In 1874, Harvard challenged McGill University from Canada to a football match. Unlike Harvard, the rugby type of football McGill played allowed running the ball. When Harvard team members saw the McGill players running with the ball during warm ups, they called a quick conference. The teams agreed to play two games—one with running and one without. The Harvard team decided it liked running the ball and added the run to its game plan. In 1875, players in the very first Harvard-Yale football game were allowed to carry the ball. American football was truly off and running, so to speak.
Pioneers of the
Game
In those early days of college football,
the rules often changed from game to game
depending on what the opposing teams agreed
to. Some teams played with 15 men on the
field; others with 11. In 1876, the Intercollegiate
Football Association was created to establish
standardized rules of play. Yale player
Walter Camp attended that first Association
meeting. In 1880, it was Camp who created
the line of scrimmage and the quarterback
position. Because of these and other game-shaping
innovations, Camp is known as the Father
of American Football.
If Camp is the Father of American Football, then Amos Alonzo Stagg is the Father of Football Coaching. Like Camp, Stagg played football at Yale. In 1890 he started his 57-year head-coaching career at Springfield College. Stagg created a plethora of football firsts including the huddle, putting numbers on uniforms, the T formation, the punt formation and the end around. His is also credited with dreaming up famous “trick” plays like the hidden ball and the Statue of Liberty. Stagg invented several pieces of equipment still used in sports today including blocking sleds, tackling dummies and the batting cage for baseball. Famous Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne said it best: “All football comes from Stagg.”
