There’s a new spirit at City College this fall. The grinds and the Phi Beta Kappas, including the Prexy and the Dean are all imbued with a new pep and jinniger that comes only with a great football team. And, it is Benny Friedman’s football machine that is responsible for that change of heart along St. Nicholas Terrace.
Nearly a decade ago, a stalwart City eleven faced a formidable Fordham opponent in what was certain to be another of those 770 lickings. But the C. C. N. Y. bunch put over a field goal in the first minute of play and held the lead until the last two minutes of the game. Then a touchdown by Zev Graham, that is still disputed wherever fans meet, climaxed one of the hardest fought battles ever witnessed in the metropolitan area.
Four years ago, another great C. C. N. Y. team took the field, winding up their season with five wins, one loss and one tie game. The City juggernaut ran up a total of 195 points and its high scorer, Red Dubinsky, ranked on a par with the east’s best point gatherers.
These two teams were years apart. Now a new regime at City, headed by some of the greatest players the game has known, Friedman, Alexander, Mielziner, and Riblett, gives promise of producing the stuff from which champions are made.
The boys are clicking as a unit. Teamwork, blocking, tackling, good interference—all stand out. But, in Adolph Cooper, quarterback and trip threat man, Friedman has the Beaver’s best bet.
FRANK MERRIWELL HAD NOTHING ON ‘YUDY’
Dolph Cooper, better known to his friends as “Yudy,” is the spearhead of the Lavender attack this year. Although he played on the Varsity for two years before this season it has been Friedman’s coaching which has brought out the best in Cooper.
City still has three games left on its schedule and already Cooper has scored more points this year by himself than the C. C. N. Y. elevens rolled up in a period of two years.
The fellow can kick the pigskin fifty yards down the gridiron and slant the ball out on the two yard line. End over ends, spirals, wobblies—”Yudy” can boot them all. A few years ago, when Dolph was playing on the Varsity for the first time, Le Roy Mills, the greatest kicker the game has ever known, called on Doc Parker at the Stadium. Cooper, along with five other players, was detailed for special kicking instruction from this master. Dolph absorbed everything the teacher had to give and is proving his knowledge of those lessons in every game he plays.
Scouts of rival teams must leave the Stadium a bit bewildered after watching Cooper perform. Not only does he kick but he can pass just as accurately. He directs the team as quarterback and his strategy has earned the praise of coaches who gather at the “Obit” sessions every Saturday night at the Hotel Pennsylvania. “We’ll have to watch this lad Cooper,” said Chick Meehan at the last meeting after he had ended his praise of the Michigan State ball club.
Cooper’s stabbing speed on end runs have resulted in more than a few touchdowns to City’s credit. And, not only can he kick, pass, run and plunge, but he can tackle and block like a beefy linesman. Cooper has our hearty vote for All-Metropolitan field general.
LEARNED FOOTBALL IN HIGH SCHOOL
Cooper stands five feet nine inches and weighs only 165 pounds. However, while he was a high school student at Richmond Hill he was too small to participate in contact games like football with other fellows of his age. But, in other sports where weight wasn’t so much of a factor he got along splendidly.
While at Richmond Hill, Dolph played on the championship intramural basket ball and soccer teams and won his numerals in both sports. “I wanted to play football in a bad way,” he told us, “but didn’t think I could go places on a team like Richmond Hill had in those days.” Yet, despite the fact that his brother Ben kept urging him to try out for the soccer team, “Yudy” has his heart set on football. His brother, who was a letter man in soccer for three years, told him, “Soccer and football don’t mix. They take too much of your time. Forget about football and play ball with me.” So Dolph went out for football. During his first year on the Richmond Hill team he was the last sub on the bench and never got into a game. He borrowed a uniform from a neighbor and bought his own shoes. Finally, when he had scraped a uniform together the coach told him he’d have to pay to get into the games. Nevertheless, Cooper took all the punishment the first team dished out and earned a regular berth for himself the next season.
In 1929, he played six full games out of a schedule of eight. He broke his nose in the second game, missed the next and then played through the rest of the season with a big mask on his face. It was a great year with a grand record for Richmond Hill. It was during that football campaign that Cooper’s team decisively defeated their ancient grid rival, Jamaica, for the first and last time in scholastic grid history.
MADE GRADE AT CITY
In his freshman year at City Dolph found it impossible to try out for the team because of traveling difficulties. City offered no training quarters or sleeping berths to its frosh team though the quad practiced at night under floodlights. The boys would get through practice about eight and then have to travel home—tired, bruised, and in no mood for study.
Cooper won the 145 pound intramural boxing championship in his freshman year and earned his numerals as a result. Also, while with a hygiene class in the pool, the swimming coach asked him to come out for water polo. Cooper reported one afternoon to the water polo coach, Monte Massler, one of the greatest Jewish water polo players in the game. Massler showed Dolph a few tricks of the trade which convinced him that he was cut out for football.
The next fall he was still determined not to try out for football. Yet when the call for candidates came around he went out to watch the practice. Before he knew it, he was in uniform.
The jayvees played against St. John’s in their first game. Cooper caught the opening kickoff on his ten-yard line and ran the pigskin back ninety yards for a touchdown.
The rest is football history. Cooper is slated for the Jewish all-American team that the Jewish Telegraphic Agency is selecting because it has been Cooper’s spirit which has kept C. C. N. Y. in the football spotlight. Dolph stands out on the gridiron because of his leadership, playing, and his will to win.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
