Ducky Pond

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Raymond W. Pond (born February 17, 1902) served as the head coach of the Yale University football team from 1934 to 1940, compiling a 30-24-2 record, 4-3 versus Harvard.[1] Pond, after attending high school in Torrington, Connecticut, his birthplace, and the Hotchkiss School, was a member of the Yale Class of 1925, a 1924 first-team All-American at halfback, and a member of Wolf's Head Society. He served in the Navy during World War II. Pond died in 1982.[2]

During Pond's tenure as coach, Yale produced back-to-back Heisman Trophy winners. End Larry Kelley in 1936 and halfback Clint Frank in 1937 were the second and third winners of the most prestigious individual award in football. Among the total of 21 assistants employed by Pond at Yale, future President Gerald Ford served for four seasons, 1937-1940, while attending Yale Law School.[3]

Pond starred in the The Game in 1923. Pond was nicknamed Ducky by Grantland Rice for returning a fumble 63 yards that afternoon against Harvard on a field that resembled "seventeen lakes, five quagmires and a water hazard".[4] Yale hadn't scored a touchdown versus Harvard since the end of World War I.[5]

Pond coached two historically significant football games. The first was the last time a group of 11 starters played the entire 60 minutes of a collegiate football game. In 1934 Yale, on the road, ended Princeton University's 15-game winning streak with a 7-0 upset November 17. The Ironmen, as they were known, were celebrated in a book by William Wallace of the New York Times.[6] Pond coached Bates College before and after World War II, and lead its football squad to the inaugural Glass Bowl, played 1946 - 1949, versus the University of Toledo.[7]

An uproar engulfed Pond's hiring at Yale. Though he had been head scout and an assistant for his predecessor, Marvin Stevens (Head Coach 1928-1932), and an alumnus like every Head Coach before him, Time magazine reported that the "New York City alumni, who had waged a furious fight to end Yale's policy of graduate coaches and demanded a proven winner from outside" were enraged that Michigan's Harry Kipke had not been invited to coach the team.[8]Kipke coached Michigan to the mythical 1932 and 1933 national championships. The alumni probably desired a reversal of the program's decline versus Harvard. Yale lead The Game series 22-6-5, 1875-1912; however, from 1913-1933, Harvard lead the series 11-7-1.[9]

Pond was the last alumnus Head Coach of football at Yale.

Pond was a star baseball athlete in high school and college. Yale's athletic department awards annually the Raymond W. Pond Pitching Award.[10] As an undergraduate, Pond was coached by Smoky Joe Wood.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Game: The Harvard - Yale Football Rivalry, 1875 - 1983, Thomas G. Bergin, Yale University Press, 1984
  2. ^ RAYMOND POND, 80; COACHED AT YALE, August 25, 1982, New York Times
  3. ^ see 1
  4. ^ New York Herald Tribune, November 25, 1923
  5. ^ see 1
  6. ^ Former Yale standout DeAngelis dies at 97, December 28, 2007, New Haven Register
  7. ^ Bates College Alumni Magazine, Sports Notes, Fall 1996
  8. ^ Time Magazine, "Ins & Outs", Feb. 12, 1934
  9. ^ see 1
  10. ^ Office of the Secretary, Yale University
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Yale Bulldogs head football coaches

Camp • Rhodes • Hartwell • Thorne • Butterworth • Rodgers • McBride • Stillman • Swan • Chadwick • Rafferty • Owsley • Rockwell • Knox • Biglow • Coy • Field • Howe • H. Jones • Hinkey • Sharpe • T. Jones • Stevens • Root • Pond • Nelson • Odell • Hickman • Olivar • Pont • Cozza • Siedlecki