When the referee blows his whistle and the Crimson takes the field against the Orange and Black, there will be one unseen participant who will take part in the fight with Old 'Nassau. In the plays of the University team, in the "do or die" spirit that it displays, and in the coaching it has received, the hand of Percy Duncan Haughton will everywhere be evident. As originator of his famous system, of which the present University team is partly a product, Haughton has become an inseparable part of Harvard football.
Led Crimson to Eight Years of Glory
One of the greatest punters the game has ever known. Haughton played on the University football teams of the three years from 1896 to 1899. For several years after his graduation he was an assistant coach in charge of the kickers on the Crimson squad, and in 1907, after a particularly disastrous season, he assumed complete control of the University's gridiron destinies. During the next eight years the Crimson reached the pinnacle of its football glory under his skillful guidance. He produced teams which crushed the Blue five times and tamed the Tiger on four occasions. Under his regime, the University lost but once to Princeton and once to Yale.
Kind Nature Behind 'Cold Efficiency
But to the men who played under him, "P. D." was not merely a producer of winning football machines, but a close and well loved friend and counselor. Although he appeared cold blooded and even cruel upon the football field, the real kindliness in his nature was always apparent when he was not concentrating his faculties upon gridiron success.
The great number of tributes which his recent death evoked from the members of his teams and his fellow coaches is touching evidence of the deep, almost reverent regard, in which they held him. Seven of the coaches who trained the team which will meet the Orange and the Black this afternoon, played on Haughton's teams, and all were deeply moved by his death.
Harvard Men Join in Tributes
Head Coach R. T. Fisher '12, assistant coach J. L. Knox '98, Dean L. B. R. Briggs '75, for many years chairman of the University Athletic Committee, and F. W. Moore '93, graduate treasurer of the Athletic Association, all expressed the high regard in which they held "P. D."
But some of the most intimate glimpses into the causes of his success and the reasons for his immense popularity among coaches and players are afforded by the reminiscences of the men who played on his teams.
H. R. Hardwick '15, one of Haughton's star products, gives a glimpse into the real nature of the man a nature as thoughtful and kindly as it was active and forceful.
He said: "I recall one practice in midweek when we were preparing a series of new plays to be used on that following Saturday. Progress had been slow and 'P. D.' was hurrying things along in his 'race against time.' During the scrimmage a certain player was not giving his best efforts on every play. 'P. D.' noticed it and rushed onto the field, grabbed the offender by the neck and 'shook' him till his teeth rattled. 'Get onto the sidelines. The trouble with you is you perspire. We want men to sweat!'
"Later in the afternoon the same player was put into the scrimmage again. He played like mad. After a dozen plays or so, time out was called and the same player was seen lying injured on the field. The trainer commenced to work over him where he lay. Out rushed 'P. D.'
"'Take him over to the sidelines, this is no field hospital.' A substitute sprinted on the gridiron and immediately play was resumed.
"The race against time must not be lost. It sounds cold-blooded, almost brutal. But who was it that hurried into the locker building the moment practice was closed, ran upstairs to the doctor's room where the boy was lying down being bandaged, put one hand on his shoulder, gently ran his other hand across the boy's wet brow and remarked 'That's not perspiration, son, that's sweat'? Who was it that left a suffering boy with tears of happiness welling in his eyes because he had exonerated himself in the eyes of the man whose good opinion meant so much to him? That was the real 'P. D.'
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