By Darin As part 35 of our Football History Rewind Series on the timeline of the gridiron game we represent this podcast.
The episode offers a comprehensive analysis of Glen S. Pop Warner's profound influence on the early years of American football, particularly during his tenure at Carlisle Indian School. The discourse commences with a reflection on Warner's innovative spirit, which manifested in various groundbreaking strategies that would leave an indelible mark on the sport.
Of particular note is his introduction of the three-point stance in 1899, a technique that revolutionized offensive play by allowing players to adopt a more dynamic posture, enhancing their speed and agility. This departure from the traditional stance not only underscores Warner's forward-thinking approach but also serves as a testament to his understanding of the game's physicality, marking a pivotal moment in football history. The narrative further delves into specific historical matches that highlight Warner's tactical ingenuity, particularly the infamous 1903 game against Harvard. The episode recounts the meticulous planning that went into a deceptive play involving a concealed ball, executed flawlessly by Warner's team. This clever maneuver exemplified Warner's ability to think outside the box and manipulate the rules of the game to gain a competitive edge.
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Transcript
We've talked about Pop Warner quite a bit on this podcast on Pigskin Dispatch, but there are so many great stories that this great innovator the Game, did. We just had to share a few more from early in his career at Carlisle, so here's a couple that will really keep your interest.
Speaker B:This is the Pigskin Daily History Dispatch, a podcast that covers the anniversaries of American football events throughout history on a day to day basis. Your host, Darren Hayes is podcasting from America's North Shore to bring you the memories of the gridiron one day at a time.
So as we come out of the tunnel of the Sports History Network, let's take the field and go no huddle through the portal of positive gridiron history with pigskindispatch.com.
Speaker C:This podcast is part of Sports History Network, your headquarters for the yesteryear of your favorite sport. You can Learn more at sportshistorynetwork.com hello my football friends.
Darin Hayes:This is Darin Hayes of pigskindispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portal to positive football history. And when we last left off our story on a History of Football Rules, discussion was focused on the contributions of a certain Glen S. Pop Warner.
Warner's debut season of:To be exact, the remarkable game that season in particular against Columbia University where Warner introduced the ideas of the three three point stance in an offensive shift prior to snap. Now the three point stance is so common in today's game is basically a foregone conclusion that it will occur on every play.
in the era of football around:Pop determined that if sprinters and track thought they could get an edge in quicker starts by having a hand or two on the ground from a crouch position, the then why wouldn't it work for a football player too?
e game was hardly complete in:er and Carlisle had after the:Before we get into that Harvard game that season. We must review the game that took place a few weeks prior against Princeton.
In the Princeton game they had the probably the top referee of the era, Mike Thompson.
eless. And under the rules of:The play was not used as foretold to Thompson in the Princeton game, but it was renowned referee and is presiding over a game of the Carlisle Indians again against Harvard. It would work to perfection.
Pop even went so far to have the Carlisle schools Taylor Moss, Blumenthal design a jersey that was laced with elastic to hold the ball in the back of the Indian player Charlie Dillon's upper torso garment. The play worked like a charm against the unsuspecting Harvard squad.
At start of the second half, a Carlisle quarterback, Jimmy Johnson, received the kick inside his own five yard line and a wedge formed and around a cloak of blockers. Johnson tucked the ball in the rear of Dillon's jersey.
As the harbor players fought through the wedge formation to try and get to Johnson, who still appeared to have the ball. Dillon slipped out the back of the formation and down the field across the goal line. The only problem was that Dillon remained a hunchback.
And as he could not remove the ball from his elastic design, that worked all too well. He rolled around on the ground beyond the goal, yelling to the befuddled ref and asking him down, Mike, down.
The score was not recognized by the officials though, until Johnson immediately ran down and took the ball out of a squirming and slithering teammate shirt and touched it down. The Indians went on to win that game, 12 to 11.
nia Native American School in:It was the first for the infamous Jim Thorpe at the school.
This:Warner did not have to invent the forward pass, but as coach in the east who was the first and most used it with his effectiveness early on this starting backs were small so the forward pass was one that he countered for lack of size and a system that worked.
Their only loss of the season came to Princeton in a game that many spoke of as overconfidence by the Indians rather than that being defeated by a better team.
They now we can look back more for more on Pop Warner in the next edition of the Football history rewind part number 36 coming up here on a pigskindispatch.com probably next week. Now we hope you enjoyed this little bit of history.
We hope that you'll join us each and every day for some more great football history and some stories that make the game so great and such a legendary item that it is. So we hope you have a great day and until tomorrow, have a great gridiron day. That's all the football history we have today folks.
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Speaker C:This podcast is part of the Sports History Network, your headquarters for the yesteryear of your favorite sport. You can learn more@sportshistorynetwork.com.
