OCR Text |
Show r J ISpAVlUW 1 I 4f X. 4C Jk 1 Came ana tie A'eto THE football that used to be -and the football that It today are two entirely different games. If you don't mind, we'll take you back a bit just a few years. I spent most of one recent week-end with my old friend Pudge Heffel-flnger, Heffel-flnger, who is still Mr. Football. Pudge was a mighty football player at Yale from 1889 to 1891. r-sr- He was just as f Sod aroun 1915 f'fj("A . when he was in his tltf 40s. He played for 02 f- 54 minutes ga'nst 1 $i craclt pro team f when ne wai 53- He vlv was tiu playing at I ?V2rl,f 65 against another t.'ej leading pro team ktAiymJ in Minneapolis. Grantland Rice Pud&e 8ufIered a bad knee at 65 and couldn't understand it. Heffelflnger can't understand why a football player can't go 60 minutes min-utes at least twice a week. "What are these young fellows made of today?" HefTelflnger asks. Pudge Is now 81 years eld. He only weighs 270 pounds, and he still moves around like a lightweight. He has hands like two sets of hams. Bud Kelland says Pudge Is a throwback to the dinosaurs. Now I'll take you to another case to another friend of mine. His name is Shep Homans of Engle-wood. Engle-wood. N. J. Shep Homans was Snake Ames' substitute at Princeton Prince-ton around 1889. "I never got In a game that year," Shep tells me. Homans was Princeton's fullback full-back in 1890 and 1891. Homans weighed 167 pounds. He played 70 minutes in 22 consecutive games. His substitute never got to play. "Sure I was hurt," Shep told me long afterwards. "But you don't quit a game because you happen to get hurt. "If you don't mind, you might also mention that Snake Ames was a greater all-around athlete than Clen Davis or any other college athlete. Snake was the greatest college player I ever saw. He was also the greatest college baseball player I ever saw. He held three big league teams to, less than Ave hits and beat them all. He was also a great golfer. I've paid to find that out." Either the football players of 40 and 50 years ago were much toucher and rougher and had more Tiber than the present bunch or the game today Is far rougher than it used to be. Walter Eckersall was a good friend of mine. Weighing 148 pounds, Eckie could travel 60 minutes without taking an extra breath. He carried the ball he did all the kicking he blocked and tackled and passed and he fin ished fresh. Maybe the game today Is too rough. Either the football players are much too soft or the game is much too rough. At the finish of this season many of the best backs in the country including Doak Walker of SMU, Stuart and Stephenson of Army and many others were too badly hurt to be of any use. Sstko and Brennan of Notre Dame were both out of action. So was Charley Justice with a bad shoulder, according to Carl Snave-ly, Snave-ly, in the William and Mary game. Most of the good backs were hurt and out of action, or useless in action, ac-tion, a good part of the year. The game today is far rougher than it used to be. The old game was mass pushing and shoving. The modern game is a matter of collision col-lision , at top speed. The equipment equip-ment Is atrocious, something the coaches should have corrected years ago. They admit their fault now, a little late. Stamina and Speed When you measure the old against the new, you run Into deep trouble. In the matter of timing and inches, in the way of measurements, measure-ments, the years prove that the modern stars outclass most of those who belong to the past. They run faster or at least Just as fast. They Jump higher or further. They keep breaking records. Wherever you can use the stop watch or the measuring tape, the new years bring yon new champion, flut you can't measure meas-ure bmeball and football Yon can't measure the days when Walsh and Johnson and Mathewaon and Alexander pitched over 400 Innings a aea-aon aea-aon analnal the stars of today who pitch from 2K0 to 300 Innings. In-nings. At we check back we find the jld timers lead In ttamlna and (ortitude-the new stars lead In ipeed and quick records. It may be that since the Inven-lon Inven-lon of the automobile, no one ever walks anymore and leg power It a n Using factor. Something has happened to stamina. stam-ina. We have pretty fair runners from 1(10 to the 800 meters. Not much after that. |