San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-01-24
17{maMa
Haughton Knew the
Mob.
He Promoted Emotion.
Greatest of Coaches.
He Organized" Co
lumbia. ST.
His Fetch Was Team.

is Fetch Was Team.
; BY Damon Runyon"--

lumb la.
His Fetch Was Team.
l---By Damon Runyon--A
copyrieht. 1895. international Fssturs
Service. lnc) i. =
The late Percy d. Haugbton, great
est of the football coaches Of his time,
if not the greatest football coach OF
all time, seemed cold and distant
man to those who did not know him
well, yet he must have had keen
knowledge of human nature, and OF
the thing we sports writers call psy-
chology.
He understood more Of human emo
tiou. and the general effect thereof as
applied to competitive sport than you
would suspect from bis glacial austen
ity. 1 came to believe that his aus
tcrity was 'part of Percy D, Haugh-
tons scheme of life since talking with
men who were his iutimates,. and VINO
assure me that he was withal warm,
companionable fellow.
1t was a purposeful pose, to impress
those about him, not so much with
himself, perhaps, as with the stern
solemnity of his pursuit, the same be-
ing football. ] mean to say, now
think that it was Percy ID. Haugbton $
idea to first of all convince those
about him of the seriousness and im-
portance of football. His chill aloof-
ness aided in carrying that CONVICTION,
no doubt of that.
I know it thoroughly convni,en me.
l think / Mad an idea OF football as
something trivial until j met Percy
ID. Haughton. / went away with him
feeling somehow that football-espe-
cially Harvard football-was tower
ing, awesome institution.
Last season / watched the Harvard
team play several times, and l couidn
helm remarking the almost apathetic
attitude of the Harvard cheering sec
ton.
There were just as many students
in the section as ! ever saw before,
thew had Just as many cheer leaders,
a big band and their old war cries
and songs. But the cutlery was quite
perfunctory. Behind it was little
spirit.
recalled that in the days when
Haughton was the coach IN Cain-
bridge. and Haughton's football teams
rolled resistiessly across the football,
land, l had often seen the Harvard
team in stress when up would come
that cheering section booming like an
angry sea, and seeming to fairly float
the team off the rocks of momentary
adversely.
That was Percy d. HaughtoD, or
rather the influence Of Percy u.
Haughton, extending back from the
football field to the student body. he
understood the psychology OF the mob,
with the understanding of a crafty
politician. and he organized Harvard
spirit in Harvard men, which was the
spirit that lifted Harvard teams up on
mighty waves Of enthusiasm.
When Haughton first went TO Co
lumbia to undertake the difficult task
Of putting Columbia back on the foot
ball map. one of his friends asked
him how he intended 10 proceed.
We'll" said Haughton, the very
first thing I'm going to do is 10 Or
ganize Columbia spirit among Colum-
bia men. That's the important thing.
After / get them together, the rest
will be easy"
He mingled with those around him
more than had been his habit in
years. it is said, and he had his as
sistants mingling, and they talked Co
lumbia football, and Columbia foot
ball only. They spread the Haughton
doctrine quietly, but freely.
Columbia at that time wasn't what
YOU would call a good figure in the
gridiron world. She was rather hum
bic, in fact, and Columbia men made
no great shakes of football as it was
played on Morningside Heights in
those days, particularly as compared
to the football of other institutions.
But under Haughton, Columbia
gradually commenced to lift her head,
and look the old gridiron world right
sauarely in the face. When Haughton
died. practically in harness, Column
bia had come out into the open, so TO
speak, and was commencing to yell
with new spirit that was the Haush-
ton spirit, and which still lives up
there on the heights.
F1dugutOH IIdTNuTu ltduiS diNoy
reflected his own austerity, it seemed
To me. They were cold. ruthless
teams. which seemed to roll relentlessly
over its opponents, and which impress
ed not so much by their brilliancy MS
by their power.
Haughton's football fetch was
team" Nothing else mattered with
hm--team, team, team. His football
system was embodied in that. He
produced many individual stars, to be
sure. but their individual brilliancy
was mainly submerged by the might
ness Of the teams on which they play
ed.
/ have sometimes wondered whether |
chap like Grange would have been |
as great a player under Haughton-
or greater. Haughton had men that l |
thought were as great as Grange, or
any other football players / ever saw.
but you heard little of them. They |
were but cogs in great machine.
1 do not mean to say that Haugh-
ton suppressed individual brilliancy,
but individual performance was no
part Of his system, wherefore it didn't |
get the chance to stand out over and |
beyond the team.
Two men, the superb Eddie Mahan,
and Charley Brickley, the great kick
or, gained the most individual fame |
Of any Of Haughton's men. Brick
loy's highly specialized function OF
drop kicking brought him to notice,
while Mahan conld MT baya hoo, Ia