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Show 'Grand Old Man' Believes Forward Passes Greatest Of Football Contributions Br RUSSELL J. NEH LAND STOCKTON, Cal., Oct. 19 AP) Amos Alonzo Stag, truly the grind old man of football, searched the memories of 48 years of coachinf today and gave credit to the forward pass as "the outstanding outstand-ing single contribution" to the game. The 73-yesr-old desn of gridirons remembers well thst fall of 190 when pitching ths bsll became an integral part of the sport. He was at J ths University of Chicago, where he coached 41 yesrs before coming j to College of the Pacific five years J sgo. "It changed football from a bruising, maaa encounter Into an Interesting game," he said. "1 will never forget the year. There had been something like SI deaths In IMS. Criticism reached aa acute stage. The captain of the Army team died from Inlurlea received In the game with Harvard. 'The rules committee saw tha handwriting on the wall. It was then we eliminated the 'push and pull' phaas of the game. The formations of tackles and guards back for In-terferencs In-terferencs purposes were discsrded. Seven men on the line became mandatory man-datory Instead of optional. These , steps were so revolutionary that I soms of ths old guard thought w had sounded ths death knell of tha game. It was just ths opposite. Pass Introduced The forward pass of 1906 was limited lim-ited to the throwing area (iva yards in back of the line of scrimmags and to the receiving area five yards out from center, Slagg recalled. The first player to run to the Sid and throw the ball. In his memory, was Pomsroy Sinnock, halfback at ths University of Illinois ths year the pass was introduced. Sinnock now lives in Stockton. Present day playera probably never heard of It, but one of Htagg's great ground gaining playa In the Due was the "whirling masa on tackle." It operated similarly to the play credited to a halfback on a negro team In the old south who, in a huddle, said to his mates: t enter, you hand me that ball, and. Interference, you follow fol-low me.' Slagg's fullback was the big cog in tha "whirling mm." Ha was Frank Slaker, now a San Francisco insurance man. Slaker took tha ball from the quarterback and barged Into the line. The halfbacks and quarter followed him. pushing. Sometimes one man would b in front, pulling. Other times the quartet quar-tet would whirl to shake off tacklers. Elbows flew with abandon. aban-don. Many a mustache was nearly yanked out by the roots. Nose and shin guards came in handy in those dAys. Colleagues Laugh Coaching colleagues laughed when Stagg trotted 196-pound Walter Kennedy out aa quarterback. It was the first time a big man was used at this post. Kennedy, now a newspaper news-paper publisher at Albion. Mich., added such a punch by his charging interference that rival mentors wailed in the night trying to set up a defense. To the Big Ten conference, which Stagg helped found February S, 1896, he advises: "Rescind the rule prohibiting post-season games. There is really no need for such complete isolation. A game late in the season, especially around tha Christmas holidays, should not interfere in-terfere with scholastic routine and would not overemphasise football." |