Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-03-07
FOOT BALL AT OLD COLUMBIA
One of Three Pioneers in Establish
ment Of Game as a College
Sport.
STARTED SYSTEM OF RULES

NEW YORK, March e-The efforts Of
the collegians at Columbia university to
restore intercollegiate foot ball as one OF
the university sports will be watched
with interest and friendiness by many
old foot ball men throughout the United
States. for Columbia was one Of the three
pioneers in the establishment of foot ball
as a college sport and later was one Of
the four colleges which together started
the present intercollegiate system Of play.
Columbia waged its first game Of in
tercolleglate foot ball November u. 1870.
at New Brunswick with Rutgers. This
was tho very dawn OF foot ball history
In this country. Neither Harvard nor
Yale had entered the sport at that time
In England the first Cambridge-oxford
game was still two years I'm the future.
Only three games OF an intercollegiate
character had been played anywhere.
and these had been waEed between
Princeton and Rutgers, two in the fail
of 1869 and the third just two days prior
to the Columbia Rutgers game.
Played with Yale.
In 1871 no intercollegiate foot ball games
were played but in 1872, on November
L. Columbia had the honor Of introducing
to history in its first foot ball game Yale
university. A glance over the players
who participated in that contest will re-
veal some very active and very successful
citizens of New York City and elsewhere.
Here is the lineup" using a term in
vented twenty years after this game was
played:
Columbian. c. Cornell, Gustav Kobbe.
f. s. Rampeilo. c. De r. Moore, D.
Thomson, p. II. MacMahon, A. B. Simons
]. Aymar. II. w. webb, II. S. Fales, F.
I. Frost, F. L. Lacey, T. G. Van Buren,,
T. c. Bach. o. d. Smith. II. X. F. Blake.
c. King, F. s. Williams and H. r. Mar
shall.
Yale-J P. Peters, c. s. Hemingway,
w. N. McCook, e. s. Miller. J. p. Platt,
II. A. Strong, r. D. A. Parrott H. d.
Bristol, r. w. Kelley. P. A. Porter. J.
L. Scudden, c. II. Avery, T. T. Sherman,
H. r. Elliott, S. l. Boyce, l. W. Irwin,
W. S. EIalsted. II. A. Oaks and H. Scud-
der
The first player in Columbia's lineup.
better known in New York City perhaps
with the title Of judge prefixed to his
name, Judge r. c. Cornell, three years
later brought to Columbia the honor of
having refereed the first Harvard-Yale
game. Gustav Kobbe is a name indeed
familiar to literary and artistic New
York. and ]. P. Peters is none other than
the Rev. John p. Peters, rector of St
Michael's church.
Drafted First Rules.
In the following year, 1876, Columbia
participated with Harvard, Princeton and
Yale I'm making the original draft of the
rules which launched the present inter
collegiate game and founded the old
American intercollegiate Foot Ball as
ISOLATION. Columbia's representatives in
that convention were E. w. Price and c.
de R Brewer.
Even in that day Columbia displayed
fitfulness in its foot ball activities, for
its delegates did not again attend the
annual convention of the foot ball asso-
citation until 1880 when ]. H. stearns and
w. II. Eldridge, B. p Clark and w. f.
Morgan appeared. Two years later CO.
lumbia again defaulted and this time per-
manently, although the association ex-
listed for many years atterward.
During all these years. however Co.
lumbia had teams afieid, always fair in
power and sometimes formidable. It was
under the magical touch, however OF
George Foster Sanford of Yale, as coach,
fifteen years ago, that Columbia flashed
out a first class foot bali power regularly
playing Princeton and Yale on even
terms, and finally beating both Column
bias famous games with Princeton and
Yale in which Columbia won were as
follows
December 4. 1S75-Columbia, 8; Yale, q
November 6. 19Oo-Columbia, 6; Prince
ton, g.
November Z, 1s9s-columbia. 8; Yale, o.
Used Hurdle Play.
1t was Columbia, through its famous
players, II. H. Weeks and w. r. Morley,
which developed the spectacular Thur
die play to such an extent that the rules
committee had TO Ieglslate It out OF exist
ence.
Coiumbia's foot ball establishment went
out In the foot ball revolution OF 1905-l9Oe.
1t was believed at the time that II was a
protest against existing conditions ana
that Columbia would return as soon as
these conditions had been reformed. But
not so. Again II was asserted in some
quarters that the action OF the Columbia
faculty in the matter was believed by the
latter to be q precedent which would be
followed by other faculties and thus
eliminate the game ns college sport
II so this did not follow. for the other
foot ball universities and colleges ap-
piled the necessary reforms. Now the
sport has assumed national proportions
and is twice as great in popularity and
patronage as II was when Columbia with
drew ten years ago.