Jim Rodgers was captain of the '97 team at New Haven, and the traditions
that can be written about a winning captain are many. No greater
pleasure can be afforded any man who loves to hear an old football
player relate experiences than to listen, while Rodgers tells of his own
playing days, and of some of the men in his experience.

It was once my pleasure to spend an evening with Jim in his home;
really a football home. Mrs. Rodgers knows much of football and as Jim
enthusiastically and with wonderfully keen recollection tells of the old
games, a twelve-year-old boy listens, as only a boy can to his father,
his great hero, and as Jim puts his hand on the boy's shoulders he tells
him the ideal of his dreams is to have him make the Yale team some day,
and an enthusiastic daughter who sits near hopes so too. His scrap books
and athletic pictures go to make a rare collection.

Many of us would like to have seen Jim Rodgers begin his football career
at Andover when he was sixteen years old. It was there that his 180
pounds of bone and muscle stood for much. It was at Andover that Bill
Odlin, that great Dartmouth man, coached so many wonderful prep. school
stars, who later became more famous at the colleges to which they went.

Rodgers went to Yale with a big rep. He had been captain of the Andover
team. In the fall of '92 Andover beat Brown 24 to 0. Jim Rodgers was
very conspicuous on the field, not only on account of his good playing
and muscular appearance, but because his blond hair, which he wore very
long as a protection, was very noticeable.

From this Yale player, whose friends are legion, let us read some
experiences and catch his spirit: