Newspaper Page Text
HEISMAN’S ALL-TIME ALL-SOUTHERN FOOTBALL TEAM
By J. W. Heisman.
SEVERAL times in the year past
I have been asked to pick the
■— ,i eleven that I could from
Livers who have performed
Southern Intercollegiate Ath
..elation since that organi
, mas tirst started, some
or more years ago.
s i selection I attempted once
about ten years ago; and I
to say light here that it
most formidable under-
At the present time such a
ill prove considerably more
difiicuit.
i be out of the question for
. <av anything of the players
irred prior to the fall of ’95,
at ivas my first season in the
At that time there were
. any colleges in the S. I. A.
\ - far as I can recall, the as
.ll then embraced only Van
, ■ Sewanee, Auburn, Alabama
k . orgia.
I however, well aware of the
p. . . xistence of such fine play-,
.... Kellar and Graham, at Van
\bbott, at Alabama; Raine,<
s, i:ie< : "Widdy” Brown, Red
, j.-„y and Dorsey, at Auburn,
. I Leonard Wood, cat Tech. Ex
i= these players no doubt
1 have little hesitation in
ib t I do not think it prob
. any of them, as far as his
, i.u went in that day and time,
, quite the equal of the men
I have named for this all
i.-uii; and that for the all
■ iiti. ’ nt reason that not one of
... in his day the benefit of
, .erior coaching that is lav
. upon the players of later
date.
h, . physical way they may
b> on fully the equals of some
,jf . more recent exponents of
, j :n< but lam very sure they
i net know even the game of
.ii own day as do these later
i and the football of today
.. - idedly more scientific and
I , ; game, with all its modern
, Un. i . nts of play and its devel
ramifications, than was the
;i of twenty years ago.
In other words, in picking such a
■ we will have to look much
... i- than to the mere physical
auvantagvs presented by claimants
~r we shal have to take
In.x—ly into account the better ex
.. r .nct of the moderns in the
■ . their better instruction, and
■ l. tierment of the game itself,
r which the players of today
o kept pace.
I'-, this same reason it will be
• iry for me to depose the ma
il' ■ the players whom 1 named
nil-time Southern team a
• .•■go. They were al! right at
i . . and mighty good men
But “the world do
■■■ and men with it. Forty
■ir m the best pieces of horse-
. nsidered marvels, but
..uldi 1 as did their
■ . : y of a x. '■ars later.
In ii,L. case the imp. . it was
liniiviy measurable by . in
.. he stop watch. No such
ii.-nt exists by which we can
■ • xact measure of the foot
'■ all-around ability, but there
1 qmstion tn my mind but that
I- players of recent days
n the vast majority of in
stances. improved on the best form
"mi lc she heroes of years gone
by.
Ml Colleges Know
heir Own Players Best.
i n - hi>v . stent I am aided by the
' 11 ■ -ntly published picks of the
elevens turned out during the
i-mrx of the game at the various
s - i .-rn colleges—these selections
• • ng liven made in The Georgian
i who haw been closely in
’ with the football situation at
espective colleges for a long
'iod of time. Each college knows
• which of its sons performed
~t "ii the gridiron, for they have
"i i Ttnnity to watch the man’s
■irl day in and day out for sev
'.i }<•»». not merely tn an iso
■' came or two. as do outsiders
• iv<- at times attempted the
i'king of all-Southerns. So if a
'’’ was not good enough to
make the all-time team of the cbl
t-'.' where be performed, he cer
inly does not come in for consid
u in connection with an all
all-S. J. A. A. team.
i even so one will have to go
f'V'-i the merits of at least 100 play
• rs. for each college picks out not
'than eleven best men. and
' are at least ten such colleges
And if you are
''"R to give each man his just
m rited consideration, you
'lory will have to serve you well.
[Chew DRUMMOND|
I Mature made ii mild I
I ~ it’s pure Burley. I
I DRUMMOND I
NATURAL LEAr
■ CHEWING TOBACCO!
There Were Many
Crack Center Men.
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 fighting
instinct. But some of them—in
comparison witli 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. Watkins and Adams are a
shade too light. The very best cen
ters we have had have been Caton,
Stone, Morgan arid “Red” Smith.
Caton was a wonder and had
about ail that can be asked of a
center. And the same can be said
of Morgan today. And yet, com
pared 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.
And that was where Stone and
Smith shone, resplendent as Sirius.
How many remember “Red”
Smith, of Cumberland, 'O3? Wasn’t
he a peach? I see him yet, darting
all over the field and making open
field 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
feet in height, lean and supple as
panthers, and with the activity of
greyhounds. Yet each must have
weighed 185 stripped. Stone was
as good a tackler as Smtih 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 tile 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 I am compelled to hand
center to Stone on a gold plat
ter, with second choice to Smith, on
a silver salver.
« * •
Not So Many
Crack Guards.
'I’HEHE are as many guards on a
■* football team *ks 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 Heffelflnger 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 Ohorn, of Van
derbilt'; Phillips and Claiborne, of
Sewanee; Derrick and Gaston, of
Clemson; Blanch and Beaver, of
Georgia; Cassanova, of Mississippi
A. & M., and Mitcham and Bonner,
of Auburn.
Now, here are a pretty fine bunch
of guards. But I have no trouble
in selecting Henry Phillips, of Se
wanee, for my first choice. This
man was one of the few of my
present All-Time team whose name
is also found on the team I selected
ten years ago. Phillips just nat
urally had the goods, and that’s
there is to it. He weighed over
190, he had great speed for a man
of his size, he could open a hole
through a stone wall, 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 for 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 purpose to qualify.
Chorn was a bard worker, but a bit
slow, compared to the best men.
Metzger was nothing short of a
world’s wonder for his weight, bin
this place must go to a heavier man
than he was. Derrick was a great
charger—the best of the lot —but
that about lets him out. Bonner was
a good man, but not quite consist
ent enough.
There remains Blanche. This
chap weighed about 185, was built
as trimly as a race horse and could
imi like one. Ho go' about tin
field and tackled th< same way
Stone, Smith and Phillips did. ('an
you imagine what a power such a
center trio as Stone. Phillips and
Blanche would be in a game to
gether? This fellow was matured,
experienced ’ and cool headed. Ho
could diagnose a play while it was
lining up. Yes. Blanche is my other
guard.
Tackles Are Hardest
Places On Line to Fill.
i rp HE naming of the tackles will b<
I * tile big job on the line. And
it’s alwnys so hi drawing up s-u.-h
| :. .ci. Th* re, .-■<m is t 1 rd •,!
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. MONDAY. DECEMBER 23. 1912.
All-Time All-S. L A, A. Team
Position. Player. Weight. College.
Center. Stone. 1904-5-6-7 185 Vanderbilt.
Right Guard, Phillips, 1900-1-2-3-4 194 Sewanee.
Left Guard. Blanche. 1896....’ 196 Georgia.
Right Tackle, Jones. 1904-5 198 Xubum.
Left Tackle. Pritchard, 1903-4-5-6 208 Vanderbilt.
Right End, Blake. R. E.. 1903-5-6-7 174 Vanderbilt.
Left End, Sitton. 1902-3 166 Clemson.
Quarterback. Morrison. R., 1908-9-10-11.158 Vanderbilt.
Right Half. Craig, 1904-5-6-7 175 Vanderbilt.
Left Half. Campbell, 1907 175 Vanderbilt.
Full back. Manier. 1903-4-5-6 182 Vanderbilt.
SECOND TEAM
Center, Smith. 1903-4 Cumberland.
Right Guard, Metzgar. 1908-9-10-11 Vanderbilt.
Left Guard, Claiborne, 1897-98-99-00 Sewanee.
Right Tackle, Brown. T., 1910-11-12 Vanderbilt.
Left Tackle, 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.
Left Half, Williams, 1894-95-96 Auburn.
Fullback, Davis, 1910-11 Auburn.
THIRD TEAM.
Center, Caton Auburn.
Right Guard, Gaston Clemson.
Left Guard, Glenn Auburn.
Right. Tackle, Hamilton ..Georgia.
Left Tackle. Taylor Vanderbilt.
Right End, Brown Tech.
Left End, Gillem Sewanee.
Quarterback, Bushyhead Cumberland
Right Half, McWhorter Georgia.
Left Half, Hardage Vanderbilt.
Fullback, Clark Tech
coaches put their best linemen at
the tackle position, and from so
many best men it's hard to hunt
out the men of paramount ability.
The 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
Cumberland; 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
history just what I am up against
in this chapter. But here goes:
Glenn was a big, fierce
and grand with the bail 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 he 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 anything I ever want to
get in the way of. I 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 very, 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 Tom 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 198 and Pritchard
about 205, and both were over six
feet tall. Both had that activity
and general get-aboutness that so
delights a coach's eye, and both
were in the thick of the fight from
start to finish. No interference so
strong but they could break it, no
lunge so powerful but they could
stop it. They had perfect use of
their hands, and they used their
enormous strength to tin. limit.
They rank ahead of Brown and
Taylor mainly because of their su
perior weights and strengths
* » u
i*inds It Easy
so Pick One End.
• T is almost as easy to pick Bob
* Blake for one of our All-Time
ends as it was to select Stone 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 exceptiofirJS’ fierce and sure
tackler, strong ™ advancing the
balk splendid tit ■ t ting, cmim
< P h un ijn-i m ~
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
rush 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: Beane, of Ten-
AUCTION SALE
OF CHINAWARE
I 40 Peachtree Street I
8 A $2,000.00 stock of manufacturer’s odds I
I and ends, comprising dinner sets, berry sets, I
i odd tea pots, creamers, sugar bowls, etc. I
I A few brass lamps, some flat silverware I
I sets, and some choice books are included. I
I Buy Any Os Them At I
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 was true of Rob
ert. Ridley was a little too fragile
for this kind of an end, and Rough
er played too long ago to have
learned enough football. Gillem
was a grand punter and good, all
around player: but on offense he
never ran with the ball nor went
down the field under punts, as he
did all the punting himself. Dn 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 punter, but too slow for a
real end rush—and too light for a
tackle. Cogdell had the weight, but
lacked the tire; he had the speed,
but wouldn’t always use it.
The best of the lot are E. Brown,
of Vanderbilt; Walton, of Missis
sippi, and Sitton, of Clemson. Be
tween these three it’s a very even
race in all respects save one.
Brown is rather light, but a won
derfully effective end. nevertheless.
Walton had the greatest weight of
the three, but the 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 oi one great qualification
that none of the other ends outside
of Blake possessed, and that was
his ground-gaining ability. On 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
runner as Morrison, Hardage or
Lanier, and almost unstoppable.
He was clear-headed, athletic, easy
to handle, trained faithfully’ and
put more fight into the rest of the
team by’ his inspiring coaching dur
ing a game than most any other
player I have ever seen. And these
things all count big, I think he de
serves the ptare.
* « •
Morrison Gets
Quarterback.
'"THERE have also been a lot of
* corking good quarters in the
association, but none of them crime
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 all 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 were not the only high
grade quarters we have turned out
in the South, for the list Includes
Tichenor, of Auburn; Crawford, of
Tennessee; Woodruff, of Georgia;
Kyle and Costen, of Vanderbilt;
Cope and Browne, of Sewanee;
Bushyhead, of Cumberland; Wil
son. of Tech, and Moody, of Ala
bama. These were all great play
ers.
Halfbacks Also
Go To Vanderbilt.
i THE extra, good halfbacks that
* the S. I. A. A. has exhibited In
the last two decades are legion. The
problem here is much the same as
that encountered in selecting tack
les. mid the list of stars for these
positions is even a longer ope. It
must include Craig, Campbell,
Boogher, Hardage, Tlgert and Dan
Blake, of Vartderbilt; Hunter and
Furtick, of Clemson; Williams,
Dorsey and Foy, 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;
Leach, of Tennessee, and Burks and
Pratt, of Alabama.
Well, it’s just impossible to give
all of one’s reasons for making a
selection out of a mass, or mess,
like this. All 1 can 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 play
of some other halfbacks I could
name. But then he was such a
i 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 for halfback is
Campbell, also of Vanderbilt. Ho
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 Jhere with the
line plunging, the straight end run
ning, the tackling, and the heavy’
Interference.
I regret greatly that I can not
stop to say’ how well 1 think of
every other man on the list. To
name them in the same list with
Craig and Campbell shows my’ ap
preciation of their great, ability,
and I considered every’ one of them
very carefully before reaching a de
cision.
• « «
Fullback Also Goes
To the Commodores.
r N my opinion, Manier. of the ’O3,
A 'O4, ’OS and ’O6 Vanderbilt teams,
was tlie greatest player the Soutb
lias yet turned out. Never anywhere
have I seen a man who had quite
as much driving power when he
went into a line as this same Ma
nier; and I do not believe that the
line ever had an existence that
could stop him. For this reason
alone I would be willing to give
him the place, for before a game
was half over he 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
tn 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
legs. To my mind, he stands head
and shoulders over any other full
back we have yet seen down here,
other notably good fullbacks have
been Foy, Penton, Streit, Shafer,
Bedding and Davis, of Auburn;
Edgerton and Sykes, of Vander
bilt; Reulle, of Mississippi A. and
M,: Douglas, of Tennessee; Han
vey; of Clemson; Simpkins and
’Markley, of Sewanee; Clark, of
Tech, and Lovejoy, of Georgia.
Would Make a
Marvelous Eleven.
llTiillDS fail utterly to give an
’’ idea of what a powerful ma
chine these eleven men could make.
With equally good coaching, they
would hold their own with most any*
eleven men that could be named
from any section of the country. It
is an array of names that South
ern football fans can be proud of
at any time and in any place.
One singular thing about them is
tliat they were nearly all at least
six feet tall. The only exceptions
were Sitton and < 'raig. the former
of whom was about 6 feet 11 Inches
and the latter about 5 feet 8 inches.
Not one of them was a fat man.
A thing worth pointing out Is the
fact that every last one of these
men had the fighting 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
a.s though defeat meant death. This
quality, of course, every man should
have who aspires to be selected In
any such connection as this.