It is well now that we recall some of the men who have stood in the
front line of football; in the making and preservation of the great
game. Many of them have not lived to see the results of their service to
the sport which they deemed to be manly and worth while. It is, however,
because they stood there during days, often full of stress and severe
criticism of the game, staunch and resistless, that football occupies
its present high plane in the athletic world.

It may be that some of their names are not now associated with football.
Some of them are captains of industry. They are in the forefront of
public affairs. Some of them are engaged in the world's work in far-away
lands. But the spirit that these men apply to their life work is the
same spirit that stirred them on the gridiron. Their football training
has made them better able to fight the battle of life.

Men who gave signals, are now directing large industries. Players who
carried the ball, are now carrying trade to the ends of the world. Men
who bucked the line, are forging their way sturdily to the front. Men
who were tackles, are still meeting their opponents with the same
intrepid zeal. The men who played at end in those days, are to-day
seeing that nothing gets around them in the business world. The public
is the referee and umpire. It knows their achievements in the greater
game of life.

It is not my purpose to select an all-star football team from the long
list of heroes past and present. It is not possible to select any one
man whom we can all crown as king. We all have our football idols, our
own heroes, men after whom we have patterned, who were our inspiration.

We can never line up in actual scrimmage the heroes of the past with