Harvard is a staid school and football is a staid sport.

But 1948 was a year of changes for the Harvard football team and its fans.

The members of Class of 1949 saw a number of alterations on the field and innovations in the stands in their senior year.

On the gridiron sidelines, the Crimson welcomed a new coach, Arthur L. Valpey, who brought a new single-wing offense with him as he arrived from his old job at the University of Michigan.

On the players' bodies were stylish new black pants, and on their heads were new helmets that were black with crimson stripes "sweeping back from the front to give a Viking effect," according to a Crimson article on September 23, 1948.

In the stands, the Harvard men welcomed their dates into the Harvard cheering section for the first time.

But the change that mattered the most was that Harvard defeated Yale for the first time in seven years, including the two war years in which The Game was not played, with a score of 20-7.

"I think it was a high point that year," says Robert J. McGarry '49. "Yale had good teams at that time, too, so it was quite a victory."

A significant contribution to the victory came from the Crimson faithful.

"The two days before the Yale game, everybody was hyped up," remembers David S. McNamara '49.

A capacity crowd of more than 57,000 was on hand at Harvard Stadium on Nov. 20, 1948, to see the Crimson come back from a 7-6 deficit to win.

The crowd included three full sections of seniors, the biggest single class block since before the war.

The Crimson faithful saw Captain Kenneth P. O'Donnell '49 play the game with his fractured leg in a plaster cast and score the winning touchdown that day.

The festivities after the victory were tremendous, as the whole Harvard campus celebrated.

The Crimson declared: "Mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and girl friends were kissed and hugged until their ribs started popping like fire-crackers. The air was filled with hoarse whoops of joy, with the scream of innumerable sirens, and with dozens of red flares.