Summary of last 20 Years of Harvard-Yale Grid Contests

When the Harvard and Yale elevens face each other for the fifty-eighth time this afternoon, it is a foregone conclusion that the Stadium, barring some cataclysmic mishap, will be filled almost to overflowing.

In order to play before large crowds these teams do not have to compile outstanding records. To mention the two in conjunction with each other is sufficient to recall memories of hard-fought games, upsets, and all the other highlights which make football the sport it is.

Eddie Casey

In 1919, as the series was resumed after a two-year break when most college men were abroad attending to Europe's affairs, the men who came back were more than the "average" college man. When they started to roll they didn't like to be stopped, and Harvard's Rose Bowl team finally won 10 to 3, with Eddie Casey performing as in the pre-war era.

By 1920 the return to normalcy had set in, with several exceptions; bootleg liquor and bathtub gin made their first appearance. The crimson emerged victorious from this game also, with the "foot" in football very evident. Charlie Buell kicked two field goals, Arnold Horween one, for the game's only scores. The next two years saw almost identical games. Yale entered the favorite, emerged beaten 10 to 3, with Charlie Buell and George Owen doing yeoman service for the winners on both occasions.

Ducky Pond Arrives

In 1932 Ducky Pond arrived, and Yale was the victor, 13 to 0, Ducky sloshing through some 65 yards of Stadium slime with a Harvard fumble in his arms for the first Eli touchdown in the Stadium since 1907. Another seabattle ensued the next year, with the New Haven navy demonstrating its proficiency by a 19 to 6 score. Apparently whenever Harvard and Yale battles must end deadlocked, the result is scoreless, and 1925 was no exception, the Harvard's playing hosts to Yale within their ten yard line for most of the afternoon, but preventing the Blues from scoring.

In the golden era of 1926-29 the first two years saw Crimson defeats 12 to 7 and 14 to 0. Finally in 1928 after five barren years Harvard came into its own, breaking the drought by laterals executed by the Dave Guarnaccia-Art French combine. The year of the Depression saw Albie Booth's strip tease as the "mighty mite" stormed onto the field unsuccessfully to attempt a field goal. Harvard won 10 to 6. Barry Wood and Captain Ben Tickner made it three straight for the Crimson in 1930 with a 13 to 0 victory.

Albie Booth

Yale in the person of Albie Booth put an end to Cantab hopes for an undefeated season in 1931, when the Eli leader split the goal posts for three vital points. The gilded era ended next year with sale of seats to the general public, which act Yale celebrated by a 19 to 0 shutout.

In the first year of king Franklin I's reign in 1933 the Crimson produced a 19 to 6 triumph but went into hibernation for the next three years, those marked by the presence of an end named Kelley at New Haven as the Ellis were on the top end of 14 to 0, 14 to 6, and 14 to 13 scores.