The ep41 The Mighty Mites

Hello there. This is Jimmy Powers coming your way with another story from the Tumalt and the Shouting. There, this is Jimmy Powers transcribed with another chapter from Grantland Rice's memorable life story, the Tumalt and the Shouting.

And so with a warm salute to the every young spirit of granny rice, I take up the narrative in first person. You know that for every large university in this country, there are scores of small institutions which feel football teams and take a lively interest in the game.

Little schools get few headlines, yet far from the tumult of ticket hustlers, pool sheet scrambling and well-paid publicists, they have an impressive impact on the game. There are, I guess, about 150 large schools with a total of about 5,200 football players, which get most of the attention.

But keep in mind that there are also 700 small colleges and junior colleges with more than 28,000 youths who play the game each autumn. And where do these small college athletes come from? From the coal mines or the corn fields or the road gang?

Are they kidnapped off some other campus and carried under cover of night? of high school football players are wising up to percentages and flocking to schools like Western Maryland, William Ett, Colorado Mines, Haskell Institute, and Western Reserve.

I think the modern kid has become aware of the fact that out of 75 backfield candidates and 30 tackle aspirants at Mammoth U, 8 or 10 backs and 4 or 5 tackles are going to play virtually 100% of the football.

Boys, a southern scout bluntly told a bunch of graduating high school seniors one time, if we don't invite you, don't bother to come. There's little of that stuff at the smaller colleges. Sure, the welcome mat is always out, but you can come on your own accord.