The wise official arrives at the field only a scant half hour before the game.  Generally the head coach sends for you, and as he takes you to a secluded spot he describes in his most serious way an important play he will use in the game.  He tells you that it is within the rules, but for some curious reason, anxiously asks your opinion.  He informs you that the opposing team has a certain play which is clearly illegal and wants you to watch for it constantly.  He furthermore warns you solemnly that the other team is going to try to put one of his best players out of the game and beseeches you to anticipate this cowardly action, and you smile inwardly.  Football seriousness is oftentimes amusing.  Some of our best Umpires always have a little talk with the team before the game.

I often remember the old days when Paul Dashiell, the famous Umpire, used to come into our dressing room.  Standing in the center of the room, he would make an appeal to us in his earnest, inimitable way, not to play off-side.  He would explain just how he interpreted holding and the use of arms in the game.  He would urge us to be thoroughbreds and to play the game fair; to make it a clean game, so that it might be unnecessary to inflict penalties.  “Football,” he would say, “is a game for the players, not for the officials.”  Then he would depart, leaving behind him a very clear conviction with us that he meant business.  If we broke the rules our team would unquestionably suffer.

Some of my most pleasant football recollections are those gained as an official in the game.  I count it a rare privilege to have worked in many games year after year where I came in close contact with the players on different college teams; there to catch their spirit and to see the working out of victories and defeats at close range.

Here it is that one comes in close touch with the great power of leadership, that “do or die” spirit, which makes a player ready to go in a little harder with each play.  Knocked over, he comes up with a grin and sets his jaw a little stiffer for next time.

As an official you are often thrilled as you see a man making a great play; you long to pat him on the back and say, “Well done!” If you see an undiscovered fumbled ball you yearn to yell out—­“Here it is!” But all this you realize cannot be done unless one momentarily forgets himself like John Bell.

“My recollection is that I acted as an official in but one game,” says he.  “I was too intense a partisan.  Nevertheless, I was pressed into service in a Lehigh-Penn game in the late ’80’s.  I recall that Duncan Spaeth, now Professor of English at Princeton and coach of the Princeton crew, was playing on Pennsylvania’s team.  He made a long run with the ball; was thrown about the 20-yard line; rose, pushed on and was thrown again between the 5- and 10-yard line.  Refusing to be downed, he continued to roll over a number of times, with several Lehigh players hanging on to him, until finally he was stopped, within about a foot of the goal line.  Forgetting his official duties, in the excitement of the moment, it is alleged that the referee (myself) jumped up and down excitedly, calling out:  ‘Roll over, Spaethy, just once more!’ And Spaethy did.  A touchdown resulted.  But the Referee’s fate after the game was like that of St. Stephen—­he was stoned.”