Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 270, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 November 1915 — FOOTBALL PROSPECTS ARE BRIGHT AT YALE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FOOTBALL PROSPECTS ARE BRIGHT AT YALE

(By FRANK G. MENKE.)

Yale’s football prospects are brighter Just now than for many, many years, and the Eli enthusiasts are sure that the Bulldog will come back into his own this year. Yale was hit by graduation last June—and hit in quite a number of places. But Yale isn’t groggy as a result. With the exception of Captain Talbott, Yale doesn’t seem to have lost any man that she will miss—or mourn. The absentees were among the best Yale had last year —but Yale’s best in 1914 was not up to the Yale standard. Lack of real footballers handicapped Coach Frank Hinkey last year—and it was that that enabled Harvard to give Yale the worst beating it has suffered in all its football history. But this year things are different. Yale Has Great Backfield. The Yale backfield for 1915 seems sure to gain fame as one of the greatest in the country. Alex Wilson, captain, is a certainty for quarterback; Guernsey will be at left half, Scovil, a terrific line smasher, will play the other half, and the wonderful Hairy LeGore will be at full. Wilson and LeGore were regulars last year; Scovil and Guernsey were first-string substitutes. Yet the four played together often enough to perfect team work, and with Hinkey to school them further in the trickeries of the open game, and with the quartet ranking as one of the speediest in the game, there’s a promise that some brilliant and dazzling plays will feature the operations of the Yale backfield. LeGore will do the punting and the drop-kicking, as he did last year, unless Hinkey finds a “rookie” who is better, which seems almost outside of the range of possibilities. Wilson and Guernsey boot with eclat, power and accuracy, and can do the relief work whenever called upon. Brann and Hillman, ends, and Conroy and White, linesmen, are among

the men that Yale lost in June. But none of them ranked as stars. Knowles and Ainsworth also were graduated. Both were good halfbacks, but Scovil and Guernsey look good enough to hold down their jobs. Hinkey has left from the 1914 team enough linesmen to form the nucleus of a stonewall line this year. The sophomore class of 1915 will send to him as candidates at least ten candidates who are sure of being in the battle for line jobs. Hinkey Aims for Speed. “The backfield always has been my greatest worry,” said Hinkey. “I always feel that when I have a powerful backfield that I can build a strong

line in front of it. And that is how I feel now. “It is too early just now for me to predict what men will make up the line, because I haven’t had a chance to see all the candidates in action. But I am confident of the future, because the material that is offered to me looks so good naturally that I am sure it won’t take much work to develop it. “I want weight in the line, of course, but more than anything else I want speed. The new football rules place a premium upon speed—and Yale will have speed this year above all else.’

Guernsey, Yale’s Speedy Left Halfback.

Capt Alex Wilson.