Yale's Hickman Fields a Well-Balanced Eleven

The people connected with Yale football are very anxious to celebrate the introduction of the ten-year plan at New Haven, for they were thwarted last Saturday and they would just as soon not wait until next fall. Furthermore, Herman Hickman, who on November 15 was presented with a contract seeing him through the 1960 season, has the wherewithal to win his first game in the Stadium tomorrow.

This is Hickman's third year at Yale and the squat, popular head coach is already assured of his best record since settling down in New Haven. The 1950 Bulldogs have won five games (Connecticut, Brown, Fordham, Columbia, Holy Cross) and have lost three (Cornell, Dartmouth, Princeton). Comparative scores, against mutual opponents, a risky basis for prognostication at best, might just as well be discarded when it comes to Harvard-Yale, but they are set down here for the record: Yale 36, Brown 12; Harvard 14, Brown 13; Columbia 28, Harvard 7; Yale 20, Columbia 14; Cornell 28, Harvard 7; Cornell 7, Yale 0; Holy Cross 26, Harvard 7; Yale 14, Holy Cross 13; Dartmouth 27, Harvard 7; Dartmouth 7, Yale 0; Princeton 62, Harvard 26; Princeton 47, Yale 12. Yale defeated Connecticut by 25-0 and Fordham by 21-14.

Hickman, in addition to being a coast-to-coast radio entertainer, a prize after dinner speaker, and the acknowledged poet laureate of the Great Smokies, is also a very good football coach. In 1943, when Earl Blaik was looking for the "best line coach in America," it was Hickman who went to West Point and had much to do with the success of the wartime Army teams.

An outstanding defensive strategist, Hickman has been recognized as a shrewd offensive technician as well since replacing Howie Odell at Yale. Last winter, he worked out the details of his split-T formation offense, which was introduced at fall practice and used successfully up until last Saturday. The split-T involves a half back, stationed well outside the end, who becomes a man-in-motion threading his way through the backfield on practically every play. This system is well-suited to tricky reverses and laterals, for the wingback can either take a hand off from one of the other backs, fake a reverse and continue on out for a pass, or go directly out from the flank for a pass.

Against Princeton, Hickman came up with a short punt formation on which Stuart Tisdale, the quarterback, received the ball directly from center and proceeded to pass. Bob Spears, the fullback, and Ed Senay, the left halfback, gave Tisdale excellent protection and since this formation included a third end as right halfback (situated on the wing), Tisdale has three good targets. Against Princeton, he preferred the right halfback, who was Ray Bright.

The main trouble with this formation is that it does not easily lend itself to a running attack, and whenever Yale wanted to carry the ball instead of throwing it, the Eli's had to go back to their split-T. Still, Tisdale is quite a good passer (he completed roughly half the passes he attempted last year and is averaging about the same, perhaps slightly better, this season) and even when Princeton know he was going to pass the Tigers could do very little about breaking up the play.

This may have been partly due to the fact that they refused to go into a five-man line and use three backers-up. Tisdale can throw long and short; his specialty is an aerial which the end gathers in just off the ground and which is difficult to defend against.

Tisdale is one of five experienced players around whom Hickman has had to build this 1950 team, since graduation cleaned him out of 35 lettermen. This loss represents the entire guard corps, all but one of eight ends, and 11 out of 12 halfbacks. Gone are such men as Jackson, Nadherny, Frank, and Jablonski, and in their places are Senay, Spears, Rowe, and Merriman.

Senay, who can cut and weave with the best of them when he is right physically, has been held back by injuries. Just before the start of the 1949 season, a tractor turned over on him, fracturing his leg, and he saw only limited service late in the season. He started this year off well, but was slowed down by an ankle sprain early last month. The other halfback, sophomore Jerry Conway, is small but fast and elusive. He is the back in motion in the split-T.

Spears, a fine line-backers, was hampered by two knee injuries last fall but he underwent an operation in December and appears to be perfectly sound of limb now. He was still able to crack the Princeton defense at the end of the game, after playing both ways all afternoon.

Two senior tackles, Joe Finnegan and Walt Clemens, anchor the line and since they are Hickman's defenders as well as his best offensive men at their positions, they play both ways. Finnegan, a 189-pound New Haven townic, has had hard luck in the form of a broken leg in 1947, and an appendectomy in 1948, but managed to become a regular last fall. Clemens, at 187, was one of the original "Seven Dwarfs" of the 1949 line.

Jim Rowe, a sophomore converted from tackle, is the left guard on offense, teaming with Art Merriman. On defense, a sophomore combination of Peter Radulovic and Joe Mitinger takes over. Harold Woodsum, offense left end, is one of the most promising sophomores on the squad, as is center Baird Brittingham. Harry Gropp, a converted tackle, spells Woodsum on defense while the other end, Captain Brad Quackenbush, plays offense and defense and is very capable at both.

Charley Masters joins Spears as linebacker on defense and together they make a crack pair. Senay and Alan Peters, an experienced defensive player, are the defensive halfbacks, and Bob Parcells, a sophomore, the safety man. Against Princeton, Yale employed virtually 6-2-3 defense, with the halfbacks just a step or half a step ahead of the safety. This was practical against the Tigers, who do not throw long passes, but Yale may have to modify this defense against Harvard unless it can check receivers at the line of scrimmage. The average weight of the Yale line is 186, that of the backfield, 176. The team averages 182 and has exhibited more speed than Harvard.

Yale has slightly more size than it did last year and although the sophomores were lacking in experience and poise at the beginning of the season, they had about as much ability as the men Hickman lost. They have now gained considerable experience and poise. Mr. Hickman brings with him a very respectable football team