FINDS BRIGGS CAUSE OF IMPROVED SPORTS

Mr. Dwight Stillman Brigham '08, who has written the following account of the early days of the Athletic Committee under Dean Briggs, was, while in college, baseball manager and President of the Crimson. He is now assistant to the President of the Boston & Maine Railroad. Dean Briggs' resignation will go into effect July 1.

It was my good fortune to be one of the undergraduate members of the Athletic Committee during the first year of the Chairmanship of Dean Briggs and to observe at close range how faithfully he gave every ounce of himself to this unsolicited task which must have seemed to him a formidable one under the existing conditions.

The significance of the assumption of the functions of Chairman by Dean Briggs was much deeper than the mere change in leaders, for the devotion and efficiency of his predecessor was unquestioned. Dean Briggs' election followed a period of bitter attack upon all phases of intercollegiate athletics, and the new Committee took office with the virtual understanding that upon the success of its control of athletic policies depended the very future of competitive sports between Harvard and other colleges.

Put Teeth Into Ruling

In May, 1906, the Overseers and Corporation appointed a joint committee to consider the entire subject of the regulation of athletic sports, and gave teeth to their action by instructing the Athletic Committee to sanction no commitments by Harvard for intercollegiate contests after December 1, 1906. Late in November, as the joint committee had made no report, authority was granted to arrange contests with other colleges up to July 1, 1907.

While the joint committee deliberated, the future of athletics became the subject of general and sometimes acrimonious discussion. Football was the favorite target, but the questions of professional coaches in all sports, training tables, commercialism, and many other phases were hotly debated. The merits of competition in sports were challenged and defended. In February of 1907 President Roosevelt addressed the undergraduates at Cambridge and made a vigorous defense of competitive athletics, especially in their rougher forms. His audience was most receptive, and his remarks were generally accepted as a challenge to the views of President Eliot which had been frequently expressed and were summarized in his annual report which appeared shortly after Mr. Roosevelt's address.

The anxiety of the undergraduates was allayed by the report of the joint committee which appeared in March, 1907. Its recommendations were not drastic. The three Deans were to become automatically the three faculty members of the Athletic Committee, and minor changes were made in the method of selecting undergraduate members. The Committee was recommended to reduce expenses; to reduce the number of contests and the length of trips; and to use their efforts in connection with other colleges to eliminate professional coaches. The main thing was that intercollegiate sports were to be continued under the supervision of the Committee--and the Committee fully realized this responsibility.

Dean Briggs was a "fan"--at least in baseball. Of the practical side of athletic management he pretended to no experience. His committee was composed of two other Deans whose experience was less than his, although they were most anxious to learn and to be helpful; of three distinguished graduates whose mature judgment and practical experience were invaluable, but who were not very sympathetic to the criticism of competitive athletics as such; and of three undergraduates of whom it is enough to say that they represented the undergraduate point of view.

Dean Briggs problems were not-simplified by a resolution of the faculty calling for a curtailment of athletic contests. An unsuccessful football season which began with the brightest prospects brought a demand for a definite policy in football, and led to the appointment of an advisory committee and the selection of Haughton as head coach with results which are well known During this first year there was considerable agitation in regard to summer baseball Dartmouth had cleaned house drastically with the result that its baseball team was seriously crippled. When a request came, therefore, for the Harvard baseball team to break precedent and play a game at Hanover, Dean Briggs felt that to comply would be to show Dartmouth that their attitude was appreciated. No one wanted to go, as the schedule was already difficult, but the Dean won. The trip was made in 24 hours with a buffet car lunch and a sleeping car after the game, and before a holiday crowd Harvard lost. Harvard's action was much appreciated, however, and this incident is typical of the broad attitude with which Dean Briggs approached his difficult task. I believe that the improved relations with other colleges in general can largely be traced to Dean Briggs.

My enjoyment of the association consisted in observing the working of Dean Briggs' mind on the many practical problems which were entirely foreign to his previous experience. Be was able to meet these problems in a practical way, but he never lost his idealistic point of view. I believe that it is largely due to his personality that the history of Harvard athletics during the past seventeen years has been singularly free from the criticism and controversy which preceded that period; and all this has been accomplished without radical changes and without impairment of the value of athletics as a definite factor in undergraduate life