Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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.