Football History

Studying history helps us understand that each of us understands the world through a unique perspective that results from the time and place we were born, educated, and all our life experiences. For example, as someone living in 2023, it isn’t easy to see the world through the eyes of someone living in the 1920s and 1930s because we bring a worldview informed by the events of the last 100 or 90 years. Likewise, try as they might, those living in the 1920s and 1930s struggled to see the future, — www.footballarchaeology.com

Teams did not kick field goals in the 1950s with the same frequency as today. College teams often did not attempt field goals in situations we would consider nearly automatic today because straight-ahead kickers were less accurate, did not kick as far as the sidewinders that soon became popular, and the limited substitution rules of the time meant the player doing the kicking was generally among the team’s eleven starters. The kicker was often the best all-around athlete on the team, which is — www.footballarchaeology.com

I recently came across a claim that the first football coaching clinic came in 1924 under the direction of Ira \"Irl\" Tubbs, then the football and basketball coach at Wisconsin’s Superior Normal School. Tubbs played football at William Jewell before coaching at Superior High School, where his top player was Ernie Nevers. Tubbs’ 1920 team was widely considered the best team in the state. Their only competition for the mythical state title came from East Green Bay High, coached by a young Cur — www.footballarchaeology.com

As football transitioned from rugby, it brought along rugby’s rules and traditions, including rugby’s fair catch, in which players signaled the fair catch by \"heeling in\" as they made the catch. Heeling in occurred when players struck the ground with the heel of their foot, creating a divot to mark the spot. Since heeling in occurred simultaneously with or just after the catch, the kicking team players covering the punt could not tackle the returner until they saw whether or not he heeled — www.footballarchaeology.com

Regular readers of this site and other intelligent people know that American football has often faced conflicts over the game’s direction. Today, the primary disputes in college football are player safety and money. Some see targeting and other rules intended to eliminate dangerous hits as at odds with the aggressive play they consider central to football. Likewise, college football’s transfer portal and NIL move the game into territory many do not like. Regardless of where you stand on eith — www.footballarchaeology.com

The aviation world advanced tremendously during WWI as planes grew sturdier, faster, and larger. Those advances leaked over to the civilian sector after the war, along with a desire by the military to promote flying by civilians to ensure a steady supply of trained pilots. Government agencies joined the game by advocating for taxpayer-funded airports to support the flying craze, ensuring their communities would not be left out if heavier-than-air flight took off as expected. — www.footballarchaeology.com

With the start of the football season, we will soon hear of frightful behavior by players, coaches, and fans who assault game officials due to the calls or lack of calls made in games. Such behavior is unacceptable whenever it occurs, but it would be a mistake to believe this type of behavior is new. The world has always had jerks, and a part of its jerk population has found its way onto football fields. So, here are a few stories of our grandparents, great-grandparents, or their ancestors actin — www.footballarchaeology.com

College football remains a predominantly regional game despite the geographic barriers breaking down in recent years. The major conferences have geographic cores; with limited exceptions, teams at lower levels play in conferences covering one or a few bordering states. Travel time and costs have driven the game’s geographical orientation since the beginning and continue to do so today. — www.footballarchaeology.com

I’m a sucker for oddball pieces of player equipment that one person or another developed along the way, and the more quickly the equipment died out, the better. Facial and eye protection is among football’s richest veins for oddball equipment. The nose guards of the 1890s and 1910s led to executioner’s masks in the 1920s, and birdcage face masks in the 1930s, and a proliferation of Lucite and rubber-covered metal masks in the 1950s. — www.footballarchaeology.com