Gridiron Magic

responsible for more young men going
to Yale than perhaps any other influ-
ence. The same is true of Stagg of
Chicago and Yost of Michigan, and
Warner, now of Stanford. One reason
why so many youngsters are now pick-
ing New York University is on account
of Chick Meehan, the football coach.
He is a little fellow about five feet four
but commands the same respect that
little Miller Huggins used to get out
of the giant Yankees.

It is because Chick Meehan under-
stands his boys that he has made a
success. You must be a. student of
human nature to be a successful foot-
ball coach. The players are as tem-
peramental as movie stars, and you
must know how to handle them in order
to get the best out of them. Though I

75

was a pretty good player in college, I
was never free from getting the call-
downs from Chick Meehan. I got them
as often as the poorest player on the
team. Why? Because Chick knew that
I would go out the next day and try to
murder the scrubs! That is how he
got me to work.

Chick was one of the greatest quar-
ters in the game when he played with
Syracuse. I once asked him how. he
remembered his signals and he said,
“Well, I used to write them on the cen-
ter’s pants so they could be right be-
fore me.”

» “But suppose the center was put out
of the game what would you do?” I in-
quired.

. “Every center had pants with writing
on them,” he said with a smile.