Football Days | Page 6

crossing. Strangely enough the
memory of getting settled in my new quarters faded with the eventful
moment when the call for candidates came, and I went out with the rest
of the boys to try for the team.
Competition was keen and many candidates offered themselves. I was
placed on the scrub team. One of my first attempts for supremacy was
in the early part of the season when I was placed as right guard of the
scrub against Perry Wentz, an old star player of the school and
absolutely sure of his position. I recall how on several occasions the
first team could not gain as much distance through the second as the
men desired, and Wentz, who later on distinguished himself on the
Varsity at Princeton and still later as a crack player on Pennsylvania,
seemed to have trouble in opening up my position.
Max Rutter, the Lawrenceville captain, with the directness that usually
characterizes such officers, called this fact to Wentz's attention. Wentz,
who probably felt naturally his pride of football fame, became quite
angry at Rutter's remark that he was being outplayed. He took off his
nose-guard, threw it on the ground and left the field.
Rutter moved me over to the first team in Wentz's place. That night
there was a general upset on the team which was settled amicably,
however, and the next day Wentz continued playing in his old place.
The position of guard was given to me on the other side of the line,
George Cadwalader being moved out to the position of tackle. This was
the same Cadwalader who subsequently went to Yale and made a great
name for himself on the gridiron, in spite of the fact that he remained at
New Haven but one year.
It was here at Lawrenceville that this great player made his reputation
as a goal kicker, a fame that was enhanced during his football days at
Yale. Max Rutter, the captain of the Lawrenceville team, went to
Williams and played on the Varsity, eventually becoming captain there
also. Ned Moffat, nephew of Princeton's great Alex Moffat, played end
rush.

About this time I began to realize that Billy McGibbon had given me a
correct line on Charlie de Saulles and Billy Dibble. These two players
worked wonderfully well together, and were an effective scoring
machine with the assistance of Doc MacNider and Dave Davis.
During these days at Lawrenceville Owen Johnson gathered the
material for those interesting stories in which he used his old
schoolmates for the characters. The thin disguise of Doc Macnooder
does not, however, conceal Doc MacNider from his old schoolboy
friends. The same is true of the slightly changed names of Garry
Cochran, Turk Righter, Charlie de Saulles and Billy Dibble.
Charlie de Saulles, after graduation, went to Yale and continued his
wonderful, spectacular career on the gridiron. We will spend an
afternoon with him on the Yale field later.
Billy Dibble went to Williams and played a marvelous game until he
was injured, early in his freshman year. It was during those days that I
met Garry Cochran, Sport Armstrong and other Princeton coaches for
the first time. They used to come over to assist in coaching our team.
Our regular coaches at Lawrenceville were Walter B. Street, who had
been a famous football star years before at Williams, and William J.
George, renowned in Princeton's football history as a center-rush. I
cannot praise the work of these men too highly. They were
thoroughbreds in every sense of the word.
It was one of the old traditions of Lawrenceville football to have a
game every year with Pennington Seminary. What man is there who
attended either school who does not recall the spirit of those old-time
contests?
The Hill School was another of our football rivals. The trip to
Pottstown, Pa., was an event eagerly looked forward to--so also was the
Hill School's return game at Lawrenceville. The rivalry between the
two schools was keen.
Everything possible was done at the Hill School to make our visit a
pleasant one. The score of 28 to 0, by which Lawrenceville won the

game that year, made it especially pleasant.
As I recall that trip, two men stand out in my memory. One was John
Meigs, the Head Master. The other was Mike Sweeney, the Trainer and
Athletic Director. They were the two central figures of Hill School
traditions.
Interest in football was emphasized at that time by the approaching
game with Andover at Lawrenceville. This was the first time that these
two teams had ever played. Andover was probably more renowned in
football annals than any school Lawrenceville had played up to this
time. The Lawrenceville coaches realized that the game would be a
strenuous one. After a conference, the two coaches