Francis M. Lee '42 of Adams House and New Haven was the choice of his fellow lettermen to captain the 1941 Harvard football team, succeeding Joe Gardella. The stubby five foot nine inch wingback weighs 178 pounds and prepared for Harvard at Choate School in Wallingford, Conn.
Lee's home is only about a stone's throw from the Yale Bowl--in the same direction he was heading on that 78 yard punt return last Saturday. As a grammer school youngster, he used to watch the big Blues go through their afternoon workouts and hope for a chance to toss around a stray football. Now he has been taken out of the Elis' own back yard to be the Crimson grid captain.
Father Yale Grad
To add insult to injury, his father is a Yale graduate, a member of the class of 1905. This makes Frannie the first son of an Eli to lead a Harvard football eleven. He has three brothers, two of whom went to Notre Dame and starred in cross country.
Lee played football at Hillhouse High in New Haven before going to Choate. He met Spreyer in the Hillhouse-West Haven football and basketball games. Lee competed in football, basketball, and track at Choate.
Iron Man
The quiet Junior was the iron man of the backfield this fall, playing 434 out of 480 minutes and excelling as a safety man and pass defender. His coach, Dick Harlow, describes him as "a cool little rooster and a man to rely on when the chips are down." He has a record of being Johnny-on-the-spot with a timely tackle or run in his football career at Cambridge.
Franklin (Bungy) King of Chestnut Hill and Claverly Hall succeeds Robert G. Paine, Jr. of Eliot House and Weston as Varsity manager.
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