The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football - Softcover

John J Miller

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061744522 ISBN 13: 9780061744525

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2012

Synopsis

In its infancy in the late 19th century, the game of football was still a work in progress that only remotely resembled the sport millions follow today. There was no common agreement about many of the game's basic rules, and it was incredibly violent and extremely dangerous. An Americanized version of rugby, this new game's popularity grew even as the number of casualties rose. Numerous young men were badly injured, and dozens-the cream of the crop of America's prep schools and colleges-died playing it in highly publicized incidents. Objecting to the sport's brutality, a movement of proto - Progressives, led by Harvard University president Charles W. Eliot and the editors of The Nation, tried to abolish it. President Roosevelt, a vocal advocate of the strenuous life and proponent of risk, acknowledged football's dangers but admired it's potential for building character. A longtime fan of the game who purposely recruited men with college-football experience for his Rough Riders, Roosevelt fought to preserve the game's manly essence, even as he understood the need for reform. In 1905, he summoned the coaches of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton to the White House and urged them to act. The result was the establishment of the NCAA, as well as a series of rule changes - including the advent of the forward pass-which ultimately saved football and transformed it into the quintessential American game. "The Big Scrum" reveals the fascinating details of this little-known story for the first time.

About this title

Review:

"[Miller] is on target with a necessarily selective biography highlighting Roosevelt's lifelong affinity for sports and physical activity, thereby providing context for understanding why a president would devote valuable time to what was then a minor sport. [An] enjoyable history of a seldom-explored turning point in American sports history." --Booklist

From the Back Cover:

Football's first golden age was characterized by incredible violence and life-threatening danger, and the new sport's popularity grew even as the casualties rose. After dozens of players were killed in brutal incidents that rattled the national consciousness, a proto-progressive movement attempted to abolish the game.

At that critical moment, President Roosevelt, an outspoken advocate of "the strenuous life" and a longtime fan of the game, fought to preserve football's rugged essence. In 1905, Roosevelt summoned key football coaches to the White House for a historic meeting. The result was the establishment of the NCAA and a series of rule changes, including the advent of the forward pass, which not only saved the sport but transformed football into what it is today: the quintessential American game.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0061744522
• ISBN 13: 9780061744525
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272