Football Days | Page 9

got the best of it They both kicked
together But Cap kicked very hard Bill ran, Dave ran Then Andover
lost her grip She also lost her championship Sis, boom ah!
As we were about two miles outside of Lawrenceville, we saw a mass
of light in the roadway, and when we heard the boys yelling at the top
of their voices, we realized that the school was having a torch-light
procession and coming to welcome us. Great is that recollection! They
took the horses off and dragged the stage back to Lawrenceville and in
and about the campus. It was not long before the whole school was
singing the song of success that Turk Righter had written.

A big celebration followed. We did not break training because we had
still another game to play. When Lawrenceville had beaten the Hill
School 20 to 0, many of us realized that we had played our last game
for Lawrenceville. George Cadwalader was shortly afterward elected
Captain for the coming year. It was at this time that Lawrenceville was
overjoyed to learn that Garry Cochran, a sophomore at Princeton, had
been elected captain of the Princeton varsity. This recalled former
Lawrenceville boys, Pop Warren and Doggie Trenchard, who had
played at Lawrenceville, gone to Princeton and had become varsity
captains there. Snake Ames also prepared at Lawrenceville.
I might incidentally state that we stayed at Lawrenceville until June to
get our diplomas, realizing that there were many able fellows to
continue the successful traditions of Lawrenceville football, George
Mattis, Howard Richards, Jack de Saulles, Cliff Bucknam, John De
Witt, Bummie Ritter, Dana Kafer, John Dana, Charlie Dudley, Heff
Herring, Charlie Raymond, Biglow, the Waller brothers and others.
CHAPTER II
FRESHMAN YEAR
I believe that every man who has had the privilege of going to college
will agree with me that as a freshman lands in a college town, he is a
very happy and interested individual. The newness of things and his
freedom are very attractive. He comes to college fresh from his school
day experiences ready to conform himself to the traditions and customs
of the new school, his college choice.
The world will never again look quite so big to a boy as it did then.
Entering as boys do, in the fall of the year, the uppermost thing in mind,
outside of the classroom, is football. Sometimes it is the uppermost
thought in the classroom. What kind of a Varsity football team are we
going to have? This is the question heard on all sides.
Every bit of available football material is eagerly sought by the coaches.
I recall so well my freshman year at Princeton, how Garry Cochran,
captain of the football team, went about the college with Johnny Poe,

looking over the undergraduates and watching the incoming trains for
football possibilities. If a fellow looked as though he might have good
material to work upon, he was asked to report at the Varsity field the
next day.
All athletic interests are focused on the gridiron. The young
undergraduate who has no likelihood of making the team, fills himself
with facts about the individuals who are trying to win a place. He starts
out to be a loyal rooter, realizing that next to being a player, the natural
thing is to attend practice and cheer the team in their work; he becomes
interested in the individual progress each candidate is making. In this
way, the members of the team know that they have the support of the
college, and this makes them play harder. This builds up college spirit.
Every college has its own freshman and sophomore traditions; one at
Princeton is, that shortly after college opens there must be a rush about
the cannon, between the freshman and sophomore classes. All those
who have witnessed this sight, know that it is a vital part of Princeton
undergraduate life. On that night in my freshman year, great care was
taken by Cochran that none of the incoming football material engaged
in the rush. No chances were taken of injuring a good football prospect
among either freshmen or sophomores. Eddie Holt, Bert Wheeler,
Arthur Poe, Doc Hillebrand, Bummie Booth and I were in the front
ranks of the class of 1900, stationed back of Witherspoon Hall ready to
make the rush upon the sophomores, who were huddled together
guarding the cannon. Cochran and his coterie of coachers ran out as we
were approaching the cannon and forced us out of the contest. He
ordered us to stand on the outside of the surging crowd. There we were
allowed to do a little "close work," but we were not permitted to get
into the heat of the fray. Cochran knew all of us because we were
among those who had been called