The class of his class

Amidst a torrential downpour 13 years ago, Steve Abbott single kendedly propelled the University of Maine football squad to a stunning upset over the University of Rhode Island.

He was just eight.

'That was Steve's game," recalls the Maine coach, who ordered the young baliboy to make sure his squad got a dry football on every offensive down and to make sure the visiting URI squad got a wet one.

"They fumbled the ball four times, as a week, and we won a going we never should have been in," laughs the former Maine coach.

His name, by the way, is Walker Abbott.

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Thirteen years since his son stood on the sidelines as the sneaky bellboy, Walter Abbott will sit in the Stadium's stands this weekend us Steven Warren Abbott closes out a football career that began well before he dished out wet pigskins to frightening opponents.

Harvard's 111th gridiron captain, Steve Abbott was introduced to the game as a toddler, and his father--the Black Bear's head coach from 1966-1974 and the man responsible for that initial indoctrination--recalls those early days.

"Steve was with us from the time be could walk," says the elder Abbott, currently an associate professor of physical education at the University of Maine. "And as the coach, we'd have some of the players over to the house and they always spent time playing with the kids. I think Steve learned his work habits from them and I think they were great role models for him."

And few would disagree these days that the Crimson's starting tight end is a model of class.

"If you were ever going to define a captain or a leader," says junior linebacker Brent Wilkinson, "you'd look to Steve Abbott."

Harvard Coach Joe Restic adds that the soft-spoken Abbott "has handled the captaincy with a touch of class."

It came as somewhat of a surprise last fall, however, when Restic dropped Abbott's jersey at the squad's post-season luncheon--the customary way of announcing Harvard captains.

"I had never really thought about it," Abbott says these days.

In fact, it even surprised some of his teammates and most of the media.

That's because Abbott had seen only minimal playing time his sophomore year and because a year ago he was only a second stringer on a team that rarely used a first string tight end.

"People might have been saying 'Steve Who', 'Steve Who'," Wilkinson says, "but that's only because he wasn't big star.

"People who knew him knew that it was a great choice."

And most realize that this Harvard squad has taken on an Abbott profile.

"He' has a very strong will and a very strong drive," Wilkinson says. "I think those are the two most representative qualities of this year's team."

Certainly, there have been few team meetings ("Harvard kids aren't the kind you can preach to," the curly-haired Abbott says), and there have been few loud rampages from the Crimson captain.

Instead, Abbott has spent his time working towards keeping the Crimson team on the road to the 1984 Ivy title.

"After every game, he's always the first one to come up and tell you that you did a great job or that everything will work out." Harvard junior quarterback Brian White says.

"He's just the classiest kid on the team," White adds.

So to see the hurt on Abbott's face after last weekend's 38-7 loss in the Ivy title game at Penn was to see the hurt of almost a lifetime in football.

"I don't know what to say," he said after the game. "This hurts more than anything else in my career."

And the fact that the Crimson would need a slight miracle if it is to win this year's Ancient Eight title is also a bit disconcerting to a football player who, throughout high school and through his years on the Harvard varsity squad, has never failed to win a league crown.

"But I told him not to worry about that," the elder Abbott says these days. "Because he's going to have a big enough job to do just to win this weekend."