The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-10-27
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.byH Harry
 
Puting Is 60 Per Cent of Football, Bill Sparkling,
 U.C.L.A. Mentor Says

Always ready to admit that 6cks ing is at least 50 per cent of foot fall, Bill Spaulding at the moment is inclined to add another 10 per cent and make 1t an even 60 in his book.
 spauling has direct evidence at hand to back the contention that effective bunting still is the major factor of the game.
 ekillful kicking paved the way for Spauling's U. c. l.. A. varsity's two touchdowns. and field goal against California, and two fumbles when the Los Angeles club was about to boot ball left Q perfect set- LID for the Bears lone touchdown.
 Percy Haughton of Harvard made famous the expression, 'Kick and wait for the breaks. Andy Smith, who led California to the pigSkin heights in five consecutive unheaten campaigns and thereby foStered the great public interest and competi- tive rivalry which has since existed on the Pacific coast, had the same idea.
 It was a mighty fine plan in the time of Haughton and Smith. Haughton had superlative Crimson kickers and arrays that could wait patiently for the breaks and cash in on them when they came. Smith had remarkable kickers in Archie Nisbet and Morrison and squads to match.
 Teams today can't wait as long the old Harvard and California machines did, however. Competition is too keen. Teams of today like to carry the ball, and throw 1t for long gains.
 Naturally, when they are held, or as the old Harvard and California surprise punt, they kick. and kick as high and far as they can. It is the easiest way yet devised for mov- ing the ball toward the opponents goal line.
 There Is Considerable to We'll Executed Kicking Game
 There is considerable to 8 well- executed kicking game. The center must pass perfectly. He may hurry or pebble a short pass on a running play, and still get away with it, If the receiving back is alert. But . poor pass from center generally spells ruination in advance of punt.
 The punter must be well pro- tected by the line and backs. How often have you seen punt blocked and the whole course of a game changed just because some lineman failed to check or some back missed his blocking assignment?
 The kicker must have poise. He must keep cool and collected under fire. He knows that opponents are rushing in on him, but he must not let that disturb him. It is his jok to keep his eye on the ball and get it out of there. With an entire de- fenSive line charging in, the kicker who hesitates is lost. The punter must get rid of the ball quickly, with as little waste motion as is humanly possible.
 There is not much use in booting the ball down the field of the re- ceiving side is given an opportunity to run it all the way back, and pos sibly then some. That is why good punter kicks the ball high as well as far. That gives his ends time to get down under the ball. If he kicks "line-drives," the safety man can field the ball like an outfielder and be back down the field before the ends can obtain more than a running start. It goes without say ing that speed in going down under kicks, after affording the punter all necessary protection, is highly im- portant.
 Make Safety Man Chase Ball
 or Boot It Out of Bounds
 Punters kick the ball away from safety men, when possible. It is 8 highly satisfactory maneuver to get those young men chasing after the ball. It's difficult trick sometimes, but a good one if 8 kicker can do it.
 Then, too, there is the idea of kicking particularly high ones to the safety man who suffers from the unenviable reputation of hav- ing a tendency to tumble. There is something very .nerve.wracking about waiting for high one to drop, all the time hearing the thud of feet coming closer and closer, and realizing that you are going to be hit quite hard, pronto. This fre- quently results in the receiver sig naling for . fair catch, which means no run-back, but when nerves crack he sometimes overlooks this precaution, in which event the ball is likely to be fumbled and 8 game takes on a new aspect.
 Finally, there is the most useful kicking trick of them all-booting 'em out of bounds, preferably in a "coffin corner" There is no way of running back a ball that has gone out of bounds, and the receiving team is in a bad hole when 1t goes out on the other side of five-yard stripe. A perfected kicking game is if material advantage for many req sons, not the least of which is that 1t allows three chances at running with or passing the ball for gains. If the kicking game is none too reli- able, the average signal caller is likely to call for a punt on third down.
 That's sound enough defensive strategy, perhaps, but it's little to conservative. A team cannot get very far on only two attempts at running or passing to the series oi downs.
 That is why coaches pay so much attention to kicking. If 8 team has 60 per cent of the game in hand 1t has control-unless the better minds football arithmetic is al fault.
 JORGENS IS JORGENSEN