New Britain herald., 1927-11-17

, quarterback; NJ. McDonough, left half; Frank Nibberts, captain and fullback, and Alfred Griswold, right half Hartford beat Norwich Free
 Academy in the opener and defeat ed Suffield in the semi-finals, but lost the championship to Bridgeport. Lost to Hartford.
 In 1895. Jimmie Martin was cap tain and the school was represented
 by a good team, but dropped It's first league game to Hartford at Electric Field. Hartford brought down big bunch Of rooters and displayed q lot of blue and white banners,
 which was something of an innova- tion in those days. New Britain was heavily penalized by the Yale offi- cial, John Hall. for offside and alleg- cd rough play. On one penalty he gave Hartford 25 yards, bringing the ball across the goal line. Then he
 was forced to half the distance. The final score was Hartford 1o, New Britain 6. Over-confidence probably lost the game to New Britain as it has so frequently spelled disaster to really good teams. However, Hart ford again fell victim to Bridgeport in the final and the Park City team secured two legs on the cup, only to fail the next year when New Brit ain developed its great team. The 1895 team headed by Captain Jimmy Martin was composed of
 Martin, Buckley and Porter. ends; | M. McDonough and w. Flannery, tackles, T. Flannery and Corbin, guards; Towers, center; Meehan, quarterback; P. McDonough and
 G. Fitch. halfbacks; O'Donncll, full
 back. Bob Snow was manager and 1 others on the squad were Mitchell and Latham. sub ends, Burke and | Griswold. sub halves. and tackels. 1 Ben filling also played at tackle on l the team. Out of nine games play ed, five resulted in victories, three i in defeats and one tie. This team, | however, formed the nucleus for the | 1896 team explained by Jack Nice ! han.
 Famous '86 Team.
 l The well clad youths who today
 represent the Red and Gold have no
 idea of the difficulties under which
 the old elevens played. The team
 was not under direct school supervi-
 sion and the only funds for it's sup
 port came from contributions of
 business and professional men who
 were anxious to help the boys and
 such mcager amounts as resulted
 from the game attendance. The
 carly season games brought in little,
 most of the money going to the
 visitors for expenses. Volunteer
 coaches did their bit until late in
 the season. Often just before the league games enough money was pledged to hire a college coach. Uniforms were hard to get and even the regulars were frequently clad ill
 misfit togS. The nose guard was
 thought indispensable although the
 pigskin pushers scorned the idea of ! helmets. If a man managed 10
 wheedle the manager to get him a
 new nose guard or jersey he be-
 came the envy of the whole eleven,
 but regardless of poverty the boys , played real football and the school
 spirit ran high.
 As stated the '9G team was com-
 posed largely of veterans of 'o5 and they began business by trimming
 Meriden High at Electric Field one
 blistering hot afternoon in Septem
 Der. The score was to 0, but as
 Meridcn later proved to be the best the southern division produced that
 year and play New Britain for the
 championship, the game was no
 walk over and both teams were