The appointment of Rodney J. Kidd as athletic director
was one of the happiest moves ever made by the Intersholastic League.
During his short tenure in office Kidd has shown the courage to face
his problems and the imagination to seek their solution. If he never does anything else
he has cemented himself in the regard of the majority of folks in this section by
daring to intervene in the District 14 squabble. But he is doing more. His latest move is to
tackle the problem of bringing football to the smaller schools with insufficient pupils
to produce, and insufficient funds to maintain the regulation 11-man teams.
Kidd's answer is one we advocated for sandlot and ward school gridsters here last
fall-six-man football. League officials have been instrumental in organizing a district of
12 small schools in Hays and Guadalupe counties. The circuit will be in the nature of an experiment, and if it -works
out as well in practice as on pap'er other leagues will he organized among the enormous number of tiny schools with
enrollments of between 15 and 100.
A scarcity of students and money are not ihe only reasons for resorting to ihe six man game,, "it would be particularly
effective in ward schools, where the objection is sometimes made that the boys are too small to play. Well, they do
play—they play on poor fields, without any equipment other than a sorry excuse for a football, and entirely
-without supervision. How much better it would be if those in the upper two grades of each school were banded into teams for
the six-man game. No doubt there are plentv of former high school players who would be glad to coach them, to teach them
fundamentals that would be invaluable when the time came to play at Kirwin or Ball.
Six-man football requires a smaller gridiron—240 by 190 feet - and it is safer for youngsters in that there is no
plunging. The game is wide-open, with sweeps and passes being the principal weapons of offense. The only equipment
necessary is a headgear and tennis shoes. A touchdown counts six points, 2 try for point if kicked from placement
two points instead of one, and a regulation field goal is worth four points instead of three. Under the rules outlined
by the Interscholastic League ten-minute quarters are provided for senior high boys, with only eight minutes
permitted junior school players. Players are permitted to go into and out of the game regardless of when they first entered.
