Coach Dick Harlow will this fall face the toughest assignment of his six year sojourn at Cambridge when football practice begins September 15. Six lettermen, only three of whom were regulars, remain from last year's Big Three Championship squad. To complete his team, Harlow must fall back on normal Junior Varsity and a better than average sophomore delegation.
Returning lettermen are Captain Torbie Macdonald, Tom Healey, Joe Gardella, Moses Hallett, Don Lowry, and Bill Coleman. Macdonald and Gardella, who give promise of becoming two of Harvard's best backs in a decade, are sure fire repeaters in starting berths. Healey, Coleman, and Lowry in the line are about as certain of first team positions when the season opens.
Sophomores Important
To make the outlook even less cheery, Dick Harlow was absent from spring practice for three weeks due to illness, and the spring session was further retarded by inclement weather. With an ambitious schedule, it loks tough for the 1939 Varsity. But statistics on paper don't convey the whole story . . . the Harlow system and a determined group of Jayvees and Yardlings should combine to give the Crimson a late-starting but winning football team.
Harlow has indicated that he will rely more on Junior Varsity material than on last year's Yardling squad for his first eleven. During the short three weeks drilling before the first game, with Bates, on October 7, the more experienced upperclassmen are likely to keep the upper hand. As the season progresses, more and more Sophomores will sift into starting posts.
Jim Devine and Bartow Kelly, Varsity shock troopers a year ago who together have probably seen less than 30 minutes of action, have been given a pre season edge as ends. Big George Downing, a converted tackle, Joe Konfman, a Junior who wasn't playing last year, and Gene Lovett are possible replacements.
Line Has Problems
Seasoned, but not certainties, Healey and Hallett rank first as tackles, but will have an increasingly difficult job holding their berths as two Sophomores, Vern Miller and Tom Gardiner, develop with experience. Weakness at ends places even greater responsibility on the tackles, always a key position.
Likely to team with the veteran Don Lowry at guard is Ernie Sargeant. The latter has been a reserve back for two years, and his only line experience was during spring practice. Dick Pfister, Endicott Peabody, and Jim Grunig will undoubtedly be called upon for considerable playing service as guards.
From end to end, the 1939 Varsity is weak in comparison with Harlow's line a year ago, and reserves are an even greater problem. There is one exception. At center Bill Coleman, with aid from Sophomores Charlie Ayres and Ted Lyman, should give Harlow a top-notch pivot man. Coleman has played center, guard and bucker, and Lyman captained last year's Yardling team from the backfield.
Backfield Stronger
Relatively stronger than the line, the backfield will be packed with offensive power, with three starting triple-threat men. Macdonald runs equally well to the right or left, is a good passer, and a better than average punter. Harlow intends to switch Torbie from wing-back to tail-back this year.
Joe Gardella was discovered last year as a suitable successor to Vernon Struck at full-back. Harlow's deceptive offense depends on the spinner, and it is on this post that Dick and his backfield assistants Johnnie Wood and Struck will devote a lot of attention and worry. Sophomore Fred Spreyer, who is at present slated for the wingback berth, may quite possibly switch positions with Gardella. On Frazier Curtis falls the nearly impossible job of filling the combined shoes of Cliff Wilson and Chief Boston as blocking back. As leader of the interference and key man on the defense, this year's quarterback will find it difficult to avoid an unfavorable comparison with his predecessors. Other possibilities at this post are Henry Vander Eb, a Sophomore, and Joel Ferris, a converted Jayvee guard.
Attack vs. Defense
The Harlow system and a fleet set of backs will give Harvard an unbeatable attack, If given some measure of support by the line. Blocking is an obvious weakness of this year's backfield . . . its inexperienced line is an unknown quantity.
On the defense, the team will be far below the 1938 eleven, which defeated both Yale and Princeton. Gone and irreplaceable are Bobby Green, Ken Booth, Cliff Wilson, Tim Russell, and Chief Boston. Behind a questionable line, only Joe Gardella is a tested defensive player.
For three years, members of the class of 1939 formed the nucleus of the Varsity. As Freshmen, this year's Sophomore delegation lost only their first game of the season. On them Coach Dick Harlow will rely for reserves and for at least three starters for the Yale game. On them to a large degree, rests the success or failure of the 1939 Varsity.
The Crimson opens its season with Bates on October 7. After a quick dash west to conclude a home-and-home series with the University of Chicago, the Varsity faces one of its toughest foes of the year, Pennsylvania. Following in successive weeks are Dartmouth, Princeton, Army, New Hampshire, and Yale. Only the Chicago and Princeton games will be played on foreign soil.
With the exception of one appointment, the coaching staff will remain unchanged. Under Harlow on the Varsity will be Wes Fesler in charget of ends; Lyall Clark, line; and John Wood and Vernon Struck, backfield. Skip Stahley will continue with the Yardlings, and Henry Lamar remains with the Junior Varsity. Cliff Wilson has been named to assist Lamar.
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