Thrilling Upsets Spark Harvard-Yale Clashes

Harvard beat Columbia which last Yale. Harvard came close to Dartmouth which trounced Yale, Princeton licked Harvard and then had to fight to edge Yale.

It doesn't mean a thing. When the two teams go out on Soldiers Field from the Dillon Field House today, they will leave their records in the dressing rooms just as they have every time Harvard and Yale have played.

In the last quarter-century, the big upsets have come in the Stadium. Four times in 1925, 1931, 1937, and 1939--Crimson and Blue have upset the apple-cart.

A scrappy, cool 1939 Yale squad caught a Crimson team composed mostly of overconfident sophomores and set it on end to the tune of 20-7. Captain Torbie MacDonald, one of the finest running backs seen in the Stadium in a decade, played a fine game; but the rest of the squad which went on to form the core of Harlow's great 1940 and 1941 outfits--couldn't stand up under the determination of the Elis.

But this was a pale fight compared to the 1937 game in the Stadium, Harvard, with Vernon Struck, Frank Foley, and Macdonald operating in the backfield, had exploded just once--against Princeton--and seemed doomed to lose to a Yale team which had big fast linemen and a backfield led by All-American Clint Frank.

It was raining when the opening whistle blew. It began to sleet in the second quarter, when Foley threw a 25-yard pass to end Don Daughters for six points. Yale reared back to score, and seemed sure to kick the extra point, but All-East guard Al Kevorkian crashed through to save the half-time tie.

The break in the game came with ten minutes to go. Harvard took the ball after Yale missed a field goal attempt, and drove to a score in 13 plays. Struck faked, spun, and cracked off tackle for twenty yards; Macdonald ran for more; and with the ball on the nine, Foley charged into his right tackle, faked, and cut outside to score standing up. Chief Boston lifted a kick through snow, sleet, rain, and mud, and it was all over. The tired Yale team never came back.

1931 was another climax year. Barry Wood, Harvard's great passer had duelled Albie Booth of the Blue twice, and had bested him both times before the two met as rival captains in the Stadium. This time it was Harvard which held the pregame edge on the basis of an undefeated season.

The Crimson had a superb line. They had big, skilled backs. But Yale apparently didn't know about this, for they set to work and stopped the Harvard offense cold. When Jack Crickard opened the Harvard offense by running to the Yale seven, they threw the Crimson back and took the ball.

It went on that way for 57 and a half minutes; Harvard trying too hard, never busting the Yale line, the game swaying back and forth with no scoring. Then, with two minutes to go, Yale took over on a punt at midfield, and worked down quickly. Booth stopped back and kicked a field goal, and with that kick cracked his personal jinx and ruined the record of a great Harvard team.

The only other game in the last 25 years to compare with that one was the 1925 encounter, an upset which remained in the minds of Cambridge and New Haven football followers for a decade as one of the most thrilling exhibitions of one man's courage and strength over seen in the Harvard-Yale series.

Elis 10-3 Favorite

A game but shattered Harvard team, which had lost to Princeton 36 to 0 and rebounded to edge Brown 3 to 0, was faced with the doleful prospect of a fast, successful Yale attack. Odds before the game made the Elis a 10-3 favorite.

The climax came with less than a minute to play. Yale got the ball down to the Crimson's two-yard line. They tried three times over the center, and each time Captain Dolph Cheek and Coady, an inspired tackle, stopped the rushes. Then, with Yale in the huddle on fourth down the clock ran out on them. The final score: 0 to 0.

So it has gone: Strange things have happened. And they'll happen again--perhaps today