Springfield Opens '51 Football Slate

Harvard will oppose Springfield College in its first football game of the 1951 season and will enjoy an open date between Dartmouth and Princeton, according to the nine game schedule released yesterday by Director of Athletics William J. Bingham '16.

Next year's schedule includes all eight teams the Crimson faced last fall plus Springfield, which returns to the Stadium after a 13-year lapse. Scheduling Springfield represents the College's first positive step toward moderation in its football slate, and--as is the case with Yale and Princeton--it gives Harvard an opening game against a smaller school.

The open date is an innovation in Harvard football schedules, excluding the informal years in 1943 and 1944 and the first post-war season of 1945. Bingham could not be reached for comment last night as to whether the open date would become a permanent feature of future schedules.

The off day was effected by moving the opening game up two weeks to September 22, and following that, the Crimson will play Holy Cross, which ordinarily would be played on November 3.

Springfield is a college of 1,300 men, but since its program is weighted heavily towards physical education, the school attracts many boys interested in professional coaching careers. Its football team, which belongs to no league, has been directed by Ossie Solem, of Minnesota, for the past four years. Last season Springfield won six games while

1951 SCHEDULE

Sept. 22 Springfield

Sept. 29 Holy Cross

Oct. 6 At Columbia

Oct. 13 At Cornell

Oct. 20 Army

Oct. 27 Dartmouth

Nov. 3 Open

Nov. 10 Princeton

Nov. 17 Brown

Nov. 24 At Yale dropping two.

A single-wing team, Springfield beat Cortland State Teachers, Rates, Rhode Island, St. Michael's, Massachusetts, and American International. It lost to undefeated New Hampshire (14-0) and Connecticut (13-12).

Harvard has played Springfield on ten previous occasions, winning every game in the series and limiting the Gymnasts to a total of five points. When the teams last met in 1937, the score was 54 to 0