Memories of Yale Games Past

When I was in the Providence Journal sports department, I once wrote a story on a Yale football team which was composed of unusually tall players. So I described the team as the "rangy Bulldogs." But when the story was published, "rangy" was spelled with an "m" instead of an "r."

I called Coach Carm Cozza and apologized: "I'm sorry, Coach, but somebody here must have knocked the 'r' out of 'rangy' by accident." Cozza said, "Come over here and we'll knock the "R" out of Reynolds, and it won't be by accident."

When the Providence Gridiron Club held its annual awards at the end of the season, Cozza, as guest speaker, told the audience he was going to give me a bottle of champagne, after it passed through his kidneys.

People who know Cozza well say that coming from him, it was an unusually generous offer. They even said I would have to bring my own container. But he never gave me the champagne.

So after The Game on November 18, I stopped Cozza on the field and asked. "How about the champagne?" But he couldn't produce it, because after the game Coach Cozza was completely poled. --Dick Reynolds Cumberland, RI