AMERICAN COLLEGE ATHLETICS.

BY RICHARD M. HURD,

Author of “A History of Yale Athletics.”

YALE student life has changed much in all aspects since the beginning of the present century, but in no respect has the advance been more marked, or the evolution more complete, than in the department of athletics.

The picture of the Yale student of eighty years ago, to whom the words “physical culture” were unknown, and whose ideas of out-of-door exercise were limited to an impromptu running or jumping contest, a game of “one-old-cat,” or the kicking of a football, forms the strongest contrast to the present Yale undergraduate life, with its five branches of intercollegiate sports, its long and arduous months of preparation for a contest, its highly organized system of management, and its yearly expenditure of thousands of dollars. The difference between what athletics meant to the student of that period, and what they mean to-day, presents a more striking contrast, however, than the change in their mere outward form. They were then passing amusements, acting as a safety-valve for exuberant spirits; they are now serious and absorbing pursuits scientifically studied, to which are devoted the highest qualities of courage, skill and endurance in their accomplishment, the greatest resources of experience, foresight and generalship in their command, and the best organizing and business ability in their management to be obtained in the undergraduate body. In a word, the contrast lies between the student world of the old days, which directed its best efforts into channels mapped out and set before it by authority, and the body of modern students who find in all the duties connected with athletics, the opportunities to develop by actual experience, untrammeled by supervision, those qualities, of physique, of organization, or of command, to which their tastes most tend.

To forge, then, the connecting links between the Yale athletics of 1800 and those of to-day, and to show how the latter have gradually grown out of the former, will be the purpose of this article.

Regarding it as settled that the sports of our predecessors were confined to “one-old-cat,” or the kicking of a football, the first indication of any interest in athletics occurs in 1826, when the corporation appropriated $300 to erect gymnastic apparatus upon an uncovered piece of ground. About 1840 there sprang up an annual game of football between the sophomore and freshman classes, which has survived to the present day in the form of an annual “rush.” To call this class scrimmage football is a decided stretching of the term, as may be judged from the contemporary description of a game whose participants, attired in a unique grotesqueness of style, and with faces painted in all imaginable hues, formed wedges and phalanxes, and charged and scrambled with a most healthy rivalry, but in whom all knowledge of football was evidently lacking.

Turning to rowing, we find that to Yale belongs the honor of having the oldest rowing club in America, four boats having been purchased by the students in the spring of 1843, with the idea of rowing for exercise and recreation, an idea hitherto unthought of. The system of class boat-clubs prevailed at Yale until the first Yale-Harvard race in 1852 led to the formation of the “Yale Navy,” in which all the active boat-clubswere consolidated. This first intercollegiate rowing match originated as an advertising expedient in the mind of an enterprising railroad man, who desired to bring into notice the Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad, then a new road.

THE CREW—CHAMPIONS, 1888.G. R. CARTER, ’88 S.C. O. GILL, ’89. R. M. WILCOX, ’88 S. N. JAMES, ’90 (SUBS.). W. H. CORBIN, ’89. G. S. BREWSTER, ’91. J. A. HARTWELL, ’89 S.S. M. CROSS, ’88 (STROKE). G. W. WOODRUFF, ’89 (SUBS.). F. A. STEVENSON, ’88 (CAPT.). R. THOMPSON, ’90 (COX.).⇒LARGER IMAGE

THE CREW—CHAMPIONS, 1888.

G. R. CARTER, ’88 S.C. O. GILL, ’89. R. M. WILCOX, ’88 S. N. JAMES, ’90 (SUBS.). W. H. CORBIN, ’89. G. S. BREWSTER, ’91. J. A. HARTWELL, ’89 S.S. M. CROSS, ’88 (STROKE). G. W. WOODRUFF, ’89 (SUBS.). F. A. STEVENSON, ’88 (CAPT.). R. THOMPSON, ’90 (COX.).

⇒LARGER IMAGE

WINNERS IN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC GAMES, 1888.G. W. WOODRUFF, ’89. T. G. SHEARMAN, ’89. H. L. WILLIAMS, ’91. C. H. SHERRILL, ’89.W. G. LANE, ’88 (CAPT.). W. HARMAR, ’90.

WINNERS IN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC GAMES, 1888.

G. W. WOODRUFF, ’89. T. G. SHEARMAN, ’89. H. L. WILLIAMS, ’91. C. H. SHERRILL, ’89.W. G. LANE, ’88 (CAPT.). W. HARMAR, ’90.

Of preparation for this race there was almost none, as may be judged from the remark of a member of the Harvard crew, to the effect that “they had not rowed much for fear of blistering their hands.” Harvard won the race, largely owing to their superior boat, theOneida, which being probably the best of her class, deserves a description. She was an eight-oared, “lap-streak” barge, thirty-seven feet long, three and a half feet beam, quite low in the water, and fitted with gratings at each end. Flat wooden thole-pins were used, a plain bar of hard wood served as stretcher, and a red baize cushion covered each seat. The oars were of white ash, and ranged in length from thirteen feet six inches in the waist to twelve feet at bow and stroke.

Occasional races were rowed between Yale and Harvard at Springfield and on Lake Quinsigamond up to 1864. These were three-mile, turnabout races, usually rowed in six-oared barges, although sometimes four-oared and eight-oared boats would contend with them, in which case an allowance of eleven seconds per extra oar would be made in favor of the smaller boats.

Baseball as an organized game was first played at Yale in 1859, but it was not until 1864 that the formation of the Y. U. B. B. C., and the three victories won by the first Yale nine caused it to become a recognized college institution. Yale’s first intercollegiate game occurred in this year, when she defeated the Agallian Club of Wesleyan University by a score of 39 to 13 runs. For the next few years the game continued to grow at Yale, some five or ten games a year being played, mostly with professional clubs. Yale met Princeton and Harvard for the first time on the diamond in 1868, defeating Princeton easily by 30 to 23.

The game at this time, it will be understood, was a “natural” sort of game, in which the individual capacities of the players counted for far more than either team-play or training or science. Harvard defeated Yale in their first game, and continued to do so until 1874, when the tide was turned in favor of Yale, largely by the able captaincy and fine individual playing of Mr. C. Hammond Avery, who broke the chain of eight Harvard successes by winning four straight victories over Harvard.

In 1872 a series of games, the best two in three, was substituted between Yale and Harvard, in place of the annual game, and in the following year the same arrangement was made between Yale and Princeton.

HUNDRED YARDS RUN—THE START.

It will be seen that the chief need of the Yale nines up to this time had been, not only a better knowledge of the game, but also greater coolness at critical points, which faithful practice could alone give them. The causes of Harvard’s uniform success were that baseball was started earlier and on a more scientific basis at Harvard than at Yale, and also because in and near Boston there were, in the early days of baseball, many nines, professional and amateur, whose influence in the wayof example and practice tended always towards a high degree of skill.

Returning to football, we find that, owing to a lack of grounds, the students having been forbidden to play on the city green, the annual game was given up in 1858, and football was dead until 1870. In this year it was resurrected by the classes of ’72 and ’73, who were unusually enthusiastic over athletic sports, and becoming immediately a popular game, a match was arranged with Columbia in 1872. In this match twenty men played on each side, a game that consisted chiefly of kicking, bounding and batting the ball, one of the rules being, “No player shall pick up, throw or carry the ball.” Yale was outplayed and defeated by Princeton in the following year, the latter displaying much science. Two years later Yale attempted to play Harvard under what were called “modified Rugby rules,” and the other colleges under the old rules, with the disastrous result, which might have been expected, of being defeated by Columbia as well as by Harvard.

This brings us to the year 1876, which we will take as a starting-point for modern athletics, and retrace our steps to the Yale-Harvard races of ’64 and ’65. These were the races famous in Yale annals, won by Wilbur Bacon and his crew of giants. These men were picked out for strength, without regard to previous experience, and by dint of tremendous efforts, combined with the best discipline, they were transformed into very fast crews, despite their undoubtedly bad style. The training they underwent was, as one of their number said not long ago, “what no college crew could be asked to undergo at this time.” During the two months before the race, in which their training lasted in all its severity, they rose at six, walked and ran before breakfast from three to five miles, and rowed four miles at speed both morning and afternoon. Their diet was of the plainest, beef, mutton, toast, rice, and weak tea being the staples, with few vegetables. The time made by the ’65 crew, 17m. 471⁄2s., for a three-mile turnabout race, six-oared, broke all previous records, and was a noteworthy performance.

From 1872 to 1875 inclusive, the regattas were very large, as many as thirteen boats being entered in one race, and were characterized by much fouling of boats, and great dissatisfaction. Stories are told of crews fighting each other with their oar-blades when fouled, and whether this be true or not, it is certain that the overcrowding of the course and the impossibility of avoiding accidents had much to do with the withdrawal of the Yale and Harvard crews in 1876. The Yale crew of ’72, the worst that ever represented Yale, contained the Freshman who, as captain and stroke of the Yale crews for the four succeeding years, was destined ultimately to bring more improvement and prestige to Yale rowing than any other individual ever connected with it.

It was in the early spring of 1873 that “Bob” Cook took his trip to England to study rowing, in which, during some months spent among the university oars of Oxford and Cambridge and the watermen of the Thames, he largely acquired that complete mastery of rowing which has enabled him to raise Yale to the first rank as a boating college. Among the sacrifices that were made to enable Mr. Cook to go to England were his being dropped a class in his studies and the pawning of a gold watch by a Senior, now a Yale professor, in order to raise the necessary funds.

It was after the three Yale victories in the University, Freshman and single-scull race, in 1873, that by the energy of Mr. C. H. Ferry the sum of $16,500 was raised to build the fine boat-house that Yale now possesses.

The year 1876, bringing as it did the formation of the Intercollegiate Football Association, the introduction of eight-oared four-mile Yale-Harvard races, and the presentation of the Mott Haven Cup, may be taken as a starting-point for modern athletics. It is not so much that there was any distinct stride in advance in this year, but rather that with the better organization of athletic sports, better opportunities were given for their development.

In this year the American Rugby rules and the oval Rugby ball were adopted by the association composed of Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia. Yale declined to join this association, but defeated every member of it, thus being virtually champion for that year.

In the following year Yale desired to play with elevens, and the other colleges with fifteens. No game was played with Harvard, but for the sake of a game Yale consented to play Princeton with fifteens. The game, which was a draw, was probably the best exhibition of football thus far given in America. The only possible drawback was the fact that weight and roughness were to some extent substituted for skill in the Yale team.

FOOTBALL TEAM—CHAMPIONS, 1887.F. C. PRATT, ’88 S. S. M. CROSS, ’88. G. W. WOODRUFF, ’89. W. H. CORBIN, ’89.G. R. CARTER, ’88 S. C. O. GILL, ’89. F. W. WALLACE, ’89. W. T. BULL, ’88 S.W. C. WURTENBERG, ’89 S. H. BEECHER, ’88 (CAPT.). W. P. GRAVES, ’91.⇒LARGER IMAGE

FOOTBALL TEAM—CHAMPIONS, 1887.

F. C. PRATT, ’88 S. S. M. CROSS, ’88. G. W. WOODRUFF, ’89. W. H. CORBIN, ’89.G. R. CARTER, ’88 S. C. O. GILL, ’89. F. W. WALLACE, ’89. W. T. BULL, ’88 S.

W. C. WURTENBERG, ’89 S. H. BEECHER, ’88 (CAPT.). W. P. GRAVES, ’91.

⇒LARGER IMAGE

For the next two years football was played by fifteens, but since 1879 it has been played by elevens only. In the fall of 1878, the Yale Faculty permitted absence from recitation on account of football, to enable the team to play Harvard in Boston, which action put football on the same basis as baseball, and marked an epoch in its history. The victorious Yale team, having defeated Harvard by one goal to none, were met at the station at twoA.M.by three hundred students, who were thus probably the first to inaugurate the present custom of a triumphant reception to the team winning an important victory.

OVER THE HURDLES.

It was largely owing to the overconfidence of the Yale team engendered by this game, that they were defeated by Princeton a few days later. It was the more unfortunate that Princeton should have won this game in that it caused them to introduce the “block” game, which has done so much harm to football in America. The “block” game consists of a defensive style of play, whose sole object is to prevent the scoring of the opposing team, by which the college having won the year before may still retain the nominal glory of the championship. For the three ensuing years the Yale-Princeton games were draws. During these years the Yale-Harvard games were all well-fought contests, the Yale men winning by a more thorough understanding of the game, and by the aid of fine individual players.

POLE VAULTING NO. 1.—THE RISE.

In 1881, a change in the rules was made with the idea of destroying the “block” game, by which safety touch-downs were made to count. This rule could be avoided, however, by making touch-in-goals, which were only technically different from safeties.

Yale began her football season in 1882 three weeks earlier than usual, and consequently played more practice games. In the Yale-Harvard game, Yale forced the play, making a touch-down a few moments after play began. The Harvard eleven, although they found themselves outmatched by the “finest rush-line ever put on an American field,” to their credit be it said, played the game for what it was worth and did not attempt any “blocking” tactics. The chief feature of the Yale-Princeton game was the long-distance kicking of Moffat for Princeton and of Richards for Yale, which was described as resembling a game of lawn-tennis. The most brilliant play of the game was the superb goal kicked from the sixty-five-yard line by Haxall of Princeton.

A new system of counting by points was introduced in 1883, by which a goal from touch-down was made to count six points, a goal from field five points, a touch-down two points, and a safety one. Up to thistime goals from touch-downs and from field had been equivalent, and four touch-downs had equaled one goal.

The Yale team of ’83 had a giant rushline averaging 185 lbs., while the whole team averaged upwards of 173 lbs. In the Yale-Princeton game, which was distinguished by many brilliant plays, Yale made a touchdown and goal eight minutes after play began, after which no scoring was done by either side.

The Harvard Committee on Athletics having come to the conclusion that football was a brutal sport, before the Yale-Harvard game, only permitted it to be played on condition that the referee should be an alumnus, and that he should have full power to send any player off the field for unfair play, which was not in this sense to include offside play. These conditions were incorporated into the rules of the game at the annual convention, it being ruled that (1) a player can be offside but once during a game, and (2) the referee shall disqualify a man for three times intentionally delaying the game. In scoring, the system now in use was introduced, a touch-down being made to count four points instead of two, and a safety two instead of one.

POLE VAULTING NO. 2.—CLEARING THE BAR.

The Yale eleven of 1884 defeated Harvard by 52 to 0, her eleven being by far the poorest she had ever turned out, ranking fifth among the college teams. In the Yale-Princeton game a goal from touch-down was made by Yale just three minutes after play was called. Princeton secured a touch-down, but no goal, and with the score 6 to 4 in favor of Yale, the game was called before time on account of darkness, thus making it technically “no game,” and depriving Yale of the formal championship.

POLE VAULTING NO. 3.—DROPPING THE POLE.

For the season of 1885 the Football Association embraced but four members, Yale, Princeton, Wesleyan and Pennsylvania, Harvard being forbidden intercollegiate football by the action of their Faculty. At Yale one of the finest elevens ever turned out was formed from almost entirely new material, and, although defeated by Princeton by six points to five, this material has abundantly repaid the efforts made in its behalf by forming the backbone of Yale’s magnificent elevens of 1886 and 1887. In the first half of the Yale-Princeton game of 1885, Yale scored a goal from the field. In the second half, Lamar, of Princeton, made his famous run, seizing the ball on a long, low punt, and by clever dodging obtaining a clear field for a run, he made a touch-down between the goal-posts, thus winning the championship for Princeton. It was a marvelous feat, and one to be long remembered.

THE NINE—CHAMPIONS, 1888.N. S. DALZELL, ’91 (SUBS.). J. O. HEYWORTH, ’88 (SUBS.). S. J. WALKER, ’88, l. f.J. C. DANN, ’88 S., c. S. Y. OSBORNE, ’88 S. (SUBS.) J. F. HUNT, L. S., c.f. C. B. McCONKEY, ’88, s. s.H. McBRIDE, ’90 S., 1b. H. F. NOYES, ’89, 3b. A. A. STAGG, ’88, p. (CAPT.) A. G. McCLINTOCK, ’90, r. f. G. CALHOUN, ’91, 2b.⇒LARGER IMAGE

THE NINE—CHAMPIONS, 1888.

N. S. DALZELL, ’91 (SUBS.). J. O. HEYWORTH, ’88 (SUBS.). S. J. WALKER, ’88, l. f.J. C. DANN, ’88 S., c. S. Y. OSBORNE, ’88 S. (SUBS.) J. F. HUNT, L. S., c.f. C. B. McCONKEY, ’88, s. s.

H. McBRIDE, ’90 S., 1b. H. F. NOYES, ’89, 3b. A. A. STAGG, ’88, p. (CAPT.) A. G. McCLINTOCK, ’90, r. f. G. CALHOUN, ’91, 2b.

⇒LARGER IMAGE

In the fall of 1886 Harvard was readmitted to the association, and proved that she had not been idle during her year of class football contests by displaying better football than she had ever shown before.In one of the most exhausting games ever played, Yale defeated her by 29 to 4. In this game Yale, according to her usual policy, forced the play from the beginning, obtaining two goals in the first twelve minutes’ play. The Yale-Princeton game of this year was something more than a disappointment to the thousands from New York, New Haven, and elsewhere, who gathered in Princeton only to be soaked by a fierce rain and to witness an unfinished game, in which good play, owing to the slippery ground, was impossible.

The resolutions adopted by the convention are worthy of record:

Resolved, 1, That this convention cannot, as a convention, award the championship for 1886.

Resolved, 2, That Yale, according to points scored, should have won the championship.

In the fall of 1887, the chief innovation was the appointment of an umpire, in addition to the referee, whose duty it was to prevent and punish violations of the rules of behavior. No delays of over one minute were allowed this year. Despite the heavy rain during the Yale-Princeton game, which rendered brilliant plays impossible, it was a very satisfactory game, being free from delays, slugging, foul-tackling, etc.

The Yale-Harvard game played at the Polo Grounds, New York, on Thanksgiving Day, in the presence of some twenty thousand people, was without doubt the finest game of football ever played in America, and one which, owing to its freedom from disagreeable incidents, did incalculable good in influencing popular opinion in favor of the game. In the first half Yale scored a goal from field and one from touch-down. The touch-down was made by the Yale centre, who, being unguarded by the Harvard centre, instead of snapping the ball back when the elevens lined up, kicked it a few inches forward, and, picking it up, made a long run. Time for the first half was called just as the Harvard back was making a run, and the Yale rushers not attempting to stop him, he secured a touch-down too late to be counted. In the second half Yale made a safety, and Harvard a goal from touch-down, making the score 11 to 8 in favor of Yale. One of the Yale half-backs, however, by a brilliant run of thirty-five yards, secured a touch-down, from which a goal was kicked, which rendered the final score 17 to 8.

The year 1887 was a most encouraging one to all lovers of football in the elimination of many disagreeable features and in the adequate enforcement of the rules by two officials. The last bugbear to football that seems to be gradually disappearing is the practice of “slugging,” or striking with the closed fist. What might be called a stricter attention to business necessitated by the more intricate system of team-play, aided by the appointment of a special umpire, has almost completely removed this stumbling-block. Two dangers remain that must be in some way overcome before the future of football is assured, and these are “holding in the line” and “interference.”

The different styles of play evolved at Harvard, Princeton and Yale in this year showed a more marked individuality than is usually the case. Harvard’s game was one of heavy rushing in its most aggressive form, with but little kicking. Princeton, on the other hand, adhered to their traditional game of agility, selecting their players for skill and sacrificing strength and weight, while Yale possessed an all-round team, capable of playing a rushing or a kicking game, and one which, being ably generaled, suited its style of play to that of its opponent.

There were but two games of interest in the fall of 1888, owing to the unfortunate action of the Harvard Faculty in not allowing the Yale-Harvard game to be played in New York. In the first of these Princeton defeated Harvard by 18 to 6, the victory being won by superior play, against a weak rush-line. The Yale-Princeton game was a magnificent and stubborn contest, being won by Yale by two goals from the field to nothing. Harvard having forfeited to Yale, the championship remained in New Haven for another year.

Football in American colleges, despite the severe crisis of 1884 and 1885, is at present in far better shape than it ever has been, and promises to become a great national game on this side of the water, as it has so long been on the other.

The record that Yale has made in football is too good to be omitted. She has won 93 out of 98 games played, having lost three games to Princeton, one to Harvard, and one to Columbia. Since 1878, Yale has lost but one game, and that by one point. In points Yale has won, since points began to be counted, 3,001 to her opponents’ 56; in goals, 530 to 19, and in touch-downs, 219 to 9.

By a vote of the Y. U. B. C., Yale withdrew from the general rowing association and challenged Harvard to an eight-oared four-mile contest, a challenge which she promptly accepted. For this race all undergraduates of either college and all of the graduates of either who were studying for another degree were declared eligible. The ’76 race was an easy victory for Yale, being won by half a minute. Mr. Cook, the Yale stroke, set the stroke about thirty-three, and did not vary one point in the last two miles, while the Harvard stroke was very irregular, ranging from thirty-five to forty a minute. The boats used in this race were of cedar, and were the first eight-oared shells used in America. In the fall of this year a picked four from the Yale crew, stroked by Mr. Cook, won the international and intercollegiate regatta of the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia.

The withdrawal of Yale from the general regatta, followed next year by the withdrawal of Harvard, so effectually discouraged the smaller colleges that no rowing was done by any of them for a number of years.

The Yale-Harvard races, after being rowed at Springfield for two years, were moved in 1878 to New London, where they have since been rowed. The advantages offered by this place in the way of its easy access from the great cities, its clear and straight course, and the “moving grand stand” of platform cars running along the west bank of the river, are so strongly in its favor that it appears probable that the races have found their permanent home.

The races of ’77, ’78 and ’79 were won by Harvard with increasing ease, the first-named being won by seven seconds and the last by one minute and forty-three seconds. The spectators in this year were amazed, according to the papers, to see “how badly the Yale men rowed;” but with this disgraceful defeat came the spur to greater effort, and for the two ensuing years victory came to Yale.

In 1882 there occurred the famous “eel-grass” race, the most disappointing race ever rowed in America. The Yale captain, with the assistance of Mr. Davis, devised a new style of boat in which the oars were separated into pairs of starboard and port, by which device so much room was required that the boat measured sixty-eight feet, or nine feet longer than the average racing shell. The ultimate object was to attain a high stroke, scientific principles being sacrificed to a sort of “get there” way of rowing forty-two to forty-eight strokes a minute. The story of the race is soon told. Yale led at the mile-and-a-half by a length of clear water, and at the two miles, where Yale emerged from the eel-grass, Harvard led by six lengths. The Yale crew gave a splendid exhibition of “sand,” spurting right up to the finish line at a forty-five stroke, and finishing half a length behind Harvard. The fact that they rowed every individual half-mile excepting the fourth, when in the eel-grass, faster than Harvard, sufficiently proves their superiority.

Under the same captain, the Yale crew adhered to the same style of rowing in the following year, nor is it to be wondered at, considering the fast time they made both at New London and in New Haven harbor. The ’83 crew, however, lacked the snap and life and the severe training that alone can bring success to a crew rowing so incorrect a stroke as they used. Harvard’s victory by fifteen lengths killed the so-called “donkey-engine” stroke at Yale, which in itself was of more benefit to Yale rowing than many victories. Mr. R. J. Cook again came to the rescue of boating at Yale in 1884, and turned out the finest Yale crew that had yet sat on the water, and one that lowered the record to 20m. 31s.

In 1885 the Yale crew, as they rowed up to the starting flag, appeared very heavy and very ragged, owing to the difference in height. They were a powerful set of men, averaging 1751⁄2pounds, wretchedly trained, four being over-trained and four undertrained, and rowing a combination Cook and “donkey-engine” stroke. Compromises in rowing are almost invariably fatal, and so it proved in this instance, the Yale crew finishing, very much distressed, some sixteen lengths behind Harvard. The Harvard crew used one of the best strokes they had ever rowed, it being characterized by a long, smooth pull, stronger in the middle of the stroke than at either catch or finish, and by a well-controlled slide at both ends of the stroke.

In the past three years, owing largely to the personal efforts of Mr. Cook, “the father of Yale boating,” in coaching a most faithful and painstaking set of men, victory has remained with the Yalensians, and Yale now leads Harvard in the number of eight-oared races won. The ’86 race wasa comparatively easy one, Yale winning by eight lengths, while the ’87 race was a desperate struggle, won by but four lengths. The race of last spring will be long remembered by Yale men as the most crushing defeat ever administered to Harvard oarsmen. The strict adherence on the part of the Yale crew to the principles of rowing practised in the two preceding years, backed up by great enthusiasm and assiduous labor, turned out a crew that rowed the course in 20m. 10s., lowering the record easily without being pushed. At Harvard, the dissensions among the members of the rowing committee, their adoption of antiquated English ideas in regard to boats, oars, rigging, etc., and the curious notions of rowing held by Mr. Watson the chief coach, turned out a crew that lost a length in the first ten strokes, and crossed the finish line a quarter of a mile behind the Yale crew. “Too many cooks spoil the broth,” is an old but true adage. Yale is fortunate in possessing one Cook, who certainly makes most excellent broth. It seems probable that, in view of the practical working of their rowing committee, Harvard will either again seek the aid of professional oarsmen, or select one man, such as Mr. Frank Peabody, or Mr. J. J. Storrow, to have entire control of her boating interests. The diet of the ’88 crew may be given as fairly representative of the latest ideas in regard to this branch of the training. For breakfast and supper the crew ate oatmeal, beefsteak, mutton-chops, eggs, and stewed or baked potatoes; for dinner, roast beef, mutton, fricasseed chicken, water-cress, potatoes, rice, macaroni, tomatoes and puddings. Occasional ale was allowed, especially after the crew had rowed on time, or on particularly hot days. The work of the crew occupied about three hours a day, besides which as much work was done in pair-oars in the mornings during the spring, as recitations would permit.

The summary of Yale-Harvard races stands: Harvard 22, Yale 17; Harvard’s lead being obtained between 1852 and 1870, when rowing was in its infancy at Yale.

It is interesting to notice that neither age, weight nor height have any decided advantage among the Yale and Harvard crews, the oldest crews having won seven times in thirteen, the heaviest five times in thirteen, and the tallest four times in eleven.

It would thus appear that the qualities that bring success in rowing are not merely physical, to be computed mathematically, but that the moral qualities of pluck and endurance, added to skill and judgment, must be equally considered in selecting a typical rowing man.

The average rowing man, physically considered, of Yale and Harvard for the past twelve years has been a man 213⁄4years old, 1671⁄2lbs. in weight, and 5 ft. 101⁄2in. in height. It is rather remarkable that the average Yale and the average Harvard rowing man does not vary more than a slight fraction in any of these three respects, despite the wide differences between individual Yale and Harvard crews.

The principles of good rowing laid down by Mr. Cook in the last two years, and re-enforced by his constant attention, have resulted in a settled style of rowing at Yale, which bids fair to be modified only as the needs of individual crews may require. There are a few oarsmen who still favor somewhat the rapid stroke of the ’82 Yale crew, basing their arguments upon the fast times made by that crew both at New London and on New Haven harbor. The answer to be made to the advocates of their style of rowing is that they were a set of giants, capable of rowing forty-five strokes to the minute for four miles, a feat impossible to modern oarsmen. It is conceivable that the rapid stroke, so much trusted in by professionals, might with men of immense strength, who were incapable of attaining to the finish and detail of a crew of the present day, turn out a faster eight than the “Bob Cook” stroke with the same men, still it is much to be doubted. While with the present tendency towards selecting light and muscular, rather than beefy men, there can be no question but that the fastest rowing of which they are capable will be done by the “Bob Cook” stroke, which with its long swing and slow slide takes advantage of every pound of impetus, and with its slow catch gives the oarsman between every stroke a chance to recover his breath and nerve himself for the next pull. And this present method of selecting material is more than justified by the magnificent rowing of the ’88 Yale crew, which in the opinion of Mr. Frank Peabody, the Harvard coach, could defeat any crew, amateur or professional, English or American, that should be pitted against it. In other words, the ’88 Yale crew made the finest exhibition of rowing ever seen in America, and may be safely said to have been the fastest crew that ever sat in a boat.

After the Yale successes in baseball in ’74 and ’75, the Yale nines played much closer games with Harvard, although for the four succeeding years the series of games was invariably won by Harvard.

One of the Yale-Harvard games in 1877 was remarkable in that the Harvard nine went to the bat only twenty-seven times, each player going out in the order of striking. Not a single hit was made off Carter, the Yale pitcher. In 1878 Yale defeated Harvard on her own grounds for the first time, which inspired so much over-confidence in the Yale team that they were defeated in three straight games by Harvard. This is but one of many instances of the truth that college nines do best when least is expected of them, and that it is confidence unfortified by hard work which most surely issues in defeat.

The Intercollegiate Baseball Association was formed in December, 1879, with Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Amherst, Dartmouth and Brown as members. Yale shortly withdrew from the association because it voted to allow the playing of college men who had played on professional teams. Series of games were arranged, however, with Harvard, Princeton and Amherst, in which Yale won seven out of eight games, virtually winning the championship. In her games with professionals Yale was singularly successful, winning eleven out of thirteen played.

From 1880 to 1888 inclusive Yale has won the championship, with but one exception, when in 1885 Harvard won it by ten straight victories. In 1884 Yale and Harvard were tied for first place, and the deciding game, played in Brooklyn, was won by Yale.

The year 1885 was the most disastrous in athletics ever experienced at Yale. The Yale nine, although possessing individual players of merit, had no reliable pitcher, and lacked team play and discipline. Yale’s first defeat in 1886 was in an exhibition game with Columbia, whose brilliant team of this year defeated Harvard also. This team was in reality a graduates’ nine composed mostly of Law School men, and included graduates of Yale, Princeton, etc. The tie game for the championship was played off in Hartford, between Harvard and Yale, on the day after Yale’s victory on the water. The Yale nine, who had been practising on the Hartford grounds while the Harvard nine watched the race, played with great determination, and won by a score of 7 to 1. The now famous battery of Stagg and Dann first came to the front in this year.

After this season’s play, Harvard, Princeton and Yale withdrew from the Intercollegiate Association and formed a triangular league. Into this “College League” Columbia was admitted, but after a few games she withdrew owing to various difficulties. The first Yale-Harvard game in 1887, played in New Haven, resulted in a crushing defeat for Harvard by a score of 14 to 2. The game was quite close until the eighth inning, in which the Yale nine completely knocked Boyden out of the box, making eight hits with a total of twelve, and allowing every member of the nine to make a circuit of the bases.

The baseball season of 1888 opened with a severe check to Yale’s hopes in her defeat by Princeton in the first game played. The loss of this game made it appear that Princeton, after having for several years assisted Yale to the championship by winning a game or two from Harvard, would now render a like service to Harvard. The first Yale-Harvard game, however, was reassuring, Yale winning by 7 to 1. The next game, played in Cambridge, being won by Harvard, 7 to 3, put an entirely different aspect upon affairs, necessitating, as it did, in order for Yale to win the championship, her winning the three remaining games of the series. This difficult feat was brilliantly accomplished by the aid of much “sand” in the Yale team. The most notable feature was the game played in Cambridge, won by Yale, 8 to 0, in which Stagg held the Harvard batters down to two hits. As was the case in 1886 and 1887, Yale’s chief strength this year lay in her battery, Stagg and Dann.

Yale’s baseball record is, on the whole, most creditable, she having won 130 out of 177 college games played. With Harvard, Yale has won 32 games and lost 30, while with Princeton Yale has won 33 and lost 11. To other colleges than these two, Yale has lost but six games, two to Amherst, two to Brown, one to Columbia and one to Dartmouth. In all her games, with professionals as well as amateurs, Yale has made about 550 more runs than her opponents.

An innovation was made last fall in the matter of getting together a university nine for practice games in the fall. During the winter the nine practised batting daily in the baseball cage, and got in good physical condition by gymnasium work and out-of-door running. A simple machine, enabling the nine to practise sliding in the cage, was devised last spring, and its results are evident in the number of stolen bases accredited to the Yale nine in its past season’s play.

The number of annual championships in Rowing, Football, and Baseball since the establishment of intercollegiate associations in these branches, won respectively by Yale, Harvard and Princeton is a source of pride to Yale men, the numbers being: Yale 21, Harvard 7, and Princeton 2.

Track Athletics at Yale started in 1872, about the time that the first intercollegiate athletic meetings were being held in Saratoga. Yale sent two representatives, born athletes devoid of instruction, to the intercollegiate meetings of ’74 and ’75, who won a first prize apiece each year. Fall games were started at Yale in 1875, and were an unqualified success, the most interesting event being the running high jump of Gale, ’78 S., who cleared 5 ft. 3 in., pronounced to be “the finest amateur jumping ever done in America.”

It is a curious commentary on the taste of this period that the hurdle and the one hundred yard races were regarded as tame, while a three or a seven mile walk was considered most interesting and exciting. The presentation of the Challenge Cup, valued at $500, now commonly known as the Mott Haven Cup, served as a great stimulus to track athletics in all the other prominent athletic colleges except Yale, whose apathy and indifference to this branch was so great that from 1877 till 1880 she sent no representatives to the meetings. In 1880 Mr. T. Dewitt Cuyler, of Yale, established a record of 4m. 37 3-5s. in the mile run, a record which was not broken for seven years. From 1880 on, Harvard continued to win the cup with an unvarying regularity, with Columbia a good second and Yale a poor third.

In 1882 one of Yale’s best runners appeared, Mr. H. S. Brooks, who won the intercollegiate 100 yards and 220 yards for two years, doing the 100 in 10 1-5s., and the 220 in 22 5-8s.

The famous 220 yards run between Brooks and W. Baker of Harvard, occurred in 1884, and was a magnificent exhibition of running, Baker winning in 22 2-5s.

In 1886 the contest for the cup between Yale and Harvard was most closely fought, resting as it did upon the decision in the 100 yards, which was, at any rate, a very difficult decision to make. It is hardly worth while to recount that Sherrill of Yale was cheered and congratulated as winner, or that the decision rested with one judge, a Harvard graduate, who alone, out of the three judges, witnessed the finish, for Yale lost the cup. The policy of Yale men after defeat has always been to make no excuses for failure, but to turn with greater determination to the work of retrieving the past by victory in the future.

Yale has had a large number of fine individual track athletes in the past two years, among them being Sherrill, ’89, amateur champion in 1887 for 100 yards, and easy winner this year in the intercollegiate 100 yards and 220 yards; Coxe, ’87, with his records of 101 ft. 1 in. in the hammer throw, and of 40 ft. 91⁄2in. in putting the shot; Ludington, ’87, who has hurdled in 163⁄4s.; Harmar, ’90, who has run a mile in 4m. 32 2-5s., and Shearman, ’89, who jumps 21 ft. 71⁄2in. in the broad jump, 5 ft. 81⁄2in. in the high jump, and pole vaults 10 ft. 3 5-8 in.

To the fact that Yale had so many crack performers in 1887 was due her winning of the cup, aided by the fact that Harvard found very strong competition from the other colleges in her events. Yale lost the cup this year for the opposite reasons, having no luck in winning events, and having but three crack performers left. As to men of medium ability, Yale never possesses them, her success depending solely upon her first-class men. It is a notable commentary on the system of track athletics at Yale, that her three best performers this year won five first prizes, and that these were the only ones taken by Yale.

Until Yale follows in Harvard’s footsteps in training carefully and skilfully a large number of men for her athletic team she can never hope to compete on an equality with Harvard. And this will not be possible at Yale until greater interest is taken in this branch of athletics, and until the cup is valued as highly as a football championship or a Yale-Harvard race.

The game of lawn tennis, first played in this country in 1875, was long a popular game among college students before it became an object of intercollegiate strife. In 1883, at the proposal of Trinity College,an association was formed embracing Amherst, Brown, Harvard, Trinity and Yale. This association has grown in numbers since that time, until it has now eleven members, the added ones being Columbia, Lehigh, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Wesleyan and Williams. The tournaments for the first two years were held in Hartford, and for the last three years in New Haven. In the first year of the association two tournaments were held, both won by Harvard, but since then one annual championship has been held every fall.

The difference in the expenses of the tournaments of 1883 and 1888, will indicate somewhat the increased importance of this annual event, the total expenditure in the first year being $8, while for prizes alone there was spent last year $285. The number of college men who are reckoned among the best players of this country, is worthy of note, including as it does such names as Mr. R. D. Sears, Mr. H. W. Slocum, Mr. J. Clark, Mr. G. M. Brinley, Mr. H. A. Taylor, and others.

Mr. R. D. Sears, the well-known ex-champion of the United States, only played once, in 1884, in the intercollegiate tournament, and was then beaten, principally owing to the poor grounds, by Mr. W. P. Knapp, of Yale, who of all individual players has the best record in the college tournaments, having won two first prizes in singles and three in doubles. In the five annual championship tournaments, Yale has won five first places and three seconds, Harvard five firsts and one second, Trinity one first and four seconds, Columbia one first and three seconds, and Amherst one second.

There are now in Yale five athletic organizations for the five branches of athletics, each of which is a member of an intercollegiate association for that branch. Each organization has its own president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary, elected annually, of whom the president is usually an academic senior, the vice-president a scientific senior, and the treasurer and secretary either underclassmen or, in the case of the boat club, a professor of the college. The annual expenses of the various organizations are about as follows: Football, $3,000; baseball, $4,000; crew, $5,000 to $7,000; track athletics, $2,000 to $2,500; tennis, $250. Of these the football, baseball and tennis associations are self-supporting, the Track Athletic Association is very nearly so, and only the expense of supporting the crew falls upon the students. In this the undergraduates are assisted by graduate subscriptions, by glee-club concerts, and by concessions from the railroads that run into New London, and from the town itself. The Football Association, especially in lucky years, nets the largest sum from its games, although there is usually also a substantial baseball surplus remaining.

A scheme of uniting all the organizations, with a common treasury, has often been proposed; but it would seem to be inadvisable owing to the probable increased expenditure, where each organization would not let the others surpass it in expensive uniforms or luxurious living.

To sum up what Yale has done for athletics would be entirely beyond the scope of this article, and equally impossible would it be to calculate what athletics have done for Yale. Suffice it to say, that Yale has always been on the side of manly, fair and honest sport, and that in the persons of such men as Mr. Robert Cook, Mr. Walter Camp, and others, as well as in the devoted labors of many hundred athletes, with the head as well as with the hand, she has always striven to advance the science and elevate the tone of every athletic sport. While, as to what athletics have done for Yale, leaving out of consideration the lower purposes served of bringing glory and prominence to Yale among American colleges, and the undoubted attraction of larger numbers of students, athletics have turned out from Yale many hundreds not to say thousands of men, manly and democratic in ideas, possessed of constitutions able to endure almost any amount of work, and competent to struggle and hold their own in whatever circumstances they may in afterlife find themselves placed.

The saying of Mr. Robert Cook applies to other sports as well as boating: “A successful oarsman is always a successful man.” The qualities absolutely necessary in athletics, of self-mastery, of patience, of perseverance, of pluck, of endurance, and of obedience, form the best endowment to a young man about to enter life.

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