Being an avid football fan, I wish to expound on the origins and historical evolution of this extraordinary contact sport.
First, historians consider the first college football game took place in November 1869 at New Brunswick, N.J., between two schools only 20 miles apart from each other, Rutgers and Princeton.
From 1890 to 1900, football really started to transcend under the supervision of Amos Alonzo Stagg, the coach of the University of Chicago. Stagg was revered as a coach who shaped the game of football as we know it now. Stagg is credited for having pioneered the forward pass, the T-formation, the huddle, the shift, uniform numbers,etc. Other coaches in the early 1900s who infl uenced the game were Glenn “Pop” Warner, Fielding Yost and John Heisman.
Historians consider Jim Thorpe, a Sauk and Fox Indian from Oklahoma who played running back at the Carlisle Institute in the late 1900s, the greatest football player in America.
In the early 1920s, football really intensifi ed and evolved both at the college and professional levels.
Notre Dame’s coach Knute Rockne and the Fighting Irish were the college team of the 1920s. Rockne’s record at Notre dame in 13 season was 105 wins, 12 losses and five ties. Rockne’s 1924 national championship team produced the famous four horsemen: Miller, Layden, Crowley and Stuhidreher,considered by historians as one of the greatest off ensive back fields in college football history.
The NFL’s maiden season was in 1921 with 12 franchises in various cities in American, such as Chicago, Green Bay, Cleveland, Detroit. Coach George “Papa Bear” Halas of Chicago and his player Red Grange taught Americans that when a football player left college, his career was merely beginning.
After World War II, the U.S. Military Academy with running backs Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis were the college football team to beat. Through the 1950s, Oklahoma Coach Bud Wilkerson and his Sooners were a dynasty on the gridiron.
In the 1960s, the NationalFootball League’s AFL was formed with franchises in these cities, New York, Denver, Oakland, Kansas City and others. The fi rst Super Bowl was played on Jan. 15, 1967, as NFL champion Green Bay Packers opposed AFL Champion Kansas City Chiefs at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
In closing, the game of football has evolved immensely since its conception 144 years.
By the way, I predict the Razorbacks under coach (Bret) Bielema will go 10 wins and two losses this 2013 season, with a trip to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
Woooo, Pig, Sooiee, Razorbacks!
BILL BOATRIGHT
Fayetteville
Opinion, Pages 5 on 05/25/2013