They packed them into the Stadium that fall day back in 1929. There were 57,000 in all, more than ever before. They were waiting to see Harvard's first All-American since '23, a raw-boned center named in Ben Ticknor. And they were waiting to see the beginning of one of the most colorful stories in the local gridiron history, the memorable battle between Barry Wood and little Albie Booth.

The team had won five lost to Dartmouth and Michigan and tied a great Army eleven. Fans were still piling in when the game began.

Harvard football drew the multi-colored crowds across the bridge In those days, and, as they entered the massive football structure, they noted that the old wooden stands were gone. Across the arms of the horseshoe now stood 17,000 seats worth of cold steel, stuff just as solid the reputation of the Crimson Perhaps a little more so.

But soon those steel stands will be gone like the men who bought them, President Lowell, who finally approved their construction is gone; Bill Bingham who introduced them is gone; and the All-Americans who filled them are gone. Next year who Colgate, Washington, Davidson, and Springfield leave Dillon Field House, fitted our in their football togs they'll able to run through a gaping hole in the North end of the Stadium.

Slowly, ever so slowly, this game called football is changing. The Atlantic Refining Company, sponsor of the nation-wide broadcasts of Ivy League contests, has decided to switch to the steadier professional game. The old fan now sits in his living room choosing his afternoon entertainment from a channeled selection. If he misses the late fall feeling of dump concrete, cold hot dogs and warm brandy, if he misses the "Peanuts," the "Get your colors," of a bright autumn day, he isn't talking.

It took a little more than 30 years, but a lot had a to be forgotten. They're tearing out those old steel stands; perhaps some people will be just a little bit colder down on Soldiers Field.