The following article is reprinted from the current issue of the Harvard Alumni Bulletin.

A short series of consecutive defeats is the most effective way of erasing from the minds of the average graduate and of the general public memories of past athletic victories.

The two college sports which today arouse the greatest interest are undoubtedly football and rowing, and as during the last five years Harvard has won no football games and only one race at New London, there seems to have arisen a feeling that Harvard has for a long time more or less filled the role of athletic doormat for Yale teams in all forms of sport.

The writer has compiled the following short account of Harvard-Yale athletic rivalry in all the sports in which they have met during the 20 years, beginning with the year 1908.

The results in the so-called five "major sports" are accurate, but the minor sports are not vouched for, owing to the fact that no complete records thereof could be obtained in the time available. It is believed, however, that they are substantially correct.

Although the track "H" is awarded to point-winners in the Harvard-Yale cross country meet and to relay race winners, these two sports have been included with the minor sports in summarizing the results.

In a probably vain attempt to render less uninteresting an article which is primarily statistical, a few matters of interest are mentioned, including the names of the several coaches with the years in which they were in control.

A twenty-year period seemed long enough to afford a fair comparison of the more recent dual athletic successes of the two universities, but as a matter of record the total losses and victories for all time in the several major sports have also been given.

A little over 20 years ago, P. D. Haughton '99, came to Cambridge to coach the 1908 football team, of which Francis H. Burr '09, was captain. Haughton had been coaching successfully at Cornell.

If recent graduates are gloomy about the last five years of Harvard football, they may be able to form some idea of the mental atmosphere existing after the 1907 game. At that time Yale had won six straight games, in none of which had Harvard scored a single point. Harvard had in fact won but four games in the previous 28 years of play, although there had been three tie games.

The writer has never seen in print the true story of how Haughton came baok to coach, and even now it should be of interest to many. The man who was the originator of the idea is G. R. Fearing Jr. '93. During the winter of 1907-1908 he spoke of it to several men among others the writer, and said that he wished it could be brought about that Haughton and Burr could meet. The writer arranged a dinner in Boston at which were present Heman M. Burr '77, father of "Hooks" Burr H. C. Leeds '77, Fearing. Haughton, Burr, Bartol Parker '08, captain of the 1907 team, the writer, and possibly one or two others Haughton and Burr met in this way, and the result is known to all.

Of the 18 games played since that time. Harvard has won nine. Yale six. and three have been tied.

Haughton coached through 1916, and coupled with his genius as a coach he was blessed with exceptional material. His teams won five games, lost two, and tied two. The 1914 team christened the Yale Bowl with a 36-0 victory, and the 1915 eleven defeated Yale by the largest score of any Harvard team, 41-0.

Haughton was succeeded in 1919, after the War, by Robert T. Fisher '12, captain of the 1911 team. He coached four successive winning teams, two losing ones, and the 1925 team which so successfully held off, 0-0, what was generally thought to be a much superior Yale eleven. The 1923 and 1924 games were played under the worst weather conditions of any games between the two universities.

Fisher resigned after this game, and was succeeded by Arnold Horween '20, who played on the 1919 team, which defeated Yale, 10-3, and then went west and defeated Oregon, 7-6, on New Year's Day, 1920, at Pasedena. The 1926 and 1927 teams were, as all remember, defeated by Yale.