Kelly's series of individual
gains, aided by Hillebrand and Edwards, through Rodgers and Chadwick.
Kelly took the ball for 40 consecutive yards up the field in gains of
from one to three yards each, when fortunately for Yale, a fumble gave
them the ball. When the fumble occurred, I happened at the time to break
through very fast. There lay the ball on the ground, and nobody but
myself near it. The great chance was there to pick it up and perhaps,
even with my slow speed, gain 20 to 30 yards for Yale. No such thought,
however, entered my head. I wanted that ball and curled up around it and
hugged it as a tortoise would close in its shell. My recollection is now
that I sat there for about five minutes before anybody deigned to fall
on me. At all events, I had the ball.
"Gordon Brown played as a freshman on my team. He had a football face
that I liked. He weighed 185 pounds and was 6 feet 4 inches tall. Gordon
went up against Bouve in the Harvard game, and the critics stated that
Bouve was the best guard in the country that year. I said to Gordon,
'Play this fellow the game of his life, and when you get him, let me
know and I'll send some plays through you.' After about sixty minutes of
play Gordon came to me and said, 'Jim, I've got him,' and he had him all
right, for we were then successful in gaining through that part of the
Harvard line. Gordon Brown was a very earnest player. He would allow
nothing to stop him. He got his ears pretty well bruised up and they
bothered him a great deal. In fact, he did have to lay off two or three
days. He came to me and said, 'Do you think this injury will keep me out
of the big game?' 'Well, I'll see if the trainer cannot make a head-gear
for you.' 'Well, I'll tell you this, Jim,' said Gordon, 'I'll have 'em
cut off before I'll stay out of the game.' This amused me, and I said,
'Gordon, you have nothing of beauty to lose. You will keep your ears and
you will play in the big games.'
"Gordon Brown's team, under Malcolm McBride as head coach, was a wonder.
This eleven, to our minds, was the best ever turned out by Yale
University. They defeated Princeton 29 to 5, and the powerful Harvard
team 28 to 0. Their one weakness was that they had no long punter, but,
as they expressed it to me afterward, they had no need of one. At one
time during the game with Harvard they took the ball on their own
10-yard line and, instead of kicking, marched it up the field, and in a
very few rushes scored
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