The Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, December 15, 1916 Page: 2 of 10
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THE THRESHER, DECEMBER 15, 1916
—
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A BWg/ o/ ^6 i 9i6 Foo^^
'MM'..
\ntue
(By Hetv! Mgan.)
The footbaii season
at the Hice Institute
is now history. The
record made by the
teani has been pub-
lished ati over the
State, the games an-
alyzed by the various
writers, and the play-
ers compared with
those of the other big
institutions. The limit
whistle has blown and
theetirtain )tas drop-
ped Hut- the record
made by the Hire foot-
hail team of lftlt! will
it) up be rememherefi
by ati students, and
sport iovers.
The season was a
success bottt from tite
standpoint of natues
won ami from the
siandpojnt. of attetnl-
ance and gate receipts.
ever before in the
history of the institute
didsomaitypeopiepay
admission lo the Mice
a title tic field. it
seems that the peo-
ple in Houston aw
at last beginnitig to
realize, (hat there is
a realttttiversity out just, beyond the
holders of their ritv. and that in ath-
letics, as weii as it) acadetnicstattding,
that university is the e<)ua) of any. and
the sttperior of most, institutions in the
State.
The schedule for the season called for
nine gatttes. Of these six were won, two
tied, and only one lost. And this rec-
ord was made notwithstanding the fact
that the Hiee schedttle included games
with the best schools in the Southwest.
It is also a matter of record that Rice
s. ore<) more points agaittst her oppon-
ents than any other school in the State.
Attother thing that appeals to school
pride is tite fact that Itice had more
met) picked for all-State houors than
any other college or university in the
State.
['our men were tnentionedt'orthe
tnythic;:] all-State eieven by tuore than;
hiilioi the Texas coacites and sporting!
writers. Cxptain Brown was unani-i
moitsly selected. The other three were;
Kalbandl'btts.
That the brillitmt showing made by!
the nmn wtts due to the splendid coach-
inn ol Ah*. Atimckle, there is not the
tea-=t shadow of a doubt. It is true that
the material he had to work with this
Yc;trw;isfiir from mediocre, but it is
;ilso a m:tttor of comment that the
owis ^<-te better coached in both the
imi'iamentals and finer points of foot-
hitll than tttiy other team that played on
n local gridiron this year.
As the tirst game of the season—the
ilash with Texas- was considered the
imrdest. Coach Arbuckle ashed the men
to report for practice two weeks before
tlte regular team work started. Ap-
proxiniitteiy^Oiuentespondedtothe
tail. Candidates for the big blue "K"
of Hice came from all parts of the coun-
try. heila Valle came all the way ffottt
Bridgeport, Conn., for the training sea-
son .
There were tnany holes t,o be filled.
Coan, Stevens, Standish, Meal. Mathias,
Clark, Haltont and Clyce,all stars of
the team of lfl5, were no longer mem-
bers of the squad, although three of this
number were in school but ineligible to
piny. This meant a world of hard work
.for the coaches, for it is no easy
tnatfer to take a high school player and
metamorphose hint in a few weeks into
a college star.
And then, in three short weeks, came
'he game with the Longhorns. Almost
half the student body accompanied the
team to Austit) on a special train. And
the students had no cause to feei
ashamed of the tshowing made by their
teatn. It was written in the beginning
that itice was not to overcome Texas on
the gridiron in IHIH. Noabilisare
being offered for the defeat suffered that
day. There is no doubt but that the
honghorns played better football than
did the Owls.
For Bice Captain "Mick" Brown led
the attack, and he did It in a spirited
attd brilliant manner. Many times he
hrottght from the Institute section of
the stands prolonged roars of hope and
exultation by his long end runs. Many
times the big mass of Texas students,
tense with apprehension, chanted "Hoid
'em, Texas," as the fighting Owls swept
down the field to within the very shad-
Fendley
Kalb
luhveiler
Potts
ow of the Varsity goal posts. But it
was not to be. Not yet did the Owls
have the punch to carry the ball over
that desperately defended goal line for
a touchdown, but a blocked kick gave
Itlce the first points she has ever made
against the Texas footbail teatn.
On the defense "Tiny" Kalb played
awonderfttigame. During one period
of the contest he stopped four succes-
sive line plunges on his side, and
throughout he outplayed his titan con
sistently. Fendley, Fulweiler. Kalb and
Brown had worked and prayed and
fought for a victory over Texas, and in
the ettd it was denied them. The score
was 16 to 2.
Thus the season was started with a
defeat for ltice, but it was not consid-
ered an inauspicious beginning. The
teatn had not yet hit its stride. In the
Texas game the eleven worked like a
powerful but new and tuntried machine.
Some of the cogs were not working
smoothly. But it was a machine of
great potential power.
One week later came the game with
Austin College on the institute gridiron.
The boys from Sherman faced a very
different aggregation than did the Long-
Itorns. It was in this game that a pale-
eyed and very gifted youth front San
Antonio stepped into the limelight—otie
(Griffith Vance. This young ntan was
undotibtedly the football find of the sea-
son, and it does not take much prophetic
power to predict for him a brilliant ca-
reer on the gridiron. Vance is the logi-
cai successor of Brown, and bids fair
to step into his shoes next year.
The game itseif was of but passing
interest. The visitors never threatened
the Owl goal line, and Hice roiied up a
score of 40 points. But this game did
much to weld the Arbuckle machine into
the high powered scoring engine that
it became later in the season.
Southwestern I'niversity came to
Houston with a reputation. In its game
with A. & M. the previous week the
heavy Farmers had been held to a 6 to
0 score. Considering tite fact that A. &
M. was ranked, at that time, as the
equal of Texas, the Owls prepared for a
hard game. But the game proved that
the visitors were a false alarm, and their
overwhelming defeat presaged the fail
of the Farmers two weeks iater. The
Methodist line was ripped to pieces, and
the Hice backs swung around the ter-
minals aimost at will. The first string
men were taken out for a period after
the game was well adavnced, and the
second string men, anxious to make a
showing, kept the ball rolling. At the
end of the game the score stood 54 to 0.
On October 21 Hice left for Ft. Worth
to play Texas Christian University on
their own grounds. The Owls left, con-
fident of victory, a confidence that
proved to be tlteir own ttndoing. Hice
should have defeated the Christians
easily, for at a later date Southwestern
triumphed over them by a iarge score.
Playing on their own gridiron, and with
their own rooters behind them, the
Christians went into the game to win,
and although they did not succeed, they
managed to throw a healthy scare into
the Owls, nice made one touchdown,
and then went immediately on the de-
fensive, and sporting writers in North
Texas considered that the visitors were
lucky to escape a beating. The game
"tided in a tied score, 7 to 7.
The football season, from the stand-
point of the Hice student body, culmi-
nated brilliantiy in the game with A. &
M. The unfortunate affair with T. C.
U. depressed Institute gridiron stock,
and the Farmers were big favorites in
the betting. Houston has always been
a strong A. & M. stronghold, and it was
the generai opinion that the men front
Coliege Station wouid wipe out the
stigma of last year's defeat in fine style.
It was an ideai day for the game, and
the stands were crowded. It was said
that there were more supporters of the
Hed and White than of the Blue and
Gray. The visitors brought their band
with them and arrangements were made
to wire the score, play by play, to the
waiting cadets in Co!lege,Station, where
the stage was set for a big ceiebration.
The first half was a battle from
start to finish. A. & M. made more first
downs than Hice, but the Owls showed
more brilliance on the part of individ-
uals. The visitors were strong as to
beef but slow as to backs. But a few
minutes before the whistle blew for the
end of the haif the Farmers started a
menacing series of forward passes—
THE MEN WHO WILL LEAD RICE IN BASEBALL, BASKET BALL AND TRACK
Chandler, an all-State third baseman,
will be captain of the 1917 baseball
teatn, and the prospects are eryv good
tor a first-class baseball team this
spring
Totnfohrde, who piloted last year's
basketball team through a very success-
ful season, wiil again captain practical-
ly the Rame teatn through the coming
season.
Kingsiand was chosen last year as
captain of the 1917 track team. He
broke his own record last year and now
holds the State record of high jump at
5 feet and 10 inches.
short tosses from back
to back behind the line
of scrimmage. GiMM-
lan and Burns were
starring, and by gains
of eight, ten and
twelve yards to the
play the ball was
worked down the Held.
When the welcome
shrill of Me whistle
stopped play for the
first half the ball was
on Rice's eight-yard
line.
Coming back Rice
opened the second half
with a rush. Vance and
Brown were not to be
denied. They rushed
the ball down the Held
by a series of dashing
end runs. And when
the Farmer line would
hold for downs, Potts
would boot the ball far
into the enemy's ter-
ritory. On almost ev-
ery exchange of punts
Hice would gain ten or
twelve yards. And in
the end it was Mick
who carried the ball
over the line for
" the first touchdown.
After the first touchdown the A. &
M. defense began to crumble. They
were on the defensive for the rest of
the game. Brown made one more touch-
down, ang in the last few minutes of
play Beii ran twelve yards through the
line for the third score.
The score of 20 to 0 left not the
shadow of a doubt but that Rice was
much superior. There could be no alibi
of ftuke or over-confidence this time.
It was a ciean cut and well deserved
victory.
Tulane was the next victim of the on-
rushing Owls. This game was interest-
ing for the reason that it afforded com-
parison with Trans-Mississippi teams.
Tulane had played a game with Georgia
Tech earlier in the season. Georgia
Tech was considered the best aggrega-
tion of gridiroh stars in the South, and
against them Tuiane had made a credit-
able showing.
It was the old story of speed versus
beef. Coach Shaughnessey of Tulane
placed his hope on a very deceptive va-
riation of the Minnesota shift forma-
tion. This was at first puzzling to the
Hice ends, and it was due, in a large
measure to the stellar work of Rudd at
end that more yards were not gained.
But once this formation was solved it
iost its terror. Rice won to the tune
of 23 to 13.
After the hard fought games at the
beginning of the season the game with
S. M. U. catne as an anti-climax. Coach
Morrison brought a team to Houston
with the anything but enviabie reputa-
tion of being the most scored on aggre-
gation in Texas. The game soon degen-
erated into a track meet. After the
first quarter Coach Arbuckle put in his
second string men, and the scrubs ran
wild. And when, in the Hnal period, the
regulars went back it was sheer slaugh-
ter. When darkness fell and the game
ended the score was 145 to 0. This was
the biggest score run up against a Tex-
as teatn during the year.
For the third time during the year
Rice left the home gridiron for a game,
and for the second time they were held
to a tie by an inferior team. L. S. U.
was defeated in Houston last year, and
at the time vowed that they would get
even when the Owls went to Baton
Rouge the following year. Early in the
game Brown, Vance and Fendley were
injured and taken out. Thus weak-
ened the Owls put up a great fight, but
could not score. Seven to seven was
the final verdict.
Thanksgiving ended the season. The
University of Arizona made the long
trip from Tucson for the game, and al-
though defeated, fought gamely to the
last. At one time during the game Ari-
zona threatened to take the iead. At
the end of the Hrst half the score stood
20 to. 3 it^ favor of Rice, but during the
next quarter the Rice second string
men who had been sent in were unable
to prevent the Arizona team from mak-
iti# two touchdowns. With the begin-
ning of the fourth quarter, however, the
veterans were sent back and there was
no more scoring for the visitors. Rice
compiled 27 more points, making the
ilnal score 47 to 16.
Thus ended the most successful sea-
son in the history of the Institute.
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The Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 6, Ed. 1 Friday, December 15, 1916, newspaper, December 15, 1916; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth229792/m1/2/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.