Clash of Titans

Percy Haughton played tackle and fullback at Harvard in 1898-99. He was known as an exceptional kicker in football as well as an outstanding outfielder and relief pitcher on the baseball diamond. After graduation in 1899, he coached the Cornell team for two years, compiling a 17-5 record.

Haughton became head coach at his alma mater in 1908 and enjoyed immediate success. In his first six years, the Crimson won 50, lost just three, and tied three.

By 1910, writers were referring to the Harvard football team as the "Haughton Machine." Percy developed a system of conditioning, practicing, and coaching that became the model that numerous other coaches emulated. A student of the game, he never hesitated to take what was good from other systems and styles of play, adding his own wrinkles along the way. Some of them had been used by Cam Forbes, his coach at Harvard.

Here's a partial list of the tactics that Haughton invented or refined.

The single wing attack with shifts into an unbalanced line.
Running and passing from kick formation.
The "mouse trap" play in football (now known simply as a "trap block") whereby the defensive lineman is allowed to cross the line of scrimmage by the man in front of him so that another blocker can take him out from the side.
Option plays where a back started around an end and when about to be tackled, pitched the ball to a trailing back who continued downfield.
Directional punting and pinpoint placing of kicks deep in the opponent's territory.
Defensive signals given by the captain as numbers and signs.
Five-man defensive line, dropping the other two men back as linebackers.
A larger coaching staff with each man assigned a specific area: backfield, line, end coach, and so on.
Practices scripted to the minute with no breaks.
A system still used today for naming offensive plays by a series of numbers: (1) Formation; (2) Direction (right or left); (3) Spot where play is to go; (4) Ball carrier; (5) Snap count.
Use of photos to review each game at Monday's practice.

Haughton also led a "palace coup" in 1910 that wrested control of the Rules Committee from Walter Camp of Yale, the "Father of Football." The main issue was the liberalization of the forward passing rules that had been passed in 1906 in response to the alarming number of deaths and serious injuries in football games. Camp had sponsored the rule allowing forward passes from behind the line of scrimmage to backs or ends but with severe restrictions.

(a) Passes could not be thrown within 5y on either side of the center or less than 5y behind the center.
(b) A receiver could not be more than 20y downfield from the line of scrimmage.
(c) If no player on either side touched the ball before it hit the ground, possession was awarded to the defensive team at the line of scrimmage.
(d) If a player on either side touched the ball before it hit the ground, it was treated like a fumble that either side could recover.
(e) An incomplete pass beyond the goal line was a touchback with the defensive team receiving possession on its 20 yard line.
(f) The defense could impede eligible receivers as they ran downfield.

With injuries still a persistent problem, Haughton and other members of the 1910 Rules Committee who wanted to further open up the game succeeded in removing most of the restrictions.

(a) Forward passes could cross the line of scrimmage at any point although the passer had to be five yards back.
(b) Only ends and backs would be eligible, but they could not be interfered with until they were 20y past the line of scrimmage.
(c) Incomplete passes on first and second down would no longer result in turnovers.

Oddly, the committee left intact the rule that punished the offense for an incomplete pass beyond the goal line.

Only one member of the Rules Committee, Walter Camp, refused to sign the new rules. That action marked the decline of his influence on football.

Haughton saw immediately the impact of the rules changes: The ideal player would now be the mobile, athletic man, not the big, heavy man.

Still, Haughton's Harvard teams used the forward pass sparingly the next two seasons. He stuck to his basic philosophy: Use the ground game to wear down opponents during the first three quarters and keep them bottled up in their own territory via the kicking game. Then pull away in the final period.

A big reason why Haughton and other coaches didn't use the forward pass much was the size of the ball. It was much closer to the spherical soccer ball than today's football. It was 23" in circumference around the middle and weighed 14-15 ounces. That made it much more suitable for kicking than for passing.

Haughton's 1910 Harvard team went 9-0-1 with the tie coming against archrival Yale in the annual finale.

His 1911 Crimson slipped to 6-2-1, tying Yale again.

Finally, his 1912 squad went unblemished, 9-0, including a 20-0 thumping of Yale in New Haven. With the Associated Press poll still 24 years in the future, five different retroactive rankings have proclaimed Harvard "National champion" for 1912.

Charlie Brickley dropkicks the field goal to beat Dartmouth 3-0 in 1912.
Notice the goal posts on the goal line and the 10-yard end zone, which was new that year.

If it were possible, the outlook for 1913 was even brighter. The Haughton Machine was functioning at peak capacity. So confident was Haughton of his team's prospects that the only outside help he invited to work with his players during preseason practice were two stars of his 1908 team, K Vic Kennard and C Joe Nourse. However, Percy made one exception. Kennard need not bother with senior FB Charlie Brickley, who had already established himself as the finest dropkicker in the country.

Haughton added another back to his 1913 arsenal that some thought was an even better player than Brickley. Eddie Mahan, Brickley's heralded prep school rival, moved up from the freshman squad to the varsity and displaced junior Huntington "Tack" Hardwick (a future College Football Hall of Fame inductee) from the backfield to end. Although weighing only 165 lbs, Mahan played every minute of every game of Harvard's 1913 season. A true triple threat, Eddie excelled as a runner, passer, and punter, replacing Brickley in that last capacity. Mahan explained his change of pace running style this way: "It's a cinch. All I do is poke my foot out at him (the tackler). He goes to grab it, and I take it away."

L-R: Mal Logan, Charlie Brickley, Eddie Mahan

Haughton's biggest problem heading into the 1913 season was finding a quarterback, the man who would call the offensive signals. With coaches prohibited from yelling instructions, the signal-caller had to be the coach's "brain" on the field to carry out the game plan. He settled on junior Mal Logan.

Haughton's line was not as big as many other teams'. He valued quickness over size and wanted "no 200-pound fat boys." His heaviest lineman, Stan Pennock, weighed 195.

Haughton needed fast linemen to provide "forward interference." He demanded that every man carry out his assignment on every offensive play "irrespective of the fate of the runner on the assumption that he will need their assistace if his path has been cleared to that point. Only on rare occasions does this occur, but when it does this interference [against] the third and even fourth line of defense converts a gain of, say, 10 yards into a really long run, which often as not results in a touchdown."

"Intelligence" was the term for scouting in Haughton's day, and he utilized it as much as any coach. Reginald Brown, Haughton's backup at fullback in his playing days at Harvard, attended the games of upcoming opponents and also kept tabs on them through a network of scouts. Brown filled notebook after notebook with his meticulous reports on each opponent.

The Crimson tore through their first eight opponents. The only close game was the 3-0 victory at Princeton when Brickley kicked the winning field goal on "a field inches deep in mud and as slippery as greased glass." (Springfield MA Republican 11/9/1913) Charlie had set up the three-pointer with a 61y romp down the sideline to the Princeton 23.

The Crimson defense pitched four other shutouts, including a 37-0 blasting of Brown the week before the Yale game. Harvard had fallen behind just once, and that was on a fumbled punt that a Holy Cross player scooped up on the six and carried into the end zone. The blowouts enabled Haughton to play his reserves and build depth.

L-R: Howard Jones, Yale Captain Henry Ketcham, Otis Guernsey
(Jones picture from Iowa Hawkeye 1917 Yearbook)
(Ketcham picture from Yale Banner and Pot Pourri Yearbook 1913-14)
(Guernsey picture from Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress)

Yale had not enjoyed the coaching consistency that benefitted Harvard. In the six years since Haughton became head man in Cambridge, the Eli had gone through five coaches. No one had lasted more than one year until Howard Jones (Yale class of 1908), who coached the Eli in 1909, returned for the 1913 season.

Jones never lost a game while playing end for Yale from 1905-1907. Then, after coaching Syracuse for a year at the recommendation of Walter Camp, Jones returned to his alma mater and coached the 1909 Yale team to an undefeated, untied, and unscored-on season. They were so good that nobody ever got beyond their 28y line.

Since head football coach at Yale was not a paid position, Jones was remunerated only for his expenses. So he coached Ohio State in 1910 before moving to private business the next five years with the exception of the 1913 season at Yale, where he was the first paid head coach at $2,500 for the season.

Jones's forte was line play and, unlike Haughton, he was a hands-on coach. Even when he had able assistants, Jones would "be down on the ground showing (his players) how to block, following every play on the dead run, and acting as though he were still playing end at Yale" to quote Al Wesson who collaborated with Jones years later on a book called Football for the Fans.

Yale entered the annual finale with a record of 5-1-3 with all nine games played at Yale field. The shocking loss came against Colgate.

The Eli were led by All-America C Henry Ketcham who, as captain, had engineered a coup that relegated Walter Camp to figurehead status as "Chairman and Treasurer of the Yale University Alumni Association."

Jones had a fine kicker of his own in FB Otis Guernsey, who would come the closest of any opponent all year to matching the skills of Mahan and Brickley. Guernsey was also Yale's line buster while Forester Ainsworth was the speedy outside runner. The offense was led by QB Alex Wilson. Haughton respected the Yale line led by Ketcham and another All-American, Bud Talbott, and expected tough-going on the ground. Percy and his staff also worked on stopping Yale's cross-blocking scheme.

Yale 1913 football team (Yale Banner and Pot Pourri Yearbook 1913-14)

Yale had dominated the rivalry with Harvard that began in 1875. The Eli had won 21 against only six losses and six ties. Haughton held his own in the series, winning twice while losing once with two ties. An interesting statistic from the series was that the losing or tying team had failed to score in every game starting in 1897. That streak would end in 1913.

Coach Jones stoked the fire the day before the game by charging Harvard with using unsportsmanlike, if not illegal, tactics on their shifts. "These shift plays involve an invasion of the neutral zone by the Harvard players as they weave back and forth in assuming new positions. Incidentally, they bump and brush against their opponents, already in position for the scrimmage to begin, and drive them back from their own restraining mark." (Boston Journal, 11/22/13)

Haughton had dealt with the same objection before the game at Princeton. A master at working the officials, he had written to referee Bill Langford, who was also scheduled to do the Yale game. After expressing his delight that Langford would be the head official, Percy got to the real point of his letter. "It has been reported to me that you took exception to the manner in which Holy Cross executed this same evolution (the "Wheel Shift"), and I am desirous of knowing where the trouble lay." Langford replied: "Your shift is permissible, but care should be taken to see that players do not advance beyond their line of scrimmage."

Harvard Stadium in 1911

The Crimson vowed to end three streaks in their football series with Yale. Harvard had not beaten Yale in the current stadium, which opened in 1903. Harvard had never scored a touchdown against Yale at the stadium and had never beaten Yale two years in a row.

As the crowd of 46,483 (at $2 a ticket–top dollar in 1913) found their seats at Harvard Stadium before the 2 PM kickoff on a warm and sunny afternoon, they were treated to an amazing spectacle by Brickley, "the most devastating weapon in college football," who was booting with his square toe attachment, which he slipped over his regular football shoe as needed during the game.

Brickley Shows Off Before Game

Coach Haughton had directed 20 Harvard managers in placing 100 footballs up and down and across the field for his star to boot. Neal O'Hara recalled Brickley's pregame regimen 25 years later: "During the practice period of each game, he'd start nudging dropkicks from every angle and every distance up to midfield, moving fanwise around the goal and making 98 percent of them good–a performance that stunned the opposition. Many a team was licked, psychologically, by Brickley's toe before the opening kickoff."

Harvard won the toss and took the south goal at the closed end of the stadium to have the wind at their back in the first quarter. As was customary at that time, Yale chose to kickoff.

Mahan Hurt on First Play

Before the game, QB Logan decided to run Harvard's first play from scrimmage right at Yale's best defender, LT Talbott. After Mahan ran the kickoff to the 19, the Crimson broke their huddle and lined up in punt formation with Mahan back. But they immediately shifted to the tandem run formation. Logan received the snap and lateraled to Mahan who headed into the right side of his line. While being blocked to the outside, Yale LE Ben Avery reached his arm back and caught Mahan on the nose and helped knock the runner to the ground. When Mahan lined up for the next play, Logan noticed, "His nose was a mess. ... A week's preparation of that first play had brought nothing but Mahan's bloody nose."

Brickley Overcomes Injury

It wasn't long before Brickley was injured. Either a cleat or a fingernail scraped his eye. According to a 1947 article about the game, "His vision was clouded, and it kept getting worse until he could scarcely see as far as the goalposts." That made Brickley's performance in the game all the more remarkable.

If Brickley left the game at that point, he could not return until the next quarter. So Charley gamely soldiered on as a punting duel ensued between Mahan and Guernsey with Mahan winning the battle. When Yale lined up only QB Wilson to return a punt, Mahan aimed his kick diagonally away from Wilson, making him chase the ball while Harvard's fleet ends converged on him.

Crimson Score First

Winning the punt exchanges allowed Harvard to move deep into Yale territory. Finally, at the 30, Brickley lined up for a dropkick. But the ball was snapped to Fred Bradlee, who gained 13y and a first down. But the Eli defense stiffened. So with the ball on the 14, Brickley dropped back with his scratched eye welling with tears. But that didn't stop him from booming a dropkick through the uprights. Harvard 3 Yale 0

Fluke Safety

Under the rules, Yale as the scored on team had the choice of kicking or receiving, and they chose to kick. That decision proved to be fortuitous as the ball hit the goalpost. Harvard's Frank O'Brien caught the ball on the ricochet and carried it back into the end zone for what he thought was a touchback. But that was not the case on a kickoff. (The rule was changed the following year so that a kickoff striking the goal post was a touchback.) Harvard 3 Yale 2

Shortly afterward, Mahan boomed a 75y punt. When Yale booted back, the Crimson took over on the Eli 42 after a fair catch. As is still true in pro football today, the rules allowed Harvard a free kick from that point. Brickley decided to try a placement with Logan as his holder. The Harvard fans felt complete confidence that Harvard would soon lead 6-2. What they didn't know was that Charley could barely make out the goal posts. But all he needed was to have the direction pointed out of him. He stepped back and swung his powerful right leg through the ball. It easily cleared the crossbar and landed in the stands 25y behind the goal line. Harvard 6 Yale 2

From the first day of fall practice, Haughton fussed at Mahan for kicking 50-60y line drive punts. "How do you think any ends can cover that?" asked the coach. "You must kick high enough for your ends to cover the distance." As the weeks wore on, Mahan got better at booting high punts.

But now a few minutes after Brickley's second field goal, Mahan outkicked his coverage. Wilson caught it and zoomed straight upfield to the Harvard 36. From there, Guernsey lofted a kick that barely cleared the crossbar. Harvard 6 Yale 5

Yale's momentum continued to the dismay of the home crowd. When Carroll Knowles dropped back to punt for Yale, Tack Hardwick roared in from his end position so fast that Knowles tucked the ball, eluded Hardwick, and ran to midfield before Brickley brought him down with time running out in the half. Guernsey had time to try another field goal, but it barely missed as the Crimson fans breathed a collective sigh of relief. Halftime score: Harvard 6 Yale 5

Haughton Refuses to Remove Brickley

The Harvard players had to guide Brickley to his spot in the locker room. He rubbed his eyes in vain to clear his vision. The team physician examined Brickley and told Haughton that his ace kicker should be removed from the game.

The coach asked the doctor one question. "It won't make him blind, will it?" The team physician shook his head. "There's no fear of permanent injury. His vision will get increasingly blurred today, but his eyesight will be perfect again in a few days." Haughton replied, "He doesn't have to see. Charlie Brickley can kick field goals with his eyes shut."

Yale's momentum carried over as Knowles returned the second half kickoff from his 29 to the Harvard 37. His tackler, E Frank O'Brien, was hurt on the play. In came the sub, Duncan Dana, who would make key contributions to the Harvard attack.

The Eli couldn't move much further. So Guernsey tried a field goal from midfield that fell far short and rolled into the end zone. Nobody knew it at the time, but that ended Yale's momentum.

Harvard had been outrushed by Yale in the first half 79-68. But the second 30 minutes was a different story. With the Crimson quick front wall stifling Yale's vaunted cross-blocking, Harvard won the ground war in the second half 148-78.

Logan's play-calling kept the Eli off balance, but Yale did manage to stop Harvard from crossing their goal line. But that was no problem for the team that had Brickley.

After Guernsey's miss, Mahan scampered to the Yale 29. Then substitute E Dana took a pitch from Logan on an end-around and gained 9y. That put the ball close enough for Brickley to strike again, this time on a dropkick from the 36. Harvard 9 Yale 5

Harvard got the ball back on its 32. From there, Brickley demonstrated his running skills. He burst through a big hole up the middle and veered to the sideline for a 35y gain. Alex Wilson seemed to knock him down, but the officials didn't stop the play. So Brick kept going until a host of tacklers slammed him into the hay on the sideline at the 24. Three snaps later, Brickley's dropkick split the uprights from a slight angle at the 30. Harvard 12 Yale 5

As the final quarter began, the desperate Eli took to the air with disastrous results. Guernsey fired the ball 25y downfield toward Maurice Brann, who slipped. Running at full tilt, Brickley picked off the pass on the Harvard 30.

Harvard Puts Game Away

From there, Mahan blasted a 55y punt with no return. Yale's ensuing punt reached only their 44.

Dana made another crucial run during Harvard's march, this one for 10y to put the ball on the 11. Brickley dropped back to the 21, took the snap, and dropkicked his fifth field goal. Harvard 15 Yale 5

As the final minutes ticked away, the only question was whether Brick would boot another three-pointer. He got a chance when Mahan fair caught a punt at the Yale 45. But the try fell far short, leaving him 5-for-7 for the afternoon. He was lining up for still another attempt when the whistle blew ending the game.

FINAL SCORE: BRICKLEY 15 YALE 5

Finally beating Yale in Harvard Stadium caused the crowd to go wild. Thousands of fans stormed the field. They hoisted Haughton and many of his players on their shoulders and snake-danced around the field. Brickley's uniform was almost torn off of him by fans trying to shake his hand or slap his back.

Asked how he managed to kick five field goals without being able to see clearly, Brickley answered, "Mostly by instinct." His ceaseless practice had made him a kicking machine. Just tell him the distance and angle, and he could literally kick it blind through the goal posts.

Brickley's five field goal day made headlines across the nation. From coast to coast, schoolboys pretending to be Brickley practiced dropkicks.

Meanwhile, the Yale coaches and players were so disgusted by the perceived incompetence of referee Langford that they vowed never to have him officiate another of their games.

The Harvard coach and players enjoyed a night on the town that evening. They went to the show starring singer/actress Elsie Janis at the Colonial Theatre, where they were cheered as they rode up to the entrance. Many of the performers wore red "with the exception of Don, the dog. He wore a huge blue bow and growled at the Harvard men in the boxes. ... The house went into uproar in the second act when Elsie Janis threw a football into the box at Mal Logan and he crudely fumbled it."

Years later, the 1913 Harvard Crimson were declared national champions by the Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, and National Championship Foundation and as co-national champion with Chicago by Parke H. Davis.

References:
The History of American Football: Its Great Teams, Players, and Coaches, Allison Danzig (1956)
College Football U.S.A. 1869-1971: Official Book of the National Football Foundation, John D. McCallum/Charles H. Pearson (1972)
Great College Football Coaches of the Twenties and Thirties, Tim Cohane (1973)
The Complete Book of Football: A New York Times Scrapbook History (1980)
The Coach Who Strangled the Bulldog: How Harvard’s Percy Haughton BeatYale and Reinvented Football (Kindle edition), Dick Friedman (2018)