Publisher's Synopsis
This book is written for those of us who love college football. Those of us who enjoy the teams coming out every week in the fall know that it was because many schools in the 1800's had the guts to form teams and begin playing American Football. Even though the rules were not complete, sometimes, 25, sometimes 20, sometimes 15, and then finally eleven men came out every Saturday to meet an opponent and fight for a victory. This book offers great insights into the struggles your favorite teams had when most officials would have preferred they continue to play more docile ball games such as association football and soccer. 774 NCAA college teams today send about 50,000 players onto the gridiron each Saturday in the fall. These players, at all levels of the American college game, bring us much enjoyment through their victories and the sheer excitement of their playing the game. Coaches get these teams together to face off each week using discipline, conditioning, and the notion that there is honor in winning. It just does not happen It was a lot of hard work from some great coaches getting American football going strong at the end of the 18th century and that is what this book is about. Starting with the first bona fide football game in America in 1869, this book moves to the transition of this style football through a scrimmage-less rugby period all the way to American College Football as it is played today. We cover the early teams, the outstanding players, the football innovators such as Walter Camp, John Heisman, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Knute Rockne, Eddie Cochems, and others. We look at the best football players of this formative era and we look at many of the great schools and how they formed their teams when a lot of guts mattered in a lot of different ways. Before we even get there, we talk about football as a sport played from the beginning of time in one civilization after another. We also tell the fascinating story of how the ball, the oval football, was invented and how it was actually dangerous to make. This is the book you need to learn about how your favorite sport, American College Football came into being. You won't want to put this book down...
