In recent months I've gone through numerous 1930s and 1940s issues of the Gadsden Times. My grandmother Rosa Mae Wright saved these publications, especially during World War II. I found a lot of fascinating articles [and advertisements!], and this blog post features one of them.
I've also recently enjoyed Lars Anderson's 2007 book, Carlisle Vs. Army: Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner and the Forgotten Story of Football's Greatest Battle. He's written several books, lives in Birmingham and is on the University of Alabama faculty. I find early college football in the U.S. to be fascinating, and there is a lot about the game in those days in this book. Jim Thorpe, Pop Warner and the Carlisle Indians also form a number of incredible stories.
American football was a very different animal in those early days before World War I. On November 6, 1869, Rutgers and Princeton played what is considered the first intercollegiate game in the U.S. Each side had 25 players and tried to kick a round ball across the opposing team's goal; carrying or throwing the ball was not allowed. By 1872 several other schools in the northeast including Columbia and Yale began play. Over the next two decades more teams entered the sport and the rules of play and the size of the field underwent great changes, many introduced by Walter Camp such as the system of downs and the line of scrimmage. In these early years betting on games was common as were hired players who did not attend the schools.
By the early 20th century football had become so violent that efforts began to change or ban the game. A military formation called the flying wedge had been used in that first 1869 game and caused numerous injuries and even deaths. Nineteen players died from various causes in the 1905 season alone. The forward pass was legalized in 1906 to hopefully reduce injuries, but did not catch on for some years. The flying wedge was banned about the same time. Although various conferences had already been founded, a national organization to oversee college athletics was organized in late 1905 by 62 schools that met in New York City.
The article below, published October 29, 1940, describes Gadsden football in 1908. By that time the game had already started to develop on college campuses in the state. Auburn and Alabama fielded their first teams in 1892 and played each other initially in 1893. The rivalry paused in 1908 for many years due to arguments over player payments and other money issues. Both teams became charter members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association when the group was organized in 1894.
This article outlines the history of football in the Gadsden area in 1908. Former college players met and an eleven man team was proposed and a "complete schedule for the season." Possible players who attended the meeting included two former Alabama stars, two from Auburn, one from "Carolina", another from the University of Chicago and four "regarded as apt pupils of the game." The two Alabama players were selected as coaches.
Opponents would include Ninth and Seventh District schools, Jacksonville, Anniston, and "other cities in the district." Thanksgiving Day contests with Jacksonville Normal School [now Jacksonville State University] and the Seventh District Agricultural School were scheduled.
At the time Jacksonville, captained by "a local boy", presumably one from Gadsden, was undefeated. Gadsden actually played Jacksonville in one of the Etowah County team's earliest games on November 2, 1908, and won 7 to 0 with one touchdown and a safety. At this time a touchdown gained a team five points and a safety two. The article includes the lineup of Gadsden players for that game.
The team lost its next game on November 14. "Gadsden football enthusiast" Lonnie Noojin coached the Blountsville Ninth District School to the win 20-2. A contemporary account is given in the second article below: "Gadsden Downed by Farmer Lads." The school is described in the article as Blountsville Agricultural College.
Another team in the area was Disque High School [1901-1924, when it became Disque Middle] coached by Prof. J.R. McClure. That team beat Gadsden Athletics 20-15 and tied Birmingham's Woodlawn 5 to 5 on November 23, 1908. On Thanksgiving Day Birmingham High School beat the Gadsden Athletics 19 to 4.
The 1940 article and the two 1908 ones below are a good start for a history of football in Etowah County. I found the 1908 ones on Newspapers.com; I'm sure more could be located. Several of these games are noted as taking place at Elliott Park, which was just west of Alabama City. One research area that would be interesting is to search for all these names of individuals at Ancestry.com, Find-A-Grave, etc., to learn something about them. Perhaps another day....
The history of football in these early decades at the high school and self-organized levels is largely unknown. You can read more about early high school football in the state at the Alabama High School Football Historical Society.
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