“Only those who played football in the old days and have carefully followed it since appreciate the difference in the two types of game.  I frequently wonder if the old type of game did not develop more in a man than the modern.  As a freshman I was playing halfback on the second Varsity one afternoon when a sudden blow knocked me unconscious while the play was at one end of the field.  When I regained consciousness the play was at the other end of the field, not a soul was near me or thinking of me.  I had hardly got within ear-shot of the scrimmage when I heard Lewis, one of the Varsity coaches, call out, ’Come on, get in here, they can’t kill fellows like you.’  I went into the scrimmage and played the rest of the afternoon.  It was a simple incident, but I learned two lessons of life from it:  first, you can expect mighty little sympathy when you are down; second, you are not out if you will only go back and stick to it.”

Dartmouth holds a unique position in college football.  There are many men who were responsible for Dartmouth’s success, men who have stood by year after year and worked out the football policy there.

It is my experience that Dartmouth men universally call Ed Hall the father of Dartmouth football.  He has served faithfully on the Rules Committee as well as an official in the game.

Myron E. Witham, that great player and captain of the Dartmouth team which was victorious over Harvard the day that Harvard opened the Stadium, says:  “If one goes back to Hanover and visits the trophy room he will see hanging there the winning football which Dartmouth men glory over as they recall that wonderful victory over Harvard.  Ed Hall is the man who is often called upon to speak to the men between the halves.  His talks have a telling effect.  Hall’s name is traditional at our college.”

There are many football enthusiasts who recall that wonderful backfield that Dartmouth had, McCornack, Eckstrom, McAndrews and Crolius.  These men got away wonderfully fast and hit the line like one man.  They played every game without a substitute for two years.

Fred Crolius, who takes great delight in recalling the old days, has the following to say about one who coached: 

“One man, whose influence more than any other one thing, succeeded in laying a foundation for Dartmouth’s wonderful results, but whose name is seldom mentioned in that connection is Doctor Wurtenberg, who was brought up in the early Yale football school.  He had the keenest sense of fundamental football and the greatest intensity of spirit in transmitting his hard earned knowledge.  Four critical years he worked with us filling every one with his enthusiasm and those four years Dartmouth football gained such headway that nothing could stop its growth.”

Enough space cannot be given to pay proper tribute to Walter McCornack, Dartmouth ’97.