The Wilmington morning star., 1940-11-19
ITHACANS VICTORY
STRING IS BROKEN
Snavely, Lyman Wire Conces-
sion Of 80 Triumph For
Dartmouth; Dispute Ended
BY WHITNEY MARTIN

NEW YORk. NOV. 1o.-WT
Through it's own gracious refusal
to accept a victory tainted by Of
fetal error, Cornell today removed
itself from the shrinking list of the
nations undefeated football teams,
conceding that the game with Dart
mouth last Saturday rightfully was
won by Dartmouth. 3 to 0.
AS undeniable proof rolled in,
backed by a statement from Ref
cree W. H. F~riesell, Jr., that he
was convinced he was in error,
the '.fifth-down" episode was end
ed, and with it ended a Cornell
string of 10 games without defeat.
Promptly Athletic Director
James Lyman and Coach Carl
snavely of Cornell wired congratu-
lations to Athletic Director William
H. McCarter and Coach Earl Blaik
of Dartmouth. McCarter as
promptly accepted the victory, tel
egraphing the Cornell authorities:
THANK you for your wire. Dart
mouth accepts the victory a n d
your congratulations, and salutes
the Cornell team. the honorable
and honored opponent of her long
est unbroken football rivalry"
Motion pictures, charts of foot
ball writers and F%riesell's admis-
sion all blended into a picture
which showed that Cornell h a d
scored a supposedly winning touch
down when the ball should have
been in Dartmouth's possession on
its 2O-yard line with less than six
seconds to play.
In explaining his error to Asa S.
Bushnell, commissioner of the
Eastern intercollegiate Football
association, Friesell reported:
"Since the conclusion of Satur-
days Cornell-D Dartmouth football
game at Hanover l have made
careful and thorough study Of all
evidence having to do with the fl
nal series of plays which led to
Cornell's touchdown and Z to 3 vic
tory just as time expired in the
fourth quarter.
"On the basis of numerous
charts kept by the press and mo-
ton pictures taken by both of the
competing colleges I nov am con-
WINGED beyond shadow of doubt that
II was in error in allowing Cornell
possession of the ball for the play
on which it scored. I find that,
after a Cornell first down on the
six-yard-line, there followed three
line plays which gained five yards,
then an extra time : out penalty
which cost Cornell five yards, and
then a forward pass into the end
zone knocked down by Dartmouth.
cat this point Dartmouth was
entitled to take the ball on its 20
yard line, first down with about
six seconds of play remaining. I'm
fortunately, however, thinking that
it was Cornells ball, fourth down,
on the six-yard line, I awarded it
tc them for what actually was an
illegal fifth-down play which pro-
duced the winning score.
This mistake was entirely mine
as the games referee, and not
shared in or contributed to by any
of the three other officials. I real
ize, of course, that my jurisdiction
ceased at the close of the game
and that the football rules give me
no authority to change even an in
correct decision such as the one
described, but I do want to ac-
knowledge my mistake to you, an
if you Sc e fit, to the football public
as we'll"
Bushnell quoted reports that
there was a play in the final Sc
quence in which both teams were
offside with a statement from head
linesman Joseph Mckinney that he
made no such ruling.
Cornell's last defeat prior to the
Saturday game was inflicted by
Syracuse in 1888 by a 1917 score.
There followed three victories be-
fore a %scoreless tie with Penn,
Cornell's opponent next Saturday,
and then a parade of IA straight
triumphs.