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Egg in Your Beer

Play for Valpey and See the World

By Richard W. Wallach

(The author of this article, a former CRIMSON sports writer, new covers local high school games for the Boston Post, while attending Law School.)

"Everybody gets what he pays for at Harvard football games except the customer," is a time-worn Boston adage. Players, as a general rule, don't get a clean towel out of season. Hence, Harvard doesn't always get the best players.

Now this is as it should be, perhaps, in an institution devoted to the development of the mind. But we would contend that there is no harm in extending the advantages of a Harvard education to otherwise qualified men who also play football.

Freshman Coach Henry Lamar, when snow covers the sleeping gridiron, often interviews athletically minded men and tries to convince them of the value of a Harvard education. This writer offers a humble suggestion to Mr. Lamar, to wit: That the grass grows green in the Boston home pasture, and that diligent search in season may he worth a lot of hoeing on frost stiffened ground.

For several weeks now this scribe has witnessed fast backs, punishing tackles, aggressive ends, and triple-threat men battle in high school football games. The experience has left him with the conviction that many of these teams could fight Harvard to a scoreless first half (weight and Howard Houston might tell in the end). Certainly several of these teams could run riot over the incumbent freshman aggregation.

To be specific, there are certain personalities in the Boston area, soon to be of college entrance age, who would do miracles for Harvard football. Perhaps they would relish the opportunities of study on the banks of the Charles, and Radcliffe in the springtime on the banks of the Charles.

Naming names, there are Ransome of Beverly, Miscuraca of Gloucester, Murphy of Newton, and others ad infinitum. There is a fellow named Driscoll, who plays end for Dedham. This latter gent has been knocked out cold in practically every game he plays. They tape him up, and he goes in to mess up the opponents' backfield again. He might look good against Columbia. He might look good against Army, Stanford, Princeton, Cornell, and all the other delorous names on the Harvard football schedule.

It may be that the philosophy of the 19th century British Army pervades Harvard. Lord Kitchener used to say that "we lose every battle but the last." Maybe Harvard plays that way, too, and runs through gallant Balaklava and ineffective Ladysmiths to win all glory in the Yale Game.

But Henry Lamar might want to scout a few high school games in season, and drop around to the locker room after the game. It wouldn't disappoint the old grads in the end zone if an undefeated Harvard played Yale for a change.

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