The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-10-11
Football Play Paintings Adorn Ohio State Rooms
BY JOE WILLIAMS

Columbus, Ohio, Oct. 11.-A visit to the Ohio State dressing room is interesting. It is like any other dressing room in a modern univer- sity except for the wall murals. These take the form of intricate plays from the inspired bean of Francis Schmidt, the coach. It is generally conceded that MT. Schmidt can rig up the most fantastic plays in football.
 There are literally hundreds of
 these plays hanging on the wall
 They are not the conventional black and white creations, either MT Schmidt has the soul of an artist He enlivens his football doodlings with soft. yellows, angry reds and allur1ng purples. Int effect, if baf- Hing to the mind, is soothing. to the eyes. You find yourself thinking of sunset in the Swiss Alps.
 We were mildly astonished at the easy informality of the place. Ap- parently total strangers are not dis couraged from strolling into the dressing room and digesting the Schmidt masterpieces at length.
 We commented on this to MT. Lew Byrer, the able local gazeteer. MT. Byrer shrugged his shoulders .. Nobody knows what they mean anyway, and I doubt if even Schmidt does"
 MT. Schmidt also goes in for placards and wall mottoes. One reads "Only Ohio State can beat Ohio State this year. ."This is not so subtle reminder to the athletes that dumbness can be costly. There are other charming little notices which stress the common virtues of tight, courage and alertness.
 Old Play Remembered
 Mr., Schmidt's gift for the barbed word and the steaming invective is well known hereabouts. One of the wall pieces is a diagram of an old play. It carries this inscription: This is the play that cost Ohio State the 1886 championship against Northwestern" The mistakes which the boys made in the play are sharply indicated. The members of the 1886 varsity have long since passed from the campus but a de- tailed record of their crime still hangs on the wall of the dressing room, a static warning to a newer and younger age.
 We are told it is MT. Schmidts custom to hang up similar remind- CTS after each game when assign mentS aren't carried out correctly. once in while he adds light per- Sonal notation, like the time an end gummed up play against Michi- gan. He wrote: Only a louse would make play like this"
 But for all his directness, brusoue- ness. and top-sergeant manner the athletes go for him; they like him as & man and admire him as coach. He sells them on the idea of pride in perfection and points out that this can be achieved only OAAOuS1l 1ldTQ WOTk.
 As We pointed out yesterday it's practically 8 waste of time to talk to coaches especially during their busy season. They all have the same answers. MT. Schmidt isn't so sure how good his team is this year. :. Yes, Don Scott is a good back, but SO IS Jim Langhurst. .' Scott's the young man who has been getting all the headlines. He's the quarter back. He kicks. runs. passes and blocks. They say he can do every thing but cook. Just the same Mir. Schmidt gives you the impression Langhurst is just about as good.
 MT. Schmidt hopes to get by Northwestern tomorrow. "Hut sup- pose we do." he signs. Next week we must play Minnesota and after that Cornell" At this precise mo- ment he reminded us of the iugu- brlous Lou Little of Columbia.
 "And they are always talking about how big we are" nioaned Mr. Schmidt. apropoS of nothing. "A lot ofteam cut their weights down ta the programs to appear small. but for some reason our publicity do. partment makes lis look much big. ger than we are. 90 what happens7 When we arc lucky enough to wlnl