Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-06
INSTALLNGENT I.

Whitney Field for two reasons First. I
always have felt rather proud of my
part in solving the mystery. and second,
the story proves that we all have a fear
OF the supernatural in us, even such wise"
persons as college students who laugh at super
stition and scott at the very idea of ghosts
1t all started on the day that Whitney Field
was dedicated. If you were old enough and If
you lived in my part of the country you'd re-
member that Stan Whitney was the greatest
foot ball player that ever attended Cathedral
College. He was the rare combination of a great
field general, peerless kicker and an irresistible
line bucker-and his were the days when buck
ing the line was the main part of foot ball
teams attack
WhltneyS name, therefore, has always been
surrounded with haze of glory at Cathedral,
but if he had needed to do anything more to
make him the idol of the campus, he did it
when he donated the college enough money to
build new stadium.
The handsome concrete structure was COM
pleted early in September, but it was not dedi-
Gated until early in October when we played
the State University at home There were two
reasons for choosing this game as the main
feature of Stadium day. The first was the fact
that the State game always drew cur biggest
crowd, but the second was more sentimental
reason. Cathedral had beaten State only once
In all the years that they had played each other,
and that was the year Stan Whitney was cap
tain. In the last minute of play, with the score
tied, Whitney made sensational dropkick that
won the game. Tradition says that the kick
was so yards, but you know how figures like
that grow as they are passed down from year to
year. Fred Peters, who is great admirer Of
Whitney and also quite kicker himself, con-
fioed to me the day before the State game that
he doubted if it was more than 40 yards
But it was a whale of kick, anyway" he
said ruefully. And he had reason to be rueful.
One of the features of Stadium day was to be
the re-enacting of the famous drcpkick of Stan
Whitney. and Peters had to do the kicking
He had been practcing it for weeks, and had
cause to know that putting ball over the cross
bar from midfleld was no easy task, even for a
Whitney.
FIRED PETERS, by the way, was easily the
star of our team that year. and it was a
goca team. We had won all our games so far,
and were actually hopeful of beating State.
We were eager to win that year. anyway, be-
cause Of the dedication ceremonies and the huge
crowd that would be there
Stadium day came with perfect foot ball
weather, but early that morning something hap
pened that marred the success of the occasion.
The president of the college received a telegram
saying that Mr. Whitney had been taken sud-
denly and seriously i'll, and would not be able
to attend the ceremonies. That put damper
on the teams spirits. but Coach Everett did
his best to cheer them up.
Just think, men," he said to us in the field
house just before the game started, "old Stan
Whitney is lying sick in bed, hoping and pray
ing that we'll win this game We've got to do
it, for his sake"
1t was grim, determined team that trotted
out on the field for practice. had little hope