| Show GREATEST EST PLAY PHY EVEST EV EVER R Famous Guards Back of Pennsylvania Penn Pennsylvania Pennsylvania sylvania Best Grounder Under Old Style f Mike Murphy urphY head hlad trainer of University of Pennsylvania hero of ot the Olympic games gams ame and nd regarded n as the b Mst best st athletic trainer In America was asked to tell te what he considered the greatest play ever Invented d This was his answer Undoubtedly the th greatest play that was ever Invented the one cne which had most to do with revolutionizing the same game l ame and und andone undone andone one which Is largely responsible for our present attitude e toward reformed d foot football football ball Is tie the famous old guards back in invented Invented Invented vented by b Georgd Woodruff the tIte old Pennsylvania coach in l lIt ii It was In Jn this year ear that the Pennsyl Pennsylvania vania vanla team was having a strenuous time with an unusually long and hard sched schedule schedule ule Several of ot the smaller colleges had given tho the Quakers hard battles and each now new game was tas looked forward to as a a possible defeat Woodruff who all along had seemed to have his team well we In hand had been een working hard behind closed gates on n a anew anew anew new formation A guard was drawn back backof of ot the tile line directly behind the te other guard on tin the opposite of the line while the half halt and fullbacks were close dose upon his heels heel The other hull half Iw was within easy reach of ot the fullback a little to one side With this formation time the varsity ati It battered the scrub mainly trying to buck the line Play Is 15 Improved For a while the play pia met with only fair success gaining small distances The keen eye ee of or the Penn Fenn coach soon eoon detected the reason for tor the small gains and the remedy was soon forthcoming The first guard was wn started a little sooner while the men behind paused slightly then plunged forward striking the first t man and lifting him straight through the line lInc like a huge battering ram raw Gradually the second guard picked his openings and oc occasionally occasionally darted through tackle Instead ad ador of or center and guard guardIn gU rd In the Harvard Hanard game that year rear the tile red and blue team managed to use the new play quite effectively but not with any startling results sull It wax was not until the Cornell gamo game that the other colleges would admit that Woodruff had dicov discovered ered erM a It wonder In the line of ot pew new plays pla plaThe The play however enabled the red and blue to trounce the crimson by b a narrow margin the score core being IT to H 14 New Ne Play Makes Good GoodOn GoodOn GoodOn On Nov 28 S Thanksgiving day the theether theether theether ether colleges were compelled to notice the strength of the famous Woodruff cre creation creatIon atlon for tor the Cornell team that year was defeated by a team that was Inferior Interior In weight t and skill The eleven h Ien had defeated Brown who In turn had played Yale a tie game and had tied the New Kew In this game Quarterback Williams worked every eve variation of ot the guards back formation that Woodruff had taught him Time after time Buck Wharton would plunge through tackle for tor a big gain aln then when the Cornell backfield would shift shUt waiting for COr a repetition of the play Brooke who was playing fullback would slip around the end for tor a substantial gain This variation of ot the attack BO ro baffled the Cornell team and so surprised the coaches of or other othor colleges that all winter long the possibilities of the new play fur furnished furnished fished food tood for tor discussion among the gridiron generals From that date the success of af time the fa famous famous a amous combination was never questioned and only the change chango of ot rules has made the play a back numb number r From this for formation formation mation the tackles back for a few years later rose arose The principle was W the same the tackles being used In place of ot the guards The massing of at the big men around tho the center and the injuries resulting caused the demand for or an open game which finally Indorsed by President Roosevelt resulted in a revision of ot the rules under which every semblance of the theold theold theold old formation is barred off orr the gridiron probably forever |
