May 26, 1934
ONE OF NORTH CAROLINA’S
OUTSTANDING ATHLETES
Page Twelve THE STATE
TOM DANIELS;
AT the present time, Captain Daniels is commander of the North
Corolina division of the Americon Legion. Few people know that
os
о
boy he ployed boseboll with John McGrow, Willie Keeler, and
other notobles. And credit olso must be given him for being one
of the fothers of football in North Corolina.
By J. GASKILL McDANIEL
★
jk CROSS the top of a cluttered desk
/V
lie smiled n twisted sinile for ine
il —this modest little man whose
fingers caressed a yellowed scrapbook.
1 1 is good eye, the one he didn’t leave
with an car and part of a shoulder in
the ruins of Frapelle, twinkled wist¬
fully as he talked of athletics. Here
he sat, the star of the first football game
ever played in the South. The selfsame
Tom Daniels who played semi-pro base¬
ball with young unknowns like John
McGraw, Hughey Jennings and Wil¬
lie Keeler. The man that Casper
Whitney picked as the last word in
halfbacks for 1894, twenty-five years
before an enthusiastic French major
pinned a Croix de Guerre on his shrap¬
nel torn chest. No wonder I blinked
twice, ns Captain Tom opened his vol¬
ume of immortal clippings and softly
turned back the clock.
“McGraw held down third base for
the semi-pro club of Winston. North
Carolina, in 1899. I was attending
Trinity (now Duke University) at the
time, but managed to play center field
for them in three hectic games against
the Washington Nationals. As I re¬
call. Jennings was the star shortstop of
our team, and a lad by the name of
Danny McGnnn saw considerable duty
on the mound. Willie Keeler and Joe
Kelly were the catchers, although both
of them were later shifted to the out¬
field when they went into organized ball.
“We walked off with the first tussle
nl Winston in the regulation nine in¬
nings, winning by a scant 2 to 1 margin.
At Danville we ran into another bitter
scrap, but we finally racked up a 5
to 2 victory after ten innings of hectic
activity. The final game came off at
Raleigh, and it took us exactly twelve
innings to get a 3 to 2 decision and
«weep the series. The following season.
McGraw hooked up with some since-
forgotten minor league club and later
went lip to the Baltimore Orioles nlong
with Keeler and Jennings. The rest
of the story is one with which all bnse-
CAPTAIN TOM DANIELS
One of the greotest boseboll ond foot-
boll ployers that North Carolina ever
has produced.
- ★ -
hall fans arc familiar, and needs no
detailing here.
“McGraw was five years my junior,
and a hustling lad he proved to be. Al¬
though the Winston tobacconist who
backed the team for a hobby didn’t know
it. he was dealing in some of the classiest
baseball ivory of all time. The gods
were to smile on these youngsters, and
it wasn’t going to be as long as it had
been either.
“Getting along to the subject of foot¬
ball. it was in '88 that the first grid
menu was offered down here in Dixie.
I entered Trinity that year, and at that
time a modified type of English Rugby
was enjoying a measure of popularity
in the state. While attending one of
those games between the sophomore
classes of Wake Forest and the Uni¬
versity of North Carolina, I talked with
a number of students from Carolina
who were attending the State Fair in
Raleigh. We agreed to write for a book
on intercollegiate football rules, and a
★
game was scheduled for Thanksgiving
Day. History was in the making.
“Trinity was fortunate in that its
president at that time was John F.
Crowell, who quarterbacked for Yale in
'82. Crowell drilled the athletes in his
student body of ninety with considerable
patience and perspiration. All the while
the boys over at Carolina were having
to figure things out for themselves. The
two teams met for a Turkey Day classic
as planned, and we were lucky enough
to win by a 20 to 0 margin.
“Shortly afterwards we formed the
North Carolina. Football Association,
with Trinity, Wake Forest and Carolina
as members. Davidson was invited to
enter too. hut officials at the Presby¬
terian college denounced the sport as a
carry-over from the bloody gladiatorial
combats of the ancient Olympics. Such
a view was also taken by many other
influential people in the South, and
before I left college a bill was intro¬
duced in the North Carolina Legislature
to prevent us from indulging in the
sport. George Green, who hails from
my home town, was instrumental in
getting the bill killed.
•Til admit that the game as we played
it then wasn’t what you could truthfully
call a tea party. No player could be
removed from the game until he had
been warned three times by the referee
for his roughness. This furnished
ample opportunity for the unloosing of
a few left hooks, and perhaps a right
upper cut if occasion demanded it. If
was a case of dog cat dog, but. there
were few injuries and no deaths. One
of the few serious injuries of my day
and time was a badly broken leg that
Steve Bragaw sustained in a game
against Trinity. Bragaw. who cap¬
tained the University of North Caro¬
lina team in ’89, later became a judge
of the Superior Court.
“In my opinion, the scarcity of dis¬
abled athletes in those days can be di¬
rectly attributed to rigorous and sin¬
cere training. Contrary to the average
conception of “the good old days,” we
didn’t train on wine, women and song.
A twelve mile jog before breakfast
wasn’t unusual. Our two principle
foods were oatmeal and raw* beef, with
few variations. Although we weren't
required to sign a pledge. T never knew
of a single instance in which a hoy be¬
trayed his team by dissipation. T can’t
vouch for the football squads of other
Northern colleges, hut T know personal¬
ly that Harvard and Ynlo gridders
