The football career of Harvard linebacker Brad Stinn is over.

The senior suffered his fifth concussion in the early moments of Saturday's 23-6 victory at Columbia, and after an examination by Dr. Arthur Boland the decision was made to call it a career.

"I'm real disappointed," Stinn said yesterday, "but I'll still be attending practice, helping out and doing whatever I can."

According to Dr. Boland, multiple concussions can cause permanent damage to the brain, and in almost every case of this severity, the athlete is forbidden to play. "They come here to strengthen their brains, not destroy them," he said.

Candidates

Joe Azelby, the sophomore who intercepted a pass filling in for Stinn Saturday, and junior Otto Rutt are the leading candidates to win Stinn's job, but Harvard coach Joe Restic may use both--and others--Saturday against Holy Cross.

Mark Layden, a junior who was expected to be a leading candidate for a starting job, is currently out of action indefinitely with a leg injury.

Stinn, a native of Fairview Park, Ohio, is a two-year letter winner who started alongside graduated Bob Woolway in 1980.

In other news from the training room, wide receiver and punt returner Paul Scheper is out of action for an indefinite period with what is officially called a rib injury, although sources close to the team claim he has a broken rib.

His places will be filled by split end Dirk Killen, who caught two passes Saturday, and defensive back Rocky Delgadillo, who shared the punt-returning duties with Scott McCabe after Scheper left the field last weekend, and will probably do the same against Holy Cross.