American football, a sport that now captures the hearts of millions, has a rich and surprising history. But did you know the very first professional league kicked off over a century ago?
Delve into the fascinating tale of the 1888-1889 American Football, the pioneering competition that laid the groundwork for the NFL we know today. This article tackles the league's formation, the teams that battled for gridiron glory, and its lasting impact on the evolution of America's favorite sport.
The 1888 season was a very radical year as a couple of seemingly small rules changes from the spring conventions turned the game tacticians on their ear. Offensive formations became tighter to prevent the defenders from using the new rule of being able to tackle below the waist but above the knees. The wide open game of previous years would fade away. The offensive masterminds also came up with schemes where a blocking back would charge through the line first ahead of the runner, this was a new concept. The defensive side saw changes in strategy as well, besides using their new low tackling to take down ball carriers more efficiently they also set up waves of defenders similar to what we now know as linebackers and the defensive secondary. 
The 1889 Cornell University Football team photo, taken by an unknown, courtesy Wikimedia Commons
These radical developments were spawned by a new way to present rules: via a special committee of graduates of association member schools. The new rules making group was called the Graduate Advisory Committee. This committee was created in 1887 at an Intercollegiate Association Convention for the purpose of developing the rules and handling appeals from member schools on rulings.
It was decided that the Committee would meet the first Saturday in March every year and give their findings to the Secretary of the Intercollegiate Association by the first week in April of that same year. Each school would have graduate representatives elected by the captains of the teams that would serve for a one year term and additional graduates from the schools would be selected during commencement week by the respective schools to sit for two year terms. It is of no small importance that a man by the name of Walter Camp was one of the graduates appointed by Yale for a two year term.
These changes would bring even more reform in the years to come, as was shown by the next convention of the Intercollegiate Association.
The 1889 Wisconsin University Football team photo, taken by an unknown, courtesy Wikimedia Commons
The Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City was once again the meeting place for members of the Association. This meeting was the first convention after the very first Graduate Advisory Committee meeting.
The first thing the convention attendees did was flex their muscle and veto the suggestion of the Advisory Committee to amend the rule which said the snapper-back could not run with the ball until it touched a third player. What this did was make it legal for the snapper to snap the ball up to an awaiting hand of a back and then bring it back to himself and plunge ahead. This must have been a popular play at that time for short yardage or as a surprise tactic. It would definitely keep a defensive line honest!
The Convention also decided to accept the suggested rule change for blocking on the “rush-line” after modifying it a bit. The Advisory Committee’ proposal of “prohibiting players in the rush-line from blocking with extended arms,” was modified by the Association to read, “No player shall lay his hands upon or interfere by the use of his hands or arms with an opponent unless he has the ball.” This sure sounds like a precursor to our current holding foul. All of the other suggestions from the May 1888 Committee were accepted by the Association.
This session of the Advisory Committee recommended that a time out period be instilled during the instances where the ball was being brought out after a safety or touchback. Another suggested reform to the rules by the Committee was to separate the fouls of illegal tackling and unnecessary roughness. Prior seasons saw the two as being one and the same foul and serving the same penalty of disqualification of the offender. The rule change would continue the disqualification for unneeded roughness but would lessen the sentence for illegal tackling to a twenty-five yard penalty against the offending team.
There was a lot of heated debate at this session of the Committee, so much so that they decided to meet again at the end of the same month to continue the talks.
The Committee went right to work with suggestions on multiple rules reforms. The first was for the definition of a touchdown. They wanted to new rule to read that “a touchdown is made when the ball is carried, kicked or passed across the goal-line and their held either in touch or in goal. “
The rules mentioned in the prior year pertaining to the use of hands were tinkered with a bit more by the Committee. The suggestion was to allow the defense to be allowed to use their hands and arms in blocking opponents while allowing the offense to use only their bodies and not their arms or hands to ward off defenders.
Big changes were proposed for officials too! It was suggested to give both the Referee and the Umpire a whistle to indicate when plays were over. The Ref would carry a stopwatch to keep the official time of the game. It was also decided that the Ref would not stop plays when the quarters expired but wait until the play had ended. It was also a recommendation to call timeout while the ball is brought out for a try or a kick-out after a score. Other less impacting suggestions were made also at this meeting but the only other one of real consequence was that of establishing an official ball of the association, the Lillywhite Number J.
The Committee had made their recommendations and now it was up to the Association members to either adopt or reject the suggestions that the Committee had worked so hard on through two meetings. Please look back soon to learn how the Convention attendees treated the new rule proposals in the next leg of this football history trip. Right here on PigskinDispatch.com, your place for the good news about football.
The Yale University eleven claimed the championship once again, by the the later decision of Parke H. Davis, the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, National Championship Foundation, as well as the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book. Yale finished with a stellar campaign of 13-0-0 while Harvard (12-1) and Princeton (11-1). Yale was in its first season under Head Coach Walter Camp and sported an unprecedented scoring advantage of 694-0! This dominant Eli eleven scored 126 touchdowns and kicked 69 goals from touchdown and eight goals from the field. Its roster included Pudge Heffelfinger, William Wurtenburg, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Lee McClung, Charles O. Gill, Frederic W. Kid Wallace, Pa Corbin, John A. Hartwell and Ashbel Barney Newell.
That season saw the final game having Yale defeat Princeton 10-0 for their only loss. Harvard's only loss was an 18-6 defeat at the hands of Princeton. Harvard and Yale did not play each other that season.
October 18, 1888 also saw the first intercollegiate game in the state of North Carolina when Wake Forest defeated North Carolina 6–4.
The season of 1889 saw the Princeton Tigers capture the national title led by Captain Edgar Allen Poe. The decision of crowing the Tigers as National Champs was made years later by Parke H. Davis, the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System and the National Championship Foundation. Princeton overcame Yale 10-0 and Harvard
Drawing by artist T. de Thulstrup depicting spectators at the 1889 Princeton vs Yale game. Courtesy U.S. Library of Congress
Wofford defeated Furman in the first intercollegiate game played in the state of South Carolina. The game was somewhat impromtu as it featured no uniforms worn for either side, no positions, and the rules were formulated just before the game kicked off!
We are able to give this in depth look from so long ago in history by careful research. Using someone who was contemporary to the period is the best source. So a very special shout out to our main source of reference information for this article is from Parke H. Davis in his 1911 book Football-The American Intercollegiate Game.
The picture in the banner above is from the Wikimedia Commons' collection and is a photo of . Also is a drawing titled "The Princeton-Yale foot-ball match at the Berkeley Oval portrayed by artist T. de Thulstrup in 1889 from the U.S. Library of Congress collection.
