![]() The president of Stanford, disgusted, called football "rugby's American pervert," and an even more fascinating critic was Col. How long would America allow its brave youth to perish for a silly game? ![]() The Chicago Tribune reported that 26 players had been killed on the gridiron that year. Then, two Saturdays after that, against Georgetown, in the nation's capital, star University of Virginia halfback Archer Christian met his death. Three weeks before, when Harvard played at West Point, an Army lineman named Eugene Byrne was killed. a polar bear.'īut the great game of a hundred years ago was overshadowed by greater carnage at other major universities. The old warrior called football a 'barbarous amusement' that 'develops the brute dormant in man's nature and puts the player on a level with. every lineman's face was dripping with blood." Few players wore helmets, and a close observer declared that as Harvard and Yale pummeled each other, "It was the most magnificent sight. The forward pass had been legalized, in a limited fashion - but football was mostly just pounding scrimmage. ![]() In fact, when Yale won 8-0, it finished its whole season completely unscored upon. 20, between two undefeateds - Yale and Harvard - was typical of the era. In the season's championship match - what may be called the first "game of the century" - The New York Times summed it up as "an indescribable tangle of bodies, arms and legs." However, by ought-nine, as they said back then, it was still a brutal battle royal. This month is the centennial of what has all but been forgotten - a moment that could have ended football in America but instead forced the sport down a different, better path.įootball was so gruesome at the turn of the century that in 1905, no less than President Roosevelt himself demanded that the sport clean itself up, and the notorious flying wedge was banned. Before ESPN: Football has always been a contact sport - even in the 1930s, when this photo of players for Boston and Geneva College was taken.
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