College Sports

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College Sports

Rise of College Sport . In the last half of the nineteenth century, sports became an essential element of college life. Intercollegiate sport emerged before the Civil War, with rowing, or crew, being the first college sport. In the 1830s students at prestigous eastern colleges formed informal rowing clubs, and by 1846

Harvard and Yale clubs began to compete against noncollegiate organizations. In the ensuing decades rowing was joined by baseball, cricket, and football on college campuses. The first intercollegiate football game played to rugby rules was between McGill and Harvard on 15 May 1874, and ended in a scoreless tie. In the 1870s football grew into the leading college sport in the United States, and in 1876 Princeton, Rutgers, Columbia, Harvard, and Yale met in Springfield, Massachusetts, to form the American Intercollegiate Football Association. At that meeting the schools agreed on the Rugby Union rules for college football.

Society and College Football. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, college football developed from a game played by the student to one played for the spectator. Changes within the university promoted the growth of football. Beginning in the 1870s universities sought to increase their enrollments, and college presidents quickly came to recognize that a winning football team brought the recognition needed to stimulate enrollments. College authorities also realized that successful football teams contributed more to developing alumni loyality than fond memories of chapels, classrooms, professors, and ivy-covered buildings. By the close of the century alumni wanted a stake in the success of their college teams, and they participated in the recruitment of players, raising money for the team, and assisting in the administration of college athletics. Urban social climbers associated themselves with successful college football teams regardless of whether they were graduates of that institution or not. More important, the men who played college football, especially in northeastern colleges, were the sons of the elite, and their participation on a winning team, coupled with a degree from an exclusive college, could assure their ascendancy.

From Rugby to Football. In 1876 the American Intercollegiate Football Association agreed to play football according to the Rugby Union rules. Rugby rules, unlike the soccer rules under which the 1869 Rutgers-Princeton games were played, permitted a more physical game in which a player could pick up the ball and run with it for a touchdown. Moreover, players could dropkick the ball to score as well. The transition from English rugby to American football occurred in the late 1870s under the direction of Walter Camp, who played halfback for Yale from 1876 to 1882. One of his first innovations was to reduce the number of players on the field for each team from fifteen to eleven. In 1880 Camp proposed replacing the rugby scrum with the scrimmage. Whereas the scrum led to constant turnover of the ball from team to team, the scrimmage encouraged the undisputed possession of the ball by one team. The scrimmage brought order to the game and encouraged the development of rational strategy and team formations. The scrimmage, however, made it possible for a team to control the ball for the entire game, so in 1882 Camp proposed the downs system, in which the team was given three downs to advance the ball five yards (now four downs to move the ball ten yards) or relinquish possession of the ball. Under the downs system, lines marking five-yard increments were chalked across the playing field, thus producing the gridiron effect upon the field. Camp, who permitted tackling below the waist, also instituted the point system for touchdowns (6), field

goals (3), and safeties (2). In 1889 he promoted football by naming his first All-American team.

Dominance of the East. During the late nineteenth century, prestigous eastern universities dominated college football. Yale, coached by Camp, won the first national championship in 1883. In all Yale won eight national titles from 1883 to 1899. During the same period Princeton garnered four, Harvard three, and Pennsylvania two national titles. Players from these schools became the coaches who would spread football throughout the nation. Amos Alonzo Stagg, a Yale player and member of Camp’s first -American team in 1889, developed Chicago into one of early college football powers of the Midwest. One of the first athletic conferences established around football teams was the Western Conference, which would become known as the Big Ten. In 1896 Wisconsin won the first Western Conference championship and in 1897 retained that title. In 1898 Michigan won the Western Conference title, as did Chicago in 1899.