of verdun, Gen.
Nivelle. of the French army, was
an Army rooter.
The Navy goat was there and he
did 100 miles or more up and down |
the sidelines. dragged by two crazy,
ooSrIspED on PAGE TEN. !