Theodore M. McNair

On December 19th, 1915, there appeared in the newspapers a notice of the
death of an old Princeton athlete, in Japan--Theodore M. McNair--who,
while unknown to the younger football enthusiasts, was considered a
famous player in his day. To those who saw him play the news brought
back many thrills of his adventures upon the football field. The
following is what an old fellow player has to say about his team mate:

"Princeton has lost one of her most remarkable old time athletes in the
death of Theodore M. McNair of the class of 1879.

"McNair was a classmate of Woodrow Wilson. After his graduation he
became a Presbyterian missionary, a professor in a Tokio college and the
head of the Committee that introduced the Christian hymnal into Japan.

"To old Princeton graduates, however, McNair is known best as a great
football player who was halfback on the varsity three years and was
regarded as a phenomenal dodger, runner and kicker. In the three years
of his varsity experience McNair went down to defeat only once, the
first game in which he appeared as a regular player. The contest was
with Harvard and was played between seasons--April 28th, 1877--at
Cambridge. Harvard won the game by 2 touchdowns to 1 for the Tigers.
McNair made the touchdown for his team. This match is interesting in
that it marked the first appearance of the canvas jacket on the football
field. Smock, one of the Princeton halfbacks, designed such a jacket for
himself and thereafter for many seasons football players of the leading
Eastern colleges adopted the garment because it made tackling more