“There was, in my playing days, as now, the usual controversy in reference to the officials of the game,” says Wyllys Terry, “and the same controversies arose in those days in regard to the decisions which were given.  My sympathies have always been with the officials in the game in all decisions that they have rendered.  It is impossible for them to see everything, but when they come to make a decision they are the only ones that are on the spot and simply have to decide on what they see at the moment.

“It is a difficult position.  Thousands say you are right, thousands say you are wrong—­but my belief has always been that nine times out of ten the official’s decision is correct.  It was my misfortune to officiate in but one large game; that between Harvard and Princeton in the fall of ’87.  This was the year that there was a great outcry regarding the rules, particularly in reference to tackling.  It was decided that a tackle below the waist was a foul and the penalty was disqualification.  I was appointed Umpire in the Harvard-Princeton game of that year.  Before the game I called the teams together and told them what the representatives of the three colleges had agreed upon.  They had authorized me to carry the rules out in strict accordance with their instructions and I proposed to do so.  In the early part of the game there was a scrimmage on one side of the field and after the mass had been cleared away, I heard somebody call for me.  On looking around I found that the call came from Holden, Captain of the Harvard team.  He called my attention to the fact that he was still being tackled and that the man had both his arms around his knee, with his head resting on it.  He demanded, under the agreed interpretation of the rules, that the tackle be decided a foul, and that the man be disqualified and sent from the field.  The question of intent was not allowed me, for I had to decide on the facts as they presented themselves.  The result was that Cowan, one of the most powerful, and one of the best linemen that ever stood on a football field, was disqualified.  The Captain of the Princeton team remarked at the time, ’I would rather have any three men disqualified than Cowan.’  As the game up to that time had been very close, and the Princeton sympathizers were sure of victory, I believe I was the most cordially hated ex-football player that ever existed.  Shortly after this the Harvard men had the Princeton team near their goal line and in possession of the ball.  Two linemen used their hands, which on the offense is illegal, and made a hole through which the Harvard halfback passed and crossed the line for a touchdown amid tremendous cheers from the Harvard contingent.  This touchdown was not allowed by the Umpire.  Again I was the most hated football man that lived, so far as Harvard was concerned.  The result was I had no friends on either side of the field.