Iowa Wesleyan College - Croaker Yearbook (Mount Pleasant, IA)

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Reason With the arrival of Coach Carl Heidt at Wesleyan last September the hopes of the Purple and White fans were high for a successful season. The new coach entered upon his work with a determination to make a football machine of which Wesleyan might well be proud. The success of the season if judged by the number of victories of the team was not very striking, and to say that the followers of the gridiron sport were disappointed is putting it mildly. After a couple of weeks rehearsing the rudiments of the game Heidt led his warriors against the state championship team at Coe. Although no one expected that we would triumph over the Cedar Rapids aggregation, it was hoped that the team would make a reputable showing. The game was played in rain and mud, and after every touchdown and field goal had been counted it was found that Wesleyan had suffered a 60-to-0 defeat. The coach had been able, however, to study the weak points in both offense and defense, and the next week was spent in the hardest kind of practice. The next game on the schedule was with our ancient rivals from Fairfield, and the men entered into preparations for the game with a spirit and determination that was marvelous. Great preparations were made by the students, and for a week before the contest the chapel was the scene of daily pep meetings and the campus was covered with banners and posters of every description. A large delegation of Parsons people came down for the game, and when the referee’s whistle blew there were more people on the west campus than had ever before attended a Wesleyan football game. Both teams were in the pink of condition, but before the game had advanced very far it was seen that Wesleyan was outclassed by their heavier opponents, and the visitors took the game, 13 to 0. The game was a clean, fast exhibition of football, and although all were disappointed over the outcome it was a pleasure to know that the two schools could engage in athletics without a resumption of the ancient ill feeling. The Pella Baptists were next in order on the Wesleyan schedule, and with the hoodoo somewhat shaken off we were able to register an 18-to-12 victory. The game was a seesaw affair, with the visitors leading at the end of the first half. Anderson and Grant played exceptionally good football, both offensively and defensively. The next two games were disastrous in the extreme. With several of the men disabled, Heidt took the men against the Cornell eleven at Cedar Rapids and came home with a 40-to-0 defeat. Monmouth followed the next week with a 50-to-0 win, and Wesleyan fans had given up all hope of any more victories. Simpson was the next to hit the slumping Methodists, and piled up a score of 28 to 0 against us. One more game remained on the schedule, and there had been only one victory come to the Wesleyan aggregation. No one had any hopes whatever of a win over the much-touted Christian University team from Canton, Missouri. However, the team entered the game with a determination to win, and the result shows how well they succeeded. Thirty to 6 was the tune the people from the “Show Me” state danced to, and if the Freshman eleven had not been put in during the third quarter the visitors would not have been able to score at all.

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HAROLD KEMBLE C. With no high school experience Kemble donned football togs two years ago and after only one year of training and practice on the scrubs secured a place on the varsity and won his honor W He is a man of lots of fight and pep and the possessor of a spirit that does not know defeat. He will be able to put up a good game at the pivot position next season. Left End ...... Left Tackle ... Left Guard ... Center......... Right Guard .... Right Tackle ... Right End ..... Right Halfback Left Halfback .. Fullback....... Quarterback ... THE LINEUP .........................................Gooch ....................................... Vcncll ..........................................Wahl ...............................Kemble, Mathews ........................................Barker .......................................Johnson ........................................Oatman ...............................Grant, Hunter ...........................Lodwick, Thompson ...............................Ballcw, Tovera ................................Doe, Anderson

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1 }t Jfresljman ®eam With Iowa Wesleyan’s entrance into the Iowa Conference, Freshmen were barred from varsity football and basketball. Many fans were of the opinion that it would be impossible to create among the first-year men a vital interest in these two branches of sport. After the first two weeks of football practice last fall, however, it was clearly demonstrated that the Freshmen athletes were taking as much interest in football as were the varsity men, and the team developed from the twenty or so yearling warriors who reported for positions was one of which the college was justly proud. Some of the best high school athletes from this corner of the state were among the number of men who had chosen Iowa Wesleyan as alma mater, and with such men as Snider, Davidson, Kepler and Davis a nucleus for a winning team was at hand. The team was very fortunate in its choice of a captain. Frank Snider, of Kalona, who had played during the season of 1913 upon the Freshman team at the State University, was selected early in the season for that position. He is the type of football player who plays with his head as well as with his brawn, and was an ideal choice for the captain of Iowa Wesleyan’s first Freshman football team. During the football season three games were played, and although only one out of the thiee resulted in victory for the Freshman eleven, it was evident that a wonderful football machine had been built out of the mixture of experienced and green material that was available. The first game was with the fast Ottumwa High bunch, and although the men from the metropolis carried away a 6-to-0 decision the locals played an offensive game during three quarters of the matinee, and should have been on the big end of the score. The second game was played with the eleven representing Oskaloosa High, and the Purple and White carriers were seriously handicapped by injuries to Davidson and Snider. For the first half of the contest they played their opponents even, but in the last half with no substitutes of any experience twenty scores were registered against them. After a three weeks’ rest Captain Snider’s men took the field against the much tooted Mt. Pleasant High and with the odds two to one against them played a wonderful game and whipped the high school aggregation 20 to 6. The defeat was so complete that the high school eleven abandoned the remainder of their schedule The first-year men were able to play the varsity even, and from their number there will be several strong varsity men for the season of 1916. CAPTAIN SNIDER