On this day in 1918
Friday, Sept. 13, 1918. RPI welcomes its largest ever freshman class to campus today, but school spirit may be dampened by the apparent cancellation of football season tonight.
“Like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky came the order from Washington requesting the suspension of collegiate football among universities and colleges having student military corps,” writes Record sports columnist Jack Rensselaer, “Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute comes under the ban and Coach Jack Reed and his athletes will be without a schedule.”
As Rensselaer explains, “The collegiate form of athletics is frowned upon by the government for the simple reason that it doesn’t give the greatest possible number of men the physical training desired. In order to give all the men all the training necessary – all of the men, not a selected few – Uncle Sam in his great wisdom knows that mass athletics is THE THING.”
Football coach Jack Reed most likely will be put to work “to offer up all sorts of games that will keep 600 or more husky young students busy….That’s the general idea of mass athletics.”
Football fans may be disappointed by the federal order, but with the nation at war they’re expected to make a patriotic sacrifice. “The first impression is that the government is wrong,” Rensselaer writes, “But the government is not. Complete changes are wrought by its orders but it is usually for the best.” RPI president Palmer C. Ricketts isn’t sure that Rensselaer is interpreting the order correctly. “I know nothing about it officially,” he tells a reporter, “We have received no orders from Washington on the subject and there is to date nothing to interfere with the football schedule planned here. What may come, of course, nobody knows.” Earlier today, Ricketts told incoming freshmen that “You boys will probably be placed under strict military rule when Captain Van Vetsor arrives here, though you needn’t fear. “I understand he is not a task master, but really loves the boys and knows how to get along with them….The training will be a great thing. It will mean that you boys will have to be on your cots in the barracks at 10 p.m.” “Here a ripple of laughter interrupted the speaker,” The Record reports, “for no one until this year ever dreamed of an R.P.I. student going to bed at such an early hour.” Ricketts announces an enrollment of 563 in the Class of 1922, more than the sophomore, junior and senior classes combined. While superior numbers may make them “a bit chesty,” the upperclassmen “have promised some rare old times for the frosh,” starting with the annual cane rush tomorrow.