Evening star., 1939-01-05
Cant See That Game
Is Major Factor in
Bringing Success
Declares Few Leudino
Sturs Are Affected
By Newspaper PIoy
BY GRANTLAND RICE,

of all conditioners. doesn't believe
modern high-pressure football is
good for the player, taking the
average. Neither does Joe Mccarthy
of the Yankees. Il know what foot
ball does to many good baseball
players" he says.
Most big league managers agree
with Joe. A bad shoulder-a bad
knee-a bad something. Now I've
shifted the argument to Lou Little
of Columbia by the way of re-
buttal
Il don't know that football does
anybody any harm" Lou Little said,
when I discussed the matter with
him in New York a few weeks ago,
land I believe that in many cases
boys have got a lot more out of
their college life by playing foot
ball than they would have got other
wise
Lou Ranks With Best.
Lou not only has been highly
successful as coach-ask the other
football coaches around the country
about him and they'll tell you he
must be included in the top five
from coast to coaSt-but he enjoys
an excellent reputation among
educators for the influence he has
on the players who come under
his direction.
l point that out here by way of
qualifying my witness for today.
In other words, he isn't hard
boiled coach harried by athletic
council and alumni, fearful that
If his team dosen't win he will
lose his job-and driven by that
fear to adopt, in self-defense, a
callous attitude toward his players
and the effect of the game upon
them.
Lou drills his players thoroughly,
tries to the utmost to win, worries
about all his games and is down.
cast when he loses. Bue he never
overlooks the circumstances that
the players are college boys and
that football is only part of their
training for the broader field of
life. He takes as much interest
in boys studies as do the profess
sors. Many boy who played foot
ball under Lou will testify that he
would have f1unked out of college
If Lou hadn't seen to it that he
kept at his books.
So, think I can say no coach has
a better perspective on football ard
Its place in the general college
scheme than the coach at Columbia.
Debunking One Phase.
When I say I think football has
done lot for some boys I don't
mean that they have been successful
IN later years just because they
played football at college," Lou said.
Some of the boys I coached have
gone on to make good in a big way,
but I know them well enough to
know they would have made good
II they never had played football.
Ihey had the qualities they needed.
Football may have helped to bring
them out. I don't say that. What
I'm trying to say is that I never be-
heved a lot of the stuff that has been
said about what football will do for
a boy. I simply think it is a good
game and that boy who plays it
adds one more interesting phase to
his college life.
NATURALLY, I am in touch with
many former players. I see them
before and after games and along
about this time of the year, when
the football season is over and the
banquet and smoker season is at it's
height. don't know any of them
who regrets having played or who
has lost any enthusiasm for the
game. AS In any other group of
college graduates, there are those
who have done we'll and those who
haven't. But they enjoy seeing each
other and talking about the games
tney played and the games thev
nave seen and I can't see, for the
lie OF me, where football has done
any harm to them.
"Football has had its tragedies, of
course. Players have been killed or
have suffered serious injuries that
nave handicapped them for the rest
OF their lives. Nobody, no matter
now much he likes football. can dis
miss those things lightly or forget
tnem-or even want to, Rule
makers, directors, coaches-every-
pody interested in footbaIl-con-
stantly are trying in every wav bv
amending the rules and in the study
anu care ana training of the boys.
10 eliminate the hazards of the
game.
An Overestimated Hazard.
There is one other angle of foot-
pail that has caused some appre-
henslon-more than it warrants. if
you ask me. This is the possible
adverse effect on boy who gets q
great deal of publicity because of his
1ootnall playing. They say that the
publicity is bound to he harmful to
hlm-that it will give him an exag-
eerated idea of his own Importance
ana that when his college DAYS are
over the letdoWn is so terrific as to
be bewildering to him.
wen, l don't know. have
coached boys who were pretty well
- puoHclzed. Of all of them I guess
Cllff Montgomery and Sid Luckman
got the most headlines, not only in
their senior years but in all three
years that they played. And I
don't know of any two boys. in COL
lege football or anywhere else. who
could have been less affected bv it
And I'm sure neither of them was
aware of terrific letdown when he
hung up his Columbia uniform for
the last time. Each OF them took
football in his stride, accepted it
for what 1t is-a game.
Montgomery Modest.
I'm sure that neither of them
expected prospective employers to
night for his services just because
he had starred in football. Cliff
took modest position as soon as he
left college, still is employed by the
same firm and is making good
steadily, Sid NAV nlav nrofessiona I