Beecher on my first signal, causing the signal giver to think that I was
rattled so that, although I afterward ran with the ball some 25 or 30
times with consistent gains of from 2 to 5 yards under the almost
impossible conditions known as the 'punt rush,' the signal for my
regular play was not given again in spite of the fact that my ground
gaining had been one of the steadiest features of the Yale play
throughout the year, and because Watkinson was allowed to try five times
in succession for goals from the field, close up, only one of which he
made; whereas Billy Bull could probably have made at least three out of
the five; but of course Bull's ability was not so well-known then. The
direct cause of the Lamar run was due to the fact that all the fast
runners and good tacklers of the Yale line were down the field under a
kick, so close to Toler, the other halfback from Lamar, that when Toler
muffed the ball so egregiously that it bounded over our heads some 15
yards, Lamar who had not come across the field to back Toler up, had
been able to get the ball on the bound and on the dead run, thus having
in front of him all the Princeton team except Toler; whereas the Yale
team was depleted by the fact that Wallace, Corwin, Gill (who had come
on as a substitute) myself and even Harry Beecher from quarterback, had
run down the field to within a few yards of Toler before he muffed the
ball. We all turned and watched Lamar run, being so petrified that not
one of us took a step, and, although the scene is photographed on my
memory, I cannot see one of all the Yale players making a tackle at
Lamar. Hodge, the Princeton quarterback, kicked the goal, thus making
the score 6 to 5 and winning the game. The outburst from the Princeton
contingent at the end of the game was one of the most heartfelt and
spontaneous I have ever heard or seen. I understand that practically all
of Lamar's uniform was torn into pieces and handed out to the various
Princeton girls and their escorts who had come to New Haven to see the
game.