Evening star., 1926-12-18
NV 25 Years on the GridirOn
BY WILLIAM A. ROPER,
HEAD COACH PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
XXI-How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Foot Ball

NV first coaching at PTlncetoLI Wp-
in the Fall of 1905. doc Hlideulf'il0
was head coach. and l had charge VI
the ends. My associates on tne coa. a..
;np souad were "Bie Bill' Edwards
and Jesse Riggs. who helped Hide
brand with the line, and Ad keliy,
one of the greatest plunging BACKS
Inc rame ever has known. with
tommy Baird in charge OF the KlckeIs
and assisting Kelly with all the othe'
backs. .or,
That Fall was eventful for foot bail
The game was then, hrSt ana idat, q
trial Of speed and strength ana "elS iit
and courage. which unqueSlloiiAolS,
nut n premium on mere pounds anu
INCHES. 30 that kipling's unkind rel.
erence to the muddied OATS at the 6oai
was not far off the mark.
This Wa the period when the en-,
tire offeYfse was built alouno III
"n,,sh.and-pull" order of attack WIN
=, hie- o00. round tackle drawn our Oh
the line into the backfield ana I,idc
at the head OF the procession SOM
times the tnll would be gwen 10 Iile
tackle, in which case the TOUT p.DIn M
and two ends would fali IN penilo, an
rushing and pulling. The tackle WaS
exne.,ted to keep his feet and let nus
teammates do the rest In such d
,,av the tackle would resemble
giant oar in a storm. first beat one
,,~ov and then the other, but never
breaking.
Little Need for Brains.
When the tackle did not carry the
hall himself he was used to batter the
way through the line, the back WIN
the ball following in his wake. III
such style of play there was very
little need for brains. mere nrute
strength being the primary requisite.
The attack only planned to gain or
2 Yards per down. Then the rules
provided for a gain of yards in three
downs. 1t was almost Impossible 10
stop such an offense when properly
concentrated in Il short distance.
There was only one thing for the oe'
fensiye line to do to meet the attack, !,
and that was to meet it head hrst- II
the line attempted to stop the ATTACK
standing up, 1t was bowled over IN
short order.
The whole strategy of the attack IN
those old days was to wear out t,le
defense Play after play would De
hurled at the same spot until the de-
fensiye guard or tackle was forced 10
sriye IN through sheer exhaustion.
7 often wonder how the spectators
sat through the games. There were
Intervals when they never saw the
hall at all. but just drab mass ol -
nlayers pushing and tuggtng at each
other. End running became an a.
most forgotten art. while the nSht'
shifty back had little chance to si1iie'
Yale Stopped End Runs.
Garrett Cochran's 1896 team was
the ONLY one at Princeton ever W
master the push -and-pull attack. ror
the next 10 years the oniy way We
seemed able to win against 1ale wa wa
nv picking up Il loose ball and con
,oeytinp II into a touchdown. Our
strongest running plays in those GAYS
were outside tackle. They worked IN
the small games, but somehow an ciid
run would not go against Yaie.
After the season l sat down ana
tried to analyZe why our offensive
nlavs did not go against Yale. came
TO the conclusion that the 1ale
coaches realized our strengtn anu
weakness In attack. knowing we
had no strong pull-and-push plays in-
side tackle and that our fast BACKS
were hard to stop on the HANKS tHey
played their tackles wide.
Nv ioh that wear was to teach the
ends how to box an opposing tackle.
and was very much disappointed
at the way they did 1t. My work that
season taught me the impossibility OF
trving: to teach a man to take an
onnonent in when his initial position
is outside the man who is trying to
take him. Yet q great many coaches
waste a good deal of time trying to
teach their charges how to do this
very thing.
Several Fatal Accidents.
There were some unfortunate ac-
cidents on the gridiron the FAN OF
1SO4.O5. Several players on blg col
lege teams were killed ana a sreat
hue and cry was raised against the
game. The legislatures of some of
the western States passed laws MAX
ing II a penal offense to play foot Dali,
and altogether the future OF the game
looked very dark.
One wednesday in October Presi-
dent Roosevelt sent telegram 10
7. r. Fine, director of athletics. and
Doc Hildebrand, our head coach, In
viting them to the White House to
discuss with him the future or toot
ball. We learned that he sent similar
kilograms to Walter Camp and George
Chadwick of Yale and Edward
Wrightington, head coach at Har-
ward. This excited US tremendously
and we awaited the return of Hide
brand with much interest. When he
got back he reported to us that Mr..
Roosevelt had greeted them with the
following statement:
"This game of foot ball is a good
game for young men and boys to play.
but unless the rules are changed II
will have to be stopped, as 1t is be-
coming too dangerous. I want you
all to go back and use your influence
to have the rules changed"
Nfr Rnncn,-nlt cerfninlN rnaAn q