xt74xg9f506b https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt74xg9f506b/data/mets.xml Montgomery, Richmond Ames, 1870- 1923  books b92-150-29579345 English s.n., : [S.l. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Centre College. Winning team of Centre College  / by R. Ames Montgomery. text Winning team of Centre College  / by R. Ames Montgomery. 1923 2002 true xt74xg9f506b section xt74xg9f506b 





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The



JlFinning    Ted

  R. AMES MO1NTGOMERY



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THE



WINNING

               of

    CENTRE CI



TEAM



DLLEGE



R. Aby .MONTGOMBERY
President of Centre College



      AUTmHOR OF
 "The Secret Place,"
 "The Triumphant Ministry,"
 "The Masterful Alfan," etc.

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TO CENTRE MEN
       of
TWO CENTURIES



The Nineteenth and The Twentieth

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THE WINNING TEAM

       of

 CENTRE COLLEGE

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CENTRE COLLEGE AND THE
               TEAM.

  The following "talks" were delivered
in the college chapel Monday mornings
following the games played by the foot-
ball team of Centre College.
  There is not another institution that
has received greater publicity thru the
columns of the pubbe press from New
York to San Francisco, from Canada to
the Gulf of Mexico, without cost to it,
than has been given to this college. There
is probably not a high school boy in the
United States who is not acquainted with
the name of the institution thru this pub-
licity given to it by the sport writers of
the metropolitan press. An executive
officer of a great and honorable corpo-
ration of the middle states told the writer
he would gladly pay one million dollars
to get as effective advertisement of his
business in one year as has been given to
                   9

 






Centre CoUege



Centre College on account of its foot-ball
team.
  Those who are responsible for the
maintenance of this school, for its de-
velopment and support, for its education-
al task, for the character development of
the young men gathered on its campus
are fully aware of the advantages which
this publicity has given to them and they
are grateful to those who have given it.
  They are also aware that it has not
been an altogether unmixed blessing. The
publicity has been free, but it has also
been beyond their control and direction.
The sane and careful sport writer has not
always had the pencil in hand to make
up the story. In consequence many false
impressions of the character of the rep-
resentatives of the institution have been
sent broadcast over the land; many in-
vidious comparisons of other institutions
with this one have been suggested; and
many who know nothing of the educa-
tional values such an institution has to
offer have written about it in such a way



10

 






Centre College and the Team



that inferences sadly detrimental to the
good name and character of this historic
institution have been sent abroad. The
result is that Centre College has been the
subject of criticism of the bitterest kind,
jealousies, that will abide for long years,
have been awakened and many who
ought to know better have been led to be-
lieve and assert that gross irregularities
exist in the maintenance of this team and
in the administration of this institution.
While there are some lads every year,
who, through their acquaintance with
this college's newspaper publicity, have
determined to come to Centre, others have
been irrevocably turned away from it
through these publications and the in-
ferences that have been drawn from that
publicity.
  Centre College was organized in 1819.
It has completed one hundred and five
consecutive years of service. It is a Chris-
tian College under the direction of a
Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian
Church. No theological impediments are



11

 






Centre College



placed upon professors or students as-
sembled here unless the required attend-
ance of morning chapel and Bible courses
be so construed. Doctrinal teaching pe-
culiar to this denomination is not imposed
on any one.
  Three hundred and seven students were
enrolled in September 1923;-an in-
crease of two hundred in the past eight
years.
  The most of the students must live in
the town as the college is sadly in need
of dormitories. Only seventy men can
be housed on the campus.
  Ex-President Woodrow Wilson has
said that Centre College has produced a
larger proportion of effective leadership
for this nation than has a certain one of
the largest, best known and honored uni-
versities of the land.
  It has educated Twenty-six college
presidents; One hundred and nine college
professors; Thirty-seven Congressmen;
Eight United States Senators; Eleven
Governors of States; Two Vice-Presi-



12

 






Centre College and the Team   13



dents of the United States; One Justice
of the Supreme Court; Fifty-two Circuit
Judges, State and Federal; Six Modera-
tors of the General Assembly of the Pres-
byterian Church; Ninety-one editors;
Five ministers to foreign countries; Three
hundred Ministers of the Gospel; Five
hundred and seventeen lawyers; over
three hundred physicians and surgeons.
Of the first eight fellowships awarded
for post-graduate work in English at
Princeton, Centre College graduates were
successful contestants four times.
  The growth in student enrollment in
the past eight years has not been any
greater than scores of other institutions.
Its distinction lies in its ability to main-
tain a balance in academic efficiency and
service, with a wholly inadequate plant
and in the face of tremendous odds. Its
whole energy is given to the continuation
of a splendid history and the preserva-
tion of worthy traditions in the making
of upright, earnest, capable men for the
leadership of the people in this and other
lands.

 






Centre CoUege



  Probably no small college in the Unit-
ed States has developed more remarka-
ble teams in the course of the past six
years than have been developed in the
athletic department of this institution.
"How is it possible" they ask "out of so
small a student body to put out for con-
secutive years such a consistently win-
ning team, unless the country has been
combed for men who are hired to play
on this team" This "wonder team" be-
gan its march of triumph some six years
ago, when six young men who had been
trained four years in their Texas High
School followed their coach, Robert L.
Myers, back to his Alma Mater, to
which he had been called to take charge
of the athletics. Here they were joined
by a number of young men, one of whom
was the son of Charles Moran, an umpire
in the National Baseball League. The
father of this lad, at the close of his base-
ball season, came up to the college to see
his son, and watching the practice on the
football field offered his services as as-



14

 






Centre College and the Team  15



sistant to the regular coach. These two
men began at once the training of those
lads and so successful were they in their
instruction and inspiration with that team
in 1917, they were not defeated during
the season. Included in their schedule
were some of the best teams of the South.
The second following season they were in-
vited to play in the Harvard Stadium and
so valiant was their contest, so excellent
the sportsmanship displayed by them, al-
tho defeated by the great University's
team, they were invited to return the fol-
lowing year. This time they surprised the
country by winning over their great op-
onents by a score of 6-0. They could not
be allowed to discontinue their visits under
such a score as this, so they were asked
to return in the autumn of 1922. They
accepted the proposal and lost by a score
of 10-24. They were not invited to re-
turn in 1923. In one of those years the
basket-ball team from Centre followed up
their marvelous football victories by de-
feating three of the great Universities of

 






Centre College



the East, Harvard, Brown, and Johns
Hopkins in one week. This season, 1923,
nine games have been scheduled; four of
which have been played on the home field
and five away from home, only one of
which has been lost. Probably no team
in the country has gathered larger au-
diences to witness their team-work; no
finer, no cleaner sportsmanship has been
displayed in any stadium.
  How it has been possible to build this
team has been indicated in what was said
about that nucleous gathered here in 1919.
  First of all they were as physically fit
when they came as any coach could desire.
Strong, solid, weighty, fleet of foot, well
trained men. They were ready and able
to take the training awaiting them.
  In the second place they were trained
by men who worked according to a defi-
nite "scientific plan,"-men who worked
for love of the game and at that time a
little pay. Men who demanded and se-
cured the most rigorous discipline in the
lives and habits of their men. Men who



16

 






Centre College and the Team



had and still have the gift of inspiring
them to do their best, in strategy of brains
and in execution of body and limbs. Allen
who taught them to play a clean game.
No man has ever brought the accusation
that these men did not play clean. They
were taught to "hit the line hard" but to
play clean. A gentleman, now the head
of one of the important bureaus of the
Government of the United States, vol-
unteered the information to the writer,
that he had played against Charley
Moran's teams and officiated at more
games where they played than probably
any other official, and he had yet to see
any "unnecessary roughness."
  Few persons outside the official circle
of institutions having athletic relations
with Centre know about "Chief" Myers
and "Uncle Charley" Moran. They came
to Centre College about the same time.
That was in 1917. Two years later their
teams were undefeated. In the past seven
years the Centre College team has played
seventy-one games and has been defeated



17

 






Centre CoUege



but seven times. Their schedule has in-
cluded the largest and best teams of the
country. Harvard took them on for their
first game in 1920. Requests from six-
teen of the largest college and university
teams of the country asked for games
with Centre for 1924 and were denied.
Later, when his father died, "Chief"
Myers was compelled to give up his ac-
tive work at Centre, and assume respon-
sibility for the business which his father
had laid down. But it was Mr. Myers
who influenced the group from Texas to
come to Centre and he continues still by
regular correspondence with the football
squad to develop and maintain the won-
derful fighting spirit of the team. Mr.
Moran has since the day of his first visit
seven years ago continued as a regular
coach responsible for the development of
the football team. Probably no man in
the United States coaching football is
more loved by his team and maligned by
his enemies than Charley Moran. He had
not been actively connected with any in-



18

 






Centre College and the Team



stitution of the South for three years
when he came up to Centre to visit his
son. Since the day of his coming he has
been in closest fellowship with Chief
Myers, building up a succession of vic-
torious teams. As his employer, and the
one to whom he is responsible, I wish to
say, in the two years I have been asso-
ciated with him he is the most industrious
worker and the most successful disci-
plinarian of his squad I have ever met. I
have never yet found him unwilling to
cooperate in the enforcement of a single
regulation of the faculty which governs
the Athletic Board of Control under
whose direction the activities of this de-
partment are carried on. He has also
strictly observed the rules of the Southern
Intercollegiate Athletic Association to
which Centre belongs. His hatred of
"dirty football" and his discipline of his
men for clean sport is to be praised.
  It is the policy of the undersigned to
accompany his team and spend every pos-
sible moment with these men when they



19

 






Centre College



are on these trips away from their College
Halls. He is of those who believe in
faculty responsibility and therefore facul-
ty control of athletics and the physical
care and social welfare of these men.
  The function of the college is academ-
ic. It is not receiving men who cannot
meet the requirements of the Southern
Educational Association for college en-
trance.  It enforces the rules of the
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Asso-
ciation in the work of its athletic depart-
ment, and additional faculty rules for
eligibility on the team. No man who fails
to meet his classes in the morning can put
on the football uniform for practice in the
afternoon. A man reported as unsatis-
factory in his work on a Friday cannot
play in a game the following Saturday
week. These and other regulations are
enforced and no man receives any emolu-
ments, fees, salary or considerations be-
cause he is an athlete. The men of this
year's squad represent the high average
of manliness and earnest academic work
in this school.



20

 






Centre College and tlie Teamn   21



  We are not blind to, nor free from the
problems which describe this most popular
college sport in the land. We face all
the difficulties which all the colleges of the
land having strong teams have to face
in the camp followers that hound success-
ful teams, in the hysteria of the sport
loving and gambling public, in the allure-
ments offered to our men to trnt. front
academic pursuits to professional foot-
ball, from the public appraisement of
sport and the public indifference to aca-
demic favor and distinction. Wie know-
all about the problems which the success-
ful athletic department thrusts upon the
college administration vwhere the main
purpose may be pslshed aside; but the
difficulty of solution is primarily with the
outside public and not with the popula-
tion and organization of the campus.
  The talks which appears in the fol-
lowing pages are presented in illustration
of the method which we follow in con-
stantly keeping before the student body
the main purpose for Which they are ill

 






Centre CoUege



College and in illustration of our effort to
qualify every man for the great Game of
Life. They were delivered without elab-
oration or attempt at subtlety or depth
of thought being so called "ex tempore
efforts," oftentimes in the language of
the student on the campus, when quip or
word or phrase in use was not found in
the vocabulary of literary taste or prac-
tice. The main thing in view was to lead
the students to see a goal far beyond that
for which their team fought on the pre-
vious Saturday and to inspire them to
fight to attain it. The function of this
College is to enable the individual to re-
ceive the worthy assets of life, to trans-
mute these into his own personality and
to so relate himself to God and men as to
render the greatest service.
                R. AMEs MONTGOMERY.
Centre College,
Danville, Kentucky,
December 1, 1923.



22


 






  TALK NUMBER ONE, "Know Your
                Stuff."

O UR team opened the football season
    here last Saturday and we propose on
the Monday mornings following each suc-
cessive engagement of our team to speak
on the lessons we learn as we witness their
performances. The gridiron is a field on
which is staged one of the most impor-
tant, entertaining, instructive and enlist-
ing activities in student life. It offers in-
valuable contributions to all of us,
whether we are on the gridiron or the
bleachers, if the performance enlists our
attention and we witness it with a desire
to learn what it has to teach.
  We frequently hear men speak of life
as a great game. It is well for a man to
enter upon its responsibilities and oppor-
tunities with such a view. The spirit of
a "good sport" will help any man to win
even in a defeat. For that means such a
man knows that victory lies on the other
                  23

 






Centre College



side of a struggle and a combat. As De-
Forrest said, "The path to a world cham-
pion-ship is no berry-picking walk." HIe
might have said, it is a mountain climb-
ing process. The man who is to reach
the top will have to be a good sport, play
close to the ground, and put all he has
into it of body, mind and spirit from
start to finish, if he plays it with success,
and as a real man ought to play it.
  The first lesson I learned from last
Saturday's game was this:-FIRST:
Never despise Nazareth. Nazareth men-
tioned in the chapter read this morning
(John 1: 43-51) was an insignificant, pos-
sibly of an unsavory reputation, unmen-
tioned place in the history of the great
world. Possibly nothing more than a
cluster of poor houses where people of no
family, no purpose and no achivements
dwelt. When mentioned as the place out
of which a Prince and Conqueror might
arise the suggestion was greeted with con-
tempt. "Can any good thing come out
of Nazareth " Nathaniel the man wrho

 






Talk Number One



uttered these words was quite modern in
type. He looked for big men in big
places-where the crowded populations
were found, places where big names were
spoken.
  The folly of men from his day to ours,
in all times and in all lands is in despising
the possibilities of the unheralded and un-
known. They don't expect formidable
contestants for the prizes of life to come
out of the places where the crowds are not
gathered.
  It has been so in the college and univer-
sity world. The little colleges, with their
little equipment and their unheard of
student life have not been considered
capable of producing victorious teams. Of
all men the men of Centre should not be
guilty of despising Nazareth. The Pray-
ing Colonels demolished the presumption
against the small and unknown College
at Boston in the autumn of 1920 and '21.
  But on Saturday, October 7th, 1923.
it looked like you had embraced the de-
hision you yourselves had killed, by dis-



25

 






Centre College



counting the possibilities of a little Ten-
nessee College located in a quiet little
Tennessee town.
  Gentlemen, never despise the unherald-
ed and unknown. Never despise the pos-
sibilities of the little school and the little
town. Its inhabitants, its sons, have won
the battles of the world. Never daily
with the improbability of the other col-
lege putting up a winning team. It might
lead you to lose the game.
  SECOND: The second lesson I learn-
ed was that a man must "know his 8tuff."
On Saturday it looked like you did not
known your signals, nor your plays. The
result was distraction in your organiza-
tion, a scattering of your energies and a
lack of drive. What you are accustomed
to think of as your science was not ap-
parent.
  Now this thing you speak of as
"science" in the game is an item of first
magnitude. I heard of a man talking to
high school boys about the Dempsy-Firpo
fight. He told them the latter was de-



26

 






Talk Number One



feated because he lacked the "science" to
match the other man. He had a tremen-
dous swing and drive of one arm and
hand; but he lacked the ability to coor-
dinate both hands. "Now," said this
man, "no one-handed man lives who can
wnip a two-fisted man who knows how
to use both of them." No amount of
brawn can make up for the lack of brains.
The man who goes into the game count-
ing on the weight of his line to overwhelm
the opposition is on the way to defeat in-
stead of victory. Nothing can make up
for brains, trained to act and equipped
with a knowledge of the game. God can-
not give victory to a man whose brains
abdicate knowledge and activity, it makes
no difference if he does pray. Prayer
is a wonderful privilege. The prayer of
a righteous man availeth much in its
working. But it is no guarantee against
ignorance, laziness or failure to work.
You won on Saturday; but you came
near to defeat thru failure to know your
stuff.



27

 






Centre College



  THIRD: Mfy third lesson learned
from the game on Saturday was, Inesur
against the adverse breaks in the gamir.
  These are always the unexpected and
may happen at any time and in any gantc.
Remember our history at Boston the last
year. Gordy and Shadoan had been oni
the side lines and without the privilege of
participating in a single game. Bartlett
reached Boston; but in twelve hours was
in the hospital for an operation that re-
moved all possibility of his getting into
the game. The newspaper were all hark-
ing back to "Bo" and intimating their
doubt of Covington's ability to take his
place. In the face of such odds we went
into the game. Owen of Harv-ard kicked
off and the ball going over the goal was
caught by Covington and brot out to the
twenty yard line. When the ball was
snapped back and given to Snowday he
started down the field; then the unex-
pected happened. He lost the ball and
Harvard getting it on our three yard line,
pushed us back for a score. That was
break number one. This was followed by



28

 






Talk Number One



break number two and we lost the game
after as valiant and courageous contend-
ing as was ever seen on that field. The
opposition had the substitutes to take the
place and bring the inspiration and fresh
strength to their out played men and we
could not overcome the breaks that came
to them against us at the beginning of
the game.
  It is so in life. The breaks are bound
to come. The man who is insured against
them by the gathering of a score sufficient
to offset them is safe; but the man who
ceases to pile up the score when he caii
is liable to defeat-if the breaks are
against him.
  Many a man has thot of being able to
win-and he would have won, if-the
breaks were not against him! But brokei
health, broken fortune, broken faith,
broken hearts turned possible victory in-
to actual defeat.
  Insure against the adverse breaks that
may come. Be sure to properly appraise
your opposition and "know your stuff,'
and play the game.



29


 






TALK NUMBER Two, "Strutting Your
               Onions."
G ENTLEMEN our team profited by
    their experience in the season's first
game. Did we profit proportionately al-
so Their second engagement offered
fruitful suggestions to all of us in the
Stadium and on the sidelines. Did you
catch them One of the first lessons for
me on Saturday came when they were
penalized for "offside." So I start with
the exhortation,
  I. Don't get "off side."
  If a man gets "off side" by intention
he may get by for a while, but he is pretty
sure to be penalized and ultimately gain
nothing by such a stand. When he got
"off side" he failed to take proper heed
to his position. It means the man's care-
lessness or zeal has got the better of him
for the while. I noticed that the lines-
man never warned a man of this fault be-
fore the play had been put in effect. It
                  30

 






Talk Number Two



was always after the man with the ball
had received it and gone thru. Then he
was brought back and not only the man
who was off side but all the team were set
back for five yards.
  Here again the game of life is epito-
mized in the action of the team on the
field. No man ever got off side and es-
caped with the penalty alone. No man
liveth unto himself and no man dieth unto
himself. If one members suffers all the
members suffer with it. Such is the age
old statement of what took place when
the minor offense of off-side was commit-
ted on that field. And as in the case of
the gridiron so in the field of life where
we play, the lines-man always halts us
after we have received the ball and gone
thru, and sets us back to gain again what
we have lost, with the time to make a
goal and win consumed in off-side plays.
A man slipped his toe across the line and
was penalized five yards, losing four
yards and twenty-four inches of ground
already gained.



31

 






Centre College



  II. The second lesson was one heard
before but witnessed last Saturday on
our field; Coordination of the back field
zeith the line is a secret of successful of-
fensive in the game.
  The beauty, the value, the charm of
football lies in its opportunity and de-
mand for team work. In this it is a
twentieth century performance. We live
in a day when all the large enterprises of
business, manufactory and trade demand
team work. The great task of adminis-
tration, wherever observed, is one of de-
veloping team work; of creating condi-
tions and atmosphere and bringing an.
inspiration that enables all the members
of your organization to be themselves at
their best and in coordinating the back
field with the line for successful offensive.
The man who is farthest removed from
the scene of first engagement, but on
whom the successful completion of the
play may depend, must have all his move-
ments timed and tuned and expressed in
harmony with those who are at the front.



32

 






Talk Number Two



The successful accomplishment of this
effort has enabled American corporations
to dominate the world.
  And what is true there is true also here.
The men who represent us in intercol-
legiate activities-athletic or forensic, let
us say, are the line. We are the backfield.
We must coordinate with them to win.
We must make conditions favorable for
them that they may be disciplined and
prepared for the battle of the field.
There never was a game won, there never
has been a team developed, unless in the
school and the student body there was a
spirit that supported and sustained and
inspired them. This is the work of co-
ordination now that is up to you. In the
dormitories, and the fraternity houses,
and the lodging places there ought to be
an effort of cooperation with these men in
their academic work, there should be se-
cured to them the hours of quiet for study
and there should be a reduction to the
vanishing point of all social engagements
that destroy the advantages of training
and discipline.



33

 






Centre College



  The college man has been much ma-
ligned by those who would present him
as a carousing, drunken, swearing, worth-
less fellow gloating over the vulgar and
obscene. He is nothing of the kind.
Most of him is generous, clean and faith-
ful. The danger that besets the great
majority of college men is in wasting of
their strength, energy and time in worth-
less, frivolous, disorganizing visits with a
bunch of so called "good fellows" at the
dormitory, the frat house, the smoke house
and on the street. Such men have too
often been defeated when they leave the
college halls and are called to play in the
great game of life. They find out there
they have not learned the lessons of dis-
cipline and coordination with the line.
  IMl. On Saturday I saw on that grid-
iron what I hope all of you saw. In the
game of life you have to meet real men.
  Such men were in that team you met
last Saturday.  There were no Miss
Nancy's, molycoddles, nor nincompoops
in that bunch. There were men who had



34"

 





Talk Number Two



been well trained, who had taken it well,
and who had the spirit of endurance and
mastery in them. When you meet such
men you must have like qualities and you
must know your stuff.
  You talk about "strutting your onions,"
on this campus- (loud and continued ap-
plause) by which I suppose you mean-
exhibit your strength and pride;-but let
me tell you, in opposition to men like our
team met last Saturday you will have
nothing to "strut" if you are not dis-
ciplined by rigorous training in self
denial and self control and with thorough
acquaintance with your stuff. Real men
have to be met in the great game of life.
Chief Myers in his talk to you the other
morning gave you a poem which I think
is worth giving again.
"Bill Jones had been the shining star up-
      on his college team;
 His tackling was ferocious and his buck-
      ing was a dream.
When husky William tucked the ball
      beneath his brawny arm,



35

 






Centre College



They had a special man to ring the am-
      bulance alarm.
"Bill hit the line and ran the ends like
      some mad bull amuck;
 The other side would shiver when they
      saw him start to buck;
And when a rival tackler tried to block
      his dashing pace,
 His first thought was a train of cars had
      waltzed across his face.
"Bill had the speed, Bill had the weight
      -the nerve to never yield;
 From goal to goal he whizzed along
      while fragments strewed the field-
And there had been a standing bet,
      which no one tried to call,
 That he would gain his distance through
      a ten-foot granite wall.
"When he wound up his college course
      each student's heart was sore;
 They wept to think that husky Bill
      would hit the line no more.
 Not so with William-in his dreams he
      saw the Field of Fame,
 Where he would buck to glory in the
      swirl of Life's big game.



36

 






Talk Number Two



"Sweet are the dreams of campus life-
      the world that lies beyond
 Gleams ever to our inmost gaze with
      visions fair and fond;
 We see our fondest hopes achieved-
      and on with striving soul
 We buck the lines and run the ends un-
      til we've reached the goal.
"So with his sheepskin tucked beneath his
      brawny arm one day,
 Bill put on steam and dashed into the
      thickest of the fray;
 With eyes ablaze he sprinted where the
      laureled highway led-
When Bill woke up his scalp hung loose
      and knots adorned his head.
"He tried to run the Ends of Life, when
      lo! with vicious toss
 A bill collector tackled him and threw
      him for a loss;
 And when he switched his course again
      and crashed into the line,
 The massive guard named Failure did a
      two-step on his spine.
"Bill tried to punt out of the rut, but ere
      he turned the trick



37

 






Centre College



Right tackle Competition tumbled
      through and blocked the kick;
 And when he tackled at Success in one
       long, vicious bound,
 The fullback Disappointment steered
      his features in the ground.
"But one day, when across the Field of
      Fame the Goal seemed dim,
 The wise old coach Experience came up
      and spoke to him.
"Old boy," said he, "the main point now
      before you win your bout
 Is keep on bucking Failure till you've
      worn that lobster out.
"Cut out his work around the ends-go in
      there low and hard-
Just put your eyes upon the goal and
      start there yard by yard;
And more than all, when you are thrown
      or tumbled with a crack,
Don't lie there whining; hustle up and
      keep on coming back.
"Keep coming back for all they've got,
      and take it with a grin
When Disappointment trips you up or
      Failure barks your shin.



38

 






Talk Number Two



Keep coming back; and if at last you
      lose the game of Right,
 Let those who whipped you know at
      least they, too, have had a fight.
"Keep coming back; and though the
      world may romp across your spine
 Let every game's end find you still up-
      on the battling line.
 For when the one Great Scorer comes to
      write against your name,
 He marks-not that you won or lost-
      but how you played the Game."
 Such is Alumus Football on the white-
      chalked field of Life;
 You find the bread line hard to buck,
      while sorrow crowns the strife;
 But in the fight for name and fame
      among the world-wide clan,
"There goes the victor" sinks to naught
      before "There goes a man."



Foot Note: Grantland Rice.



39


 






TALK NUMBER THREE, "Getting Off."



Y OUNG Gentlemen there is nothing
   static or drab about football. Each
engagement offers a change of challenge
as distinct and variable as twenty-two
men could offer to each other and chang-
ing with each successive scheduled event.
The different teams multiply the angles
from which any particular team is tested.
The practice of "scouting the game"
seems to call for some variation in the
style of play and method of attack and
defense in each game if the element of
surprise for the foe is to enter into it.
While there are certain elements never
absent from any game, nevertheless there
are certain suggestions peculiar and in-
sistent in each game-things that are said
to "feature" it. The same features do
not appear to each of us; but if we at-
tend to those we see we may find new
lessons each week for all of us.
  I. Last Saturday-I learned the
                  40

 






Talk Number Three



value of getting off at the blow of the
whistle.
  One of the greatest strategies in war-
fare, in business, in politics, in debate, in
football, in life is to put the handicap on
your opposition. The man who is on the
way when his competitor starts, if he
keep