In the late 19th century, college football was nothing like the game we know today. There were 15-20 men on a side. Equipment was primitive. Mass motion plays, called the Flying Wedge, were popular and violent. Gang tackling, late hits, gouging eyes, and breaking bones were common—and encouraged. Good players were targeted for injury to force them out of the game. Schools routinely brought in ‘ringers’—older, faster, non-student players—to assure their dominance. Incredibly, 330 players died from 1890-1905, a period of just fifteen years.
In 1897 a University of Georgia player died on the field due to multiple concussions inflicted by the University of Virginia team. That was it. Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Mercer suspended their football programs. Harvard was contemplating withdrawing from the sport entirely. Other football powerhouse schools like Yale, Princeton, and Stanford were on the brink, too.
Only one man could save the game from itself: President Theodore Roosevelt. While he had never played football, he was a big supporter of it and wanted to see it survive and thrive. He was a believer in ‘the strenuous life’, pushing yourself and your body to develop manly traits and learn teamwork. His two sons were playing football at the time (and getting injured).
By 1905, President Roosevelt had already extended the power of the presidency to new heights, partly by exploiting what he called the Bully Pulpit. In his unique way, he was able to speak out on a social issue of his choosing and sway public opinion that went beyond executive orders or formal legislation.
For example, in that same year he brokered a peace agreement between Japan and Russia, for which he later won the Nobel Peace Prize. Such assertive engagement in foreign affairs was new for an American president.
When he got a letter from the headmaster at Groton, where his son Kermit was at school and playing football, saving college football became for Roosevelt one of his bully pulpit efforts, and he approached it with urgency.
He faced a daunting task. Roosevelt started by calling a summit meeting of the leaders of Harvard (his alma mater), Yale and Princeton, schools with a large presence in the sport. He sought their agreement that serious changes in the game were needed to preserve it. He didn’t make much progress in that first meeting, but in a couple of months, he expanded the gathering at the White House to include 13 schools searching for solutions.
Simultaneously he wrote letters of encouragement to the leaders and influencers of the day, urging them to come up with their own ideas to improve the game.
Those 13 schools couldn’t agree either, but soon a gathering of 62 schools met and formed the precursor to today’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). They banned mass movement plays, legalized the forward pass, disallowed linking of arms, and standardized the number of downs and distance to earn a first down. They created the line of scrimmage and the neutral zone so referees could have an unobstructed view of the play. They created penalties for kneeing, kicking, elbowing, or striking the opponent. And many, many more.
By the time these improvements took hold, Roosevelt was no longer in office. But his intervention and willingness to use the power of his office to be a catalyst for change clearly made the difference. He was ‘that one man’ who pulled it off.
As the 2024 college football season begins, you can thank Theodore Roosevelt for using his bully pulpit to keep football alive. If not for his efforts, today’s fans might be tailgating at soccer or rugby games instead!
Interested in learning more about the presidents? Visit the Carolyn & James Millar Presidential Gallery on the upper level of the Booth Western Art Museum. The gallery features original letters and photographs of every U.S. president. Learn more at www.boothmuseum.org.
