The journal of Heredity 



a time throughout their suninuT \aca- 

 tions, practicing kicking. 



The Nesser boys, who came from 

 near Wheeling, play all positions. 

 There are reported to be from five to 

 nine of these brothers, and all of them 

 weigh over 200 pounds each. 



Outside of football, the field of sport 

 shows few instances where brothers 

 have inherited similar abilities. Two 

 notable exceptions are the Shields boys 

 of State and Penn, each of whom could 

 nm a mile under 4. 25. Five Delehanty 

 brothers have all played more than a 

 year in big league baseball. 



The reason for this is probably that 

 sports other than football depend 

 much more on specialized abilities. 

 F'ootball is based largely on physical 

 strength. 



The data here come only from the 

 memories of a few men. If the records 

 of brothers playing football were com- 

 plete they would still be only a small 

 percentage of the number of boys 

 playing football who ha\'e brothers 

 not playing at all. 



If we could sift the qualities which 

 make up a football player down to the 

 most vital they would probabh' be 

 temperament and physique. 



Both of these qualities depend ujion 

 a number of things, so that neither is 

 often inherited intact. This is the prob- 

 able reason that so many football 

 players have brothers who do not play 

 at all. 



However, our records show that 

 when brothers do play football, the 

 proportion of those playing similar 

 positions is too great to be mere coinci- 

 dence. 



The following is a tabulated list of 

 players and positions. 

 Table I 

 Player School Position 



McCrea Yale Guard 



Hickock " " 



