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Show I , 1 me Mar 1 roof ball BY BILLY MURPHY. The football world Is roughly divided di-vided Into two parts and there- Is a great deal of discussion nowadays about the comparative strength of Eastern football teams and those In the West. I I do not think there Is much dif- I ference in these two sections of the i country. f Football has grown greatly in the J West in recent years and the fre- I quent chances In the rules have dc- I prlved the Eastern football teams of I much of the advantago which it I might have had through a full use I of the traditional methods. 1 Every discussion of the enhance- J ment of the class of football in the J Went leads backward to the vear . J 1906. jj It TPas during that season that j1 there flashed across the Western gridiron horizon the greatest half- I I back the game has ever known. j They can talk about their Hejtons r ; Weekes. Thorpe. Chadwlcks. Poes, H McCormlcks, Starbucks, Morleys, Butterwortha. Browns. Hinckeys! I Hudsons, Cooneys, Pishons, Snows Cutts, Eckersalls, Hares, Dalys, I I Spracklings, Thorpes. Coys and I j Bulls, but Backer was greater ln- . .. r,nltely greater than the best of these. I H M1e Murphy, the world's famous H 'I trainer, now dead, for years tiled to H v Induce Acker to enter Harvard, Pcnn I ' ' or Yale, but the doughty star would ; 'r. not. I ' J Acker was a member of that great j St. Louis University team of 1Q06- i H 7"s which ran through tho West . like a modern Juggernaut. J.; An Idea of the worth of that team, thf! ereatrst ever assembled on a football gridiron, may be gleaned y some of the scores. ; Holla was beaten 12 to 0, Cape '..'.sVi Girardeau 58 to 0. Arkansas 42 to I ''.() Crclghton. 40 to 0, Washington 78 t( 0, Kansj IT to 0, and the .j great Nebraska team, which was !' v.I considered the best In the country f-ilfal ot ,ts J'cars. 34 to 0. :' r. J That St. Louis U. eleven was com- : posed of intellectual giants, as well ' vil as physical prodigies. ' 'Vlvi Edward B. Cochoms. A. B., a j graduate of the University of Wls- ' V.J consln and now director of Theo- 'M dore Roosevelt's Progressive Speak-I Speak-I r .' rs' Bureau, was coach of the team. i'VI Bradley Robinson, who threw the Si ' J forward pass farther than anv man '-"Wffl Wh CVr lived' wa" a hulfback on I tnc team and a marvel. He is now rJt&Bt ne oi tho most cmincnt physicians ln the State of Missouri. W$m Famous Physicians SgEs Played on Team. Dlcke Roche is another medico agOi note, as one H. P. Depcw. Char- wSj 'JT Orr'and Francis Eddie Murphy, aTxlM lfte strategic quartcrba. k Frank Acker Is head of one of IgjjHQ the big hospitals in Denver; John sS Schneider, the great halfback and &ftSK hurler. Is another physician and gwS surgeon; so Is Dr. Clarence Kenny. SfjnB On the football field Acker was BSK fupreme BfflBl Talking of his potency and pow- SHjfB; Arthur Zachrltz, the great St. EMJgM Louis U. halfback said the other Huh da f ISB "To me there is no doubt what- ev er that Acker was the Eddie Collins Col-lins of football. "His success on the gridiron was due to his natural ability to outguess out-guess the opposition. "How many times have I seen a tackier leave his feet, thinking sure that he had Frank. hen the dust cleared awa; Acker was down the field, outdistancing all his pursuers. "There never wis a player that had all the football assets of Acker. "He was chockful of what the football coaches call " pep," with a large "P" and was continually doing the sensational. "He was .really the star of that greatest of all teams, the St. Louis University eleven and Its wonderful wonder-ful backfleld. which composed Acker, Ack-er, Kenney, Sc hneider and Mur-ph. Mur-ph. He was as essential to that powerful combination as an engineer en-gineer is to a locomotive. Jp his time his offensive ability was feared and his defensive ability abil-ity made him the marvel of the gridiron "Against Nebraska. Kansas and Carlisle he particularly starred. Acker was a 5 2-5 man in the fifty. He welshed 185 pounds.. Ho possessed arms that would have done credit to a pugilist, or rather, a wrestler. Acker had the use of the stiff arm down to perfection 1 would rather have been hit by Jack Johnson than Acker. Ho owned a stiff arm in both his right and left that Jolted like a 200-pound weight. Mind ou, that 'Is truth, not ono whit of exaggeration. exagger-ation. "Ask Billy Connett, who ha? seen them all and who is tho greaten authority In the West on football. Ho will tell you the same thing I do. Connett knows, and beyond his opinion there is no appeal," ap-peal," concluded Zachritz. Acker was born In Colorado. His father was a French-Canadian and his mother Irish, Just like that other champion of the world, Francis Ouiniet. Acker stud:ed one year at the Colorado School of Mines and played football. Bean His Playing in Prep School. He attended school two years at St. Vincent's Acaemdy )n Los Angeles, Ange-les, Cal , and plaed prep school football while there. From St. Vincent's ho went to Wisconsin University for one year, hut did not play the college game there The great Cochems. who revolutionized revolu-tionized football that season, brought Acker to St. Louis In M0b. Acker played with St. Louis In 1906-7-8 and 9. In 1908. he was badly Injured In a game with 'The Little Giants of Wabash" and played only one more game. He left St. Louis In 1908 and went to Denver University, where he act-ed act-ed as assistant coach. Acker was a great student, always making 90 per cent at St. Louis U Scholarship always was first at the blue and white school and athletics second. 1 In 1910, Acker was chief surgeon and physician at the Idaho Springs' Sanitarium, and for two years made Frank Acker and a group photo of tho champion 1007 St. Louis University football team. a great success at that Institution. Acker's father and mother are ln the frult-ralslng business and own many orchards In Colorado. His father also has a farm in Portis, Kan Acker three different times ln his career with St Louis U. scored touchdowns from kick-off. On. c in the Roila game, once with Crelgh-ton Crelgh-ton and once iriih Washington. Where can you beat that record? In a game with Washington University Uni-versity in 1907, Acker tallied eight touchdowns and kicked twelve goals after touchdowns. Acker still holds the world's records rec-ords for touchdown. In his three years at the Blue and White school. hi missed only two goals after touchdowns, a record that far exceeds that of the famous Walter EcUersall. Acker improved his natural ability abil-ity by his eagerness to study the straiegy of the football Held. Ho was built like Sanduw and was a much better built and more powerful pow-erful nian than the famous Helton. Then, too, Reston never had ne-tr the speed of Acker. Those football critics who have seen the two men In football clashes pick Acker as infinitely the greater player of the two. Acker never In his career on the r ' 1 9lC;o7 By Victor C.Dry Frank Acker, Terror of the Gridiron, Who Played With Famous St. Louis University Champions, Paved the Way By His Un- ! paralleled Ferocity tor Change in Rules, gridiron was downed by less than two men. His method ln breaking tacklers was entirely original and has never been duplicated. He used Just a short Jolt with his forearm and Immediately Im-mediately the tacklers would ie sent sprawling over the turf. It was what ln pugilistic parlance nuld be railed a short corkscrew punch and nothing noth-ing at all like the usual straight-arm, straight-arm, so much in voguc In football. Acker's unoanns ability to get out of a host of t.icklers was never better bet-ter exemplified than in the game with the wonderful Nebraska :na-. :na-. bine Injun to Knee Stopped His Play. Acker started from behind his own goal line, on a fake kick, and ran through the visitors for a 75-yard 75-yard gain. Acker was hurt in the Waba-sh game of 190S He resorted to an on-side kick, whli h 1 l.-mlgrave. thr great little ciuarterback of Cayou's eleven, missed. Acker, whoa near the ball dove for It. His foot slipped on the wet Held, and he landed full weight on ill? I ifiiu Miei, He never regained its full Strength, and tliat wia practically the iast game of the greatest half-hack half-hack who ever stalked across a gridiron. Yes, there was only one Acker and his fame will llvo forever. Ho was a credit to St. Louis University Univer-sity and its educators, for Acker was as great in the schoolroom as he was on the Held. His success in medicine, Is a great tribute to his tutors. But more than all. Acker brought fame by his athletic ability and learning to that aggregation of football foot-ball star, gentlemen and scholars his comrades on tho CocheiXUl' machine. Wi iiidcrful athletes even one, they have attained unusual heights In their chosen professions. All of which Is a great tribute to football and to the Blue and White school, for there never was a finer set of fellows than tho men who composed that wonder of all gridiron wonder- the SI Louis University team of five years ago. It hos been proven tunc and again by comparative p'.ores. that the Blue and White eleven of that years would have beaten Harvard. Vale, Princeton ot any of the big Eastern teams In the Orient, they had not then attained, nor have since attained, the ability of heaving heav-ing the forward pass as was exploited ex-ploited by Boblson and Schneider. So preat was the ability of Acker and so futile did bo render tho efforts ef-forts of the opposition In his day. that efforts were made to change the football rules on his behalf. Then those who wanted to see him given greater scope for his wonderful ability, r.UKgestcd that tho gridiron be widened Many were the sinuous runs made by him that would have resulted ln touchdowns or material gains that were cut short by the side lines. The hlstdT) of legislation in modern mod-ern football really begun when the whole country became acquainted With the work of Acker and the st. Louis University team. In the Bast they were hurling the football 25 and 30 yards. At St. Louis University Bradley Bobison was hurling the projectile TO yards Ho you wonder that the Bide and White eleven was running away from tho best teams In the West and would have beaten the champions cham-pions of the East? Tho remarkable development of football ln tho West can be directly direct-ly attributed to the showing of that great St. Louis University machine. ma-chine. For many years the great Eastern East-ern universities held the center of the stage and the Karnes at Harvard, Har-vard, Yale, West Point, Princeton, Pennsylvania and Dartmouth occupied occu-pied pretty much the whole of the llmc-llght. Football had depended Inrprlv upon the activities of the so-called Big Four. Harvard, Yale, Prlncoton and the University of Pennsylvania Then came the St Louis University Univer-sity team. Footballs have been bounding over gridirons for many weeks now this early season. But etmuarh his been shown to prove that there will be no teams this vear that can compare In Strength with the great machine of the Blue and White of the old days. And there never will be another, that will be able to compare with It. It was the greatest of the great. We now have the kicking game; tho passing game, the solid, straight-playing game, the open, daring, running game, and games combining all these features. Each of these systems dependi largely upon the material at hand. The open, fast running, daring game, of course, demands fast backs and ends; the kicking game, a good "boot:" on the squad and fast ends. The passing game, the modern forward pass artist, the combination combina-tion game demands natural cun nlng and strategy both on tho part : j of the players and the coach. AM these essentials and attributes , were present, part and parcel of the aggregation Acker, Schneider, Bobison and .Murphy shone on. Individuality and teamwork wera there. And forward passing and brain and a lot of brains at that-made that-made tho team unbeatable. You football fanatics who crowd the side lines today were born too late Modern football enthusiasts will never see the equal ot the 3L Louis University eleven of 190. STENOGRAPHER OF ANTIQUITY I One of the drawbacks attending the effort wf desultory readers to form an lmpresion of the mode at life In antiquity is the disposition of writers who attempt thulr enlightenment enlight-enment to unduly emphasize particular par-ticular Instances, a practice which leads to exaggeration Another equally serious is that which underlies under-lies the assumption that the absence ab-sence of evidence concerning methods meth-ods of doinsc things should be taken to imply that they were not adopted. This latter propensity is responsible lor a great deal of misapprehension mis-apprehension regarding the ancients and has caused their accomplishments accomplish-ments to bo greatly underrated. An anomaly presented by the modern judgment of the peoples of antiquity Is the disposition to concede con-cede superiority to them in what might be termed the superior attainments at-tainments of man, while denying to them the ability to do common place things except ln the crudest manner. We concede without luc-stion thot their artistic genius has not been approached by 'moderns, 'mod-erns, and that their great thinkers and writers have not boon rivaled in our own tlmejSj 'ut are prone to k.. i i. . i . duced great sculptors and architects, archi-tects, and philosophers whose ide.i We arc contcut to work over, were mere children when it came to practical matters. There is perhaps np more signal misconception concerning antique peoples than that Involved In the assumption that they were incapable inca-pable of perfecting a tachygraphlc svhtcm We ure told that shorthand short-hand was known to the Greeks a.i early as 400 B. C, and that li the early centuries ( the Christian era and in the Middle Ages systems were devised wheieoy words could be expressed in Shorthand, but those who have discussed tho matter mat-ter learnedly have left it to bo Implied Im-plied that even the sorcalled notes Of 11 Tulllns Tiro, the frccdman of li sro, while they were undoubtedly undoubt-edly alphabetic In their origin, lacked something, the Implication being that they could not have been employed as effectively as the; modern mod-ern systems- And yet the olasslCS arc full of allusions which suggest that no matter what may have been the defects de-fects of shorthand, regarded from a modern standpoint, the stenograph' stenog-raph' rs of antiquity must huvc been Vry expert Tn one of Horace's satires he takes a fling at tt orother poet who would often, as a great feat, dictate 200 verses in one hour standing In the same position. Horace .says LucIHus of whom he spoke, was verbose and too laiy to endure the fatigue of wrltin?. He may have been a sorry poet, bat tho stenographer evidently knew his business. In considering the subject It II j easy to fall Into the error of aiming aim-ing that an approach to perfection was only reached in tho clays of Cicero, but there Is no other proof than the lack of evidence thil shorthand was not w Idely practiced ji long before Cicero and Cac-ar came ,.1 B on the scene. The critical his tor lend have taken the liberty of ssf sumin? that the speeches of gca- . r.i h ii'l ri . I i..i I in a i rr,:...- .md i the talks made by Ambassador!, which are Invariably prcsenteJ M" Llvy as if he were quoting v'r batlm. were simply put into thelf mouths by the Roman annalist, hut there is no reafon whatever fr'r t, such an assump' Ion . evep' the 13 trlnslc evlden ' slmllsrlty of style. There certainly were short-hands short-hands capable of taking down sneei h. und the sameness my attributed to Llvy having tho same Mb sort of liberty as a modern stenof- jjH tapher who. if he Is an expert. Instinctively In-stinctively edits the man he report But whether Llvy wrote , speeches with which his history it liberally supplied or not. It Is toler J Sj iiblj ortaln that at a very arir period speeches were reported am that the uso of shorthand was very common In Borne for several bundled bun-dled years, so common, Indeed, t "1 ii became ne es-ary to regulate the g price for teaching It to tbc i" Pf number who took up stenograph as a profession. Just how estcn-alvely estcn-alvely the stenographer was ! " ths ancient business world it wo"13 be difficult to say; perhaps not so freely as at present. But In tfl publishing of books be wan a factor, for the practice waa iu prevalent of dividing up a manuscript manu-script among many copyists ln 0 I ! der to insure expedition, and s success an. niled this method IMJ books In Home at- the beginning our era were as cheap ns tin ' at present. W.thont the in'erp ' tlon of the shorthand man tn hardly could have happened, unlf Indeed, the Romans had found i mechanical waj of multiply copies, which certain fdi iw may have been the case. j |