Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

HEISMAN’S ALL-TIME ALL-SOUTHERN FOOTBALL TEAM Bv J. W. Heisman. i \ i:RAL times in the year past C j I) IV. been asked to pick the v—' ... , h ven that 1 could from yers " ho have performed Southern Intercollegiate Ath ... iatioji since that organl- , ,i> first started, some 11-, er more years ago. ... lection I attempted once l out ten years ago: and I tu -■> right here that it most formidable under \t tlie present time such a H prove considerably more tkrticu ■ 1., out of the question for . .... anything of the players .tarred prior to tlie fall of '95, t .as my first season in the At that time there were .my colleges in tlie S. I. A. v ~ far ns I can recall, the as ;,,n then embraced only Van s' wanee, Auburn. Alabama i. . i 1 >■ ''i gia. 1 however, well aware of the , ... .. . xistence of such fine play- . Kellar and Graham, at Van ., , . t Abbott, at Alabama; Raine, AViddy” Brown, Red and Horsey, at Auburn, . n.ird Wood, at. Tech. Ex- ■ these players no doubt I ve little hesitation in ~. ,t I do not think it prob t any of them, as far as his T vent in that day and time, .mlti' the equal of the men ,i | have named for this all ; and that for tile all- ■ r.t reason that not one of . in his day the benefit, of np.mior coaching that is lav- : n the players of later i.a' ■ In physical why they may 1,, n itt’.iy the equals of some . recent exponents of Iml 1 am very sure they . .■ ,:i-. even the game of .in day as do these later and the football of today i ! edly more scientific and . r came, with all its modern a: nr of play ami its devel- r.i ideations, than was tile . of t wenty years ago. in other words, in picking such a ■ n we will have to look much .. :1..r than to the mere physical nine - prevented by claimants i I. ■ we shal have to take ... 1., into account the better ex- ■r. ■ . the moderns in the ■ their better Instruction, rind i i .m nt of the game itself, ■ deli tin.' players of tod y 1. pt pace. thi, same reason it will be . for my to depose the ma s ne players whom I named li-titne Southern team a ■>. They were all right al and mighty good men But “the world tio - . and men with it. Forty i ro tile best pieces of horse- ' ■ >■ considered marvels, but oiildnT perform as did their o:' a score of years later. s. the improvement was ■ I measurable by the in oi the smp watch. No such ■ xi-ts by which we can XU' I measuie of the foot . around ability, bur there a un stion in my mind but that l layers of recent days m tlie vast majority of in- ■ i ( . improved on the best form ' l ... the heroes of year- gone • » ♦ Colleges Know heir Own Players Best. I 11 "me extent I am aided by the 1 ■'■iit;y published picks of the ■ ' Vens turned out during the •bay of tin. gam.. I the various ml: rn colleges—these selections ring 1., on made In The Georgian men who have been closely in 'villi the football situation at respective colleges for a long >" I of time. Each college knows winch of its sons performed -t on the gridiron, for they have "Il ntunity to watch the man's '"k day in and day out for sev ' Mars, not merely in an iso 'j game or two. as do outsiders 1 have at times attempted the r "f all-Southerns. So if a ■' r was not good enough to i l' l ' the all-time team of the col •vli. re he performed, he cer “■ does not come in for coiisid “ll in connection witli an all ' iH-S. I. A. A. team. ' ' Ven .so one will have to go 1" merits of at least 100 plat - ■ ■ o h college pi. k.- out not than eleven best men, and ' ar.- at least ten such colleges ' onsiij, red. And if you are '""v to give each man his Just merited consideration, your "ill have to serve you well. OwTdrSSnDI Nature ?4© it mild I ~ it’s pure Burley, g iORUMMOHDI | NATURAL LEAF I ‘-HEWING tobacco I There Were Many Crack Center Men. 'J' HE great centers of Southern antiquity were Watkins and Poole, of Sewanee; Stone and Gra ham, of Vanderbilt; Sims, of Tech; Keasler. of Clemson; Ketron, of Georgia; Moody. of Alabama: Smith, of Cumberland: Caton, of Auburn, and Grice, of Mercer. To these should be added as being en tirely in the class of top-notch cen ters Morgan, of Vanderbilt, and Adams, of Mississippi, both of whom live and have their being in the present. Yes. these were all great cen ters. Os course, all of them had the necessary Weight and lighting instinct. But some of them—in comparison with others —must at once be discarded on account of lack of experience. This would apply to Keasler, for instance. Oth ers were relatively too slow'—like Sims. W atkins and Adams are a shade too light. The very best cen ters we have had have been Caton. Stone, Morgan and "Red" Smith. C aton was a wonder and had about all that can be asked of a center. And the same can be.said of Morgan today. And yet, eom parod with Stone and Smith, these men are a trifle slow. They had the weight, spirit, strength and ex perience; but, other things being equal, the race must go to the swift. Ami that was where Stone and Smith shone, resplendent as Sirius. How many remember “Red” Smith, of <'umberland. '0.3? Wasn't he a peach? I see him yet. darting all over the field ami making open fiehi tackles, from one side line to the other. That was his great forte. Stone and Smith were much alike in build. Both were well over six teet in height, lean and supple as panthers, and with the activity of greyhounds. Yet each must have weighed 18a stripped. Stone was as good a tackler as Smtlh and had all the other good points of play possessed by Smith or any of the others. In addition, he had one talent that Smith and all the oth ers lacked, and that was ability to handle forward passes. Combined with his great height and reach, he combined an ability to get down under the ball and to get under and catch it almost anywhere. One of his catches gave Vanderbilt a game and the championship for that year. You might say that he not only saved the day, but won that pennant single-handed. I feel 1 am compelled to hand center to Stone on a gold plat ter, with second choice to Smith, on a silver salver. St ik « Not So Many Crack Guards. IyHERE are as many guards on a ■* football team as players in any other positions, but for some rea son not so many of them developed into star players in the South. In the East Heffelfinger at Yale. Hare at Penn. DeWitt at Princeton and Trafford at Harvard have been as great players as are to be found up there in any other positions. But down here the possibilities of guard play have not yet been fully ex ploited nor brought out. The best of the lot have been Metzger. Burch and Chorn, of Van derbilt; Phillips and Claiborne, of Sewanee; Derrick and Gaston, of Clemson; Blanch and Beaver, of Georgia; Cassanova. of Mississippi 4 \. & M.. and Mitcham and Bonner, of Auburn. Now. here arc a pretty fine bunch of guards. But I have no trouble in selecting' Henry Phillips, of Se wanee, for mj- first choice. This man was one of the few of my present All-Time team whose name is also found on the team 1 selected ten years ago. Phillips just nat urally had the goods, and that's all there is to it. He weighed over 19l>, he had great speed for a man of his size, lie could open a hole through a stone wail, he was im pregnable on defense and he was the best punter of his day in the Southland. To these qualifications he added a fierce, indomitable fight ing spirit, yet was withal one of the cleanest players to be found anywhere. And he knew the game backward and by logarithms. Is anything else needed? If so, he had it. A selection fol the other vacancy from the remainder is a job that affrights me. To my way of thinking. Gaston was a great play er; so was Burch: but in my opin ion he did not possess sufficient se riousness of purpos. to qualify. Chorn was a hal'd worker, but a bit slow, compared to the best men. Mctzget was nothing short of a world's wonder for his weight, but tills place must go to a heavier man than h» was. I lerrlck was a g -eat charger—-th! best of the lot—but that about lets him out. Bonner was | a good man. but not quite consist- I ent enough. There remains Blanche. This chap weighed about 185, was built as trimly tie a race horse and could rim like one. He got about the i field and tackled the same way Same. Smith and Phillips did. Can you imagine what a power such a 1 ci ntci trio a StntT , Phillips and Blanche would be in a game to j gether? This fellow was matured, experienced and cool headed. He could diagnose a play while it was lining up. Yes, Blanche is my other guard. I Tackles Are Hardest ! Places On Line to Fill. HE naming of the tackles will be *• tlie big job on the line. And It's always so In drawing up such, I teams. Tile reason is that ill THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS.MONDAY. DECEMBER 23, 1912. All-Time All-S. I. A. A. Team Position. Player. # Weight. College. Cenicr. Stone. 1904-5-6-7185 Vanderbilt. Right Guard, Phillips, 1900-1-2-3-4194Sewanee. Lett < riiard, Blanche, 1896196 Georgia. I Right Tackle, .lours. 1904-5198luburii. Lett I tickle. Pritchard, 1903-4-5-6208 Vanderbilt, hiiftil End. Blake. R. E.. 1903-.>-(»-< 174 Vanderbilt. , Left Etui. Sitton, 1902-3166 Clemson. Quarterback. Morrison. R., 1908-9-10-11.158 Vanderbilt. Right Half. Craig, 19(14-5-6-7175Vanderbilt. L“Ft Halt. Campbell. 1907175 Vanderbilt. Fullback, Manier. 1903-4-5-6182 Vanderbilt. SECOND TEAM. ( nter, Smith, 1903-4 Cumberland. Right Guard, Metzgar, 1908-9-10-11 Vanderbilt, heft Guard. Claiborne, 1897-98-99-00 Sewanee. Bigin Tackle. Brown, T., 1910-11-12 Vanderbilt. Lett I tickle. Barker. 1911-12 Mississippi. Right End. Brown. E„ 1910-11-12 Vanderbilt. Left End. Walton. 1910-11 Mississippi. Quarterback, Maxwell, 1902-03 Clemson. Right Half. Hunter, 1900-01 Clemson. Lett Halt. \\ illianis, 1894-95-96. Auburn. I'ullback. Davis. 1910-11 Auburn. THIRD TEAM. (enter, Caton Auburn. Right Guard. Gaston Clemson. Left Guard, Glenn Auburn. Right Tackle, Hamilton Georgia. Left Tackle. Taylor’....Vanderbilt. Right End. Brown Tech. I Left End, GillemSewanee. Quarterback. BushyheadCumberland. ' Right Half, McWhorterGeorgia. Left Half. HardageVanderbilt. Fullback. Clark Tech. coaches put their best linemen at the tackli position, and from so many best men it's hard to hunt out the men of paramount ability. Tlie great tackles include Pritch ard, T. Brown and Taylor, of Van derbilt; Glenn. Brown, Pierce and Jones, of Auburn; Stone and Boll ing. of Sewanee; Hamilton and Kent, of Georgia; Davis and Pat terson. of Tech; McLaurin and Shealy, of Clemson: Bridges, of <'umberland; Word and Newman, of Tennessee; Countess, of Ala bama, and Barker, of Mississippi. The above list alone is sufficient to tell any one with even a slight knowledge of Southern football i history Just what [am up against in this chapter. But here goes: Glenn was a big. tierce player and grand with the ball under arm; he wasn't clever enough at tackling. Pierce was an exceptionally good player in all departments. With more detailed coaching he would have held his own with any man of today. Lex Stone was a grand player; he was a trifle too clumsy to fit in here. Hamilton had more natural strength and downright tackle ability than any man who ever played the position in the South; he just lacked hard, vigor ous coaching. Davis and McLaurin both deserve better than to be shunted off with a word, or even a dozen of them. And this man Bridges. Why, Great Genghis Khan! This man was about the biggest bear cat when iie got started right in a game that I ever expect to see in or out of Hagenbeck's. Weighing 220 and running with the fury of a typhoon, he was just about as near to un stoppable as any thing 1 ever want to get in the way of. 1 saw him at his best. But they tell me he had his worst days also, and when he had them they were the worst ever, and so I most reluctantly pass him up. It's also veiy, very hard to pass up Barker, who is quite as good a tackle as any Southern college ever has a right to even hope for or dream of. I’m going to choose Pritchard and Jones for the tackles; but I have no idea how I am going to square myself with Torn Brown and Tay lor for doing so. Could you ask for better tackles than these last two? I don't see how. And yet I do consider Jones and Pritchard just a shadow of a shade better than any of the others. Jones Weighed about 19b and Pritchard about 205, and both were over six feet tai'. Both had that activity ami general get-aboutnews that so delights a coach’s eye, and both were iii the thick of the tight from sta t to tinisli. No interference so strong but they could break it, no lunge so powerful but they could stop ft. They had perfect use of their hands, and they used their enormous strength to the limit. They rank ahead of Brown and Taylor mainly because of their su perior weights ami strengths s * « Finds It Easy To Pick One End. ■ T is almost as easy to pick Bob ■ Blake for one of our All-Time ends a: ft was to soled Btone for center. Many think that Blake was Just about the best all-around foot ball player the South ever devel oped. With this dictum I am very nearly inclined to agree, particu larly with reference to the number and variety of things Blake could do, and do Well. He was fine at forward passing, great on punting, an exceptionally’ fierce and sure tackler, strong on advancing the . ball, splendid at Interfering, could catch ani old kind of a ball and I ———i had great strength, speed expe rience and judgment. There will be no dispute over Blake at one end. The other end will be about the hardest selection I will have to make on the entire team, for the simple reason that not another end tush that ever played down here stands out from the field anything like the way Blake does. The list includes Boogher and E. Brown, of Vanderbilt; Lewis, Wil liams and Gillem, of Sewanee: Sit ton, of Clemson; Brown and Rob ert, of Tech; Ridley, of Georgia; Walton, of Mississippi; Cogdell and Davis, of Auburn; Begne, of Ten- ■mine y ‘-Y irwimr- T* -i< OT ft ■/ > ••-■eV sAX/Hy .' AUCTION SALE OF CHINAWARE 40 Peachtree Street I I I A $2,000.00 stock of manufacturer’s odds I I and ends, comprising dinner sets, berry sets, I | odd tea pots, creamers, sugar bowls, etc. I A few brass lamps, some flat silverware I sets, and some choice books are included. I Buy Any Os Them At I Your Own Price I CHARLES M. MAY, «-<- I 40 Peachtree Street I nessee, and Vandegraaf, of Ala bama. Now. this bunch stacks up mighty evenly all around. Beane was decidedly too light. I should say, and the same wits true of Rob ert. Ridley was a. little too fragile for this kind of an end, and Boogh er played . too long ago to have learned enough football. Gillem was a grand punter and good, all around playet: out on offense he never tan with the ball no:- .went down the Held under punts, as he did all the punting himself. On de fense he mostly backed up the line, so, take him altogether, he was hardly an end rush —except in the line-up. Brown, of Tech, was also a grand put er, but too slow for a real end ru t —and too light for a tackle. Cogdell had the weight, but lacked the tire; he hail the speed, but wouldn't alway- u%e it. The best of the lot are E. Blow n, of Vanderbilt: Walton, of Mi.-sls sippi, and Sitton, of Clemson. Be tween these three it's a very even race in ail respects save one. Brown is rather light, but a won derfully effective end, nevertheless. Walton hail the greatest weight of the three, but Hie least experience. Sitton wasn't quit as good a tackler as either of the others, but he was as fast as a chimney swallow. I give the place to Sitton on the strength of one great, qualification that none of the other ends outside of Blake possessed, and that was his ground-gaining ability. <>n the Clemson team of 1902, which was Sitton's best year, he was about the most reliable ground gainer the Tigers had. He was much such a rrtnner as Morrison, Haulage or Lanier, and almost unstoppable. He was clear-headed, athletic, easy to handle, trained faithfully ami put more fight into the rest of the team by his inspiring coaching din ing a game titan most any other playet 1 have ever seen. And these tilings all count big. 1 think he de serves the place. >- * ♦ Morrison Gets Quarterback. ■pilFlßE have also been a kit of corking good quarters in the association, but none of them come up to the class of Ray Morrison, of Vanderbilt. His work is too recent, to require any review in order to explain the grounds for putting him on our All-Time team. He was simply exceptionally strong and brilliant in all departments of play and weak in none. I consider him and Bob Blake and Manier the best three football players the South has produced. • Next to Morrison, I would rate Maxwell, of Clemson. 'O3. This boy was also a wonder in ail depart- ments, but he weighed only 149 about a dozen pounds less than Morrison, on which account he could not run so powerfully as the latter. In all other ways the one player would have reminded you of the other. These wete not the only high grade quarters we have turned out in tlie South, for the list includes Tichenor, of Auburn; Crawford, of Tennessee; Woofliuff, of Georgia; K\ I and Costill, of Vatlde: .> If : Cop., and Browne, of Sewaiieo; Bushyhead, of Cumberland; Wil son, of Tech, and Moody, of Ala bama. These were all great play ers. Halfbacks Also Go To Vanderbilt, j'HE extra good tialtbai''ks 'hat * the S. 1. A. A, lias exhibited in tlie last two decades are legion. The problem here is much the same as that encountered in selecting tack les, and the list of stars for these positions is even a longer one. Lt must include Craig. Campbell, Boogher, Hardage, Tigei i and Dan Blake, of Vanderbilt; Hunter and Furtick, of Clemson; 'Williams, Dorsey ami I’oy, of Auburn: Sei bels, Shipp and Lanier, of Sewa nee; W. Wilson Davis and Goree, of Tech; Dickinson and McWhorter, of Georgia: Williams, of Mississippi A. and M ; Knox, of Mississippi: Head and Steele, of Cumberland; Leaeli. of Tennessee, and Burks and Pratt, of Alabama. Well, it’s just impossible to give all of one's reasons for making i selection out of a mass, or mess, like tills. All 1 ciln say is that, to my notion, as I saw them play, I would rather have had Craig and Campbell than any other two of the lot. Now, this doesn't mean that there was any marked superiority in fa vor of this pair. Craig, for Instance, was not the equal in defensive pl: y of some other- halfliaVks I could name. But then he was such a. Wonder on advancing the ball that I just naturally would a little rath er have him on my team than one of the other men—that's all. My second choice tor halfback is Campbell, also of Vanderbilt. He and Craig each weighed about 175 or more, and were as speedy as an telopes. Campbell couldn’t dodge and get about a broken field like Craig, but he was there witli the line plunging, the straight end tun ning. the tackling, and tile heavy interference. 1 regret greatly that I can not stop to say how well I think of every other man on the list. To name them in the same list with Craig and Campbell shows my ap i predation of their great ability, ami I considered every one of them x cry carefully before reaching a de cision. Fullback Also Goes To the Commodores. ■ N my opinion, Manier. of the 'OS, 1 'O4, 'OS and 'O6 Vanderbilt teams, was the greatest player the Soutii has yd turned out. Never anywhere i ve i set n a man who had quite mudi driving power when he went into a line as this same Ma uivr; and I do not believe that the line ever had an existence that could stop him. For this reason alone 1 would he willing to give him the place, for before a game was half over lie nearly always had the whole of the opposing team battered to a pulp, so that there was no standing up to him after the first half. But Manier was strong in other features of play as well, though not equally so as on line plunging. He was very tall and rangy, and remarkably fast on his leg:--. To my mind, he stands head n d shoulders over any other full back we have yet seen down here. ' ‘tin r notably good fullbacks have been Foy, I’enloti. Streit, Shafer, Reddilig and Davis, of Auburn; Edgerton and Sykee, of Vander bilt: lb itlie. of Mississippi A. and. M.: Douglas, of Tennessee; Han vey. of Clemson; Simpkins and Markley, of Sewanee; Clark, of Tech, and Ixivejoy, of Georgia. « ♦ » Would Make a Marvelous Eleven. Yy >RDS tall utterly to give an idea of what a powerful ma coini' these eleven mtn could make.’ With equally good coaching, they would hold their own with most any i le\en men that could be named from any section of the country. It i. an array ot names (bat South ern football fans can be proud of r : any time and In any place. ' ‘n ingular thing about them is that they were nearly all at least six feet tall. The only exceptions were Sitton and Craig, the former of w hom was about 5 feet 11 inches ami tlie latter about 5 feet 8 inches. Not one of them was a fat man. A thing worth pointing out is tlie fact that every last one of these men had tlie lighting instinct un usually well developed. By this I do not mean that they were quar relsome and always spoiling for a “shindy.” They were fighters in the football sense—men who never knew what it was to give up, who could not recognize when they were beaten, and who fought on always as though defeat meant death. This qii.ility. of course, every’ man should have who aspires to be selected in any such connection ns this. 7