“‘For, gentlemen,’ said he, ’besides all the other advantages which I have mentioned, there is this further attraction—­my tent is well and sufficiently lighted so that you can not only hold a matinee, but you can give an evening performance as well.’

“And those were the days of the flying wedge and two forty-five minute halves with only ten minutes intermission!”

Walter C. Booth

Walter C. Booth, a former Princeton center rush, was one of the select coterie of Eastern football men that wended its way westward to carry the eastern system into institutions that had had no opportunity to build up the game, yet were hungry for real football.  Booth’s trip was a successful one.

“In the autumn of 1900, after graduating from college, I arrived at Lincoln, Nebraska, in the dual role of law student and football coach of the State University,” says Booth.  “This was my first trip west of Pittsburgh and I viewed my new duties with some apprehension.  All doubts and fears were soon put at rest by the hearty encouragement and support that I received and retained in my Nebraska football relations.

“Most of the Faculty were behind football, and H. Benjamin Andrews, at that time head of the University, was a staunch supporter of the game.  Doctor Roscoe Pound, later dean of Harvard Law School, was the father of Nebraska football.  He had as intimate an acquaintance with the rule book as any official I have ever known.  His advice on knotty problems was always valuable.  James I. Wyer, afterward State Librarian of New York, was our first financial director, and it was largely by reason of his unflagging zeal that football survived.

“Football spirit ran high in the Missouri Valley and there were many hard fought contests among the teams of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska.  Those who saw these games or played in them will never forget them.

“Many amusing things happened in that section as well as in the East.  The Haskell Indians were a picturesque team.  They represented the Government School at Lawrence, Kansas—­an institution similar to that of Carlisle.  In fact, many of the same players played on both teams at different times.  We always found them a hard nut to crack, and Redwater, Archiquette, Hauser and other Indian stars made their names well known on our field.

“John Outland, the noted Pennsylvania player, had charge of the Indians when I knew them.  He was a great player and a fine type of man, who succeeded in imparting some of his own personality to his pupils.  He once showed me a dark faced Indian in Lawrence who must have been at least six feet four inches tall and of superb physique.  He was a full blooded Cheyenne and went by the name of Bob Tail Billy.  Outland tried hard to break him in at guard, but as no one understood Bob Tail’s dialect, and he understood no one else, he never learned the signals, and proved unavailable.