Whatever happened to . . .

Eric Crone '73

1970: Unfairly, Eric "End Zone" Crone, a three-year starter against the Elis and a talented passer, will probably be remembered for a play that didn't matter. With time running out and Harvard nursing a 14-10 lead, Crone took the snap at his own 12-yard line and faded back to run out the clock. He faded so far back, however, that the Yale defense downed him in his own end zone for a safety. What's worse, time hadn't elapsed, and the Crimson was forced to punt the ball from its own 20, giving Yale one last chance. Fortunately, a horde of excited Cantabrigians stormed the field, ending the contest a bit prematurely but giving Harvard a 14-12 victory. Unfortunately, "End Zone" Crone became a folk legend, and the question of the day [and many days to come] was "Just what was Crone doing in the end zone, anyway?" Nobody remembers his stellar performance in New Haven the following year, but then they've also forgotten his 5-for-14, 33-yard passing day in The '72 Game. Perhaps it's just as well.

And, regrettably or not, most people have forgotten Eric Crone's professional career as well. Drafted out of Harvard by the St. Louis Cardinals, he played for them for half a season before moving on to the Canadian Football League. 1974 saw him back in the United States, this time as quarterback for the Florida Blazers of the World Football League. Crone toiled in a similar capacity with the San Antonio Wings for the '75 season, until the league's lamented demise put him out of work. Now a sales representative for a ski-boot company, he admits that people haven't forgotten The Play. "I was wondering when you were going to get to that," he says from his home in Bedford, N.H.

The explanation is what you'd expect. "In my mind, the game had been won. I didn't really know what I was doing at that point--I was using more athletic ability than knowledge my sophomore year. The fans were counting it down, so I heard in my mind that the game was over, and then the snap occurred. I took the ball and ran back in the end zone--a thousand fans ran over and pounced on me."

Memories of The Play don't bother Crone at all. "I smile, it's funny. I'm just glad I didn't drop the ball," he says. The three pro-league veteran doesn't mind telling the story either. "At least it got me into Sports Illustrated."

Milt Holt '75

1974: Eleven young men who play football for Yale lead eleven young men who play football for Harvard, 16-14, in the waning moments of gray November day. The ball rests on the Yale one-yard line, and Harvard quarterback Milt Holt of Honolulu, Hawaii, hunches over his center, calling the signals. The scoreboard clock shows 15 seconds remaining, and the 40,000 fans jamming Soldiers Field to capacity fall silent. Holt is about to run the option play--a sprint to the left side of the field which will offer him two alternatives. The first is to find an open receiver and try to throw him a touchdown pass. The second is to fake the pass and attempt to run into the end zone himself. The ball is snapped. Holt rolls to his left, pump-fakes toward the goalposts and keeps on running, meeting the Eli defense at the goal-line and pushing forward for the score. The Crimson wins a share of the Ivy title with a last-minute 21-16 decision.

Holt hasn't stopped running. After serving a two-year term in the Hawaii state legislature, he challenged a Republican incumbent this November and became one of the state's 24 senators. Senator Holt remembers the deicision that had to be made in 1974. "We had just used our last time out," he says. "I went to talk to Coach Restic. We had to run a play that would give us the option of either throwing or running the ball, 'cause if we just ran it there was the possibility that we might come up short. So we isolated (former Harvard wide receiver and Cincinnati Bengal) Pat McInally on one side, hoping he'd get double converage, and I ran it to his side."

Since graduation in 1975, Holt has worked with the state's largest bank, the Bank of Hawaii, and served as a state rep. Now, he is the state's youngest senator. The former quarterback would like to continue his political career, he says, "assuming I keep getting the kind of support I've gotten." His chances seem favorable, and Holt's closing words are probably just what Restic was thinking when he saw "The Pineapple" hunched over the ball against Yale: "It looks quite promising."

Jim Kubacki '77

1975: It was a fairy tale. The untested quarterback takes over a foundering, leaderless squad and suddenly the team catches fire, smashing a different league opponent each week. The quarterback is a hero, adored by fans and sportswriters and second in the nation in total offense. But one Saturday, the hero falls to the turf with a separated shoulder. Eorced to miss the following game, he watches from the sidelines as his teammates lose. True to the script, the signal-caller returns to lead a resounding, regionally televised triumph over the league leaders and cops the first-ever undisputed conference crown the following Saturday with a last-minute victory over The Enemy in a storybook ending. Frank Merriwell? No, Jim Kubacki '77.

"Even now, it's fun to think back on it," Kubacki, the director of boys athletics at the Middlesex School in Concord, says. "It came down to the final game. Your number-one goal is always to win the league. We worked for it and kept hoping, and it couldn't have turned out any better."

The former all-Ivy quarterback remembers the regionally televised, 45-26 whipping of first-place Brown as his finest moment. "I didn't know if I was going to play a half-hour before game time. As it turns out, I had the best day of my life. Everything worked perfectly; it was so easy. I hardly worked up a sweat."

He describes the 10-7 conquest of Yale as "not that good a game." "Our defense kept us in it," Kubacki recalls. "But that final drive that led to the [Mike Lynch's last-minute] field goal was the best I ever called. I guess it was pretty exciting."

After graduation, Kubacki worked and traveled in Europe before accepting the Middlesex position last year. He looks to a career education, and plans to keep in contact with Harvard football. "I stay in touch with Coach Restic, and I'll be at The Game," he says. "Those were four good years."PhotoHarvard CrimsonJIM KUBACKI