Fare Harvard....Nineteen forty-seven was a big year for sports. The Yankees won their 15th pennant, a benefactor of mankind invented the NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= , Branch Rickey Jack Roosevelt Robinson, Robinson desegregated baseball, and a football coach named Dick Harlow Richard C. “Dick” Harlow (born October 19, 1889 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – died February 19, 1962 in Bethesda, Maryland) was a Hall of Fame football coach. Harlow pioneered modern defensive schemes. showed the country what a president of the American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association is an association of football coaches on all levels and is responsible for the Coaches Poll that determines the national champion each year. was all about. His daytime job was coaching Harvard, and he was a genius at it. Nobody had a classier, spinning single-wing offense and nobody had a loftier perception of life in the Ivy League. He held two college degrees (from Penn State), was a world-class oologist o·ol·o·gy n. The branch of zoology that deals with the study of eggs, especially birds' eggs. o (collector of birds' eggs), called his players "dear boys," and was a sensitive observer of the human condition. His finest moment as a coach occurred on October 11, 1947, against the University of Virginia. Harvard lost 40-zip, but maintained its unblemished record for sociological enlightenment. At the time, Charlottesville, VA, was still a segregated community that looked askance a·skance also a·skant adv. 1. With disapproval, suspicion, or distrust: "The area is so dirty that merchants report the tourists are looking askance" Chris Black. at mixed doubles. Harvard's #70, Chester Pierce, was a tackle by choice and a black man by birth. Harvard had been told to leave him home, but it had flatly refused. They would cancel the game if Pierce wasn't permitted to play. Virginia backed off. When Harvard arrived at Charlottesville, the local hotel refused to admit Chester. But it had arranged a special deal for him - a separate but equal accommodation in a mansion just behind the hotel. Coach Harlow said wonderful -- the whole Harvard team would sleep in the mansion. The next potential hostility occurred at dinner time when the Harvard team showed up at the dining hall, only to be told that Chester Pierce would have to enter by the rear door. "No problem," announced General Harlow. "The whole team will come in the back way." The last major problem occurred the next afternoon when Harvard entered the stadium, to be greeted raucously and threateningly. General Harlow marched over to his left tackle. "Chester, I want you to walk on my outside," he said, knowing that any thrown object would have to get by him (the coach) first. The game was played without incident. Harvard was trounced 400, but not defeated. They returned home first class - on the train and in their hearts. |
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