THE FOOTBALL SEASON OF 1924

Chairman of the Faculty Committee on Athletics

We have waited since 1907 to enjoy the sensation of an undefeated football team. Seventeen years is a long time, so perhaps we may be pardoned if we roll the sweet morsel under our tongue, and indulge ourselves in a little gloating.

While we would not subtract one jot from the glory of that 1907 outfit which set a record still good by beating Harvard 22-0, yet it must fairly be admitted that that season does not really compare with the one just closed; for Harvard was the only team of major importance played, and there was an early season 0-0 tie with Vermont.

In 1913, it looked for a while to Dartmouth supporters as though the mythical "Eastern Championship" might come our way; but the pitcher went to the well once too often. After defeating Princeton 6-0, and Pennsylvania 34-21 (a game which was in many respects similar to our 1924 game with Cornell), the team broke before the assault of the Carlisle Indians, and took a 35-10 trouncing in the last game of the season.

Our next real chance for honors was in 1919. The team played a terrific schedule, in the course of which it won from a great Penn State team 19-13, beat Cornell 9-0, Pennsylvania 20-19, and tied Colgate 7-7 in a classic struggle; but weakened by the strain, and especially by the loss of Captain Robertson, Brown succeeded in nosing out a 7-6 victory in the last game, through the medium of a blocked punt.

In 1923, Coach Hawley, in his first effort, produced an outfit which rose to great heights. But it, too, had one bad afternoon, as so many fine teams do, and the "Cornell steam-roller" with Pfann, Ramsey and Cassidy at their best, flattened us out 32-7.

So it came to the 1924 season: and, looking at the schedule, with Yale, Harvard, Brown and Cornell to be faced, he would have been a rash man who would have dared in September to predict the actual November outcome.

When the season opened, the coaches had to find a new centre, guard, tackle and end, (the whole right side of the line) to replace Ellis, Aschenbach, Hatch and the Hagenbuckle-Watkins end combination; and a halfback to take the place of the brilliant Haws. Also at the very outset, Kelley, who had done so well at halfback in 1923, became ineligible for scholastic reasons; and the material coming up from the class of 1927 showed little that seemed promising; certainly there were no stars in it.

These conditions might have dismayed some people, but Jess Hawley and his associates are not familiar with that word. From the very beginning of the season they shot at the highest mark; they had a quiet faith that they could attain it; and they succeeded inimparting that same spirit to the players. There you have the real secret of the success of the season; and it is such power of accomplishment that makes Hawley a great, rather than merely a good, coach.

As the season opened, the backfield situation looked almost desperate. Faithful Larry Leavitt, who deserves a high place in Dartmouth's football Hall of Fame, was on hand, and so was "Red" Hall, but otherwise speed and power was lacking. The radical experiment was tried of shifting Oberlander from tackle to halfback, with results that were a surprise to every one, probably including the coaches.

The season began with our regular opener, Norwich. This is always a colorful game, and Dartmouth regards it highly. The plucky cadets come down year after year to certain defeat, always showing the best of sportsmanship, and with their regiment and their band, giving us a splendid setting for the beginning of our campaign. Long may they wave! This year they seemed weaker than usual, and the 40-0 score could not be said to show' much of Dartmouth's real ability; though it uncovered Oberlander as a true halfback in the making.

Next came McGill. There was a good bit of worry about this game. No one knew much about the Canadians. Would their passing game confuse and perhaps disorganize the Dartmouth team? Events proved the fears unnecessary. The powerful and speedy charge of the Dartmouth forwards broke up the Canadian formations before they could get started; they had never seen anything quite like our "guards-out" interference; and before long they were wondering what it was all about, as the 52-0 score shows. But they played their string out, and their tackling was immense. After the game their attitude was one of the frankest admiration, battered and sore as they were. We have never met a finer group of young men.

Then Vermont. Their team was a mere shadow of former Vermont teams; and had not the length of the third and fourth periods been shortened, between the halves, by agreement of "Tom" Keady and Hawley, to eight minutes, there is no telling what the score might have been; but 38-0 was enough. This game showed some promising substitute material in progress of development, notably Sage at end.

Yale in the Bowl! A new experience! Not since 1900 had Yale, been met; never had so much as a single point been scored against them. In 1923 they had shared with Cornell the ranking position in the East; and here was a Dartmouth team, going down to meet them without any test capable of discovering its real ability, or tempering its green material.

But the task was faced, and one of the best Yale teams in her history nearly met defeat. Stage fright at the beginning gave Yale a touchdown; and an unfortunate fumble toward the close paved the way for another. In between, however, Dartmouth had made all her supporters proud by scoring twice through brainy football and all but going over again. That "all but" is the only fleck on the season's record. Statistics of the game are strongly in Dartmouth's favor; but after1 all, it is scores that count, and there was glory enough 'for everybody in the 14-14 tie.

It was a splendid contest between two well-coached powerful teams, each keenly desirious to win, but actuated by the finest kind pf sportmanship, as the absence of penalties and the after comments of the officials testified. The Yale hospitality to our men was a delightful thing, long to be remembered. It is a source of keen disappointment that the warm invitation from Yale to play again in 1925 had to be declined; but one can hope that the next engagement is but deferred, and that not for long.

In this game our outstanding player was Diehl, our big guard, who "found himself" really for the first time, and became a formidable candidate for All- American honors.

On to the Stadium! The old slogan, inspiring as ever! Could the 1923 victory be repeated? Yes, it could, though the margin was scant, and those who take their football seriously had a terrible afternoon. Harvard played her best game of the season, utilizing her resources to the full. Dartmouth scored at the beginning of the second quarter, but failed to kick goal, and thereafter was mostly on the defensive. Being on the defensive, in our own territory, due to Harvard's fine punting, our forward passing game, in later games to shine so brilliantly, was never opened up. It probably would have been had Harvard scored; but the chance of a Harvard touchdown in the last few minutes was always present, and there were many sighs of relief when the whistle blew. It is understood that one ardent rooter fainted. The whole team played well, but the outstanding feature was Dooley's

wonderful work at defensive fullback. Three times, single handed, he prevented a Harvard touchdown by a desperate tackle; and one of these plays, where he broke through three interferers to get Hammond with the ball, was the finest play of the sort the writer has seen in following football for thirty years. The slender margin of 6-0 was enough to start the Dartmouth snake dance. This was another desperately but cleanly fought contest; intercollegiate sport at its best.

A Brown-Dartmouth football game is a synonym for a battle to the finish; and this year's encounter was no exception. Dartmouth had a margin, however, in most of the departments, probably a little greater than the 10-3 score represents. We were glad to welcome a Brown team on their first visit to Hanover, and it is hoped that this home game, coming in the even years, with a home game with Cornell in the odd ones, will solve what has always been one of the most difficult problems of schedule-making.

In the first half of the game against Boston University the varsity showed its poorest football of the year. The players seemed both over-confident and listless; and as the minutes wore by without a score, some began to worry lest this should be our black day. One touchdown was the lead at intermission; and a lucky break for Whelan's passing game might easily overcome that margin. But it was a vastly improved eleven which came back in the second half. Scoring again within three minutes, thereafter it was only a question of how much. The final score was 38-0.

The cumulative score of three immediately preceding games with Cornell was Cornell 114, Dartmouth 14. Good reason this, for making Cornell distinctly the objective climax of the year, as had been the policy of the coaches from the start. Cornell had been defeated by Williams and Rutgers, but had later smashed Columbia, and nobody was inclined to underestimate her strength. This was well, for the meeting in the Polo Grounds disclosed a rugged and powerful Cornell team with a strong offence and a defense which stopped Oberlander and Hall more definitely than anything which had yet been met. But Dartmouth resourcefulness rose to the occasion, to the great delight of those old-timers among us who have seen Dartmouth teams, superior in power, leave a field beaten, because of lack of tools with which to work, or brains to use the tools.

Dartmouth scored two touchdowns early, chiefly through brilliant use of the forward pass. Cornell staged a splendid rally, scoring one touchdown at the very end of the longest second quarter ever played (or so it seemed) ; and straightway another in the second half. They seemed irresistible, and the Dartmouth team looked disorganized and beaten. To our shame be it said, some of us about that time would have been well satisfied with a tie score. But that was not the spirit of Bjorkman, Dooley and Co. By a brilliant piece of diagnosis, Captain Bjorkman—a real captain he was—intercepted a forward pass; and then followed another dazzling display of passing on our own account. Two of them, Hall to Doolgy, and Dooley to Bjorkman, were good for touchdowns; and disdaining caution, we were still at it when the game ended with the score 27-14. Thirty passes were attempted by Dartmouth, of which twelve succeeded; and many of the others missed completion by a hair. These were no wild heaves, but to quote Chairman "Ed" Hall of the Rules Committee, (who sat behind the writer, and whose delight at what we were seeing was itself a delight to watch) "a scientific demonstration of what the Rules Committee has always known was possible, when a team appeared with brains and imagination enough to execute it."

One long pass from Dooley to Bjorkman, which just barely failed of completion, covered over fifty yards in the air. Had it succeeded it would have been a replica of the famous pass from Robertson to Lynch which won the Georgia game in 1921, about which they are still talking in the South.

So in a blaze of glory closed the season, the happiest one Dartmouth has known. The team was in every way a credit to the College. Their remarkably high scholastic average has already received a good deal of publicity. Of course, they are not actually all Phi Beta Kappas, though some of them will be; but they are close enough to it to throw doubt on Coach Dobie's remark "You can't expect a bunch of Phi Betes to play football."

As a matter of actual fact, the scholarship average of the first eleven is 2.4 The younger generation, at least, will know what that means.

There were no outstanding stars on this team. Bjorkman is a great natural athlete, whose brain and body co-ordinate wonderfully; he was one of Dartmouth's best captains, and he had nearly a perfect afternoon in his last game against Cornell.

Leavitt is the one player on the team whom other coaches sigh for, because his ability is so rare. He will be greatly missed.

Red Hall, good in other years, was at his best. Against Yale he was the lifesaver. Never has Hall, with the ball, been known to fall backward.

Whitaker, at centre, after a wobbly start, improved steadily, especially in defensive work, and was thoroughly reliable when the season ended.

Diehl and Oberlander have already been mentioned.

Captain-elect Dooley is the most brilliant player on the team. Against Harvard and Cornell he rose to great heights. But his erratic tendencies still greatly impair his usefulness, as his work against ale very plainly showed. If he can conquer these, his year as captain should be a remarkable one.

The rest of the players were steady rather than brilliant; every one gave his all, and there was not a man who could not be relied upon to carry out his assignment.

It should be noted that out of the some- what flouted material from the class of 1927 there emerged three "D" men at the season's close.

For the sake of the record, a complete list of the men winning letters is here included : Bjorkman, H. B. '25, end Parker, N. K. '26, tackle Diehl, C. H. '26, guard Whitaker, E. H. '25, centre Smith, A. C. '26, guard Holleran, J. H. '27, tackle Tully, G. C. '26, end Dooley, E. B. '26, quarterback Hall, R. B. '25, halfback Oberlander, A. J. '26, halfback Leavitt, L. G. '25, fullback Horton, N. M. '27, fullback Hardy, C. L. '27, tackle Montgomery, K. F. '25, centre Sweetser, R. C. '25, guard Allen, G. H. '26, tackle Sage, H. A. '26, end Reeder, J. F. '25, halfback Emerson, M. K. '25, end

Jess Hawley takes rank as one of the great coaches of the country. One defeat and one tie in two years is his record. It may not be generally known that he left, a hospital bed, prematurely, at the beginning of the season, and that he went through the whole of it on a semi-solid diet!

He enjoys the respect and confidence of every one connected with the College, from the President right through the list. It is the writer's very definite hope that he may come to mean to Dartmouth much the same thing that Stagg does to Chicago.

Jack Cannell's loyalty is of the finest and rarest sort, and his brain is always working. In addition to other duties, he was in charge of scouting; so that he saw only two Dartmouth games. McAuliffe, Lynch and Aschenbach were on the job every minute; indeed a good part of our new success is due to careful organization.

Do not forget Sid Hazelton. Equipped with a keen football intellect, he tackles the hardest job of all with the freshmen year after year, yet finds time for frequent valuable consultation with the staff, and works in entire unison with them so far as the system is concerned. Sid's freshman team this year was slow in finding itself, and was handicapped by injuries; but at the climax they handed the Princeton freshmen an unexpected defeat which, one judges, will be long remembered. Watch out for some of those 1928 men next year.

Do not forget Harry Hillman, either. He stepped into the big hole made by Jack Watson's untimely death, and filled it. To those of us who thoroughly understood the calibre of Watson's work this, as the slang phrase goes, "is a mouthful." But Harry did this job at the cost of very considerable interference with his regular and major responsibility in the Department of Physical Education. It should also be remembered that only by President Hopkins' personal consent would this have been at all possible.

With the co-operation of Dr. William R. P. Emerson, "Medical Consultant in Nutrition and Physical Fitness" to the College, work was begun in the application to the athletes of those scientific principles which are largely due to his. own research. This is a matter of much more than passing interest, and indeed deserves treatment in a special article.

What of next year? The outlook seems reasonably good. Captain Bjorkman, Leavitt, Hall and Whitaker have played their last game. So have some very valuable substitutes. But the reserve and new material appears to be more abundant and more experienced than was the case one year ago.

Six inches of uncrossable turf in the Yale Bowl left Dartmouth one more mark to shoot at; that of an undefeated and untied team. It is with that ambition that every one connected with Dartmouth football will enter upon the season of 1925.

Coach Hawley

Mink Brook