I once asked Cowan to tell something about his experiences and men he played against.

“The Yale game was the great game in my days,” he said.  “Harvard did not have the football instinct as well developed as Yale, and it is of the Yale players that I have more in mind.  One man I will always remember is Gill, who played left tackle for Yale and was captain during his senior year.  I remember him because we had a good deal to do with each other.  When I ran with the ball I had to get around him if I made any advance, and I must say that I found it no easy thing to do, as he was a sure tackler.  And when he ran with the ball I had the good pleasure of cutting his runs short.

“Another man whom I consider one of the greatest punters of the past is Bull of Yale.  I have stopped a good many punts and drop kicks in my play, but I do not remember stopping a single kick of his, and it was not because I did not try.  He kicked with his left foot, and with his back partially towards the line would kick a very high ball, and when you jumped into him—­on the principle, that if you cannot get the ball, get the man—­you had the sensation of striking something hard.”

After Cowan had stopped playing and graduated he acted as an official in a good many of the big games.  He states as follows: 

“You ask about my own experiences as an official, and for experience with other officials.  I always got along pretty well as a referee.  There was very little kicking on my decisions.  But I was good for nothing as an umpire.  I could not keep my eyes off the ball, so did not see the fouls as much as I should.  You boys have probably heard how I was ruled off the field in a Harvard-Princeton game in ’88.  I remember Terry of Yale who refereed that game, above all others.  There was a rule at that time that intentional tackling below the knees was a foul and the penalty was disqualification.  Our game had just started.  We had only two or three plays, Harvard having the ball.  I broke through the line and tackled the man as soon as he had the ball.  I had him around the legs about the knees, but in his efforts to get away, my hands slipped down.  But at the moment remembering the rule I let him go, and for this I was disqualified.  I might say that we lost the game, for we did not have any one to take my place.  I had always been in my place and no one ever thought that I would not be there.  My being disqualified was probably the reason for the Princeton defeat.

“I do not think that Terry intended to be unfair.  The game had just started, and he was trying to be strict, and without stopping to think whether it was intentional or not.  He saw the rule being broken and acted on the impulse of the moment.  I have since heard that Terry felt very bad about it afterwards.  I never felt right towards him until I had a chance to get even with him, and it came in this way.  The Crescent Club of Brooklyn played the Cleveland