VMI Cadet. December 9, 1911

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VOL. V VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE, SATURDAY. DECEMBER 9. 1911 NO. 12
A REVIEW OF THE SEASON
Every Cadet and V. M. I. support-er
is very well pleased with the rec-ord
of the lootball team of 1911.
And they can well be f o r not only
did it come through with a big per-cent
of games won but every man on
i t did his beat at all times and prov-ed
himself worthy of the respect and
a d m i r a t i o n of all. Every man wai
a l w a y s doing his best for his t e am
and alma mater. From the very
b e g i n n i n g each man seemed d e t e r -
mined to make 1911 the banner year
in football and the r e s u l t s of the
e i g h t games played ehows he did
much toward making it a v e r y good
one. Not the' laige&t and eldest
m a t e r i a l was on hamls Sept. 1st, but
a very w i l l i n g and d e t e r m i n e d bunch
ol men who e x p r e s s e d themselves as
out for the season to do t h e i r beHt
f o r the team. Nearly every man
who s t a r t e d the season oh the squad
s t a y e d until the end. The second
t e am composed mostly of fourth
classmen was a loyal and f a i t h f ul
squad, with each man on it trying
h a r d to k e e p the V a r s i t y men light-i
n g a t all times.
I n t h e f i r s t two games the men
s t u c k to s t r a i g h t f o o t b a l l . The A.
M. A. game was won on plays
which c o n s t i t u t e a p a r t of the rudi-
, m e n t a r y game. The offense in the
f i r s t hard game with Davidson at
Roanoke a g a i n showed only s t r a i g ht
f o o t b a l l . At all t i m e s d u r i n g the
season the s t r o n g e t t c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of
t h e t e a m ' s | p l a y i n g wae the^oldjsystem
of r u s h i n g the b a l l . The t e am show-ed
a b i l i t y to p l a y this r u s h i n g game
and in every game w o n , t h i s s t y l e of
p l a y was used at t h e best t i m e . E v e ry
t e am met t h i s season was swept off
i t s f e e t in t h e b e g i n n i n g by t h i s t e r -
r i b l e rush. As t h e season progress-ed
a v a r i e d s t y l e of play was learned
and used to good a d v a n t a g e . The
success of the t e am cannot be laid to
any system or style of play or to
any break of luck, but can be con-t
r i b u t e d Jonly to each and every
m a n ' s desire and d e t e r m i n a t i o n to do
h i s best. Not only did he intend to
do his best but every i n t e n t i o n was
backed up by hard and conscientious
work, i n j u r i e s k e p t not only a few of
t h e best men out, but was most dis
h e a r t e n i n g at times. Four of the
best men were kept out of t h e game
f o r f r om two to t e n weeks. In s p i te
of these m i s f o r t u n e s the fighting
s p i r i t of tfte men never wavered.
All the poHsible confidence was plac-ed
in those who were chosen to re-place
those of the crippled list, and
t h e practice and preparation was
continued j u s t as e n t h u s i a s t i c a l l y.
Only one d e f e a t breaks into the
s t r i n g of victories. No excuse
made or offered for t h i s other than
t h a t which comes to every t e am in
i t s season. That d r e a d f u l condition
which is termed a " s l u m p " struck
t h e team at the time ol its most
i m p o r t a n t game. Not always does
t h i s condition come at the c r i t i c al
t i m e , but it did this year and it re-s
u l t e d very badly. Fortunately,
however, it did not s t a y with us and
f o r the balance of the season the
t e am was at its best.
As the football curtain is rung
down on 1911 we must say the sea
son was a v ery good one. Seven
games won and one lost. Two hun-
SECOND CLASS AT LAST WIN OUT
Continual on pave ^
At la»t s o m e t h i n g has happened to
d i s t u r b the old story in t h e second
and t h i r d class game, and the play-r
s on both sides seem m i g h t i l y re-lieved
to find that they no longer
need to play against each other
very week. The e n t h u s i a sm had died
down considerably, although every
man fought his hardest, t h e r e were
very few in the other c l a s i e s who
r e a l l y seemed to g i v e much thought
t o which team finally won juBt so
pomebody did and got t h e suspense
over with.
Of course t h e r e was much i n t e r e st
t a k e n on one account and there will
be a n o t i c e a b l e f e a t u r e at each mess
in the messhall for the next two or
t h r e e months, and a s t r a n g e r looking
in might think it s t r a n g e t h a t sn
many " K e y d e t s " seemed to have
lost t h e i r a p p e t i t e for pie so sudden-ly,
while o t h e r s have e x t r e m e cases
of the " r u b b e r s ' " — b u t j u s t let him
ask the " f a s t i n g o n e s " and h e ' lj
find out all right. But such is
" K e y d e t " l i f e!
A l t h o u g h the score was so close,
i t does not r e a l l y show the compara-t
i v e p l a y i n g of the two teams. The
second class had a decided a d v a n t a ge
throughout the whole game, being
close enough to t h e i r opponents goal
t o try for goals from the field on
t h r e e d i f f e r e n t occasions, and advanc-i
n g the ball tu the one yard line
once. Here the t h i r d class showed
t h e i r fighting s p i r i t though, an the
ball was held r i g h t in t h e same spot
for the t h r e e downs, from where it
was kicked out of danger by Rice.
The losers pulled off several g9od
f o r w a r d p a s s e s , s h o w i n g g r e a t a b i l i ty
a t executing them, but outsidfl of
t h e s e they played an almost steady
k i c k i n g game, never being within
s t r i k i n g distance of t h e i r opponents
g o a l .
J The second classi lost a splendid
chance for a touchdown in the first
q u a r t e r . [McKinney went right
t h r o u g h the line on a delayed buck
and was almost over the goal line
when the ball slipped f r om his hands
and t h e third class f e l l on it.
The p l a y i n g of Clark for the sec-ond
class was e s p e c i a l l y b r i l l i a n t,
h i s running back of punts being as
good as has been seen in any class
games for many days, on one occa-sion
carry i n g t h e ball for f o r t y yards
t h r o u g h a broken field, every man on
t h e other team t a k i n g a t a c k l e at
h im b e f o r e he was finally overhauled
and downed. At no time did he
f a i l to gain considerable ground in
t h i s work.
K n i g h t , for the third class a l so
did some nice receiving, getting
away for several long g a i n s on ac-count
of his speed. He almost got
e n t i r e l y away once, but was finally
r u n out of bounds.
T h e r e was a great deal of time
t a k e n out by bo.h teams, but not
n e a r l y as much as might have been
expected considering the condition of
t h e men.
For the second claB» C l a r k e was
eadily the star, makingr the only
score of the game, and running his
t e am in p e r f e c t style. McKinney
a l s o did splendid work, never f a i l -
i n g to advance the ball when it was
given to him. Other men d e s e r v i ng
c r e d i t were Robertson, Mitchell and
C h r i s t i a n , C.
Riser, Rice and Knight played
t h e best game for t h e t h i r d c l a f s.
The final game of t h e season to be
played today between thn second
and first class for the championship
promises to be one] of the hard-e
s t fought seen in a good while, as
both teams a r e working hard to get
i n t o condition At p r e s e n t the first
c l a s s seems to be the f a v o r i t e , on
account of its s u p e r i o r i t y in weight,
bnt you never can t e l l!
Oh, yes, I had almost f o r g o t t e n!
The score of the g a m e ? It was 3
to 0.
The line up of the two t e a m s was
as f o l l o w s:
Position
R. E.
R. T.
R. G.
C.
L. G.
L. T.
L. E.
1913
McMillin
Creswell
Gait
Robertson
Mitchell
C h r i s t i an
Gerow
1914
Clement
Munce
Saddle
R i s e r
R u t h e r f o rd
Rohrbough
B u r r e ss
Clarke, S a t t e r f i e l d Q. Knihgt
Richards R. H. Sutton, Royall
McKinney L. H. Rice
Murrill F. Coburn
PROSPECTS FOR NEXT TfEAR
Thanksgiving Hop
The hops held last Friday and
S a t u r d a y n i g h t s proved most e n j o y a -
b l e to all those a t t e n d i n g . The num^
ber of girls was not as l a r g e as it
h a s been the custom to see up at
T h a i i k s g i v i n ? , but quality and not
q u a n t i t y was the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c fea-t
u r e of t h e evenings. The V. M. I.
o r c h e s t r a furnished the music and
t h e i r w a l t z e s seemed to have imbued
many with the desire for fancy
steps , for " T h e B o s t o n " and " D r op
S t e p ' * were v e r y much in evidence.
Among thope d a n c i n g were:
Miss L a n t z w i t h Cadet Banning.
Miss Baker with Cadet Bryan.
Miss P i e r c e with Cadet K r a f t.
Miss Bradford with Cadet Dalton.
Miss T a l i a f e r r o w i t h Cadet Witt.
Miss Lloyd w i t h Cadet Templeton.
Miss J a m e s w i t h Cadet James. R.
Miss G a i t w i t h Cadet Gali.
Miss J o n e s w i t h Cadet Dixon.
Miss West w i t h Ca j e t C a r t e r.
MiEs Perkinson with Cadet Mar-s
h a l l , S.
Miss C a r r i n t g o n with Cadet Pren-t
i s s .
Miss Robinson with Cadet Coul
bourn.
Miss Temple with Cadet Miller.
Miss McElheney with Cadet
Bowles.
Miss Cross with Cadet Merian.
MiBi> Rountree with Cadet Roun-t
r e e .
Miss Edwards w i t h C a d e t H o w a r d , R.
Miss Gordon with Cadet H a r r i f.
Miss McClure with Cadet Blom
q u i s t .
Miss G a r r e t t with Cadet Eastham.
Miss Dalton with Cadet McCor-mick.
Miss Vaughan with Cadet K n i g h t.
Miss Bowman with Cadet Stroud.
Miss Conway with Cadet H a t h a -
way.
The chaperones were: Mrs.
Gleaves, Miss Carroll, Mrs. Scott,
Mrs. Cross, M r s . C h r i s t i a n , Mrs.Con-way,
Mrs. Bradford.
J . P. Wilson, e x - ' l l , has success-f
u l l y passed the recent e x a m i n a t i o ns
i n t o the U. S. army.
The p r o s p e c t s for f o o t b a l l f o r next
year seem very bright at this time.
Every schopl at the end of t ^ e foot
ball season always has bright prps-p
e c t s but the m a t e r i a l on hand at V.
M. I. t h i s year seems to be d i f f e r e nt
f r om t h a t which ends t h e s e a s o n ordi-n
a r i l y . Only four of the emblem
men g r a d u a t e . Only t h r e e men are
second classmen. Quarterback W i t t,
r i g h t guard Dalton, l e f t t a c k l e Owen
and center P u r d i e go out in t h e class
of 1912. These men will be very
h a r d to r e p l a c e . In f a c t it will be
impossible t o put men in t h e i r places
who will play as did these men. The
best we can hope to do is to fill ihe
places as best we can and hope to
t e a c h and d r i l l t h em u n t i l they can
l e a r n t h e game a t the positions va-cated.
Patterson, who has worked
so well behind the line, is looked to
a s m a t e r i a l for t h e p o s i t i o n at cen-t
e r . With his d e f e n s i v e a b i l i t y and
knowledge of t h e backfield positions
he ought to be a g r e a t man for t h at
place. Hathaway is looked to
t a k e O w e n ' s place at t a c k l e . Hath-away
is the only man on the squad
who can come anywhere near filling
t h e place. He is a good b i g f a s t ag-g
r e s s i v e man, and ought to mak« a
g r e a t man at t a c k l e . Dalton's p l a ce
a t g u a r ] cannot be h l l e d by any man
now in school. Sommers, who has
played s u b s t i t u t e guard this y e a r is
t h e best in school for t h e p l a c e . He
p l a y s j u s t as a g g r e s s i v e l y as Dalton.
but dnes not have the weight f o r the
place. Sommers is a very young
man and it is hoped he will fill out
some by n e x t y e a r . If he had the
weight of Dalton we could hope to
have the position filled very well for
Sommers works hard. At t h e q u a r t -
e r b a c k position we will have to look
a long t i m e to get t h e man for the
place t h a t Witt was. Witt was one
of t h e g r e a t e s t l i t t l e men who ever
r a n a team f r om t h a t position. Not
t h e best and the most sensational
man on the field, b u t one of t h e most
r e l i a b l e . Witt a t t h e s a f e t y position
could always be expected to catch
t h e ball and r e t u r n i t f o r a certain
d i s t a n c e . Never was t h e r e any f e ar
t h a t he would f u m b l e it, which made
t h e f o r w a r d men more confident al-ways.
As an offensive man at run-n
i n g the t e am he was h a r d to b e a t.
His headwork in calling the plays
was good and he always r a n in the
i n t e r f e r e n c t well. V. M. I truly
lost a s t a r when Witt finished the
game a g a i n s t St. Johns a t Roanoke.
For his place a r e H a w k i n s and Ben-d
e r , two very good f o u r t h classmen.
Also Miller, a lad f r om Richmond,
is expected to make a t r y for the
p l a c e next year. Hawkins and
Bender played every day on the
scrubs this fall and both men look
l i k e good material for the place.
Hawkins is very l i g h t , but handles
t h e ball in the s a f e t y position a«
well ae W i t t . On the offense in call-i
n g the plays he is inexperienced.
He shows the g r e a t e s t willingness
and will b e f o r e he finishes V. M. I.
make her a great quarterback.
Bender is a l a r g e r man and has h id
some e x p e r i e n c e at the position.
For the other positions, the men
who filled them this year all e x p r e ss
t h e i r intentions of r e t u r n i n g next
y e a r . Kingman and Leech at halves
Continued on pago 4