Evening star., 1935-11-09
OLD STARS MADE
CLASSIC Of GAME
Poe, Homans, Cowan, New
ell, King, Ames Recalled as
Teams Meet Today.
BY GRANTLAND RICE.

~ meet again today In one of
~ the old traditional tilts, the
\ clock turns back TO more than
q few Of the oldtimers who still are
remembered by the older guard.
In the general hurly-burly we ran
across Shep Homans, the Tiger full
back nominated on Walter Camps
All-America for 1890 and 1891.
ehep had been Snake Ames' substi-
tute in l88s-and never got in q
game. And when Homans stepped
into Snakes place. there was no SUBJ
stitute who had chance TO carry the
ball from that position.
THAT Tiger backfeld Of 1890" Shep
told me, twas not big. but 1t could
move around. Phil King was at quar-
ter and Johnny Poe at one Of the
halves"
What about Johnny Poe?" I asked.
"Just how good was he?"
zone Of the best I ever saw" Ho-
mans said. Johnny weighed only
l55 pounds. maybe less. but he was
not only hard, fast runner. but one
Of the hercest tacklers I ever saw.
He was like Frank Hinkey In that re.
spect. Both struck with the explosive
force Of 1so-pounders.
Poe Had Heart Of Two Tigers.
Johnny POE had rare spirit He
had the heart of two tigers, max
ing every play as If that was to be
the last effort Of his career.
Poe, King and ! all weighed under
100 pounds"
Johnny Poe was killed in action
September rs, 1915. 20 years ago. as
member of the famous Black Watch.
The argument then started as to
who was the greatest tackle of those
early foot ball years. shep Homans
held out for Cowan Of Princeton.
He was big. fast, aggressive, with
keen foot ball sense" Homans said.
'I've never seen O better one since"
On the other side several Yale men
held out for Newell of Harvard.
i can still recall Newell" q former
Blue cut in. He was broad d-shoul.
dered and deep-chested His big
hands hung almost to his knees. He
was q terrific charger and ] never saw
. man who could punish you more.
In those days 1t was more man to
man-an individual war-and Newell
was Q terror 10 face"
Big Three Had Stars.
IN THE first five years of Walter
Camps All-America, from 1889
through 1898, Harvard and Princeton
placed SO members on Mr.. Camps
teams, many Of these, Of course, ~.
peating.
Foot ball greatness then belonged
10 the old Big Three, with Pennsyl-
vania edging in.
But almost the entire All-America
OF that time came from Harvard, Yale
and Princeton-the Hinkeys, Heffel-
fingers, Ameses, Homanses, Newells,
McClungs and Hallowels took over
the show.
That was "far away and long ago."
But there still Is a fash back to old
days and early rivalries when Har-
ward and Princeton meet again.
can still recall the day in 1919
when Harvard came to Tigertown
with one Of its greatest teams-with
an attack, led by the brilliant Mahan.
which begged down In a driving rain
over field ankle deep In water and
mud.
Only Mahan's long run gave Hrickley
his chance for the winning field goal.
Game Still Holds Color.
HOW different the picture Of 1885.
Today 1t was Princeton that pre-.
sented one Of the strongest teams in
the country, with Harvard fighting
desperately to keep from being over
whelmed by Q much faster, more ex.
perienced squad.
Whatever the result Of the game.
there still would be the same thrill
from hearing again "Old Nassau" ana
Fair Harvard" as those two melodies
caught the November winds, and
touched up something In the old
grads breast the younger crowd
couldn't quite get.
From Snake Ames to Levan-from
Romans to Constable-from Hallowell
to Shaun Kelly-from Dean and Cor
bett to Hedblom and AdEigian-Quite
. nock Of tackles, punts and broken
field runs between these two casts.
It also was worth remembering that,
while Harvards young team really
needed more time under Dick Harlow
TO ind its place higher UP. Princeton,
unbeaten, rated by Tom Hamilton Of
the Navy as the best team he has
seen this year, stili was carrying on
the Big Three traditions Of 20 or Is
years ago.
The fast, hard-driving Tiger team
was pointing for an unbeaten year,
to stand with the few survivors left as
the season ends.
But that took nothing from the
spirit and the color Of q Harvard
Princeton game-an oldtirne meeting
which helped to make foot ball all
spirit and color more than 50 years
ago.
| (Copyright. 1885 By the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Ine.)