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The following statement was made to the CRIMSON last night by Dean L.B.R. Briggs '76, who was Chairman of the Athletic Committee during Mr. Haughton's career as coach:
"As an undergraduate, Percy Haughton was a tackle on Ben Dibblee's famous team which beat Yale 17 to 0 at New Haven in a rain almost as violent as that of last year. Before this he was a fullback. In baseball he was a first baseman, a second baseman, a center fielder, and a pitcher and was Captain of the team in 1899. He had natural gifts for outdoor sport of all kinds.
Coaching as Remarkable as Material
"It was Francis Burr, Captain of the 1908 football team, who nominated Haughton to the Athletic Committee as head coach for a term of years. Burr's eager advocacy of the appointment was justified by Haughton's record. Haughton, with time to work in, built up Harvard football. He had unusual material--Mahan, Hardwick, Brickley, Pennock, for example--and the coaching was as remarkable as the material. Haughton had skill, knowledge, magnetism, and, with all his fire, a common sense which kept in his mind the need of sending on the field players with their wits about them, not players deadened by overwork. This common sense he showed when suddenly called on to coach the baseball team in mid-season. He began by giving two important players a week's rest.
"He was building up football at Columbia as he had built it up at Harvard, and when he died, his team had just won an overwhelming victory. I believe that those who know football regard Percy Haughton as one of the greatest coaches that the game has seen."
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