YALE ALUMNI WHEEKLY
15
o
ATHLETIC FINANCES.
The Important Agreement for the
Transfer of the Field and the
Appointment of a Graduate
Athletic Treasurer—Mr.
Camp Will Prob-
ably Serve.
As the WEEKLY goes to press, the
call has been issued for a University
meeting on Tuesday evening of this
week. The call was by the Presidents
of the four
Baseball, Crew and Track. The pur-
pose was to have one meeting under the
auspices of each association, but to have
them all called at the same time and
place, as the parties in interest, to use
ihe expression, were the same in each
case. :
The purpose of calling the meeting,
on the part of the Presidents was to
submit a report of action of special im-
portance taken by them last Friday noon.
At that time, the Directors of the Field
Corporation, and the members of the
Financial Union, the latter made up of
the Presidents of the different associa-
tions with Mr. Walter Camp as Treas-
urer, met at the New Haven House
and signed an agreement,—the full text
of which is appended below.
This agreement had two important
results. On behalf of the Field Cor-
poration, it pledged the transfer, sub-
ject to the approval of the annual meet-
ing, (a formal and technical condition)
of the Yale Field property to Yale
University; with the understanding that
at least a strong endeavor should be
made to pay off all debts of the Field
before the transfer was formally and
finally made.
This property was to be transferred
with the further understanding that it
would be managed by the University
through an officer appointed by the Cor-
poration, who should act under the ad-
vice of an Athletic Board composed of
undergraduate managers, and three grad-
uate members, including two members
of the Faculty.
This was an important enough move
in itself. Still more important was that
part of the agreement by which the
members of the Financial Union, to wit,
the undergraduate managers, pledged
their Associations to place in the hands
of the officer to be appointed for the
management of this property by the Yale
Corporation, when the transfer had been
completed, all the revenues of their as-
sociations, which he was to disburse as
Treasurer, under the advice of the
Athletic Board already spoken of. Thus
each President gave up his independent
right to use the funds of his associa-
tion. He agreed to place those funds in
the hands of this graduate treasurer,
who was to spend them as he saw fit,
for the benefit of the Association, and
for the benefit of all athletic interests,
under the advice of this Athletic Board.
The free and even enthusiastic way in
which this right of individual control
was given over, was commented on by
all those who have been interested in
the agreement, as an almost unprece-
dented evidence of broad-mindedness
and loyalty.
POSITION OF FOOTBALL MANAGERS.
The Football Asociation gives the
most, of course, under this agreement,
for it is the great revenue producer of
the four associations. Mr. Rockefeller,
the President of the Association this
year, has been in very hearty favor of
this movement from the first, and was
one of the Committee chosen last July
at the special Athletic meeting in New
Haven, to prepare matters on this line.
This step is the first definite result of
that meeting. ;
The agreement is a purely business
procedure and has to do purely with
the financial interests of Yale athletics.
That it will, however, influence other
sides of Yale athletics in a rational and
helpful way, is believed by all who have
studied the matter. In the first place,
it places most eloquent emphasis on the
unitv of all athletic interests here. Be-
yond that, it brings, when it is finally
completed, the athletics of the Univer-
sity into direct connection with Uni-
versity authority. The officer to be ap-
pointed by the Corporation, to manage
the finances of the Yale Field, is not
a member of the Faculty, and will not
be called upon to say whether a man
shall or shall not be allowed to play
or just what the different teams can or
Associations,—Football,
cannot do in the way of absences or
other privileges. At the same time, in
the handling of the property interests,
by use of which the associations carry
on their work and their sport, he can,
of course, have very great influence in
the proper handling of that sport. Be-
ing recognized as a University officer,
he can be easily reached by the Deans
and other members of the Faculty, and
can, on his side, have such ready access
to them, that the result will undoubtedly
be to remove some friction and to en-
courage sympathetic and helpful rela-
tions between the Faculty and students.
It will be noticed, by the way, that
this step brings all the property inter-
ests of athletics together under one head,
and in the control of the University.
The University Boat Club is the only
one of the three associations that does
not directly use the Field, but it is a
party to this agreement.
UNDERGRADUATE ATTITUDE.
- No one has been more anxious to carry
this through than the undergraduate
managers. Many of their predecessors
have felt the necessity of it, but until
this year the time had not seemed quite
ripe to take a definite step. The mana-
gers of the Class of Ninety-Eight had
stich a move in mind when they called
their University meeting and appointed
their Committee, which was asked to re-
port ways and means for the unification
of Yale’s athletic interests. That Com-
mittee never reported. The July meet-
ing took up the work where that Uni-
versity meeting left it off.
That there was a desire for such a
thine by the best managers was evi-
denced long before this. A few years
ago the managers formed the Yale
Financial Union, which was, in a meas-
ure a pooling, under the form of a
voluntary association, of athletic inter-
ests. Mr. Camp was made Treasurer of
the Union, but his work was almost en-
tirely to pay bills contracted indepen-
dently by the different managers. The
managers have been generally such ex-
cellent men and have been so anxious to
carry out the spirit of this move, and
Mr. Camp has had such remarkable suc-
cess in dealing with them and in ad-
justing the different interests, that the
very easy constitution of this Financial
Union has resulted in great improve-
ments in athletic finances. The present
move takes up the spirit of that organiza-
tion and puts it into much more effec-
tive form.
UNDERGRADUATE RESPONSIBILITY.
If one point has been emphasized more
than any other by the graduates who
have been interested in this plan, it is
that nothing should be done, even on
this business side of athletics, which
should take away any of that sense of
responsibility which the undergraduate
manager should have in the discharge
of his duties. Of course this would be
taken away if his power to carry out
his trust were impaired. But the pur-
pose of this move is to relieve him of
a certain part of his work, which he, by
the limitations of his experience, is less
fitted for, and which therefore involves
disproportionate time and anxiety, in
order that he may be free for those
duties connected with the active hand-
ling of his team, which are enough, if
not more than enough for the most able
student executive. If this point were
not assured, the graduates said that they
would have been unwilling to favor it.
Under the new plan, the football man-
ager knows that certain business opera-
tions, which he has not had any experi-
ence in executing, with parties with
whom he has not previously had to deal,
will be cared for on the best business
principles, and to the best good of his
association, while that nart of his work
for which he, better than anybody else,
is fitted,—arrangements of schedules, the
direct handling of the men, and other
such matters on which success or failure
for his year depends, will be in his hands
more than ever.
It is understood that Mr. Camp, who
has been the Treasurer of the Financial
Union, will remain as Treasurer under
this new and more finished plan. It will
be a purely business situation, which
will require only stich time as he can
give outside of business hours, and he
will still keep his position as Assistant
Treasurer of the New Haven Clock
Company. By giving up a large part,
if not all of his outside work of a
literary nature, he will be able to take
care Of this work at the very reasonable
compensation which has been suggested.
It might as well be said here as any-
where, that it will not be a financial gain
to him, but the opposite. He has, how-
ever, expressed a willingness to take
hold of it and at least see it through
until it is formally established.
The agreement which was to be sub-
mitted at the University meeting, is as
follows: :
_ Memorandum of agreement entered
into at New Haven, Connecticut, this
1oth day of November, 1899, between
the Directors of the Yale Field Corpora-
tion and the Presidents of the Yale
University Football Association, the
Yale University Baseball Association, the
Yale University Boat Club, and the Yale
University Athletic Association. It is
mutually agreed between the parties as
follows:
t-4 hat the: Directors ofthe Yale
Field Corporation shall unanimously
recommend to said Corporation at its
annual meeting, to be held in October,
1900, that the title to and control of
the property of said Corporation be
transferred to the President and Fellows
of Yale University, (as provided in the
articles of association of said Yale Field
Corporation) to be held by them in trust
for the purpose for which the same is
now held by the said Corporation, and
under the advice of the athletic board,
hereinafter named and provided.
2. That the President of the Yale Uni-
versity Boat Club recommend to a duly
called meeting of the Club or members
thereof, that the title to and control of
the boathouse be transferred to the Pres-
ident and Fellows of Yale University,
to be held by them for the purposes for
which the same is now held by said
Club, and under the advice of the
Athletic Board, hereinafter named and
provided.
3. That the aforesaid Presidents of
the said Associations and Club, pledge
themselves, and, as far as in their power
lies, their Associations and Club, to pay
over into the hands of a duly authorized
agent (or graduate athletic treasurer)
of the President and Fellows of Yale
University, all the funds now held, or
hereafter received by said Presidents
or other officers of said Associations and
Club in their official capacity; said funds
to be dispensed by said agent (or grad-
uate athletic treasurer) upon the ad-
vice of an athletic board, which shall
consist of seven members; namely, said
four Presidents and their sticcessors
ex officio, said agent (or graduate
athletic treasurer), and two persons,
members of the Faculties of Yale Uni-
versity, to be appointed by the President
and Fellows of Yale University.
4. It is further mutually agreed that
said agent (or graduate athletic treas-
urer) shall receive as compensation for
his services, a stm, to be agreed upon
by said Athletic Board, and to be paid
from said funds received from said
Presidents, or Associations or Clubs.
s. It is mutually agreed that the Di-
rectors of said Yale Field Corporation
and said Presidents of said Association
and Club endeavor to pay off all or any
debts or encumbrances on the property
of said Corporation, Association or Club,
before the same is transferred to the
President and Fellows of Yale Univer-
sity, as hereinbefore provided.
’ This agreement is made and entered
into upon the express condition that the
President and Fellows of Yale Univer-
sity shall first, accept the said property
and agree to perform the trusts upon
which the same is to be conveyed to
them; second, agree to the formation of
said athletic board for the purposes
hereinbefore set forth; and third, agree
to appoint such agent (or graduate
athletic treasurer) and Faculty members
of said athletic board, as before set forth,
and to fill vacancies in such agency or
faculty membership as may from time
to time arise.
And until the conditions precedent
to this agreement are fulfilled, and until
the various articles of this agreement
are fully carried into effect, it is fur-
ther mutually agreed between said Direc-
tors of the Yale Field Corporation and
said Presidents of said Associations and
Club:
1. That said President shall pay into
the hands of the Treasurer of said Yale
Field Corporation, all the funds held
by said Presidents or other officers of
said Associations and Club, in their
official capacity, to be dispensed by said
Treasurer on vote of the Directors of
said Yale Field Corporation; this ar-
rangement not to continue longer than
January Ist, IQoT.
2, That the Directors of said Yale
Field Corporation shall, within twelve
days from the date of this agreement,
call a duly warned meeting of said Yale
catalogue as such.
Field Corporation for the purposes of
amending the by-laws of said Yale Field
Corporation to include as a Director of
said Corporation the President of the
Yale University Boat Club, ex officio. ©
In witness whereof we have hereunto
set our hands on the date first mentioned
herein, at New Haven, in the County
of New Haven and State of Connecticut.
Percy A. -Rockefeller,. President. of
the Yale University Football Associa-
tion: Reuben C. Twichell, President of
the Yale University Baseball Associa-
tion; Richard J. Schweppe, Jr., Presi-
dent of the Yale University Boat Club;
Jesse D. Dana, President of the Yale
University Athletic Association; -Eu-
gene L. Richards, Theodore S. Woolsey,
Henry B. Sargent, Walter Camp, Rob-
ert N. Corwin, Samuel H. Fisher, Direc-
tors of said Yale Field Corporation.
RAISING THE DEBT.
A very important part of this plan,
and one necessary for its thorough ap-
proval by the Corporation, is the final
clearing of the Yale Field of debt. This
means about $8,000, at least. It has
been a great help to this plan that several
New York alumni who have been nar-
ticularly interested, among whom are
Mr. HS: Brooks. “86, “and Mr. 8.
Reading Bertron, 785, have agreed to
attack this problem with the utmost
energy.
After the meeting last July, the general
plan of athletic reorganization was dis-
cussed with President Hadley by a com-
mittee from the meeting, consisting of
Mr. Rockefeller for the undergraduates
and Mr. Tompkins and Mr. Welch for
the graduates. The President expressed
himself in thorough sympathy with the
plan to systematize and make more ef-
fective the organization of Yale athletics,
and since that time has done everything
in hisepower to further the general plan.
He has brought the substance of this
particular agreement before certain mem-
bers of the Corporation and it seems now
already settled that the Corporation will
take up its part and will accept the prop-
erty as soon as the conditions of the
transfer are completed. As soon as they
have accepted this property, they will
be ready to appoint a Graduate Athletic
Treasurer. The Yale Field will thus be-
come a part of the educational part of
Vale University and will be listed in the
Its Treasurer will
be, therefore, a University officer.
The Agreement Ratified.
The University meeting was held in
Alumni Hall at 7 o’clock, Tuesday even-
ing, November 14. The attendance
was rather small, a fact which showed
that the College generally approved:
without question the action of its leaders.
The meeting itself further proved this.
The meeting was called to order by
Mr. Percy A. Rockefeller, President of
the Yale University Football Association.
He read the agreement and gave the
reasons which had induced the managers
to sign it. He then introduced Mr. H.
S. Brooks, Yale ‘86, of New York, who
said that he spoke on behalf of a num-
ber of alumni who have been interested
‘n this matter and who had asked him
to say for them that they would be glad
to undertake the work of raising the
sum “of $8,000 or $9,000, necessary to free
the Field from debt and thus make it
possible to turn it over to the University.
His remarks were heartily applauded.
Mr. F. B. Adams, Chairman of the
News, moved to endorse the action of
the President of the Football Associa-
tion, in signing the agreement. The
motion was tnanimously carried. The -
meeting of the Football Association
then adjourned and Mr. R. C. Twichell
immediately called to order the meet-
ing of the University Baseball Asso-
ciation. A similar motion of endorse-
ment was made and carried unanimously.
The same process was gone through
with the Yale University Boat Club and
the Yale University Athletic Asso-
ciation. Mr. Richardson, the Assistant
Manager of the Boat Club, called the
meeting to order in the absence of Mr.
Schweppe, the President. Mr. Dana
presided at the meeting of the Athletic
Association. Among the graduates who
attended the meeting was Mr. Julian
W. Curtiss, ’79, of New York,
