THE REBUILDED CHAIN

On a cold Saturday in November 1926 two football teams met in the Stadium to play a game which made athletic history. Throughout that fall and for many seasons previous relations between those teams had been strained by repeated accusations and marks of ill-will. For in the two successive years prior to 1926 one of those teams had been beaten by the other by large scores, a fact which resulted at first in the outgrowth of much idle talk and friendly criticism involving the type of playing which the victor had used. As the months were on that informal humor became more serious as the comments ran to the personal and untrue. What before had been mere rivalry now turned into hate with each side attempting to outvie the other. Words turned to threats and jokes to nasty accusations. One of those teams then tried to replace her rival with another for the ensuing year. Open hostility glowed warmly on both sides and plans were laid for that game of 1926. Undergraduates and older men alike girded their loins for battle. And then it broke. The pent-up fury of heated anger gave way to better judgment. Old friendships were forgotten, tradition cast aside. One spark it took to touch it off, and then all was open furor. The result could be but one, and that the obvious.

Eight years have passed. Old hatreds are forgotten, new friendships made. Sharp edges have grown dull in those eight long years. Gradually each college came sheepishly back arranging meets in minor sports, then trying the major games. At last the final link has been forged and the chain of friendly rivalry is again complete. The causes of the first fracture need not be analysed here. A new generation sits in the undergraduate seat, eager to carry on tradition.

To that group the events of 1926 are veiled in legend. Today is one which starts a new era in our athletic history, one which must be conducted with good feeling and high standards. Ours is the pleasure to witness the first tests of this rebuilded chain, ours the task to keep it whole.