DeWitt thought things out almost instantly and took advantage of every possible point.  The picture on the opposite page illustrates wonderfully well how he exerted and extended himself.  This man put his whole soul into his work and was never found wanting.  His achievements will hold a conspicuous place in football history.  Nothing got by John DeWitt.

DeWitt’s team in 1903 was the first to bring victory over Yale to Princeton since 1899.  On that day John DeWitt scored a touchdown and kicked a placement goal, which will long be remembered.  Let us go back and play a part of that game over with John himself.

“Whenever I think of football my recollections go back to the Yale game of 1903,” says DeWitt.  “My most vivid recollections are of my loyal team mates whose wonderful spirit and good fellowship meant so much to the success of that Eleven.  Without their combined effort Princeton could not have won that day.

“We had a fine optimistic spirit before the game and the fact that Jim Hogan scored a touchdown for Yale in the first part of the game seemed to put us on our mettle and we came back with the spirit that I have always been proud of.  Hogan was almost irresistible.  You could hardly stop him when he had the ball.  He scored between Harold Short and myself and jammed through for about 12 yards to a touchdown.  If you tackled Jim Hogan head on he would pull you right over backwards.  He was the strongest tackle I ever saw.  He seemed to have overpowering strength in his legs.  He was a regular player.  He never gave up until the whistle blew, but after the Princeton team got its scoring machine at work, the Princeton line outplayed the Yale line.

“I think Yale had as good a team as we had, if not better, that day.  The personnel of the team was far superior to ours, but we had our spirit in the game.  We were going through Yale to beat the band the last part of the game.”

DeWitt, describing the run that made him famous, says: 

“Towards the end of the first half, with the score 6 to 0 against Princeton, Yale was rushing us down the field.  Roraback, the Yale center, was not able to pass the ball the full distance back for the punter.  Rockwell took the ball from quarterback position and passed it to Mitchell, the fullback.  On this particular play our whole line went through on the Yale kick formation.  No written account that I have ever seen has accurately described just what happened.  Ralph Davis was the first man through, and he blocked Mitchell’s kick.  Ridge Hart, who was coming along behind him, kicked the loose ball forward and the oval was about fifteen to twenty yards from where it started.  I was coming through all the time.

“As the bouncing ball went behind Mitchell it bobbed up right in front of me.  I probably broke all rules of football by picking it up, but the chances looked good and I took advantage of them.  I really was wondering then whether to pick it up or fall on it, but figured that it was harder to fall on it than to pick it up, so I put on all the steam I had and started for the goal.  Howard Henry was right behind me until I got near the goal post.  After I had kicked the goal the score was 6 to 6.  Never can I forget the fierce playing on the part of both teams that now took place.