Football facts and figures. A symposium of expert opinions on the game's place in American athletics

Front matter

^ s-V

,0

.•0

Contents

CHAP. PAOK INTRODUCTION — ORIGIN OP THE COMMITTEE ... V I. FACTS AND OPINIONS REGARDING FOOTBALL AS EX- PRESSED BY THOSE WHO HAVE STUDIED THE SUBJECT 1 II. STATISTICS OF UNIVERSITY AND SCHOOL PLAYERS AS

COLLECTED BY THE COMMITTEE 59

ni. LETTERS FROM MEMBERS OP THE FACULTY AND HEAD- MASTERS 66

Introduction

ORIGIN OF THE COMMITTEE

The stir that had been created last fall * by the wholesale attacks upon football was sufficient to leave parents of boys in an uncomfortable uncertainty as to what I their duty was, and this uncertainty finally led a prominent Boston gentleman to formally ask the Harvard Board of Overseers for an investigation. No one, up to that time, had felt called upon to present the other side of the question, and those most familiar with the sport had been disinclined to take up what might, they said, be termed a defence of football. But when it was made evident that in such an enquiry there was only the desire for a full and complete investigation, it seemed both possible and just to secure a wide expression of opinion from past players, and from those most competent, through their connection with schools and colleges, to judge as to the effects of the game, Mr. Robert Bacon, of the Harvard Board of Overseers, was on the committee to whom this question was referred, and in November he came to New Haven and asked Mr. Walter Camp if he would consent to act as chairman of a committee or body of investigators who should look into the matter thoroughly. He further stated that the gentleman who asked the question of the Harvard Board of Overseers was in no way opposed to football, but was, like many others, anxious to possess some definite knowledge as to the facts. The plan seemed practicable, and after obtaining their consent to act, the following gentlemen were asked to attend a * 1893.

VI INTRODUCTION

meeting in New York : Rev. Jos. Twichell of Hartford, Conn., a member of the Yale Corporation ; Rev. Endicott Peabody of Groton School, Mass. ; James W. Alexander of Princeton, vice-president of the Equitable Life Assurance Society ; Honorable Henry E. Howland of New York ; Robert Bacon of the Harvard Board of Overseers, and Walter Camp. Dr. Pepper of the University of Pennsylvania had also been invited, but press of work prevented his accepting. Mr. Camp submitted a plan of investigation which the gentlemen discussed and ultimately authorized. This plan was to secure an expression of opinion from head-masters of schools, | members of faculty of colleges, and former captains of football teams. In addition to this it was planned to institute a compaiuson between football and some well known sport. After investigation it was found that the only thorough enquiry into the question of the number benefited and injured by any sport was one made by Dr. Morgan of Oxford, regarding the boating men of his university. It was, therefore, determined to take his summary as the basis of comparison. It was found that by taking the players of the Harvard, Princeton, and Yale teams from the introduction of Rugby football into America, down to the present date, the number would be very close to the number of men who rowed in 'varsity races during the years included in Dr. Morgan's research. A quotation from McLaren gives the best idea of Dr. Morgan's work :

" For many a long year strange tales of the risks and dangers of rowing, or rather of boat-racing, have had a floating existence in the universities, and, gaining strength and circumstantiality by time and repetition, have extended to wider circles. While the old tales lived and held their own, other and more startling legends sprang up and also grew into importance — legends so alarming, and related with such circum-

INTRODUCTION vii

stantial detail, that the most sceptical began to think 'there must be something in it.' Wliole crews, it was stated, had been swept off in a few brief years by their terrible struggles and efforts at the oar. This feeling of uneasiness, if not of absolute alarm, attained a sort of climax a few years ago by the letters of an eminent surgeon published in the Times. For reasons which seemed to his professional judgment sufficient, he took the side of the alarmist, and pronounced an opinion, strongly expressed, against boat-racing as now practised. These letters were answered with more or less ability by votaries of the oar, men then actively engaged in rowing, or who had recently been so. The ample lists in Dr. Morgan's book, the liberal extracts from his correspondents' answers to his queries — his correspondents being the oarsmen themselves — tell us all ; tell us Avhere they are, what they are doing, what they did when with us and how they did it, and, in their own lanj'uag^, tell with characteristic frankness, and in words wlich v ? can still recognize as their old modes of expression, what they think and believe for or against their old favorite pastime."

His table of conclusions was as follows :

Benefited by rowing, 115

Uninjured by rowing, 132

Injured by rowing, 17

It was the purpose of this committee, expressed at its first meeting, to lay before parents, faculty, and all interested as complete an investigation as possible of the results of the game in this country since it became a recognized sport in 18V6. In order to do this they have followed up every player on the Harvard and Yale teams with one exception, and all but some half dozen on the Princeton teams, during that period of eighteen years. They have replies from the living, and, in the case of

VIU INTRODUCTION

the dead, the testimony of friends or family as to the cause of death. Regarding the latter, in only a single instance was death attributed in any way to the sport. In that single case overtraining in several athletic lines was supposed to have weakened the constitution of the man, although no direct connection existed. Similar enquiries were made by Mr. John C. Bell regarding the players of the University. of Pennsylvania, and the proportions are practically the same as in the other three.

The committee have also assembled the opinions of members of the faculty and head-masters of schools that the reader might know what the effect of the game was from the standpoint of the expert observer who would be particularly tenacious of the rights of study and discipline. In order to have a fair showing of both sides, aW the letters received from this source are printed. In the case of the letters from players, the opinion was so unanimously in favor of the sport that only a few are given.

For the sake of comparison, and not in any way as reflecting upon rowing, for Dr. Morgan's report shows the value of that sport, Dr. Morgan's investigation into English university rowing has been taken.

men over another, but it is a contest for supremacy, in which supremacy is gained not by physical strength alone, but by this strength rightly directed by mind.

In the first place the rules of the game must be observed by every playei*. The interpretation and application of them in every moment of play calls for no ordinary quickness of mind in a successful player.

Though each man has a special line of play belonging to his position on a team, yet his play is so related to the plays of the rest of the team, that he cannot act without regard to the other players. It is eminently a game of combinations. Individual play is important, but team-play is more important. The signals of the captain must be heeded by all the players, even if they seem to be given for only two or three men.

Then, through weeks of preparation, these signals have to be studied, to be memorized, to be practised as thoroughly and faithfully by the men as the laws of any science by successful scholars.

The only other college game which is to be compared with it in respect of team-play is the game of base-ball. Yet in this game the players have fixed positions. Though team-play is important, it is not as important as in football, while individual play, as for instance that of pitcher or catcher, is more important.

In rowing, the work, though requiring skill and severe training, is largely mechanical. In track athletics the individual is everything.

That the game has had attractions for intellectual men in the past is shown by the fact that the average scholarship of men on the football teams has of late years been higher than that of men in the other athletic organizations. Notwithstanding the present style of mass play, which puts a premium on physical strength and weight, it was a surprise to me to find that the average scholarship of the sixteen men from the aca-

4 FOOTBAi^L FACTS AND FIGURES

demic department, including players and substitutes, was higher than the average of any class which ever graduated. I cannot believe, however, that the high scholarship of football players will always prevail unless the style of the game be changed to one which admits of more open play.

Another advantage of the game is that the practice of it engages a large number of players. A regular team has two more men than the base-ball nine, and three moi'e than the crew of eight men. The substitutes, having a systematic training, are more numerous than the substitutes for either base-ball or for the crew. Track athletics only can be compared with it in the numbers brought into it. For a short period of the year this latter sport may exercise more men, but taking into consideration the various class teams of football, and especially the team of the Freshmen class with substitutes, it is doubtful if even the numbers of those engaging in track athletics exceed the numbers engaging in football.

Of the benefits accruing to the players, the physical benefits are the least noteworthy. Yet the play brings into activity almost every muscle of the body. The legs, the arras, and the trunk are all used. No part of the muscular system is developed abnormally. But great as are the benefits of the sport to the players in mind and body, they are not to be compared with its moral effects. If there is one virtue more to be desired in a manly character, without which indeed the character ceases to be manly, that virtue is courage. And of the college sports there is not one which cultivates this manly virtue more than football. Neither is the courage required entirely physical. Indeed, the best players feel and see the danger which they brave. Conscious of injuries received, they often continue to face plays which may exaggerate their pains.

PACTS AND OPINIONS KEGARDING FOOTBALL 5

Then the need of self-control in the midst of strong excitement is another valuable lesson learned. Self-denial is taught in the voluntary abnegation of the delights of college life, in the forsaking of indulgence in the luxuries of life. To training in courage, endurance, and self-control must be added the valuable lesson of obedience to authority. The discipline in this respect is as strict as the strictest military discipline. Men are required to obey captain and coach, and to obey silently. This unquestioning instant submission to word of command is not the least of the excellent lessons of a football season. It shows its effects in the whole college life and college world.

Strange as it may seem, a good claim can be made of a necessary connection between good character and good football in its best development. In every thing requiring the best results, the best success depends upon the best men. As there is no other college sport which so brings out the best virtues in a man, so there is no other college sport which is so dependent for its success upon good all-round men. Though this statement is measurably true for all amateur sports, it is emphatically true of football. It has been borne out by facts. The best teams in Yale have had not only the best players, but the most successful teams have contained the most moral and religious men. In a class prayer-meeting I once heard a man, who was for two years a most valuable player (a captain one of those years), declare tl)at the great success of the team the previous season was, in his opinion, due to the fact that "among the team and substitutes there were so man)" praying men." As it was with this man, so it has ever been with the successful captains, as Avell as the successful coachers at Yale. They have been God-fearing men, upright in action and clean in speech.

The good effects of the game of football, in common with the good effects of the other sports, need only a passing mention. Among these may be instanced the esprit de corps to which the other sports give rise, the healthy excitements necessary to young men which they furnish, excitements which, for many, replace and moderate, if they do not entirely drive out, the old excitements of gambling and drinking, gate stealing, contests between town and gown, formerly so prevalent and so difficult to deal with on the part of the college authorities. But in addition to these and other benefits to the college world, football Math its contests and training comes at a time of the year when it does the most good, not only in the directions mentioned, bur in two other ways. Boys who are just entering college, and for the first time in their careers are freed from the restraints of school or home, it introduces to a new discipline, a discipline of their fellows, and to new ideals which, if not the highest, are at least respectable and worthy of imitation. It brings many of them in contact with the best men in college, and saves not a few of them from wasting their idle hours in foolish and hurtful dissipation. Again, it absorbs the attention of all the college to such a degi'ee as to divert the minds of many of those upper-class men who formerly thought they had a mission to perform in acquainting the new men with the submission required of them in their college home. The discipline of the sport, coming at the time it does, has almost entirely done away with that occupation. The Freshmen have learned their lesson in a better way, under better instructors. The discipline of football has almost banished the discipline of hazing, or left it tame and without excuse for its existence.

Brutality. This is the hardest charge to meet because there is such a difference of opinion as to what constitutes brutality. In the eyes of timid people any

PACTS AND OPINIONS EEGABDING FOOTBALL i

collisions between young men in the most properly conducted game would seem brutal, though these same collisions would seem tame fun to the average schoolboy. Personal encounters of some kind seem absolutely necessary to the education of young men, especially men of the strongest character. Such young men, judiciously trained, constitute the best citizens of a state. And a state full of such citizens becomes thereby the safest to live in, for such men are its best defence. At the dinner given by Colonel Higginson to the teams of Yale and Harvard, it was remarked by Mr. Ropes, the historian, that those nations which practised semimilitary games like football were not only the strongest nations but that they were the least likely to push into war, whereas other nations seemed to carry a chip on their shoulders, ready to fight on the smallest provocation. Certainly those who have been intimately acquainted with students and student life for the past twenty-five years can bear testimony not only to the decreasing brutality of college customs, but also to the generally mild and gentlemanly characters of the football players. They, by their influence and example in the college, have largely contributed to this better state of college life.

If violent encounters on the football field do lead to the temptation of inflicting needless personal injuries on an opponent, they also give opportunities for resisting this temptation, and consequently for the development of the highest forms of courage and self-control. According to the observations of the writer, these opportunities are embraced by the majority of the plaj'^ers. Only the minority yield to the temptation, and few of that minority attain to prominent places on a team. If the contrary were the fact, football would long ago have vanished from the list of college spoi'ts.

With reference to the evils of public contests and gate money and strains and injuries, the writer sees no reason to change the views already expressed :

" If field athletics are to continue, the expense of them must be met in one of two ways : either by gate money or by subscriptions. Most young men prefer to give their money at the gate and thus to pay for what they see. If a club knows that it has to spend only what it earns, it will be stimulated, first, to play as good a game as possible ; and, secondly, to spend its earnings witli prudence. It seems only just, too, that if the public desire to see a good game, they should pay for the exhibition."

The evils of liability to strains and injuries in athletics cannot be entirely obviated. It is well to bear in mind at this point the fact that even those who are not athletes do not, therefore, enjoy immunity from accidents. Yet so far, according to the recollection of the writer, no regular member of a Yale crew, team, or nine, has been permanently injured by participating in a race or match. Still, it is possible that a slight injury, to a person having organic weakness, might result in a fatal lesion. Such an issue might be avoided by the requirement that every candidate for trial should be examined by a competent physician, and, in default of pi'ocuring a certificate of physical soundness, should be excluded from participation in physical contests.

As to the interference by the faculties in the way of measures limiting the game, I have already hinted at one, namely, the requiring of a certificate of physical soundness for every candidate for athletic honors. I would also limit teams to undergraduates. This measure would bring the teams better under control of faculty supervision, and Avould besides put a certain limit to competition. In the first place, the professional schools do not exercise a strict personal supervision over the students. They assume, and rightly, that a man who commences the study of a profession lias begun the serious business of life, and is capable of directing his own time. He may be absent from every exercise of the school, except the examinations. Passing those, he can still be a member of the school in good and regular standing. Such a student, when in competition for a place on the team with a member of the undergraduate department, who is held up to attendance on daily exercises, has a great advantage over him. His freedom from restraint exercises a pernicious influence on the the man who is subject to restraint. Concert of action between the faculties of undergraduate departments and those of graduate and professional schools in the way of control of any sport is almost impossible from the very circumstances of the case.

Instead of appointing committees to act with the students in the regulation of the sports, a better wa}'' to control them would be the appointment of a director of athletics to a seat in the undergraduate faculty, who should be the medium of communication between the students and the instructors. Such a man ought to have the confidence of the students and be in sympathy with them. He ought also to be a gentleman and a scholai", a graduate of the college, and a man holding its best traditions of righteousness and scholarship sacred. Such a man would be open to the responsibilities of both sides, of the scholarship side as represented by the instructors, and of the healtliy boy side of student life. I would not have the management of athletics taken out of the hands of the students, but I would have him help them with advice and with instruction too, if necessar}'-. I would have him attend the practice games and the races ; oversee the coaches and trainers, watch the players and students. He could prevent, without recourse to "reporting to the faculty," repetitions of mistakes and follies on the part of the students. He could keep out bad men from the list of trainers. He could prevent many a promising lad from wrecking himself by making the excitement of college sport the be-all and end-all of his existence. By his presence among the instructors he could, as opportunity offered, with timely words, fend off those sad mistakes which worthy gentlemen of the best intentions sometimes make in their dealings with boys, mistakes of which I think I am justified in saying that Yale has not often been guilty in the past fifteen years. The director would earn his salary if he did faithfully what his hand found to do. If such men were appointed by all the colleges, and if joint action by the colleges seemed desirable, these men would be best fitted to deal with questions which might arise, and to suggest solutions of existing difficulties, without recommending unpractical and impossible plans.

Professor Richards, in ' ^Popular Science Monthly "

There is in every large college a body of men, many of whom may be at bottom very good fellows, but who, as a class, are not the best representafives of youthful manhood. These are the dudes, for whom athletic sports are too hard or too "brutal." They are an increasing class in the colleges Avhich draw their membership largely from the cities. Where this class is most numerous, athletics flourish least. The best antidote to the dudish spirit is to be found in athletics. It will be an evil day for any college when this effeminate class is large enough or influential enough to call for or support measures which are designed to strike from the list of college sports a game like football. It is a rough game, but it requires, in a successful plaj'^er, the fearlessness, coolness, and quick thinking which make it, beyond all others, a manly game.

To throw light on this question, the writer obtained from Dr. Seaver of Yale College two sets of measurements of members of one class, so as to ascertain the growth for one year. The first set of measurements was made soon after the class entered college, and its second set was taken in its sophomore year. Complete double measurements were procured from 102 men, the remainder of the class — between 20 and 30 men — having neglected to submit to the second measurement. Of these 22 were out-of-door athletes and 80 were not, though they were under instruction in light gymnastics during a large part of their freshman year. The question, therefore, was considered under conditions as favorable as possible to Dr. Sargent's point of view. The results are j^resented graphically on page 12 and in numbers on page 13.

In the table, the items of strength of back and legs, and of weight, are given in pounds. Capacity of lungs is given in cubic inches. The other figures denote millimetres and tenths of millimetres.

The chart gives the average growth of the athletes as compared with the growth of the non-athletic men. The lighter parts of the chart indicate the excess of growth of one class above the growth of the other.

Of the 22 athletes 2 were base-ball players, 6 football players, 6 rowing men, and 8 were ti'ack athletes. Of the football men 5 were also rowing men. The averages are given for the four sets of men, as well as for the two classes (non-athletic and athletic), that the reader may see for himself how each kind of exercise has affected those taking it. The figures for the special athletes are derived from so small a number of men that they can hardly be taken as conclusive. They are merely significant. The small gain in the average of " strength of legs " of the football men was due to the loss of strength on the part of one man. Without him the remaining 5 gained an average of forty-eight pounds.

FACTS AND OPINIONS REGAKDING FOOTBALL e' ^ IX-' v2- ^ j;ijic)ot_>uuw>-^ij

^^ — d Sirs

M fro S E3. "-J '^

ITrS- S. «> f^ O 'E- o= g. ^ PT"

or rfi. to t-i h-i H-t h-i otoo- tv>cD-3co-;f«oo<icop5to^co k 05 CO to HA --3

CO -, ^ *^ OS H-i l-i h-i h-i to >-' i-i

►d ;=„ ^ ui VI ai ^ cxi <i

GOOD CO c;t

« S^C CO g

2. " • 3

?^goS.

B g

^ !5^

I-

The growth of girth of neck of the athletes, in comparison with the same item for the non-athletic men, is worthy of attention. The gain in strength of back of the track athletes and their gain in strength of arm ought to be noticed.

To test the question of symmetry of growth, the differences between the sizes of right arm and left arm, of right forearm and left forearm, of right thigh and left thigh, of right calf and left calf, were taken for each year. The sum of the differences of the second year (being less in both classes of students) was subtracted from the sum of the differences of the first year. The remainder was a gain in symmetry. This remainder, divided by the sum of the differences of the first year, gave the percentage of " gain in symmetry."

Report of Dr. Conant, in charge of the Harvard Teams

Including all the serious accidents, not only to the ^varsity squad, but to the other class teams :

LIST OF FOOTBALL INJURIES

Fractures of the nose

Dislocation of the shoulder

Dislocation of the elbow

Injury of the knee joint with effusion

Injury of the knee joint without effusion. . .

Sprains of the ankle

Fracture of the metacarpal

Fracture of the radius

Fracture of the tibia and fibula

Teno-synovitis

Sprains other than knee and ankle

Scalp wounds

Injury to shoulder (Tackle's shoulder)

m.

'91.

'92.

'93.

1 8 10 9 3 1

8 7 3 4

Professor James Barr Ames of Harvard University

The successful football player must possess strength and endurance ; he must think and act quickly; he must be brave ; he must control his temper in the face of strong temptation and be always ready to subordinate his individual action to the interest of the team as a whole.

The merits of a game demanding these qualities will be obvious to every one. Are they outweighed by the objections most frequently urged against the game, namely, that it is physically dangerous and that it interferes too seriously with the scholarship of the players ? I think they are not. There is certainly weight in these objections. The valuable statistics which you are collecting will doubtless show that common opinion greatly exaggerates the physical risks of football. At the same time I think football players will generally agree that the game hitherto has been unnecessarily dangerous. The changes recently formulated b}^ tlie " Rules Revision Committee " will go far to minimize the physical perils of the game. If further intelligent legislation follows, as experience shows its necessity, and if parents and school and college authorities adopt the principle, already in force in many institutions, that no one shall be allowed to play football until his physical condition has been passed upon favorably by a competent physician, the objection of physical danger will, I believe, lose almost all its force.

The figures of your forthcoming book will be the best possible indication of the effect of football upon the scholarship of the players. I am convinced that in recent years the demands of football upon the time and attention of the Harvard players have been excessive, and have worked to their detriment both as players and students. The salutary rule that no student who is on probation for neglect of study shall take part in a public athletic contest has not worked so effectually in football as in the other sports, since the returns of the November examination have not always been made before the final contest. But this difficulty will doubtless be remedied without delay.

Extract from Report of Colonel O. H. Ernst, the Superintendent of the TJ. S. Military Academy, on the subject of Athletics at the Academy, December 12, 1893

... It may be assumed at the outset that the physical development of cadets is sufficiently provided for in the regular curriculum, or, if not, that improvements in that direction should be made in a more systematic way than by the mere encouragement of voluntary athletic sports. If needed at all, they should be made to apply to all cadets. Football is to be considered as a recreation and a sport, and not as a means of instruction. The important questions concerning it are : 1. What are its effects upon scholarship ? 2. What are its effect" "ipon discipline ? 3. Is it unduly dangerous to lift id limb ? 4. Is it too expensive ? 5. Should the annual match game between the cadets and the cadet midshipmen be permitted?

I. Effect upon scholarship. — Any innocent amusement which during the hours set aside for recreation will take the mind of the cadet absolutely away from his books will benefit him. He will return to his studies refreshed and invigorated, and the net result of his day's woi'k will be greater than if his entire time had been devoted to them. Fc '^ accomplishes this object more completely than ^ ^ttior known game. Its effects in that respect are not confined to the actual players, but extend to practically the entire corps of cadets. From one-quarter to two-thirds of the corps may be seen looking on or taking part in the daily practice games, while with all it is a subject of absorbing interest and conversation, and at the match games on Saturday afternoons nearly the entire corps are present, exhibiting every sign of the most enthusiastic enjoyment. Is the excitement too great ? Does it extend beyond the hours of recreation and interfere with studies ? If it does the effect should be noticeable among the thirty-one cadets constituting the first and second teams and supernumeraries. These have been in regular training, have devoted all their spare moments since the 1st of September to practice, and have undoubtedly given more thought to the game than any other cadets. To obtain specific information with reference to their progress in studies, I addressed to the members of the academic board a circular letter. I invited them at the same time to express their views upon the subject of athletics in general as now practised at this place. The perusal of their replies shows wide differences of opinion.