Evening star., 1926-12-14
BY LAWRENCE PERRY.

m2tter.
The old Yale spirit. the editor finds,
appears to be seeping out Of athletics.
This is noted particularly in the dis
appearance Of the old system of
practical interest in the development
of the eleven by graduate players. In
the past there was at New Haven a
close association among unpaid
alumni players. the foot ball men and
undergraduates generally.
In the fact that today coaching of
the team Is in the hands of g. small
group Of specialists working under a
salaried head coach, with graduate
players not attached to the coaching
staff pretty much out of the picture.
the editor of the Yale alumni organ
believes he has found the reason for
the decline of the old supremacy in
the sridiron game.
Plan Is Not Logical.
IN former times there was a school
Of Yale foot ball. says the editor. in
which the older players had a part,
school which supplied great teams in
unending procession.
The motives Of all this are not to
he questioned: they may be traced to
an absolute loyalty to Yale and a
desire to see the best possible use
made Of the material. The motives
are lofty enough, but the logic is i'll
founded.
Primarily foot ball has got beyond
the stage when graduate stars who
have not made a study of science Of
teaching grtdiron play can return to
their alma. mater and be of any great
value as instructors. They are mere.
ly obstacles to the processes of mold
ing teams into q unit and in the way
of individual play they have nothing
to teach that the regular members
of the coaching staff cannot teach
more efficiently and more effectively.
Factors which made Yale so uni
formly successful in former gridiron
epochs have vanished and the mere
reestablishment of ancient forms and
ancient methods would amount to
nothing more than dressing a man in
Napoleons clothing and expecting
him to be Napoleon.
Yale's supremacy in the past was
based upon certain definite virtues
that are dead and into which the
breath Of life can never be blown.
Reasons or-Decline.
First there was Walter Camp.
Camp devised many Of the important
features of the foot bali rules and he
knew more about them than any one
else. Equipped with this inside
knowledge, 1t will be recognized how
valuable he was to Yale as a coach
or as a man behind the coaching
scenes at New Haven. In addition to
this he had a strategical mind than
which no coach. ancient or modern,
has had better and a marked inspirar
tional ability.
When Camp retired from Yale foot
ball Yale lost something very vital.
Again. under the rules in vogue, be-
fore 1910 ii was permissible to assist
the ball carrier by pushing and pull.
ing. Yale had this down to an alb
solute science; it was a veritable
monopoly. and when the rules were so
altered as to make helping the run
ner illegal the backbone of the Eli
rushing attack was broken.
At the same time Yale never found
the forward pass as popular an ex-
pedient as sister colleges did, and
there have been few Yale teams in
which the overhead play has been
greatly feared by opponents.
This does not mean that the coach
ing staff has been unable to teach 1t.
Give Tad Jones triple-threat man
like Slagle or Friedman and he will
coach in the country. How long has
it been since Yale has had real
triple.threat star? How long has 1t
been since she has had hnemen like,
Olcott, Bloomer. Hogan, Shevlin. Raj
ferty, Fitzpatrick, Glass, Goss, Cham
berlain. Hobbs. Brides, Tripp, Sanford
and other great forwards?
Stars Now Distributed.
In the old days Yales supremacy
drew the best foot ball material to
New Haven as a matter of coursf =
Harvard and Princeton alone stood 8
rival claimants upon stars coming ~,
from the secondary schools. AN,
neither had a chance with Yale.
Now, with great foot ball playing
colleges in every section of the coun-
try. Yale is no longer a magnet.
There was a great deal OF talk.
about the excellence of Yale's person
mel this year. But it was based upon
ignorance of actual conditions at the
bowl. The material was not above
average: taking the squad as q whole
IL was below average in that the e1e-
ment of maturity was lacking. A.man
like Sturhahn. two or three years
older than his teammates, stood out
in the line like a monolith.
The last time that Yale had good
material was in 1923. and Tad Jones
and his coaches used ii to the best
possible advantage. turning out
great eleven. They will do it again
when the material is there-and here,
when all is said and done, lies Yale's
problem.
Would Honor Wolverines.
IT has been suggested by sporting
commentator at the University of
Michigan that through the yellow
block M presented to the Wolverine
varsity men this Fall a scarlet thread
be worn--the red badge Of courage.
This is by no means a bad idea. 1t
is. in fact, a very fine one.
The Navy awards n star in conjunc-
ton with the academy IN" to the
members of outstan>sIg teams. specif-
ically to teams that have prevailed
over the Army.
But how much finer TO. award the
red badge to elevens that would not
be beaten--to teams that refused to
bow in defeat before outfits better
qualified physically to win the games.
Intercollegiate sport develops nothing
so praiseworthy as a team Of this sort.
Afichigan's eleven this year was
perfect example Of the combination
that would not yield.
There are no illusions at Ann Arbor
concerning the actual physical merits
Of the maize and blue gridiron teams.
IT is freely admitted that the victory
of the Wolverines over Ohio State
should on the merits OF the game
have been a tie and that the Mime
sofa battle was an overwhelming de-
feat in everything but the score.
Utterly routed in the first quarter
against Ohio State, the eleven struck
hack with the only effective weapon
it. possessed. the passing attack.
Through its use. successful in spite
of the fact that the Buckeyes expected
il and were trained to meet it, Michi.
gan fought her way to even terms,