Some of the big games were played at the old Polo Grounds, in New York at 115th Street. Some quite large crowds came there to see Harvard play Yale or Princeton, for that was in the days when Ivy League football was the best there was to see.

Walter Camp was the first to work out a series of signals for when the ball was hiked back. Numbers had not yet come into use, but short sentences were employed instead.

A typical signal that Camp worked out for the Yale team went, "Look out quick Deac. Look out. Quick. Deac.," which meant that Twombly would run through the line, the ball being pushed to Peters.

Nicknames Used for Signals

Harvard took over some of Camp's stuff, reducing the signals to the nickname of the player who would get the ball. Thus, if Woodman was to run, it would be "Jumbo," or if Butle, "Tubby."

And in spite of Harvard's constant and ignominious defeats from its great rival, Yale, the annual game was still the most looked-for one in the country. There was undoubtedly good sportsmanship, but games frequently became rough and new. A minor legend of the early Eighties were Ben Lamb's teeth and their effect on the Harvard anatomy during a typically fierce game. The CRIMSON even penned a little poem on them:

Eli had a little Lamb,

His teeth were white as snow,

And every time Lamb bucked the line,

The Harvard gore would flow.

What made the Lamb treat Harvard so.

The Johnston all did cry.

Chose Harvard is Public meat you know,

And that's the reason why.