On October 18, 1986 in Hanover, N.H., Harvard defeated Dartmouth, 42-26.
In the race for the Ivy League championship, the game was unimportant. That year, Harvard finished fifth and Dartmouth fourth.
But for Harvard quarterback Tom Yohe, the game was momentous. Against Dartmouth, Yohe got his first varsity start.
Today Yohe has thrown for more yards than any Harvard quaterback.
"You could see Yohe's capability and what he started to do," Harvard Coach Joe Restic says. "He became very aggressive that game. He ran the option well. He controlled that game for us."
The stats show that Yohe did not have a tremendous passing afternoon. He threw for just 106 yards and a touchdown. But he also ran for 120 yards and two TDs.
"It was important just getting into a game and getting a chance to show the coaching staff and the rest of Harvard how I could play and prove myself," Yohe says.
The Dartmouth game made it clear that Harvard had a quarterback who could run and throw and put points on the scoreboard.
Yohe started four more games for the Crimson, including The Game against Yale. Harvard beat the Elis, 24-17; Yohe threw for a pair of TDs.
Yohe appeared in seven games as a sophomore, throwing five touchdowns. By the beginning of the 1987 season, he was a veteran.
"The fact that he had a half year's work as a sophomore was very, very critical," Restic says. "That doesn't happen to too many people, not in our system. But he did get the experience and built on it, and last year he just got it done."
Last year Yohe and Harvard had the kind of fairytale season that only happens in football-hero novels. Expected to finish in the second-division, Harvard posted a 6-1 record (8-2 overall), including a title-clinching victory in The Game.
Last year, Yohe rewrote the Harvard record book, signing his name to just about every career passing mark.
Yohe completed a whopping 158 passes for a single-season record 2134 yards. He threw for a record 17 TDs. Yohe is the owner of the Harvard career records for passing attempts (423), completion (203) and yardage (2730).
There is just one major record which has eluded him. His career total of 22 TD passes is just one shy of Larry Brown's 23, set in 1978. Look for Brown's mark to fall sometime during the first half of tomorrow's game against Columbia.
Flexibility a Key
Yohe's athletic ability allows him tremendous flexibility. In addition to football, Yohe played baseball at Crown Point High School in Indiana, and earned McDonald's All-America honors for his work on the basketball court for the team he twice captained.
"Tom's one of the finest athletes I've played with," says halfback Tony Hinz. "He puts incredible pressure on a defense. He can sprint-out, run and to top it all of off, he's a prolific passer."
His athletic ability makes it almost funny watching opponents try to sack Yohe. Tom-be-nimble, Tom-be-quick, Tom throws to receiver beyond the first-down stick.
Combined with his considerable strength and endurance, Yohe's speed makes him tougher to grab than a greased watermelon. When he scrambles, he gives himself more time to see the field.
"He has tremendous poise and vision on the field," Restic says. "The minute it breaks down and he moves, he knows who's going to be open. He has a feel for that. And you don't teach that."
"In our meetings down at the convention, the Ivy coaches get together and the one thing the coaches talked about was how Yohe is dangerous when he's in trouble. Well, I said, 'just don't put him in trouble. Let him stay in the pocket and throw.'"
If the other teams in the league do that, there's no telling how many yards Yohe will throw for in his senior year. But since he already owns the Harvard record book and an Ivy League championship ring from last year's Cinderella season, there doesn't seem much left for Yohe to do.
But there are two Herculean tasks left that Yohe can accomplish that have never been done before.
No QB has ever led the Crimson to back-to-back sole Ivy championships, and no one has ever quarterbacked Harvard to three victories over Yale.
With 11 starters returning from last year's team, anything short of another title will be a disappointment, and Yohe knows it.
"My goal is to lead this team to an Ivy League title," he says simply.
If it wasn't hard enough to shut down Yohe last year, his coaches are incorporating new offensive designs to take advantage of his talents.
"We expect him to do some different things this year," Restic says. "We put some new things in because of his capability. You'll see some new and different action from Yohe this year."
New and different action, but probably the same result. Tom Yohe's Passing Stats 1986
Year Cpl Att Pct Yds Lon g Int TD Soph. 45 102 .441 596 53
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