Evening Star Newspaper, November 23, 1930, Page 95

- Those Clever Manuel Landa holds an intercollegiate record. BY JACK STAR-HUNT. MEXICO CITY. OOT ball has invaded Mexican soil. No longer is making touchdowns a pastime exclusively for collegians in the United States. The manly Ameri- can sport has been given an interna- tional tang, Latin color, a broadened appeal. For under the powerful paternal arms of Yale University, introduction of foot ball to the old- est institution of higher learing in the Western Hemisphere has been a definite reality. The University of Mexico, in Mexico City, this year has her second varsity foot ball squad and is in the midst of a six-game schedule that in- cludes contests with a half dozen Southern and Southwestern colleges of the United States, . some to be played in: the United States and others in Mexico. Reginald D. Root of Yale is the “maestro” or ccach of the Mexican “futbolistas,” which is Spanish for foot ball players. There also has sprung up, however, a charac- teristically Mexican version of foot ball, distinct from the type played at Eli or elsewhere, just as the Latin temperament is different from that of the Anglo-Saxon. The Mexican version of “butbol americano” is a variety not to be scoffed at, for, although as yet in its infancy, it has shogzn its pogsibilities and has attracted the attention of prominent sports critics of the United States. I'l‘ was only last year, the Fall of 1929, that T. A. D. Jones, the well known master of ceremonies of Yale foot ball, as a gesture of good will, sent Root to Mexico to explain to the students of the University of Mexico what foot ball is and why. Two months later the Yale man’s fledglings found themselves on the foot ball field matching their brain and brawn against an established American college team, that of Louisiana College, Alexandria, La. That game, the first international foot ball game in history, was played in the Estadio Na- cional (National Stadium) of Mexico City, the huge government-owned amphitheater where Presidents are inaugurated and athletic contests are waged. More may be at stake when Yale and Harvard play, but there could hardly be a more novel intercollegiate game of foot ball than was that inaugural clzsh be‘*-»n Mexico and Louisiana. The crowd began to trickle into the stadium, a motley crowd ranging from overall-clad peon lads to modestly attired Mexican collegians and fashionable Americans in Mexico City who are anxious to see their first foot ball game, per- haps in years. The male spectators are far in majority and the greater part of the femi- spectators are not co-eds, but sportse about town, many of them Americans, there are only a few woman students at- THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, NOVEMBER 23, 1930. exican Futbolistas’ “They’re Not S0 Good on Line Plunging, but “on T'rick Plays or an Overhead Game You Can’t Beat ’em,”” Declares Reginald Root, Yale, 26, Who Is Coaching the First Foot Ball Teams ai Uni- versity of Mexico, Oldest College in the Western Hemispl re. the strangest yell, perhaps, that the Louisiana lads have ever heard. “Oyah! Oyah! Oyah! Cachoon, cachoon, rah! rah! Cachoon, cachoon, rah! rah!® Oyah, Oyah! Universidad, universidad—Mecxico!” The two rival captains, Gilberto Pineda of Mexico and Albert Ratcliffe of Louisiana, shake hands, a act that has gone down in sport: an- nals as the beginning of foot ball in Mexico and of international foot ball. “Ready, Mex- ico?” shouts the referee. “Ready, Louisiana?” ‘The whistle blows, the sharp thud of toe against leather is heard, the game is on. The score: Louisiana, 58; Mexico, 0. But what else could have been expected? ‘The following month another Southern col- lege, Mississippi College of Clinton, Miss.,, came to Mexico for a game, and this time Mexico’s team showed di-tinct improvement, Mississippi won, 26 to 0, but Mexico in that game com- pleted 23 out of 28 attempted forward passes. The game was played on one of Mexico's nu- merous holidays and the occasion marked the dedication of a newly completed workers’ recre- ation center, the largest of its kind in the world, with the result that a huge crowd, in- cluding many laborers, was in attendance. In the stands was President Emilio Portes Gil of Mexico. “Feminine applause is lacking for the Mexican foot ball player. The senor- itas have not yet learned to appreciate the new American game. THAT ended the University of Mexico’s first foot ball seasolf. But this year, as early as June, when the American college students had just completed their last final exams, the Mexi- can “futbolistas” were practicing in dead earnest, without a “coach,..but inspired from time to time by letters from Root, who at the time was doing graduate work in law at Yale. Throughout the Summer months the Mexicans kept up their practicing, and during this time they brushed up on the fundamentals of the game, improving their punting, passing and handling of the ball. When Root arrived, late in August, to take charge of the team, he Mesico City's Greas-Stadium, where the first games were played. A team of Atierican; renidest in Meidco is found a team b:ti:r versed in fundamentals than thet to whizh he b~de adieu the previous November. The continuance of foot ball on a large scale had been made possible by donations of men whe were interestcd in the furtherance of this American sport in Mexico. Harry Sinclair do- nated several thousand dollars. Ambassador Dwight W. Morrow also was among the donors. ‘The 1930 schedul: opened with a night game at Los Angeles. Fresident Ortiz Rubio, who, like Senor Portes Gil, hic predecessor, is greatly interested in sports and took a liking to Amer- ican foot ball, designated Manuel Tellez, Mexi- can Ambassador in Washington, his personal represenattive to attend the Missicsippi game, November 8. When Coach Root first arrived in Mexico Jast year, he immediately had to go to work trying to “discover” players, since the handful of pioneer “futbolistas” who had been instrumen- tal in calling him to his new task were but a bare nucleus of a team. The Yale man scouted around, and with almost unbelievable results. AMONG the players he found a remarkable athlete, Manuel Landa, right end, who in the Mississippi game last year established an intercollegiate record by snaring 17 forward pas-es. Landa is 20 years old, is 6 feet 3 inches in height and weighs 182 pounds. He is an engineering student and has two more years. He is a shot putter in track and a center in basket ball. Landa would be a credit to nearly any col- lege foot ball team in the United States. He is & deadly and aggrescive tackler. Harkness, Louisiana quarterback, who, incidentally, is a leading quarter of the South, commented after the 1929 Louisiana-Mexico game that Landa had tackled him harder than anybody else had ever done. After the season last year, his first season incidentally, Landa received mention by many American sports writers and selectors of - mythical all-America teams. Landa has a pleasing personality and speaks excellent - lish fluently. s Another find that Root made was Louis Men- dez, 200-pound tackle, 6 feet 2 inches tall, whom the coach picked out of a group of medical students. Mendez promised to report for foot ball practice, and although the oval foot ball was something entirely new to him, he soon made its intimate acquaintance and now he is & tackle of far more than average ability. IP the Mexicans picked up the rudiments of fcot ball in a hurry, Coach Root didn't tarry long with learning the fundamentals of the Spanish language. He didn't speak any Span- ish when he held his first practice, but for- - tunately for him most of the members of his prospective team knew some English. Now Root barks out most of his orders in Spanish, and Spanish that the players can understand. terms, sometimes modifying this with an Eng- lish “expression of emphasis,” when the play- er does not run fast enough with the ball. The University of Mexico eleven may be as- sured that her signals will not be stolen by opposing teams. The opposing players can't even understand them. “Senales!” (signals) barks the Mexican quarterback. Then: “Uno, quatro, seis, ocho!” 15 b4 “Maestro” Root, Old Eli's mi.uion.ry: to Mexico. y What accomplished American signal thief - could steal such “senales,” especially when the numbers are called rapidly? : “A knowledge-of psychology is essential for every foot ball coach. Last year Coach Rook was handicapped because he was not acquaint ed with the Latin temperament. This year he knows that the Mexican is at times slow and . easy-going, but that he has a vast amount of potential surplus energy, which “may explode at any moment. The difficult task for Root is to make that surplus energy explode om the foot ball fleld at the proper time. ; Root’s Mexican boys have a fighting spirit, and they can take punishment. The spirit of - fair play, as well as of teamwork, is evident. . They may be slow and easy-going at times, but under stress of a hard-fought game their energy may all bubble to the surface, and they may play with effervescent zip. "~ Yale influence naturally is evident in the ' play of the University of Mexico eleven. Root - even teaches fundamentals in typical Yale fashion. As far as the method of attack is ' concerned, the Yale system of employin(x E mertocnuhmeopmnuhadwbe 7 . JROOT found that while Mexican players were comparatively weak on line plunges, - they were remarkably strong on an overhead game, and were clever at fake plays. - The University of Mexico equipment is closely after that of Yale. The Mexi- Yale blue, with large white nume- : and with blue and white - however, prefer to the University of Mexico _ but there are Mexicans of - The fact that the Univere sity of Mexico gridiron team is a veritable melting pot is seen in the fact that in its Continued sn Twenty-first Page -