Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indians (American Legion Magazine, 1940)
This article recounts the glory days of Jim Thorpe (1888 - 1953) and his Carlisle football team as well as a number of other Native-American jocks of lesser fame who were active in other sports during the same time period."A remarkable all-around athlete, Jim Thorpe at Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania was a whiz at reversing his field or skirting an end, and there was bonecrunching power behind his charges into the line. He could punt with any of them and was a good drop kicker. But it was as a place kicker that he was really tops. He rarely missed one." *Watch a Quick Film Clip About Jim Thorpe*
| The Very First Football Referee Hand Signals (Literary Digest, 1929)
With the widespread complaints on the rise from the football fans on the sidelines that they were completely in the dark as to why a play was called, the elders of the sport decided that action had to be taken to remedy the growing confusion...
"Hence a system of signals has been devised whereby the officials on the field can let the people in the stand know what is what. A gesture of the arm by the field official will immediately telegraph to the stands that Whoozis College's penalty was for slugging. Another wave will inform the inquisitive public that the forward pass was incomplete by being grounded."The article is illustrated with eight photographs of assorted football penalty hand signals; none of the gestures have stood the test of time - the penalties have remained but today different signals indicate each infraction.
| The Invention of Football's Lateral Pass (Literary Digest, 1927)
An article in which various football-wonks from 1927 muse wistfully about the earliest use of the lateral pass (1902) and how the game of football was forever changed as a result. Football coach and sportswriter, Sol Metzger (1880 - 1932) is quoted numerous times throughout as he is credited as the first offensive end in the history of football to catch a lateral pass (during the Thanksgiving Day game of 1902 between Cornell and Pennsylvania). The lateral pass is identified in this article as being the brainchild of Dr. Carl S. Williams, who was at that time the football coach of the University of Pennsylvania.
A diagram of the 1902 play is provided.
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