Anti-Football Instructor Debates Coach

PROVIDENCE, R.I., March 10--The man who wanted to abolish intercollegiate football at Brown University survived his debate against the athletic department tonight, but announced the end of his one-man campaign.

Wade C. Thompson, instructor in English, stood before movie cameramen, national pressmen, and a crowd of 700 rambunctious students to support his thesis that "the anti-intellectual game is choked with cliches, sentimental mush, and too much sanctity."

When Thompson and his opponent, Paul F. Mackesey, athletic director, were ushered to the platform amid booing, hissing, cheering undergraduates, the instructor appeared to be outnumbered by the athletic faction of the campus. But he appealed to the crowd to join "the dialogue," and proceeded in Socratic tones.

Mackesey used a serious, simple approach, citing the advantages of football and accusing Thompson of "seeking headlines and looking at education with one eye." The intelligentsia in the audience waited its turn, then took over the question period with sedate challenges to the director of athletics. Mackesey handled several of them with terse quips, like "I don't see any football players wearing halos," in answer to a question about the alleged sanctity of Brown football.

"Football does not build the character," Thompson returned. "It's no substitute for motherhood."

Meanwhile, moderator Henry Kucera, assistant professor of Russian, got in a plug for the faculty-sponsored "Discussions '59," of which this was an unintended enlargement. Originally, the meeting was to be an informal lounge chat. When it became a public forum, John J. McLaughry, appointed head football coach only weeks ago, decided that the issue had lost its original humor and announced that he would be out of town tonight.

In answer to a question, Thompson was forced to admit that his petition to abolish the game and his Strategy Committee were indeed flctitious. Sweating but still emphatic after a two-hour dedate, he told the CRIMSON, "This is the end. I just wanted to start the controversy and point out the over-emphasized sanctity of the game at Brown. Someone else may carry the ball." Upon congratulating his opponent, Thompson was told by Mackessey, "Carry on, Wade."

Referring to Thompson's alma mater, which banned football, one heckler in the crowd asked, "Mr. Thompson, what do they do at Chicago on Saturday afternoons?" Again, Thompson's reply was ready: "I guess they sleep."