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Show Curiosa Americana By Elmo Scott Watson First Football Helmet BACK In tile early 'b;. s of football, foot-ball, the days of flyini: wedos." mass plays and no iorwan! es, . Its husky players wore Utile of the protective armor of later days. So on December -. l SH.'t. when the i Navy team trotted our on the field for the fourth 2 :me of the first se ries played with the Army, speeta- j tors looked with amazement at one I of the Navy players. It was ("'apt. I Joseph M. Reeves and he was wear- ing a clumsy contraption on his head. It was a heavy felt pad. covered cov-ered with doeskin, and tied with leather straps under his chin, which made him look very much like a Tibetan lama. F.ut there was a good reason for his wearing it. The hard - hitting captain had suffered a head injury, and if he didn't play, defeat of the Navy was almost certain. So the coach had the trainer fashion this helmet the first ever used In foot-hall foot-hall for him and it enabled him to stay through the whole jame which the Navy won by a score of R to 4. The Captain Reeves of ls!l?.-94 In later years became Rear-Admiral Reeves and a member of the general gen-eral board in the Navy department at Washington. Another member of that team was also marked for future fu-ture distinction. He was known then as "Spooney" Churchill, risht guard. A later generation of Americans Amer-icans was to know him as Winston Churchill, author of "The Cross-Ins." Cross-Ins." "The Crisis" and a number of other distinguished novels of American Amer-ican life. Wptm Nw-sTa:er L'nlon. |