"Sock 'em" Is Latest Football Cry

"Rock 'em and soek 'em!" That is the newest byword on Soldiers Field, a carry-over from Coach Lloyd Jordan's days at Pittsburgh. It can often be heard when the team comes out of its Muddle, and it is an expression that will probably come in for a good deal of use around the Stadium this fall.

Harvard will rock 'em in new uniforms the conventional khaki whipcord pants replace the black satins the Crimson wore last year; home jerseys will be crimson with white numerals, white jerseys with crimson arm hands and numerals will be used at Princeton; head-gears crimson with a white stripe running the length of the helmet.

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Although pre-season injuries have been few and not very serious (knock on wood), two members of the squad--sophomore guard Art Pappas and end Bob Di Blasio--were stricken with appendicitis during the first week of practice.

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Besides the annual pigeon hunt through the Stadium press box, several other jobs have been completed or started during the summer. Bulldozers are now levelling off an area which will probably be used for more House football fields, and increased lighting facilities have been added to the varsity practice enclosure adjacent to the Stadium. Three sets of floodlights have been set up opposite the Stadium and three more sets of bulbs have been installed on the outside of the Stadium itself.

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A new memorial, to Huntington R. (Tack) Hardwick '15, has been placed in front of Dillon Field House. Hardwick, who died in 1945, was a football, baseball, and track star, captaining the 1915 team. The citation reads: "Inspiring leader, eager competitor, loyal sportsman."

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Jordan's trainer, Jack Fadden, was hired by the Red Sox over the summer but still retains overall supervision of the squad's conditioning. Should Boston get into the World Series it would mean that Fadden will have to divide his time between Harvard and the Red Sox that much longer, but Jordan is rooting for the Bosox just the same.

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Several new mechanical devices have become a part of the Crimson practice routine. One--an offensive dummy machine--consists of a string of five dummies fastened by airplane cable to a rod at the top and to hooks driven into the ground at the bottom. Jordan used the machine at Amherst, but with chain instead of cable, which has sufficient spring to throw a would-be blocker.

Another addition is a network of ropes spread on a frame about a foot off the ground and divided into squares. The traditional Crowther two-man blocking machine is also on hand; it is named after a former Harvard line coach. Rao Crowther, who served under Dick Harlow and designed the machine.

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Don Weber is the only member of the squad to be hit by the latest service requirements. First string left guard on the freshman team last year, Weber was called to active duty by his National Guard unit. As Jordan pointed out on the first day of fall practice, the service will level all college teams--all except the Army.

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Readers of Stanley Woodward's annual football magazine should not be alarmed by Woodward's schedule, which has Harvard opening against Hobart here on September 30. Actually, Columbia plays Hobart on that date and Harvard starts action a week later against the Lions. Woodward also lists Arthur Sampson as one of four men who "induced flashes of Spartanism" in Harvard football. The other three are former coaches Arnold Horween, Harlow, and Art Valpey. Sampson, former director of publicity for the H.A.A., is now a Boston sportswriter.

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Jimmy Farrell, H.A.A. equipment chief, answered an SOS from Benny Friedman, who, opening football practice at Brandeis University, suddenly found himself short of uniforms.

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Both 1949 captain Howie Houston and quarterback Bill Henry may be found in football togs on Soldiers Field every day. Houston coaches the freshman line and Henry is assisting Coach Norm Shepard with the junior varsity eleven.