It's like late fall at a winery.
For three days, Boston and New York sportswriters have been flopping by the basket-load from the sour apple tree where they hung and grimaced at Harvard football during its years of mediocrity. Reporters and columnists can't seem to spout their stream of adjectives Valpeywards fast enough, a stream that has heretofore saved solely for blessing B. C. and Company.
The usually brackish Record-American team dried off its salty stylus Monday and headlined the Crimson as "Great."
The following day, the Stadium upset even worked its way into Alan Frazer's society column in the American:
"Arthur Valpey passed his first examination at Harvard. The new coach should be happy over his opening victory. When Arnie Horween took over the job in '26, Harvard lost its opener to Geneva (of all teams)."
More enthusiastic, if less flattering and abrupt than the Record (headquarters of the vituperative Colonel Egan, who, incidentally, has not been heard from yet), the Boston Globe and Herald-Tribune, and the New York Times followed their first punches Monday with roundhouse fistfulls of laurels Tuesday.
Jerry Nason, sports editor of the Globe, chortled aplenty over the "New Look in Harvard Football" in his report on the game.
"Harvard is now worth the price of admission. And I suspect that we have another Frank Leahy arising in the land of the pork and the bean.
"Riot of Football"
"It was a riot of offensive football, in which young Arthur Valpey's debutante team forced the fight, struck the first blow, dazed a sound 7 1/2 point favorite, and stomped home with an opening day upset which sent its undergraduate contingent into a mass demonstration of delerium.
"Valpey has done an astonishing job. A devotee of punch, rather than duck, he has fashioned a football team that gulps up yardage like every guy was promised a now suit of clothes for a 30-yard run," Nason went on, somewhat more enthusiastically than grammatically.
Vern Miller, also of the Globe, heaped another load of the weed of praise on the Valpey system, calling the upset a "staggering and glittering offensive victory . . . certainly the most spectacular Harvard decision over a major opponent in a decade . . . one of hope for Collegiate football's future in New England."
Certainly the score feast proved that even the Ivy League, with its strict rules against importing professional players, can show a sparkling brand of football. In spite of traditional lassitude, little football here worship in the stands, and too many three-hour labs for the players, the raw material under these Paris fashion pants can be polished into a highly efficient machine.
Cautious and Staid
More cautious and staid in its praise, but still loaded with adjectives, was the New York Times. Allison Danzig dubbed the Crimson as "one of the cleverest, fanciest, and hardest-hitting Harvard elevens since Percy Haughton."
Danzig's confrere, Lincoln A. Werden, hailed "the emergence of Harvard as a topflight team. Entering the contest an unknown factor to most observers, the Crimson ran on its repertoire of plays with a thoroughness and efficiency sufficient to rock the Lions in the first half and then carried out its assignments of newly installed Michigan style of attack so well that it left a determined Columbia eleven for short of a cherished victory at the end.
"Evidently the spirit noted by visitors to Cambridge in the pre-season practice sessions is genuine and has filled the well-trained ball-handlers with an eagerness to put Harvard back on the football map."
Sampson Delighted
Arthur Sampsan, erstwhile publicity director for the H.A.A. was tickled to death by the showing, and let his enthusiasm run for inches of newsprint. His analysis, from the Monday Herald, in part:
"It tickled the fancy of the majority of witnesses because the ball was on the move constantly. The technically-minded, however left the Stadium picking the defensive setups employed and pointing outthat the tackling was atvaclaus. But that makes little difference. For every one of these critical fans there were dozens of gleeful patrons saying, 'What a game. Harvard finally has a team worth watching.'
"And that's true. This nineteen-forty-eight Harvard eleven is equipped with a versatile, well-conceived and explosive attack. It is inoculated with spirit and drive. It is beautifully conditioned. It is intelligently coached. It's going to be a worthy opponent for every team on its schedule."
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Gen. Ed. Jam-Up
