“He probably violated all sorts of rules by adding what was then called ‘scrambled eggs’ to his hat and his uniform,” Smith said. “That gave him a very high rank so he could pose as a military advisor.”

Before the game, a Harvard band member used the stadium’s public address system to announce Kennedy’s arrival.  As the band broke into “Hail to the Chief,” the faux military advisor and three impersonated secret servicemen flanked Smith as he marched out onto the field to applause and a standing ovation from the crowd.

Smith embraced his role and gave his best impression of the President.

“He had a distinguished way of sticking his hands in his overcoat pocket with the thumb sticking out that everyone knew as Kennedy, so that’s what I emulated while I waved to the crowd,” Smith recalled.

After a few minutes on the field, Smith tore off his mask and ran up to the press box, where he was covering the game as the alumni magazine sports correspondent. He remembers how peeved the other media members were, even as the debate raged on as to whether the spectacle was indeed Kennedy or not.

“The sports reporters were very unhappy about either being taken in or not being informed in advance by the White House,” Smith said. “I was concerned that I would be identified because I had the same coat on, but I had taken off the mask, so I wasn’t.”

Underdog Harvard went on to win The Game, 27-0, prompting The Crimson’s spirited lede in Monday’s regular edition: “The so-called experts can call Harvard’s 27-0 victory over Yale today [sic] anything they damn well please.”

Beneath the game recap, The Crimson ran a story divulging the hoax and details of the Saturday morning distribution. Editors had evaded Yale security throughout the morning, though one Crimson editor was apprehended but released after convincing the officers that it was a true Daily News edition he was distributing.

“I was really surprised to hear it was the 50th anniversary [of the prank],” Smith said last week. “I was very pleased to learn that, as I had been planning on going to The Game, and I had not known.”

The real President Kennedy would visit New Haven in June 1962 to receive an honorary degree and to deliver the commencement address to the senior class who had been fooled into thinking that he had sat in the stands at The Game.

The White House has yet to inform either The Crimson or the Daily News if President Obama will be in the stands tomorrow.