h victory have been
heaped upon Pooch Donovan's head.

Every man on the Harvard squad knows that Donovan can get as much work
out of his players as it is possible for any human being to get out of
them. Pooch Donovan served at Yale in 1888, 1889 and 1890, when Mike
Murphy was trainer there. He and Donovan used to have long talks
together and they were ever comparing notes on the training of varsity
teams. Pooch Donovan owes much to Mike Murphy, and the latter was
Pooch's loyal supporter.

"What made Mike Murphy a sturdy man, was that he was such a hard
loser--he could not stand to lose," says Donovan.

"You know the thing that keeps me young is working shoulder to shoulder
with these young fellows." This to me, in the dressing-room, where we
have no time for anything but cold truths. "It was the same thing that
kept Mike Murphy going ten years after the doctors said he would soon be
all in. That was when he returned to Yale, after he had been at
Pennsylvania. There is something about this sort of work that
invigorates us and keeps us young. I'm no longer a young man in years,
but it is the spirit and inspiration of youth with which this work
identifies me that keeps me really young."

When I asked Pooch about Eddie Mahan's great all-around ability, his
face lighted up, and I saw immediately that what I had heard was
true--that Donovan simply idolized Eddie Mahan. Mahan lives in Natick,
Massachusetts, where Donovan also has his home. He has seen Ned Mahan
grow to manhood. Mahan had his first football training as a player on
the Natick High School team.

"Ned Mahan," said Pooch, "was the best all-around football man I have
ever handled. He was easy to handle, eager to do as he was told, and he
never caused the trainer any worry. Up to the very last moment he
played, he was eager to learn everything he could that would improve his
game. He had lots of football ability.

"You know Mahan was a great star at Andover. He kicked wonderfully there
and was good in all departments of the game, and he improved a hundred
per cent. after he came to Harvard."

Pooch Donovan told me about the first day that Eddie Mahan came out upon
the Harvard field. At Cambridge, little is known by the head coach about
a freshman's ability. One day Haughton said to Pooch Donovan:

"Where is that Natick friend of yours? Bring him over to the Stadium and
let's see him kick."

Donovan got Mahan and Haughton said to Mahan:

"Let's see you ki