The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-03-26
EVOLUTION OF AGAME
How Football Has Grown From
a Primitive Sport.
rig INTERCOLLEGIATE CONTEST
mev the Championships Have Been De-
cfded Each Year-Chsnges In the
Rules and Scoring.

Football Ia its embryo condition. has
heen played In this country almost from
t;me immemoriai. When North America
vss first discovered by the whites several
tyipes of Indians hsd . game much re.
ssmbing the Association game Of the
c,esent day. their bali being either the
haovn-up bladder Of the buffalo incassd
n leather, or buckskin ball stuffed with
ross or other light material. In early
soionial days the English settlers brought
the game over with them from the old
4 evuutry. and inter-ciass matches were
uisyed at Yale, and probably IT several
sxher colleges. a. early ~ 1910. The game,
= then played, compared with football Of
The present day. was very crude, being
fistie better than rush with the bali a
the objective point.
until the early '70s, and the firsG game
ef any importance was in 1873. when, with
sesfns of twenty men on . side, Princston
defeated Yale by score Of 3 goals TO 0.
All OF the early games. up to 1883, were
purely . case of every man for himself.
! there being no signals or team play Of sny
J Kind. In 1853 rude signals were used. GER
tsln expressions and actions of the captain
meaning certain plays; these signals
have, year by year, been improved upon,
until the complicated yet perfect system
Of the present day has been reached. In
1874 no large games we're played. but Yale,
With teams OF eleven men. played several
Of the smaller colleges. easily defeating
then In 1875 Harvard. Columbis and
one or two others adopted game which
thsy called the modified Rugby" game.
paying with twenty men On . side and
using for the first time in America the oval
Rugby ball. Yale. in order to have game,
yielded to Harvard and played under the
new system. concerning which she knew
nothing. with most disastrous results, for
she was defeated by both Harvard and
Columbia. Harvard winning by goals to o.
In 1876 Yale won the championship by
defeating Princeton At Hoboken goals
i 70 o. and Harvard. 1 too. A new ruling
vas made this year. namely, that four
touchdowns should count - . goal. I'm
ls77 no championship was awarded, a.
Yale aud Princeton played . 90 game.
Princeton. however. should have had the
honor. as she defeated Harvard, 1 goal to
q while the crimson and blue did not play.
In 1878 the colleges played with fifteen
men on . side. Princeton winning the
iaurels by defeating Yale by q score of
goal 10 and Harvard by 1 touchdown to
0, while Yale defeated Harvard by I goal
too. This year Mr.. Walter Camp. 90 well
known to al, lovers Of football. was cap
2 tain OF the Yale. while our fellow towns
p man, Mr.. w. A. Peters, was one of the
q Yale half-backs. In 1879 Princeton re-
'itained the championship, playing = 90
DIANE with Yale and defeating Harvard
Iieoal to o. Yale and Harvard also played .
90 game.
In 1880. the teams consisting Of eleven
men on a side. - at present. Princeton
still retained the championship. no col
lege being able to wrest It from her.
Yale and Princeton again played . 90
game, while Princeton defeated Harvard.
goals to 1. and Yale also won from the
crimson, Walter Camp kicking goal from
the field. while Harvard failed to score.
In 1881 Yale. after a heated controversy.
was awarded the n,uch-covcted champion
ship. because she defeated Harvard.
Neither team could score on the other, but
Yale forced Harvard to- make four safety
touchdowns. The Yale-Princeton and
Harvard Princeton were both 90 games.
In 1882 touchdowns were counted in
only been counted In games which would
otherwise have been q tie. Yale won the
championship by defeating Princeton 2
goals to and Harvard to 0, while Har-
ward for the first time defeated Princeton
by the score Of goal and | touchdown
70 goal.
In iss3 new system of scoring was
inaugurated. A goal from a touchdown
counted six points. from the field five
points. while n touchdown counted two
and safety one point. Yale again won
the championship by defeating Princeton
so and Harvard $50. while the orange
and black won second place by defeating
the crimson 26.s in game in which Alec
Mofat. of Princeton. kicked three goals
from the field.
In 1854 the scoring was changed to that
now in vogue, the value of the goals re-
smalning the same. bat a touchdown
counted four points and safety two. No
cham pionship vas awarded. Yale and
Princeton playing draw--.he game being
unfinished on account of darkness
score standing "a in favor of Yale.
PRINCETON. however. in reality won the
game Moifat kicked goal from the held
which vas not allowed by the referee, on
the ground that he was not locking and
therefore did not see II, Princeton clearly
oatpayed Yale. and If the remaining
twenty minutes oil time had heen played
would in all probability have scored
again. Princeton defeated Harvard by the
score OF 3ts aud Yale did likewise by
. BE Harvard this year Was completely
oasolassed, being defeated 40 By the Uni
sersity OF Pennsylvania and 100 by Wes-
eyan.
In ISIS Princeton regsined the cham
pio0ship. defeating Yale at New Haven
by the remarkably close score OF Do. FOR
Yale the punting OF WatSinson Was fsr
superior 10 anything ever seen on foot
bali tcld before. while little "Tiilie Le-
mar, OF Princetown. ran with the bail
through the whole Yale team from Prince
Ions 2,l ward line and planted IL fairly be-
tween Yates goal posts. In this game
Mr.. George X. Carter. who has done 50
naeh for football in Seattle. played In
The laie rush line.
In iS~i 40 championship Was awarded.
tae Yale Princeton game being nnhnisheH
on account OF darkness, the final score
Being - in favor of Yale. Yale anaouo'-
edly suuld have won this game, IS she
eeipsyed Princeton trom start 10 nnish.
naEsaFd. as usual, WAS defeated ey are
-tt and BY Princeton. 40
In Isl an umpire Was appointed as Well
referee. as the game bad become more
'eagh It became more scientihc SIC
500 the championship. winning from
Princeinn. t20. aud from Harvard. IN
Harvard for the second snd last time de-
ma'ed Princeton by the score oi l-o