Fred H. Harrison
Athletics for All

CHAPTER VII

Professionalism and Faculty Control

DESPITE THE CODIFIED AGREEMENTS which presumably now controlled all Andover-Exeter contests, controversy over eligibility persisted and led to a complete severing of relations between the schools for three years. The Andover football team of 1893, captained by J. O. Rogers and coached by the former Andover player Colver J. Stone, had won 8, lost 2, and tied one. Exeter, on the contrary, had started slowly but had gained momentum as the season progressed. The Townsman, advertising the special train to carry spectators to the game, exuded confidence in an Andover victory, but it was not to be.(1) Before five thousand people Exeter, led by the brilliant running of Donovan and Smith, won by a score of 26 to 10. Although disappointed at the outcome, the Phillipian was magnificent in defeat, congratulated the Exeter team, praised the efforts of Andover's first and second eleven, thanked the coach for his efforts and even thanked the loyal rooters who had attended the games that year. However, the sang-froid on the Hill was abruptly shattered two days later by a front-page article in the Andover Townsman---a reprint of a Boston Herald editorial outlining in detail the professional perambulations of "Pooch" Donovan, the Exeter star halfback. The article was entitled, "Exeter star a Professional."

The Boston Herald this morning comes out in a column editorial and declares Donovan to be "out and out professional." This fact is the result of an investigation by a Herald man. After unsatisfactory replies in regard to Donovan and his reputation from Manager Wright of the Exeter team, the following information was obtained from Worcester:---

"William F., or Pooch Donovan is a Natick boy. He is about 24 years old and is a brother of Ed, or Piper Donovan, who is a well-known professional sprinter, having won races in this country and England.

"'Pooch' is a professional athlete. He can do 100 yards in even time, but is at his best at 60 yards, at which few if any men in this country can beat him. He was with Barnum's circus in 1891 and part of 1892, doing hurdles and short races in the Hippodrome ring. In the summer of 1892 he was employed in some capacity by an athletic club in Cleveland, O., and in the fall played fullback on the club's football team.

"He came to Worcester last winter and trained the Worcester Academy team for the interscholastic sports. When the season opened he went off with Barnum, but left after a few weeks to return to Worcester, where he was picked up by the Worcester Athletic Club to train the team for the N.E.A.A.U. games in this city. He also rendered some assistance to the Polytechnic Institute football team early in the season. He is highly spoken of by the athletic club officials and by the academy teachers. They say he is faithful, sober, and intelligent.

"He is now at Phillips Academy, Exeter, and it is said he is taking some studies and playing on the football team.

"He ran with the Natick hook and ladder company as a professional sprinter for money prizes at the New England fair in September last. About 2 years ago he was engaged in assisting Michael Murphy in developing athletes at Yale."

The Herald further says:

"Right here it may be proper to mention that in last Saturday's game Phillips Exeter did not resort to tricks, but played a hard game of straight football, using a line wedge and mass plays directed at tackles and ends, and Mr. Donovan generally had the ball when attacks were made on the Andover line.

"Mr. Donovan is eminently well-qualified to make a successful halfback, but it is hardly in the interest of amateur sport for Exeter Academy to allow a recognized professional athlete to play on her eleven. It is certain that the principal of the school would not countenance any such unsportsmanlike action. The responsibility, wherever it is, can no doubt be easily placed."(2)

The Andover community promptly and peremptorily responded to the disclosures. At a school meeting the following Monday, the football manager pointed out that in the last two or three years there had been a growing tendency toward professionalism at Exeter, that the rival manager's word about the legal status of his players had been false. He then proposed that the school unanimously adopt the following set of resolutions:

Whereas, For the past three years the Exeter school has presented on her teams men who were not in any way fair sense amateur and this evil has increased. And,

Whereas, The make-up of their football team this year was an insult to lovers of pure sports and some of their players a disgrace to the name of amateur.

Resolved: That we, the students of Phillips Academy, Andover, indefinitely postpone all further contacts with the Exeter school.

The resolution was seconded by the football captain and passed unanimously by the school. Andover would not play Exeter again in football until the fall of 1896; the baseball, track, and tennis matches would not be resumed until the spring of 1897.

The break in the traditional rivalry was very unfortunate in that it probably could have been avoided. It has been said many times over two hundred years that the two Phillips Academies, although seemingly close in so many respects, have had great difficulty at times communicating with each other. They are both quick to criticize the principles and practices of the rival school, but extremely sensitive to any criticism of their own methods. Had Andover not been quite so quick and final in its total condemnation of Donovan and, by implication, the entire Exeter system; and had both faculties been willing to admit their failure to assume responsibility for their own housekeeping in athletic matters, the controversy could have been resolved more amicably and the rupture avoided.

What went on at Exeter with regard to professionalism also took place at Andover, in one form or another, and had become a major issue at the college level, most particularly at Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Bill Vinton, 1884, one of Andover's great pitchers and twice captain of the team, was a star at Yale, graduating in 1888 after having pitched for a Philadelphia professional team in 1885. It is almost heretical to suggest that another of the Blue greats, the beloved Al Stearns, could have been indicted in some circles as a "ringer." Both he and Upton of the 1889 team were listed on the roster and had played for the Cape May team in a highly questionable summer league which included mostly college players. It is also interesting to note that in the fall of 1892, the Phillipian was quick to note that Matthews, the Exeter halfback, had entered the New Hampshire Academy in late October. The matter was pursued no further. However, later in the fall "Phillipiana" made light of the fact that Millard, the Andover halfback, played for Newton against Newton Centre on Thanksgiving day and made both touchdowns for his team; and that Captain Hopkins, Murray, and Holt of the Andover varsity had played with the Lawrence Collegians against the Lowell Collegians on the same day. Except for Hopkins, all were post-graduate students at Phillips Academy. Obviously the definition of "professional" varied among different institutions.

Both academies were closely attuned to what was going on in intercollegiate athletics, and their school newspapers carried the results of Ivy League contests and focused sharply on Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, whose team ranks were heavily bolstered by former players at Andover and Exeter. And both institutions willingly accepted the role of "feeder" schools to these institutions in an athletic as well as an academic sense. Consequently, many older boys who had completed high school enrolled in either place in order to finish their preparation for admission to these prestigious universities. Some were athletes; most of them were older than the regular four-year student and, as a result, the average age level of their football and baseball teams was twenty years. It was not surprising, then, that recruiting practices which were acceptable at the college level were permitted at the academies. By the late 1880's, nevertheless, the abuses at the college level had become so blatant as to induce a strong reaction from university presidents and boards of trustees. In the fall of 1889 Princeton and Harvard were hurling scathing accusations at each other on the subject of professionalism, including proselytizing through scholarships, the shading of academic transcripts, and outright payment of cash sums to prospective applicants. Since conditions among intercollegiate circles did not improve over the next three years, Harvard took the first step in clearing its own establishment: in December 1893 its Board of Overseers "requested the committee on the regulation of athletic sports to report to the Board what changes in the system and methods of Inter-Collegiate contests have been made since their appointment and what changes, if any, in these or in the rules of any game are still desirable, with their recommendations." Less than two weeks later the Harvard coaches and athletic leaders of the University published a new set of rules to go into effect on 1 January 1894. The rules applied to the football, baseball, and track teams. Their primary purpose was to "purify all individual and team athletics from any disgrace of professionalism." The Phillipian heartily endorsed Harvard's action in leading the reform movement and urged the Athletic Committee to take similar action, hopefully before the baseball season next spring.

President Charles W. Eliot. He threatened to abolish football at Harvard if the brutality of the game were not reduced.

Harvard also published simultaneously with its eligibility rules new and stricter admission requirements in the form of preliminary examinations covering specific course content and a deadline date for candidates of 14 June of each year. A month later President Eliot of Harvard threw consternation into the ranks of the faithful in his report for the years 1892 and 1893: "With athletics considered as an end in themselves, pursued either for pecuniary profit or for popular applause, a college or university has nothing to do." His objections included the excessive time spent on sports by the students, particularly in football and crew. He objected strenuously to the brutality of football and proceeded to set harsh restrictions on intercollegiate contests which, if not met, would lead to the abolition of all contests. The impact of the message was immediate: Princeton now argued for the elimination of the "flying wedge," a particularly dangerous running formation; West Point and Annapolis announced forthwith that they were discontinuing their football rivalry; Pennsylvania and Yale, following Harvard's lead, voted eligibility rules for prospective varsity competitors. Ten days after the Army-Navy pronouncement, the athletic committee at Andover proposed three major eligibility rules for approval by the school. With minor changes, they were approved two weeks later.

Eligibility Rules.

Two school meetings have been called to consider the eligibility rules proposed by the athletic committee. There were changes made in two of the articles, and the rules adopted are the following:

Sec. I. The following rules shall apply to every representative of Phillips Academy in athletic contests, whether as an individual competitor or as a member of a team.

Sec. II. No student shall be allowed to represent Phillips Academy in any such public contest unless he is regularly enrolled as a member on the register of the school and is pursuing studies in class-room or laboratory work, as required by the faculty.

Sec. III. No student shall be allowed to represent Phillips Academy in any such public contest, who either before or since entering the school shall have engaged in any athletic competition for money, whether for a stake or a money prize, or a share of the entrance fees or admission money, or who shall have taught or engaged in any athletic exercise or sport as a means of livelihood; or who shall have received for his participation in any athletic sport or contest any pecuniary gain or reward whatever, direct or indirect, provided, however, that he may have received from the school organization or from any permanent amateur association of which he was at any time a member, the amount by which the expenses necessarily incurred by him in representing this organization in athletic contests exceeded his ordinary expenses.

Sec. IV. It shall be the duty of the Advisory Committee to see that these rules are enforced. Doubtful cases may be referred by them to a committee, consisting of the manager and captain of the athletic department directly concerned, a member of the Faculty, and a graduate of the school, whose decision shall be final.

*     *     *

The early nineties marked a definite turning point in the history of athletics at Andover. For thirty years the students had been almost solely responsible, under difficult circumstances, for establishing a highly attractive program of game sports and physical conditioning for those boys who were interested; indeed, the constant prodding by the sports enthusiasts in the school of the less interested members of the community had resulted in almost one hundred percent participation in one or another of the various offerings.

The program became more sophisticated with larger annual enrollment and more money; hence, more choices. The "street teams" and the class teams blossomed into a strong intramural system which, in turn, became so competitive as to be forced to develop its own eligibility rules to exclude varsity athletes from participating at the lower level. Facilities had been improved, and training tables had been established in season for football, baseball, and track. New and fancy uniforms were purchased every year, and a trophy case had been donated by the Class of 1889 to hold and preserve the proud memorabilia of athletics at Phillips Academy. The members of the 1890 team had even been given gold football charms to celebrate their upset victory over Exeter. Spring football had also crept into the athletic curriculum by 1893, and the increasing overemphasis on winning, which led to such practices as previously deplored by Harvard's Eliot, forced the Andover Faculty to take necessary measures either to modify athletic programs at the school or to eliminate them, a highly improbable alternative. Student enthusiasm had become demoniac.

In February 1892, the Faculty disapproved a resolution adopted by the undergraduates of both Andover and Exeter the previous year which forbade participation by either school in interscholastic competition not conducted by them. They also vetoed another resolution of the joint committee to prohibit the hiring of professional trainers, thereby allowing the students to take the initiative in "their elevating school sports." They approved the list of events for the Andover-Exeter tournaments in track.(3) In the spring of 1893, they certified as simon-pure the list of players on the Andover nine but refused to endorse Exeter's list unless Powers' name was removed.(4) The following year they voted that public boxing matches in school tournaments be abolished and that the "amateur standing of student boxing instructors be ascertained."(5) Earlier in the year they had outlawed the use of ale at training table and had refused the request of the Morton Street team "to play with the Belmont school."(6) They also appointed Messrs. Freeman and Pettee a committee to consider the umpiring of football games.(7) At a single session in January they insisted that the Tennis Association "give an account of itself and its proposed plans," "that in the present emergency . . . a baseball game with Lawrenceville would be most satisfactory and feasible," and "that the plan for an invitation meeting of general athletics to be held in Andover be approved and the team may participate in the Interscholastic Association games."(8) They also noted and approved the "memorial to the trustees looking towards the erection of a gymnasium."(9) At last the Faculty, long reluctant to interfere, had assumed some responsibility for the regulation of athletics.

Archibald Freeman, Instructor in History, 1892-1937.
One of the strongest supporters of the new athletic program

.The most important decision with regard to controlling the program, however, was not reached until the following year. In January 1895 the Faculty moved to establish eligibility requirements for all those on school athletic teams or members of musical or literary organizations: the sine qua non was a class standing of at least "C" in ten hours of class work and of at least "D" in all studies pursued. The students hailed the ruling as proper and "in keeping with the spirit of increased vigilance in such matters throughout most of the universities and colleges of the land, despite the possibility of losing valuable players for key contests on account of scholastic failure." This early acceptance of the rule by the Phillipian almost immediately changed to a plea for its modification after it had been in effect for over a term. Apparently a "C" average in ten hours of academic work had been unattainable for too many of the "extra-curricular" set, to the detriment of some school organizations of the muscular type. Pressure was brought to bear on individual faculty members, which resulted in two school meetings late in the year. In early May the existing rule, unsatisfactory in its working, was changed to read "Every student shall have a passing term mark in every study to be able to represent the school or any organization and shall be allowed to remove said condition at any reasonable time." At that point a faculty-student committee was chosen to discuss the issue further and present a report to the school. The new rule, which was approved on 22 May, for the first time made participation in athletics on school teams conditional on reasonable academic performance. It is curious to note that the student members of the committee respectively represented the football, baseball, and track interests; and further, that the faculty signatories---Forbes, Freeman, and Pettee---had consistently supported the student athletic program.

Eligibility Rule.

1. Participants in inter-school contests and membership upon representative school organizations,---athletic teams, musical clubs, editorial boards, interscholastic debates, etc.---shall require a passing grade in all studies pursued by the candidate.

2. Membership in these organizations shall be determined at the end and at the middle of each term, except that in the case of the athletic teams the mid-term grading shall be taken as near as possible the middle of the actual athletic season of the term; and at no time within four weeks of the last championship game.

3. A student may recover his connection with his organization according to the nature of his deficiencies and at the discretion of his instructor, becoming eligible by the removal of conditions or probations. Reports of the removal of conditions shall be recorded at the school office before the candidate affected is restored to full standing.

4. The captains or leaders of these organizations shall give seasonable notice at the office, at least one week before the grades are to be determined, of all known candidates for the several organizations, and shall obtain from the office the results of the grade tests, when they have been applied.

Endorsed by the joint committee,

C. H. Forbes,
F.B. A. E. Branch,
A. A. Freeman,
B.B. P. F. Drew,
G. D. Pettee,
Tr. H. E. Marshall,

For the faculty.

For the school.

And ratified by the faculty,
               Geo. D. Pettee, Registrar.

The three-year break in the traditional rivalry had some curious effects on Andover's athletic program. Having been the accuser in the controversy which had dissolved the rivalry, the school came under some pointed criticism for its decision. Both the Boston newspapers and the Yale News, among others, protested that the friendly rivalry between the two academies had kept up the interest in athletics of both to the highest pitch "and that there could not be found another natural rival for either school." Andover, in part to justify her earlier decision, selected Lawrenceville as the new traditional rival. The schools met for the first time in baseball on 28 May 1894, the Andover team having been given special dispensation to take a road trip which would include games against the Yale Freshmen, Lawrenceville, the Princeton Freshmen, and the Yale varsity. Sustained by the superb pitching of Paige and G. C. Greenway, the captain, a strong Andover team defeated the New Jersey school 5 to 2, shut out Princeton 2 to 0, losing to the Yale Freshmen 2 to 1 and to its varsity 5 to 3. The stage was now set for the first football game between the new opponents, which was played at Lawrenceville on 14 November, the "Larries" winning handily 22 to 6 despite the magnificent playing of Barnes, the Andover quarterback, and Eddie HoIt, Andover's giant right guard.

From a competitive point of view Lawrenceville proved to be an opponent worthy of Andover's mettle. During this period of three years, the Blue was beaten every year by her new adversary. The series, temporarily broken off in 1899, with Andover now having won three, was resumed for 1903 and 1904, the Blue winning both games by shutouts, at which point the rivalry was terminated. The baseball contests were played until 1899, the record then showing Andover with four wins to Lawrenceville's two. The competition had been spirited and clean, Andover having occasion only once to question a referee's decision which may well have cost her the second football game in the series. With Lawrenceville leading 12 to 6 late in the game, Goodwin scored his second touchdown after a blocked punt. Butterfield's kick for the two points sailed over the goal posts slightly to the left but was ruled a score by the referee. When the "Larries" protested, he changed his mind after consulting with the umpire! "This brought dismay to the Andover hearts." Andover finally lost 12 to 10. To partially compensate those who had played so valiantly against Lawrenceville for their bitter disappointment, they were taken to the Harvard-Pennsylvania game the following Saturday and given a dinner at Andover a week later.

As had been predicted at the outset, the Lawrenceville rivalry began to pall. The distance between the two schools made travelling expensive and time consuming; furthermore, it was impossible for all members of the visiting school to attend the games, and it became increasingly difficult to sustain school spirit over a void of three hundred and fifty miles. The addition to the football and track schedules of two new, relatively small academies as other possible substitutes for Exeter did little to stem declining enthusiasm and interest among the Andoverians. Worcester would become a highly competitive opponent and a traditional rival; the relationship with Williston was short-lived. Measured in terms of student participation and support, symptoms of the malaise were everywhere evident. In the fall of 1894 Captain Durand's call for football candidates was answered by forty students, a drop from the previous year of ten hopefuls. The following year Captain Young could get only thirty, despite his fervent plea in Chapel that the school's proud reputation in the game of games was about to be eclipsed. The Phillipian minced no words about the current state of affairs:

When only twenty-one men out of over four hundred report for practice and eight or ten of these men play in a half-spirited manner, then athletics at Andover are, as Mr. Hinkey (F. L. Hinkey, PA 1890) truly says, "in a deplorable state." But this criticism is not confined to the players alone. The cheering last Wednesday was lifeless . . . . Why does this lethargy exist in a school like Andover? Our reputation is at stake. Shall we be compelled to announce to the alumni that their successors have violated the trust reposed in them...

The fall of 1896 reflected no change in student attitude; the footballers did not get enough players to form a second eleven. The results were predictable: of the 39 football games played over the three years from 1894 to 1896, Andover won only 18 and tied 1. Among the more humiliating defeats were a first-time loss to Yale Freshmen, a 22 to 0 shellacking by Worcester in the first contest between the schools, three successive beatings by Lawrenceville to open the new series, and two losses in a row to Boston Latin for the first time in the relationship. The Phillipian pronounced the 1895 opening game against the latter the worst disgrace in the school's football history.

The same pattern prevailed in track, tennis, and baseball. In 1894 the Phillips Academy Track Association had joined the National Interscholastic Athletic Association, a Boston-based organization dedicated to track and field activities, whose membership included most of the public and private secondary schools in the state which sponsored track programs. In the first games conducted by the N.I.A.A. at Holmes Field, Cambridge, in June 1894, a strong Andover team led by Captain W. T. Laing beat out Worcester Academy by one point to take first place. Since there was no Exeter meet that spring, the victory was the high point of the year for the track program. The following February Captain Laing, called for "track team" candidates; it was the first time that the term "track" instead of "general athletics" was used at Andover. This time, unfortunately, his plea procured so few aspirants that no tournament was held that winter; a week later Laing resigned as captain and A. H. Hines was elected. The interscholastic meet sponsored by the Boston Athletic Association at Mechanics Hall in Boston on 27 March found Andover second to Worcester Academy and barely ahead of Boston English High School; the same pattern revealed itself in the spring meet at Cambridge, Andover losing to Worcester 33 to 25. In January 1896, the editors of the Phillipian stated outright that there must be a revival of interest if the school was to be represented in the N.I.A.A. True to the prediction, the nadir came in March, two months later, when Phillips Academy was able to win only 4-1/2 points in the interscholastic meet. That spring for the second time in two years Worcester thumped the locals in a dual meet by a score of 66 to 46.(10)

The baseball records for 1895 and 1896 show that of the 34 games played, Andover lost 1 and tied 1. To dampen the jubilation over the 11 to 0 victory over Lawrenceville in 1895 were a pair of losses to the Yale Freshmen, two almost inexplicable losses to St. Mark's School, and the first loss to Lawrenceville.(11) There was no joy on Zion's Hill.

The loss of the Andover-Exeter tournament hurt the tennis program badly. The fall tournaments were staged as usual, and the school singles and doubles championships were played in the spring, but without the spice of the inter-school competition, membership in the association dropped drastically and spectator interest declined accordingly. Since a strong hope that matches could be arranged with Lawrenceville in the spring of 1895 never materialized, tennis remained strictly intramural for three years. To complicate matters further, the Tennis Association, on its own, had undertaken to construct several new clay courts on the upper campus at considerable expense and had gone into debt in the amount of over two hundred dollars; fortunately for the exchequer, an appeal to some townspeople and a few selected alumni erased the deficit and produced a surplus of $675., which was turned over to the gymnasium building fund. An immediate problem had been solved, but the larger lesson had to be learned: without strong financial support from the students, elaborate competitive game programs could not survive under the then existing system.

Earlier in the school year at a school meeting in November, Mr. Ripley, the graduate treasurer of the Athletic Association, cited some sobering facts and figures in his annual report: the cost of athletics had increased from the previous year by $1195.85; the school was now in debt for athletics in the amount of $364.85. He then belabored the practice of some students who made large subscriptions and then failed to meet the payments, thereby putting the team managers in the awkward position of not knowing how much money they would receive and thus being unable to establish a realistic budget. He recommended that "the present debt be met at once by the school and that every student be asked to pay not less than fifty cents nor more than two dollars."

Mr. Ripley's report had exposed the basic weaknesses of the fiscal management of athletics by the students themselves. The immediate debt was paid off, but as student interest flagged throughout the winter and spring terms, it became apparent further precautions against annual athletic deficits would have to be taken. A student-faculty committee of six presented to the school on 12 June 1896, several amendments to the Athletic Constitution, which were adopted and published in the Phillipian the following day:

Amendments to Athletic Constitution.

At a school meeting held Friday morning the following amendments to the Athletic Association were presented and adopted.

Article I.

Sect. 3. The officers of each association shall be a manager and an assistant manager. The manager shall be a member of the Senior class. The assistant manager shall be a member of the Middle class. The assistant manager of one year shall be manager for the next year.

Article Il.

Sect. 1. The authority and responsibility of the Athletic Association shall be vested in a board of six members as follows: The four managers of the departmental associations, a graduate treasurer, and a representative from the faculty to be chosen by the board of the preceding year. Meetings of the board shall be held on the first Monday of each month, at which meetings reports shall be submitted by each manager. It shall be the duty of the Athletic board to nominate three candidates for assistant manager and for such other vacancies as may occur.

Article III.

. . . and shall publish in the Phillipian the list of all subscriptions. All subscriptions remaining unpaid one week before the close of the Fall and Spring terms may be published at the discretion of the Athletic board.

The Faculty had finally started to take control of athletics at Phillips Academy by assuming some responsibility for its finances. "We predict a much better pecuniary state of affairs for the future than heretofore."

Alfred L. Ripley, Graduate Treasurer of the Philips Academy Athletic Association and later President of the Board of Trustees. He worked tirelessly to keep the new program solvent.

There remained only one more dilemma to be resolved in order to restore a semblance of sanity to the program. The resolution of the "Andover-Exeter question" would mark the close of the turbulent era of kaleidoscopic expansion of athletics at Andover. By the close of the school year in 1896 it had become apparent to all that the Andover-Lawrenceville competition was running down. The editors of the Mirror summed it up very neatly in "The Exeter Question":(12) the New Jersey school "cannot take the place of Exeter; the expense of the competition is too great, our teams are playing on strange fields without spectator support; the results have been dying school spirit and losing teams. We should negotiate a gentlemanly agreement to resume the relationship for the following reasons: the Exeter Alumni have condemned her previous policy; Phillips Exeter now has a new Principal opposed to ungentlemanly tactics; the whole tone of P.E.A. is improved; and the last of the 'old crowd' will be out of both schools next year."(13) At the same time there appeared in the Phillipian a reprint from the Harvard Crimson stating that the Principal had read in Chapel at Exeter a letter from Headmaster Bancroft about renewing the Andover-Exeter rivalry. Nothing further pertaining to the question occurred until the fall, when it became apparent that the heads of both schools had been in close communication about the matter. They had agreed to lay the question before the students of both institutions for consideration on the same day, 6 October. Exeter voted immediately and enthusiastically for resumption; Andover, not yet ready to endorse, referred it to the "Athletic Advisory Committee with power to act." The rest of the story is told in a series of letters from the Exeter Principal Harlan Amen to Cecil Bancroft dating from 8 October to 13 November:

I made the announcement in Chapel Tuesday morning as you suggested. It was received by our boys with much enthusiasm; I regret to learn that the Andover boys did not receive the announcement in the same spirit. Our boys do not wish to force or drag your school into a series of contests with them ... Exeter is not making any special efforts to obtain football material .... The Exeter students are looking forward eagerly to the renewal of contests; they will be sorry to hear Andover is not so pleased.(14)

Principals Harlan P. Amen of Exeter and Cecil F. P. Bancroft of Andover. In 1896 they brought an end to the break in athletic relations between the two schools. Phillips Exeter Academy Archives.

And four days later:

My apologies for not having met in New Haven. There is not a boy in school, as far as we can learn, who does not want to see the games between the two schools renewed. We desire only honorable, gentlemanly contests. While we are ready to renew the games, we do not wish Andover boys to feel that Exeter boys are forcing matters in the least, and therefore we have kept silent.(15)

Andover was still reluctant to accept Exeter's sincerity at face value and insisted on a reaffirmation of those regulations which had governed Andover-Exeter contests prior to the severance of the rivalry:

EXETER GAME

Advisory Committee reports favorably

Date Nov. 14.

At a School meeting held Thursday morning the advisory committee into whose hands the Exeter question was put for settlement submitted the following report: The Advisory Committee have passed this vote, 'That we propose to Exeter to renew athletic contests for the present year under the regulations already submitted, the loot-ball game to be played, Saturday, November 14.

At a conference of the managers held yesterday in Haverhill it was agreed that these regulations should govern for the period of one year from October 1896 to July 1897.

1. There shall be annual contests between the two Associations in foot-ball, base-ball, track athletics, and tennis.

2. The dates of these contests shall be arranged from year to year by the managers of the several Associations and announced six weeks before the contest.

3. The officials for each game shall be chosen by joint agreement of the representatives of the two Associations and shall be announced to each school at least two weeks before the date of the game.

4. No player shall take part for more than four years in these games.

5. No student shall be allowed to represent Phillips Academy in any such public contest unless he is regularly enrolled as a member on the register of the school.

6. The school manager of each athletic team shall submit to the manager of the opposing team, at least three days before the date of the contest between the two teams, a list of all players whom he may use in such contest together with the home address of each player, and shall also upon request furnish any other information which may aid in the enforcement of the previous rules. No player not so named shall take part in contest.

7. All protests which may be made, concerning the eligibility of players and all other disputes, shall be decided without appeal by a referee who shall be chosen by the joint agreement of the Athletic Committee or Representative of the two Associations.

8. All expenses incurred in the enforcement of these rules and in payment of officials shall be shared equally by the two Associations.

Exeter immediately agreed to the conditions, Andover followed on 7 November, and the game was scheduled for the next Saturday. The Phillipian could not resist the temptation to moralize a bit:

The Advisory Committee, after deep and careful consideration, have at last decided favorably towards the renewing of an Exeter-Andover dual league .... Now that the differences have been amicably settled and the former healthy rivalry re-established, without doubt, all the teams will be materially benefitted. A lesson in indulgence in impure athletics has been taught both institutions.

Andover obviously needed some further reassurances that the number of officials for the game would be sufficient and that they would be unbiased; the school also questioned the "quality" of the Exeter coaching. Principal Amen's letter to Bancroft was direct:

I have told Mr. Reed that I want no one connected with the last Andover game to have anything to do with this one. We are doing our best to show you people at Andover that we are in earnest to secure a clean, honorable game. We feel that the coaching is in good hands under Newell's direction and do not, in the delicate condition of affairs between the two schools, wish you to feel that we are willing to draw into the present contest any of the former set of men or influences. (16)

Having convinced Andover that Exeter's intentions were honorable, Amen outlined the special arrangements for the game:

The special train which will take us to Andover will leave Exeter at 12:15 p.m. We hope not to be delayed by freight trains or other annoyances.(17)

And so it was that on a bright day and a slippery field at 2:45 p.m., 14 November 1896, the rivalry was resumed at Andover before 3000 people. The game, which Andover won 28 to 0, makes interesting copy for the antiquarian; the center of the Andover line dominated the game; they averaged 180 pounds (heavy for that time) and 21 years of age; Captain Barker of Andover did not play, the Quarterback, Frank Quinby, acting in his stead; all the scoring was done by Burdick (4 touchdowns) and Elliot, Barker's substitute; the game was closely controlled by an unprecedented five officials; despite one Exeter disqualification for "kneeing," the game was savage, no fewer than five players being seriously injured and forced to leave the fracas; and the Phillipian Extra celebrating the victory listed the Exeter lineup as Andover's, and falsified, perhaps unintentionally, the average age of the home team by three and one-half years. Normalcy had returned to the Hill.


Chapter Eight

Table of Contents