The team was driven up in buses from the station.  It was a proud privilege to light the bonfire.  Every man on the team had to make a speech and then we had a banquet at the Princeton Inn.  Later in the year the team was banqueted by the alumni organizations around the country.  Every man had a peck of souvenirs—­gold matchsafes, footballs, and other things.  Nothing was too good for the victors.  Well, well, “To the victors belong the spoils.”  That is the verdict of history.

CHAPTER VI

HEROES OF THE PAST

THE EARLY DAYS

We treasure the memory of the good men who have gone before.  This is true of the world’s history, a nation’s history, that of a state, and of a great university.  Most true is it of the memory of men of heroic mold.  As schoolboys, our imaginations were fired by the records of the brilliant achievements of a Perry, a Decatur or a Paul Jones; and, as we grow older, we look back to those heroes of our boyhood days, and our hearts beat fast again as we recall their daring deeds and pay them tribute anew for the stout hearts, the splendid fighting stamina, and the unswerving integrity that made them great men in history.

In every college and university there is a hall of fame, where the heroes of the past are idolized by the younger generations.  Trophies, portraits, old flags and banners hang there.  Threadbare though they may be, they are rich in memories.  These are, however, only the material things—­“the trappings and the suits” of fame—­but in the hearts of university men the memory of the heroes of the past is firmly and reverently enshrined.  Their achievements are a distinguished part of the university’s history—­a part of our lives as university men—­and we are ever ready now to burn incense in their honor, as we were in the old days to burn bonfires, in celebration of their deeds.

It is well now that we recall some of the men who have stood in the front line of football; in the making and preservation of the great game.  Many of them have not lived to see the results of their service to the sport which they deemed to be manly and worth while.  It is, however, because they stood there during days, often full of stress and severe criticism of the game, staunch and resistless, that football occupies its present high plane in the athletic world.

It may be that some of their names are not now associated with football.  Some of them are captains of industry.  They are in the forefront of public affairs.  Some of them are engaged in the world’s work in far-away lands.  But the spirit that these men apply to their life work is the same spirit that stirred them on the gridiron.  Their football training has made them better able to fight the battle of life.

Men who gave signals, are now directing large industries.  Players who carried the ball, are now carrying trade to the ends of the world.  Men who bucked the line, are forging their way sturdily to the front.  Men who were tackles, are still meeting their opponents with the same intrepid zeal.  The men who played at end in those days, are to-day seeing that nothing gets around them in the business world.  The public is the referee and umpire.  It knows their achievements in the greater game of life.