Chapter 1: Death of a Sport
Teddy Roosevelt loved American football. Even though he never played the game himself, President Roosevelt wanted to save the game. He would not only need to save the game from the likes of Charles W. Eliot, the President of Harvard University, but he would also need to save it from itself. By 1905 the game had essentially turned into a glorified bar fight. The game had few rules and the ones they had were routinely ignored. In 1905 alone 18 college and amateur players died playing the game. Something needed to change to help save the sport and President Roosevelt felt like he could bring about that change.
On October 9th, 1905, the President held a meeting with football representatives from Harvard, Princeton and Yale. He lectured the men in attendance that eliminating deaths and reducing injuries was essential for the future of the game. After some resistance, rule changes were made at a meeting of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States which took place in New York City on December 28th, 1905. This included the outlawing of gang tackling and rugby-style mass tackling, increasing the distance to 10 yards to get a first down, the establishment of a neutral zone at the line of scrimmage and the introduction of the forward pass.
President Roosevelt helped arranged that one of the first games of the upcoming season would be between Harvard University and the United States Military Academy in Washington D.C on September 22nd, 1906. The goal was to show that the new rules would work in making the game less violent. In attendance was the President, many members of Congress and many officials from both schools. Theodore Roosevelt III was a member of the Harvard squad. The game started with marvelous results and at halftime the score was 3-0 Harvard. However in the middle of the 3rd quarter, disaster struck. All-American Daniel Hurley, a halfback for Harvard, had broken free and had a great 15 yard run. The Army defensive player that finally got to him launched at Hurley, hitting him square in the chest which resulted in Hurley being thrown back. His head whiplashed as it hit the ground which instantly snapped his neck and killed him.
The game was immediately called off. President Roosevelt realized that type of injury could happen to anyone playing the game, including his own son. The following Monday he made a public declaration that rule changes could not go far enough to clean up the game and he advocated ending the game. This gave Charles W. Eliot and his allies all the ammunition they needed. The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States had an emergency later that week. Under a large amount of public pressure, they canceled the rest of the season and discontented the sport at the Varsity collegiate level. Rapidly many states began banning the sport and in 1907 Congress passed and President Roosevelt signed a bill that banned the game across the nation.
It took a couple years, but American Football was essentially dead by 1910. However, many former players wanted to continue to participate in sports, especially one with some physical contact. Many of these former American footballers found exactly that when they discovered another game that was called football.
Teddy Roosevelt loved American football. Even though he never played the game himself, President Roosevelt wanted to save the game. He would not only need to save the game from the likes of Charles W. Eliot, the President of Harvard University, but he would also need to save it from itself. By 1905 the game had essentially turned into a glorified bar fight. The game had few rules and the ones they had were routinely ignored. In 1905 alone 18 college and amateur players died playing the game. Something needed to change to help save the sport and President Roosevelt felt like he could bring about that change.
On October 9th, 1905, the President held a meeting with football representatives from Harvard, Princeton and Yale. He lectured the men in attendance that eliminating deaths and reducing injuries was essential for the future of the game. After some resistance, rule changes were made at a meeting of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States which took place in New York City on December 28th, 1905. This included the outlawing of gang tackling and rugby-style mass tackling, increasing the distance to 10 yards to get a first down, the establishment of a neutral zone at the line of scrimmage and the introduction of the forward pass.
President Roosevelt helped arranged that one of the first games of the upcoming season would be between Harvard University and the United States Military Academy in Washington D.C on September 22nd, 1906. The goal was to show that the new rules would work in making the game less violent. In attendance was the President, many members of Congress and many officials from both schools. Theodore Roosevelt III was a member of the Harvard squad. The game started with marvelous results and at halftime the score was 3-0 Harvard. However in the middle of the 3rd quarter, disaster struck. All-American Daniel Hurley, a halfback for Harvard, had broken free and had a great 15 yard run. The Army defensive player that finally got to him launched at Hurley, hitting him square in the chest which resulted in Hurley being thrown back. His head whiplashed as it hit the ground which instantly snapped his neck and killed him.
The game was immediately called off. President Roosevelt realized that type of injury could happen to anyone playing the game, including his own son. The following Monday he made a public declaration that rule changes could not go far enough to clean up the game and he advocated ending the game. This gave Charles W. Eliot and his allies all the ammunition they needed. The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States had an emergency later that week. Under a large amount of public pressure, they canceled the rest of the season and discontented the sport at the Varsity collegiate level. Rapidly many states began banning the sport and in 1907 Congress passed and President Roosevelt signed a bill that banned the game across the nation.
It took a couple years, but American Football was essentially dead by 1910. However, many former players wanted to continue to participate in sports, especially one with some physical contact. Many of these former American footballers found exactly that when they discovered another game that was called football.
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