Sport: Blue & Gray

When Yale played Virginia at New Haven last October, many a Northern football fan was a little startled to see Virginia rooters waving Confederate flags. It was just a gag. But in Montgomery, Ala. last week, the Stars & Bars waved in earnest.

Montgomery was the cradle of the Confederacy. There Jefferson Davis set up his rebel Government in the winter of 1861.

Three years ago a group of its citizens, deciding that the War Between the States was over and that they should do what they could to bind up the nation’s wounds, sponsored a post-season all-star football game “to cement friendship between the North and South.” The first North-South game attracted a small crowd. Last week, 14,000 spectators crammed into Cramton Bowl for the third annual battle between Blue & Gray. The Yankees had a powerful team, led by Cornell’s All-America Quarterback Walter Matuszczak. But the Rebels were 2-to-1 favorites. They had a formidable air attack in North Carolina’s Jim Lalanne and Hardin-Simmons’ Owen Goodnight. Sure enough, Goodnight’s tossing scored two touchdowns for the South. But when it came to kicking the extra points, the Rebels fell short. Not so the Yankees. They scored two touchdowns too, kicked their extra points with unerring accuracy, took the Rebels, 14-to-12—their second victory in the three-game series.