The father of modern football

Recently I had the privilege of attending a dinner party in Lincoln, prior to the Nebraska vs New Mexico State football game. One of the people at the party was a nice lady who told me that she had recently retired from teaching. She had been a long-time professor at Harvard University. I confessed that it had always been an ambition of mine to attend an Ivy League football game, preferably Harvard vs Yale, to pay my homage to the place where American football began.

My dinner companion commented that she was not going to the Nebraska game the next day. Further, she said that she had lived in Boston for some 30 years and had never been to a Harvard football game. She wasn't malicious about the fact. She just didn't care about football.

I thought that this was unusual, and a little sad. It was like saying that she had never visited Boston's Old North Church, where Paul Revere began his historic ride, because she didn't care about horse racing. Football is a very large part of our culture. To be able to witness an Ivy League game, where it all began, would be an opportunity to soak up a bit of our nation's history.

American football descended from two English games, soccer and rugby, and retains parts of each of these sports. The first American football game was played between two Ivy League schools, Princeton and Rutgers in 1869, but it scarcely resembled the game that we know today. It was played on an enormous field, with no real boundaries. There were more than 25 players on each team. The teams used a round leather ball, much like a soccer ball, but there were no referees, no protection for the body, and no helmets. Most of all, there were few, if any, rules, and gang tackling, gouging, and much cursing and swearing were very much a part of the game.

In the 1870s, players and school officials from Harvard and Yale met in Boston to formalize the rules of the game. From this meeting the Intercollegiate Football Association was born, which changed the game markedly. A much smaller field was instituted, the ball changed from round to oval (though fatter than now), only 15 players to a side were permitted, and referees were added.

In 1880, a player at Yale, Walter Camp, worked with the IPA to consolidate the rules. Teams were standardized to 11 players to a side. Camp introduced the line of scrimmage, and a system of downs and distance (Originally a team got 3 downs to move 5 yards.) He instituted a system of fouls and penalties for those fouls, making the game safer for the players and at the same time made it easier and more satisfying for the spectators. These changes gave Walter Camp the title of "Father of American Football."

Walter Camp's Football became increasingly popular with the public and more and more schools began to play the game, but it was still a very rough, dangerous game. By the turn of the century there was increasing clamor from around the country to ban the game. These calls reached all the way to the White House and President T. Roosevelt.

In 1905 alone, there had been 18 deaths attributed to football injuries. (This was an astounding number, considering that at that time there were 20 times fewer boys playing football than there were 100 years later, in 2005.)

Roosevelt was a football fan, and saw the game as a way "to build bodies and character, instill a sense of team, and never give up." Ten of Roosevelt's Rough Riders gave their occupations as "Football Player" when they signed up to fight with Roosevelt in Cuba in 1898, during the Spanish-American War. T.R. felt that it was important to do something to save the game and at the same time make it more acceptable to the public.

In 1906, Roosevelt called together representatives of the Big 3 (Harvard, Yale, and Princeton) for a meeting at the White House. From this meeting a Football Rules Committee was formed to oversee American Football. From this meeting the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was born. The committee put in place rules that would open up the game; (i.e. the forward pass), and would make the game less dangerous. Initially, mass formations, and gang tackling were outlawed, and equipment requirements (pads, helmets, etc.) were regulated. In the years since there have been almost annual changes in the football rule book, designed to accomplish those goals.

Roosevelt's efforts probably saved American football, and today he is still honored by the NCAA, which has named its highest award, the "Teddy" in his honor. This award is presented annually to "An individual who earned a varsity letter in inter-collegiate athletics and ultimately became a distinguished citizen of national reputation, based on outstanding life accomplishment." Past winners of this prestigious award include four US Presidents, Eisenhower, Ford, Bush Sr., and Ronald Reagan.

The University of Nebraska was a relative late-comer to football, playing its first game in 1892. It is probably fitting that its first coach was Dr. Langdon Frothingham, a transfer from Harvard. Dr. Frothingham might not have known much about football, but he had brought a football with him to Lincoln, and had actually seen a football game. He led the team to a victory over the Omaha YMCA, 10-0, on Thanksgiving Day. The only other game NU played that school year was against Doane College, 18-0, in February 1893. By the next school year Dr. F. was gone and for three years NU did not have a real coach.

For many years, really until after World War II, Professional Football was not big in America. It really was a way that players could continue to play after their college eligibility was used up. Attendance at the games was not great, and salaries were miniscule, as compared with salaries of today's players. Warren Alfson, an All-American linesman on NU's Rose Bowl team signed a pro contract with the old Brooklyn Dodger Football organization for a signing bonus of $25.

After World War II American football took an amazing upturn in popularity. It seems that football is uniquely suited to television broadcasts. Professional football, and to a certain extent college football as well, owe their great fortunes to TV.

An argument can be made that football in all its forms is out of hand. Professional contracts are often obscenely inflated. Owners of pro teams pressure new stadiums and other concessions from the cities they represent. Colleges are expanding their stadium seating capacity and building sky boxes, and "favored seating" for their fans, with the requirement of hundreds, even thousands of dollars of "club contributions" annually. At NU one can spend $75,000 per year (10 years required) for a sky box, or $500 per year for "Club seating" (plus $52 per game ticket).

In 1941, a special football train took people to the Rose Bowl to see NU play Stanford. The cost was $55.73, for train fare from Lincoln, ticket to the game, and hotel accommodations in Pasadena. In 2008 one can pay $43 to travel half way across the state on the bus for the McCook vs Gering game. Both can be considered good deals.

For a good many people, when the temperatures begin to fall, football fever takes over, and common sense takes a back seat. I would like to continue. There is a good deal more to say, but I must run. The Bo Pelini show is on TV.