Raymond W. "Ducky" Pond (February 17, 1902 – August 25, 1982) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

player and football coach. He was the head football coach at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

from 1934 to 1940, and at

Bates College Bates College () is a Private college, private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the Campus of Bates College, campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian Houses as some of th ...

in 1941 and from 1946 to 1951, compiling career college football record of 52–55–3. Pond's record at Yale was 30–25–2 record, including a 4–3 mark versus Harvard. He mentored two of the first three winners of the Heisman Trophy, Larry Kelley and Clint Frank. At Bates, Pond led the undefeated and untied 1946 Bobcats squad to the inaugural

Glass Bowl The Glass Bowl is a stadium in Toledo, Ohio. It is primarily used for American football, and is the home field of the American football team of the University of Toledo Rockets. It is located on the school's Bancroft campus, just south of the ba ...

.Bergin, Thomas. ''The Game: The Harvard – Yale Football Rivalry, 1875–1983'', Yale University Press, New Haven/London, 1984. Pond was a

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executive after his career in athletics.

Early life and playing career

Pond, after attending high school in

Torrington, Connecticut Torrington is the most populated municipality and only city in Litchfield County, Connecticut and the Northwest Hills region. It is also the core city of Greater Torrington, one of the largest micropolitan areas in the United States. The city p ...

, his birthplace, and the Hotchkiss School, was a member of the Yale Class of 1925, and a 1924 first-team All-American at halfback. Pond starred in the 1923 edition of

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. He was nicknamed "Ducky" by

Grantland Rice Henry Grantland "Granny" Rice (November 1, 1880July 13, 1954) was an early 20th-century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio. Early years Rice w ...

for returning a fumble 63 yards that afternoon against Harvard on a field that resembled "seventeen lakes, five quagmires and a water hazard". Yale had not scored a touchdown versus Harvard since the end of World War I.

Coaching career

An uproar engulfed Pond's hiring as head football coach at Yale in 1934. Though he had been head scout and an assistant for his predecessor, Mal Stevens, who coached from 1928 to 1932, and an alumnus like every head coach before him, ''

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'' 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 Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

's Harry Kipke had not been invited to coach the team. Kipke had coached Michigan to consecutive

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, i ...

in 1932 and 1933. The alumni probably desired a reversal of the program's decline versus Harvard. Yale led

series 22–6–5 from 1875 to 1912; however, from 1913-33, Harvard led the series 11–7–1. Pond, whose head coaching experience had been two seasons at Hotchkiss, was the last alumnus head coach of football at Yale. Reginald Root, head coach for the 1933 season and an alumnus, had a .500 record and lost to Harvard. Pond coached an historically significant game in 1934 versus

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

. The 1934 contest was the last time a group of 11 starters played the entire 60 minutes of a game. At

Palmer Stadium Palmer Stadium was a stadium in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. It hosted the Princeton University Tigers football team, as well as the track and field team. The stadium held 45,750 people at its peak and was opened in 1914 with a game ...

, Yale ended Princeton's 15-game winning streak with a 7–0 upset on November 17. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' (November 17, 1934) reported that an expected capacity crowd of 52,000 would attend the contest, the 58th in the series. Princeton won another 12 consecutive games after the loss. The Yale starters, Larry Kelley among them, were nicknamed Iron Men by the press. Kelley scored the contest's sole touchdown.

Fritz Crisler Herbert Orin "Fritz" Crisler (; January 12, 1899 – August 19, 1982) was an American college football coach who is best known as "the father of two-platoon football," an innovation in which separate units of players were used for offense and ...

, considered the father of two-platoon football, was Pond's counterpart at Princeton. The contest has been subject of two books, ''Yale's Ironmen: A Story of Football & Lives in The Decade of the Depression & Beyond'' and ''Football's Last Iron Men: 1934, Yale vs. Princeton, And One Stunning Upset''. Pond coached two Heisman Trophy winners while at Yale. 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 Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

served for four seasons, 1937–1940, while attending

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

, and Greasy Neale was hired as the backfield coach right after Pond's announced elevation on February 1, 1934. Neale had coached

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to a 3–5–3 record in 1933, his third year there. Neale was clearly the chief strategist among the coaches.

Honors

Yale's athletic department awards annually the Raymond W. Pond Pitching Award.Office of the Secretary, Yale University.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pond, Ducky 1902 births 1982 deaths American football halfbacks Baseball pitchers Bates Bobcats football coaches Georgia Pre-Flight Skycrackers football coaches Yale Bulldogs baseball players Yale Bulldogs football coaches Yale Bulldogs football players United States Navy personnel of World War II American public relations people United States Navy officers Hotchkiss School alumni People from Torrington, Connecticut Players of American football from Connecticut