Sport: Brawny, Bright & Blue

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On Yale's very first play from scrimmage, Quarterback Tom Singleton faked to Fullback Bob Blanchard plunging up the middle. Then, as Harvard converged to stop Blanchard, Singleton coolly handed off to Halfback Kenny Wolfe. The deception worked perfectly. With Left Tackle Mike Pyle blasting open the hole, Wolfe was away for a 41-yd. touchdown run that touched off an afternoon of glory for his team. Getting stronger as the game went on, brawny Yale overwhelmed Archrival Harvard, 39-6.

Yale's victory produced its first undefeated, untied season since 1923, won the Ivy League championship, and gained revenge for a band of seniors who had never before beaten Harvard. But Yale's victory in The Game did much more. To a skeptical TV audience along the East Coast, Yale proved it could play a brand of rugged, resourceful football despite the Ivy League's thorough de-emphasis of the sport. Few old Blues, even of deepest hue, would argue that Yale could have won regularly against such emphasized football powers as Iowa, Missouri and Mississippi. But this year Yale had the strength, depth and wit to give a battle, on a given Saturday, to any team in the land. After watching his Pennsylvania team lose to seventh-ranked Navy (27-0) and Yale (34-9), Coach John Stiegman said flatly: "Yale's as strong as Navy in all departments."

Yale built its championship team under the standard Ivy League requirements, which would drive a Big Ten coach to despair: no athletic scholarships, plus entrance standards that are among the highest in the nation. Even so, rabid Yale alumni across the country were able to sell a flock of bright and burly boys on the idea of going to New Haven. The Chicago area alone—long a source of raw material for football foundries—supplied six starters, including Quarterback Singleton (6 ft., 200 Ibs.), Captain Pyle (6 ft. 3 in., 233 lbs.), and Center Hardy Will (5 ft. 11 in., 195 Ibs.). All three were recruited from New Trier High School in Winnetka, Ill.

Five boys on the first string that defeated Harvard have academic scholarships. (Some 35% of the Yale undergraduate body has scholarship aid.) Top scholar on the team is End Jim Pappas, who has an average of 91 in premed.

Bright as they are, the Yale players were slow to reach their potential, mainly because Ivy League law prevented Coach Jordan Olivar from holding spring practice. This year, with its fundamentals finally down pat, Yale blended power and finesse on the attack. With Pro Prospects Pyle and Guard Benny Balme (6 ft. 1 in., 215 Ibs.) blocking up front, Yale had the brute strength to open holes for the driving runs of Fullback Blanchard (6 ft. 2 in., 205 Ibs.). When the defense bunched to stop Blanchard, Quarterback Singleton would run the option inside end—hitting like a fullback himself—or roll out to pass.

To stay loose for the Harvard game, Yale used a gag inspired by the hours of watching game movies being run forward and backward to show each man his job. During practice, someone would yell "Stop!" Immediately, the players would stop going forward and start running backward to their original spots—exactly like a reversed movie. As it turned out, that was the only time all year long that Yale moved backward.