Evening star., 1940-11-18
Perpetual Indian Sign
Helps Make Maroon
Choice in PIayoff
Four Tie Games, Scrap
Thot Ended Series
Mark Old Rivalry
By GEORGE HURER.

BY GEORGE HUBER.
Talk about one football team hav-
ing the Indian sign on another, you'll
have to 60 long way before find
ing another jinX or hoodoo to COM
pare with the one Tech exercises
over Western. These two teams
meet Thursday for the public high
football championship and if past
performances are any criterion,
Western must call up all its rabbit
feet, horSeShoes, clover leafs and
every other charm available If 1t
hopes to stop Tech.
1t took a lot of searching through
musty newspaper files to find
record of the last time Western
defeated Tech. 1t was nearly quar-
ter of A century ago, "a years TO be
exact, that Western won. In 1916 the
Red Raiders, coached by the late
BRYAN Morse. defeated the Maroon,
1916. Since then % games have
been played mo games in 1918 and
1882 with Tech winning all except
four which ended in ties.
The tie games were 1919, TT: 1924,
II; 1925. 90 and 1926, Sc. Other
than that it hasn't been close. with
SIX points or more, usually many
more, separating the two. In win
ming l8 games and tieing four, Tech
has run up the impressive total of
1868 points to "a. An even dozen of
those victories, incidentally, we're
Shutouts by Tech. It's best margin
was in 1920 when it won. $50. but
it also has turned in two 33-to-0
games, one 32-to-0 game and several
in which the margin Of victory was
20 points or better.
1894 Game Real Fight.
Hlghllght Of the long series, how
ever, was the 1884 affair That was
the game which never was finished.
Tech was leading, 26-0, when fight
broke out among the players. The
thing spread, with spectators and
students taking part in young riot
on the field. officials were unable
to clear the field and the game
ended then and there, and because
Of the general unpleasantness it
caused, the remainder of the school
boy series that year was cancelled
and Tech was declared champion.
having won two games and tied one.
Western will be defending its first
clear grIdiron championship on
Thursday, having won last season
by defeating Eastern in the play
off game, and the only other times
it had good shot at the crown
II was Tech which stood in the way.
It's fact: Western tied for first
place in 1924 and 1926 and the team
with which it was tied was Tech.
Tech continually seems to be getting
IN Westerns way, and this year may
be no exception, as the Maroon
probably Will be the favorite for
Thursdays game. The two teams
already have met once in series
play. with Tech winning. 2l-6. al
though in justice to Western it must
be noted that several of its stars
were missing with injuries, notably
Jake Hilleary, its one-man backfield.
Winners Since 1916.
Tech has had some great teams
and some just fair ones over the
years, but by a singular twist it has
been able, year in and year out since
1916, to defeat or at least tie West
ern. Its best years, of course. were
from 1927 to 1882, at the height of
Hap Hardells coaching career. dur
ing which period it won five straight
titles and tied for another. In 1927
the Maroon barely sneaked past
Western. 60. and was tied with
Eastern and Central for the title.
In that year, however. it began its
great winning streak of "a successive
series games that was to carry 1t
five years and the better part Of
another undefeated In fact it was
the 1888 victory over Western. 1876,
that was the last of this string.
Central defeated Tech a week later
and went on TO win the champion
ship.
Although Techs string was bro
ken by Central, 1t continued to
exercise a spell over Western that
has carried down to this year. In
fact, since Tech and Western tied.
6-6, in 1926, the Red Raiders haven't
been able to get so much as even
another tie and have gathered only
five touchdowns
Below is the record of Tech-W West
ern games since 1916. None was
played in 1918 because of the in |
fluenza epidemic or in 1899 because |
the schools were not scheduled /
against each other. The Tech score
in all instances is mentioned first. |