Football: The Game That Was

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The days when Harvard and Yale dominated college football went out with raccoon coats and bootleg booze. Ivy League schools do not hold spring practice; they are sparing with their athletic scholarships, and they demand more than passing grades in physical education. But each fall, when Harvard and Yale clash in the climactic contest of the Ivy season, for thousands of loyal alumni—and for tradition-minded fans everywhere—the game is still The Game.

Last week, for the first time since 1909, both schools came into The Game with perfect records, and football fever blazed so high that student scalpers were getting up to $175 for a Harvard Stadium seat. Proud possessor of a defensive unit that called itself the "Destroyers' Club," Harvard had allowed its opponents only 230 yds. and 7.6 points per game. Yale, a team that ranked No. 3 in total offense, had averaged 467 yds. and 36 points a game.

Frank in the Flesh. Seldom has a college backfield contained two more offensive threats than Yale's Quarterback Brian Dowling and Halfback Calvin Hill. A real-life Frank Merriwell, Dowling does everything but carry water, and in three seasons he has rewritten the Yale record book. No less talented is Hill, a slashing runner with 13 touchdowns to his credit this year.

In the first half, it was practically all Yale, as Dowling ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more, one of them to Hill. The score was 22-0 deep in the second quarter, and the Elis seemed headed for an effortless victory. Then Harvard discovered a Merriwell of its own. Off the bench to replace the Crimson's harried regular Quarterback George Lalich, trotted Second Stringer Frank Champi, 20. A local boy from Everett, Mass., Champi's athletic reputation was based on his record as a javelin thrower.

For openers, Champi drilled a 15-yd. pass to End Bruce Freeman for one Harvard TD. He set up another score with a 26-yd. toss to Sophomore End Pete Varney. Yale's Dowling got that one back with a 5-yd. run, but now the momentum belonged to Harvard as the Crimson defense stiffened, forcing five Yale fumbles in the second half. The big problem was the clock. With less than 2 min. left and the score Yale 29, Harvard 13, Champi went to work. From his own 14, he marched the Crimson 86 yds. in nine plays, hitting Freeman with a 15-yd. bullet that made it 29-21. Time left: 42 sec.

Desperate to get the ball back, Harvard tried an obvious onside kick—and made the recovery. Back rushed Cham-pi; on first down, unable to find anyone to pass to, he scrambled 14 yds. to the Yale 35. A face-mask penalty on the tackle took the ball down to the 20. More important, it stopped the clock. A draw play gained 14 yds., but then Champi lost 2 yds. trying to pass. The clock read 3 sec.; time for only one more play. Back again dropped Champi, frantically dodging tacklers, searching for a receiver. Just as he was about to be buried under Yale men, he unloaded a perfect pass to Halfback Vic Gatto in the end zone.

It took officials 2 min. to clear the field so that Harvard could line up for the conversion attempt. Needing two points to tie, Champi got them with a pass to Varney. There it ended. Harvard 29, Yale 29. In the wildest, most exciting college football game of the year, nobody and everybody won.