Evening star., 1926-12-28
My 25 Years ON the Cridiron
BY WILLIAM 4. ROPER,
COACH PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
XXXI-My Prep School Foot Ball.

In the Fall of 1891, at the age of
II years, my parents sent me to the
William Penn Charter School, in Phil
delphia. 1 stayed there until the
Spring of 1S9S entering Princeton
the following Fall. Unfortunately, the
school was in the center of the city
and the school athletic field on the
outskirts in just the opposite direc-
ton from where I lived. So in my
first years at school I saw very
little of the field or the school foot
ball team.
When I was Is I decided to try
for the school foot ball team. I didn t
really expect 10 make it the first
year, but thought / would get myself
in line for the next season. l had
great time making up my mind
what position to go out for. / had
played end and all over the backf1eld
on our kid teams. Finally l decided
to try for end rush and so told the
coach when he listed my name. !, of
course, also said I would be very
glad to play anywhere he wanted me
to, but I thought 1 was best suited
for end rush.
Harry Williams Was Coach.
We were fortunate in having a
.
Harry l.. Williams, the famous Yale
halfback and hurdler. who afterward
was head coach for many years at
the University Of Minnesota. 1 con-
slider myself very lucky in having
had a chance to wrok under him
for the three years I played at Penn
Charter. Williams was a great tac-
tician and team coach and a won
derful man on offensive play. He
believed, as did Gen. Forrest, in
actual warfare, that winning foot ball,
so far as the attack is concerned.
consist of getting there fastest with
the mostest men, DIR. Williams paid
very little attention to the defensive
end OF the game. His main idea was
to carry the ball. and he belived that
a good offense Is the best defense.
Our school squad consisted of about
25 players. Not many, considering the
size of the school, but the location of
the athletic field had great deal to
do with it, and besides we had d vet
eran team with only one or two places
open. DIR. Williams was a great be-
lever in scrimmage and signal prac-
tice.
If remember correctly, we had a
light scrimmage the second day out.
The hard work didn't feaze me, as
had been preparing at home most Of
the Summer for this foot ball season.
My greatest and earliest ambitions
had been to make my school and col
lege foot ball team. In my early days
I did not have a very vigorous consti-
tuition, so / realized il l ever wanted
to make anything out Of myself ath-
letically, / would have to take mighty
good care Of my health.
Keep Fit, Is Best Advice.
The best advice / can give to any
boy who wants to succeed in foot ball
or, for that matter, in the bigger
game beyond the gridiron, Is to keep
fit, not only during foot ball season,
but the whole year. Boys who haven t
their full strength and growth are
very foolish to get the idea it Is big
and manly to smoke, when as a mat
ter of fact it isn't at all, and they are
just taking the chance Of hurting
themselves.
l plugged along on the scrub team
for two or three weeks, when one day
Dr. Williams put me on the first team
at quarterback and gave me a try
there in the next game. / must not
have made any bad mistakes, for after
that l played part of every game dur
ing the rest of the season and made
the quarterback position on the team
the next year.
We didn't have a very strong team
that year. The schools in Philadel-
phia had league called the Interaca-
demic. Usually first place lay between
ourselves and Germantown Academy.
but this year Cheltenham Military
Academy had a splendid team and
easily won the league championship.
They had fine backfield. Wilson
Potter, who later played on the Penn
sylvania team, and Boyd. afterward of
Lafayette, were their star backs.
After my second year on the team
was elected captain for the next
year. AS most of our players were
coming back, 1t looked as IL we would
have a strong team. I naturally was
tremendously excited and looked for
| ward with great expectations toward
the opening of the season. Every Fall