FOOTBALL DAYS




CHAPTER I

PREP. SCHOOL DAYS


To every man there comes a moment that marks the turning point of his
career. For me it was a certain Saturday morning in the autumn of 1891.
As I look back upon it, across the years, I feel something of the same
thrill that stirred my boyish blood that day and opened a door through
which I looked into a new world.

I had just come to the city, a country boy, from my home in Lisle,
N. Y., to attend the Horace Mann School. As I walked across Madison Square,
I glanced toward the old Fifth Avenue Hotel, where my eyes fell upon the
scene depicted in the accompanying picture. Almost before I was aware of
it my curiosity led me to mingle with the crowd surging in and out of
the hotel, and I learned by questioning the bystanders that it was the
headquarters of the Yale team, which that afternoon was to play
Princeton at the Polo Grounds. The players were about to leave the hotel
for the field, and I hurried inside to catch a glimpse of them.

The air was charged with enthusiasm, and I soon caught the