Long Live House Vikings

For most Harvard students, House football represents the final chapter of a dream that began many falls ago in suburban peewee league. There are a few stalwart individuals, however, who resist the forces of the outside world and continue to don their pads and fishnet jerseys long after graduation day. One such rugged individual is Paul Erickson, Quincy House resident tutor in English and Harvard's oldest living House football player.

Erickson's craggy, vaguely Viking-like features make his age difficult to determine. Estimates have run as low as 24 and as high as 87. I had the opportunity to interview this living legend; the transcript of our conversation is freely recorded below.

Crimson: What was it that first prompted you to play House football?

PE: I first developed a love of football in my college days at the University of Connecticut through one of my English professors. We'd watch football games Sunday afternoons at his house and he'd explain to me the intricacies of the game.

Crimson: Didn't football play any part in your childhood?

PE: Of course. Those pictures of Bart Starr and the Green Bay Packers stopping Dallas on the one-yard line changed my life.

(Erickson was a highly impressionable Norwegian lad from Wisconsin.)

Crimson: Does football have any connections with your other life, that of an English tutor?

PE: Many, in fact. I continually find parallels between football and Anglo-Saxon Poetry. The Battle of Maudlin and what we do on the field are often similar. It's always a question of grace under pressure. Other times, however, I am aware of the incongruity of it all--it's lonely sometimes to be the only Senior Common Room member out there on the field.

Crimson: Are you ever given preferential treatment by your teammates?

PE: On the contrary, I put up with an enormous amount of grief. They commonly refer to me as "The Shakespearean Linebacker" and even "Pops." No, on respect at all!

Crimson: Your usual position is linebacker, then?

PE: I usually play defensive end--do exactly what Mel Blount of the Pittsburgh Steelers does. Well, maybe you'd better not print that, if anybody from South House reads this they'll make sure I leave the game early on Thursday.

Crimson: Don't worry, Paul, we won't print this. Are there any instances that really stand out over your two-year history with House football?

PE: Yes. I was placed opposite my junior-thesis advisee from South House in last year's "Big Meet," proving once again the link that exists between literature and his active life of violence on the field.

Crimson: Do you ever find your age a disadvantage?

PE: I'm not as fast, nor as strong, and it takes me ten times as long to heal. I have to take hot showers before each game, and I live on Ben Gay. It's definitely humbling to play with these youngsters.

Crimson: Will you continue to play House football as long as you can?

PE: I'm going to try rugby for a change next season. They tell me it's less physical, but I'm skeptical.

Crimson: One final question, Paul; What is football to you?

PE: It's Art, it's Genius! Football is a microcosm of life; it's struggle, it's pain. It's triumph, it's...

Crimson: Thank you, Paul. Be sure to tune in Thursday when Quincy and South House meet for the House finals, and keep a look out for No. 16, the one correcting blue books during breaks.