For ten years after McCornack had stopped coaching at Dartmouth, the
captain of the Dartmouth team would wear his sweater in a Harvard game
as an emblem to go by. The sweater is now worn out, and no one knows
where it is.
If Eddie Holts record at Princeton told of nothing else than the making
of a great guard, this would be enough to establish Holts ability as a
guard coach. Eddie and Sam Craig played alongside of each other in the
Yale defeat of 97. Holt says:
“The story of the making of Sam Craig is the old story of the stone the
builders rejected, which is now the head stone of the corner. Sam never
forgot the 97 defeat and I never have myself. After this game Sam gave
up football, although he was eligible to play. Two years later, after
Princeton had been defeated by Cornell, something had to be done to
strengthen the Princeton line. Sam Craig was at the Seminary. I
remembered him,” said Holt, “and went over to his room and told him that
he was needed. I shall never forget how his face lit up as he felt there
was an opportunity to serve Princeton and a chance to play on a winning
team; a chance to come back. He responded to my hurry call, eager to
make good. Coaching him was the finest thing I ever did in football.
Good old Sam, I can see him now, standing on the side lines telling me
that he guessed he was no good. You can never imagine how happy I was to
see him improve day by day after I had taken a hold of him. The great
game he played against Yale in 99 will always be one of my happiest
recollections in football. My joy was supreme; the joy that comes to a
coach as he sees his man make good–Sam sure did.”
It is very doubtful whether the inside story of Harvards victory over
Yale in 1908 has ever been told. Those who remember this game know that
the way for victory was paved by Ver Wiebe and Vic Kennard. Harry
Kersburg, a Harvard coach, writes of that incident:
“The summer of 1907 and 1908, Kennard worked for several hours each day
perfecting his kicking. This fact was known to only one of the coaches.
In 1906 and 1907, Kennard played as a substitute but was most
unfortunate in being smashed up in nearly every game in which he played.
On account of this record, he was given little or no attention at the
beginning of the 1908 season, even though the one coach who had great
confidence in Kennards ability as a kicker rooted hard for him at every
coaches meeting. About the middle of the season, Dave Campbell came on
from the West and with the one lone coach became interested in Kennard.
On the day of the Springfield Training School game, most of the Harvard
coaches went down to New Haven, leaving the team in charge of Campbell
and Kennards other rooter. The psychological moment had arrived. Iginla And Regehrs Post-game Reaction Just
as soon as the Harvard team had rolled up a tidy little score, Kennard
was sent into the game and instructions were given to the quarterback
that he was to signal for a drop kick every time the Harvard team was
within forty yards of the opponents goal–no matter what the angle
might be. The game ended with Kennard having kicked four goals from the
field out of six tries. Nearly all of them were kicked from an average
distance of thirty yards and at very difficult angles. At the next
coaches meeting serious consideration was given to what Kennard had
done and from that time on he came into his own.
“Now for Rex Ver Wiebe. For two years he had plugged away at a line
position on the second team. In his senior year he was advanced to the
Varsity squad. With all his hard work it seemed impossible for him to
develop into anything but a mediocre lineman. The line coaches, with
much regret, had about given up all hope. One afternoon, two weeks
before the Yale game, one of the line coaches was standing on the side
lines talking with Pooch Donovan about Ver Wiebe. Pooch said little, but
kept a close watch on Ver Wiebe for the next two or three days. At the
end of that time he came out with the statement that if Ver Wiebe could
be taught how to start, he would rapidly develop into one of the best
halfbacks on the squad. Poochs advice was followed and in the Yale
game, Ver Wiebes rushes outside tackle were one of the features of the
game and were directly responsible for the ball being brought down the
field to such a position that it was possible to substitute Kennard, who
kicked a goal from the field and won the first victory for Harvard
against Yale in many years.
“It is a strange coincidence that the first of Harvards string of
victories against Yale was won by two men who a few weeks before the
game were in the so-called football discard.”
