Tug of War

Though few U. S. citizens can remember or believe it, tug of war was once the most popular of intercollegiate sports. One who can still feel it in his calves is Malcolm Kenneth Gordon, old St. Paul's boy, now headmaster of Malcolm Gordon School (for boys) at Garrison, N. Y. In last month's Alumni Horae, St. Paul's alumni bulletin, Mr. Gordon (St. Paul's '87) tautly remembered this forgotten sport.

"A good tug of war team of the '80s, whether in school or college," wrote onetime Tugger Gordon, "compared favorably with a well-trained crew in technique, precision and rhythm. . . . There were five men to a team. . . . The rope was about seventy-five feet long. . . . Exactly in the middle of the platform there was a red line one inch wide over which was the lever which held the rope preparatory to the 'drop' or start. . . .

"As the two teams take their position [see top cut], the rope, which is taut, is held down by the lever on which the referee stands. At the word 'heave,' he jumps off the lever and so releases the rope. The men drop into position [see lower cut]. Having fallen on the right side, each man instantly throws his left foot over the rope to the cleat and in that position he continues to pull for five minutes. . . .

"The eyes of the rope-men must be constantly kept on their anchorman, for he signals for all maneuvers. . . . There are various sorts of heaves, some long and steady, some short and jerky, some with irregular intervals. All these required much study and practice. . . .

"The anchorman, around whose hip-belt the rope passed to a double-hitch... had to observe the opposing team. . . . He gave signals verbally or by facial signs and he had the all-important job of taking in the slack or letting out the rope, by skillful handling of the 'knot.' Anchormen sometimes had knee trouble and broken arches but not heart strain.

"To pull with all one's strength for five minutes against what was practically a dead weight without the slightest chance to relax a muscle was a severe test of endurance. After a contest, some men could not at once sit up, some collapsed. I remember one who fell in a dead faint. . . . Pulling from cleats in a prone position put such strain on the heart that many athletes were permanently injured and so the game was outlawed in the early '90's.

" 'Fun?' you will say. Well, ask any old boy of the '80s what he coveted most in athletic honors."

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