“With only about a minute to play it was decided to try a goal from the field.  I was selected as the one to make the attempt.  I was standing on the 34-yard line, about ten yards to the left of centre when I kicked; the ball started straight for the far goal post, but apparently was deflected by air currents and curved in not more than a yard from the post.  I turned to the Referee, saw his arms raised and heard him say ‘Goal’ and then everything broke loose.

“I saw members of the team turning somersaults, and all I remember after that was being seized by a crowd of alumni who rushed out upon the field, and hearing my brother Ned shout, ’You damned lucky kid, you have licked them again.’  I kicked the ball with my instep, having learned this from Charlie Young of Cornell, who was then at Princeton Seminary and was playing on the scrub team.  The reason I did this was because Lew Palmer and myself wore light running shoes with light toes, not kicking shoes at all.

“After the crowd had been cleared off the field there were only 29 seconds left to play, and after Yale had kicked off we held the ball without risking a play until the whistle blew, when I started full speed for the gate, followed by Bert Wheeler.  I recall knocking down several men as we were bursting through and making our way to the bus.  It was the first, last and only goal from the field I ever attempted, and the most plausible explanation for its success was probably predestination.”

[Illustration:  “NOTHING GOT BY JOHN DeWITT”]

Arthur Poe was a big factor in football, even when he wasn’t running or kicking Yale down to defeat.

“Bill Church’s roughness, in my freshman year, had the scrub bluffed,” continues Arthur.  “When Lew Palmer volunteered to play halfback and take care of Bill on punts, Bill was surprised on the first kick he attempted to block to feel Lew’s fist on his jaw and immediately shouted: 

“‘I like you for that, you damn freshman.’

“That was the first accident that attracted attention to Lew.  Palmer was one of the gamest men and he won a Varsity place by the hardest kind of work.

“Well do I recall the indignation meeting of the scrub to talk over plans of curbing Johnny Baird and Fred Smith in their endeavor to kill the scrub.”

John DeWitt

Big John DeWitt was the man who brought home the Yale bacon for the Tigers in 1903.  To be exact he not only carried, but also kicked it home.  Two surprise parties by a single player in so hard a game are rare indeed.  Whenever I think of DeWitt I think of his great power of leadership.  He was an ideal captain.  He thought things out for himself.  He was the spirit of his team.

This great Princeton captain was one of the most versatile football men known to fame.  Playing so remarkably in the guard position, he also did the kicking for his team and was a great power in running with the ball.