11/7 Football Intro

Early Football Notes

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

COLONISTS-
Inflated bladders or sawdust-filled leather balls before the American Revolution.
Jamestown , VA. Inflated Balls

COLLEGE GAME
Fisti-cuffs, wrestling, etc. Princeton 1820 “Ballown”---Mob Football similar to Rugby


1827 HARVARD: “BLOODY MONDAY” --“CLASS RUSH” Sophomore v. Frosh

1830s Dartmouth—“Old Division Football” in the 1830s. Published Rules in 1871.

1855—Rubber Balls Introduced

1860-YALE- Destruction spread to town. All Games stopped in 1860. Harvard does the same in 1861.

1855 THE BOSTON GAME--- combination of Rugby (Carrying or Running Game) and Soccer (Kicking Game)

1862 ONEIDA FOOTBALL CLUB---Led by Gerrit Smith Miller---playing the Boston Game on Boston Commons

NOV. 7, 1863 FIRST GAME WRITTEN-UP IN PAPER

1869 PRINCETON-RUTGERS RUTGERS 6-4 (probably more soccer than rugby)
NEXT GAME AT PRINCETON-- CATCH AND KICK PRINCETON WINS 8-0

THE FIRST RULES

Oct. 20, 1873---Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Rutgers meet in NYC and codify the first set of intercollegiate rules—(still more soccer than football).

Harvard played the Boston Game. May 14, 1874---Harvard vs. McGill Univ. (Montreal).

THE GAME---Annual Game between Harvard-Yale first played on Nov. 13, 1875.

Nov. 23, 1876 ---Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia meet at Massasoit House in Massachusetts to codify rules based on the Boston Game and Rugby and form the Intercollegiate Football Association (precursor to the NCAA). Yale doesn’t join until 1879 due to disagreement on players per side.

Walter Camp of Yale—Varsity Letter Winner in every sport offered at Yale, offers up these rules at the 1880 meeting of the IFA.
1. 11 men per side.
2. Line of Scrimmage, and the Center to QB Exchange.

This causes a slowdown in the game and makes it even more violent. Further Rule Changes try to fix this.

1881---
1. Field is set at same length as today—120 yds. Long and 53 1/3 yds wide.
1882---
1. Down and Distance Rules were added.

1883---
1. Points for the following: 4 pts a TD (try), 2 pts a PAT, 2 pts a Safety, 5 pts a FG.

1887---
1. Time limit---2 halves of 45 min each.

In 1880 there were only 8 universities (all Eastern Coast) that played football. By 1900, over 43 universities field teams.


Michigan was the first “Western” school to take up the game. Michigan’s team led by Coach Fielding H. Yost led them to a 56 game undefeated streak from 1901-1905.


VIOLENCE OF THE GAME

THE GAME-1894 : Nicknamed the Hampden Park Blood Bath . Four players were crippled. THE GAME is banned until 1897.

1894-1898-ARMY-NAVY Game Suspended also. Mass-formations like the FLYING WEDGE were blamed for the violence.

1905- There were 19 Fatalities because of Football nationwide. T. Roosevelt threatens to Ban the Game.

Dec. 28, 1905 Sixty-two schools meet in NYC to discuss rule changes (NCAA)
Rule Changes included:
1906---
1. Legal forward pass introduced in 1906.
2. Mass formations were illegal

1909---
1. FG lowered to 3 pts.

1910---
1. 7 Players must be on Line of Scrimmage.
2. No Pulling, Pushing or interlocking of arms, hands on belts allowed.

1912---
1. TD’s raised to 6 pts.

1914---
1. Roughing the Passer Penalty implemented

1918---
1. Eligible Receivers could catch the ball anywhere.





STRATEGY IN THE GAME

The main men who introduced strategy into the game were the coaches. The three most influential early coaches were:

AMOS ALONZO STAGG-- Introduced the huddle, the tackling dummy, and the pre-snap shift.

GLENN “POP” WARNER—Coached Jim Thorpe. Wrote Football for Coaches and Players in 1927.
Introduce the Single Wing (like Spread in today’s football), and the Double Wing formations.
Modern Blocking Schemes, the 3-Pt. Stance, and the Reverse Play

KNUTE ROCKNE—Popularized the forward pass, complex shifts (Rule Change in 1927 that players must be stopped for a full second before the snap) and emphasized Offense over Defense. [Teams would choose to kick back off if they were scored upon].

JOHN HEISMAN—Known for innovative offense and using the forward pass. Best known for coaching stint at Georgia Tech. Retired to NYC in 1927 and began writing about football, and helped craft the rules. Downtown Athletic Club in NYC began offering a trophy named after him in 1935 for the best college player in the nation.

SPORT IN THE MEDIA

GRANTLAND RICE---Early 20th Century Sports Writer.
Penned Grange’s nomiker “The Galloping Ghost”, Notre Dame’s “Four Horsemen” Backfield and Fordham’s University’s linemen known as the “Seven Blocks of Granite”.


EARLY HEROES

Jim Thorpe




Red Grange



Bronko Nagurski




AWARDS
NYC’S Downtown Athletic Club Awarded the first Heisman Trophy(Named after John Heisman a legendary early coach) in 1935 (one year before the baseball Hall of Fame opened).