Today's Tidbit... Dirty Play And A Ring Of Truth

Back in the day, there was an element of chivalry in football. Despite many stories of dirty play, there were other tales of teams tackling opposing players high due to the awareness that an opposing player had a leg injury. For example, an earlier Tidbit mentioned the story of Clemson's Don King earning a 1953 sportsmanship award for telling his team to avoid hitting the Wake Forest quarterback's injured knee.

A similar event occurred when Davis & Elkins played Army in 1925. Army entered the game with one of its three quarterbacks in the hospital. When the starter became dazed in the second quarter, he left the game until his replacement was injured, forcing Army to send the starter back in. Army's trainer advised the Davis & Elkins captain of the situation, leading him to gather his team and instruct them not to mistreat Army's quarterback. They followed his instruction, which allowed Army's quarterback to finish the game without incident.

Of course, teams don't always follow the chivalrous path, which supposedly was the case when Harvard and Princeton battled in 1926, and Princeton won for the third year in a row. Things got heated the morning of the game when the Harvard Lampoon published a story that Princeton coach Bill Roper had died, much to Roper's surprise.

A play from the 1926 Harvard-Princeton game. (Princeton Alumni Weekly)