The American Football Trilogy

Includes the original texts: American football / by Walter Camp. Franklin Square, New York : Harper & Brothers, 1891 -- A scientific and practical treatise on American football for schools and colleges / by A. Alonzo Stagg and Henry L. Williams. Hartford, Conn. : Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, 1893 -- Football / by Walter Camp and Lorin F. Deland. Cambridge ; Boston ; and New York : Houghton, Mifflin and Company : The Riverside Press, 1896.

More than 300 newspaper articles from 25 states, published from 1869 to 1879, describe the first decade of college football, commencing with the first intercollegiate game and continuing through the playing days of Walter Camp. This is how the game began, as reported by the press, while sportswriters were still honing football jargon. Includes a chronological Table of Contents and a complete Index. States include: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington D.C., and Wisconsin. Other football books in The Lost Century of Sports Collection include The Lost Century of American Football, Classic Football Art, Walter Camp in Print, Football Linemen, and The American Football Trilogy.

From the innocent exuberance of high school football to the spectacle of the college game to the glitz of America's Team, the story of the importance of football to the state of Texas is told in this book. Trilogy takes readers behind the scenes to look at the night before the big game, the life of the star player and how football at any level is big business in Texas. The state's most popular entertainers, the Cowboys, are part of the focus of Trilogy.

It’s difficult to imagine today—when the Super Bowl has virtually become a national holiday and the National Football League is the country’s dominant sports entity—but pro football was once a ramshackle afterthought on the margins of the American sports landscape. In the span of a single generation in postwar America, the game charted an extraordinary rise in popularity, becoming a smartly managed, keenly marketed sports entertainment colossus whose action is ideally suited to television and whose sensibilities perfectly fit the modern age. America’s Game traces pro football’s grand transformation, from the World War II years, when the NFL was fighting for its very existence, to the turbulent 1980s and 1990s, when labor disputes and off-field scandals shook the game to its core, and up to the sport’s present-day preeminence. A thoroughly entertaining account of the entire universe of professional football, from locker room to boardroom, from playing field to press box, this is an essential book for any fan of America’s favorite sport.

Amos Alonzo Stagg (1862-1965) grew up one of eight children in a poor New Jersey family, graduated high school at 21 and worked his way through Yale. His goal was to become a Presbyterian minister, but he dropped out of Yale Divinity School because he felt he could have more influence on young men through coaching. He was hired as the first football coach at University of Chicago after its founding in 1892. Under Stagg's leadership, Chicago emerged as one of the nation's most formidable football teams during the early 20th century, winning seven Big Ten championships and two national championships. After Chicago forced him to retire at 70, Stagg found another coaching position at College of the Pacific, where he was forced to retire at 84. He found another job and never fully retired from coaching until he was 98. His marriage to his wife Stella--his de facto assistant coach--lasted almost 70 years. Sports Illustrated wrote of him, "If any single individual can be said to have created today's game, Stagg is the man. He either invented outright or pioneered every aspect of the modern game from...the huddle, shift and tackling dummy to such refinements as the T-formation strategy." This biography tells the story of his life and many innovations, which made him one of the great pioneers of college football.

For the first time, hundreds of rare historical articles are teamed with hundreds of vintage illustrations to portray the birth and growth of America's most popular sport. The story is told through fascinating contemporary accounts from over 100 source publications, allowing modern readers to share the 19th century football fan's experience of the game as it was reported by the media at the time. Multiple perspectives bring the era to life as we follow football chronologically from its primitive roots as a mob game in the early 1800s, through the Civil War years and the rise of college rivalries, to the game's technical flourishing in 1900. We see how football was originally played, how it looked from the sidelines, how it felt to the players, how it impacted American culture, and how it evolved into the sport we enjoy today. Many of the stories feel as if they were reported yesterday, not over a century ago. Readers will be surprised by the extent of media coverage devoted not only to the game itself, but also to off-the-field issues of broader social significance that continue to stir debate to this day. We witness the invention of rules we now take for granted, feel the intense team passion and colorful pageantry surrounding the game, and learn the origins of fundamental features of the sport, from the line of scrimmage and the number of players to the scoring system and the development of diagrammed plays. Themes include the role of college athletics in the educational system, eligibility standards for high school recruits, financial disputes, ticket scalpers, public intoxication, unruly fans, gambling, sportsmanship, brutality, and the modern concept of masculinity. This comprehensive illustrated anthology is an absorbing historical discovery that will enrich every modern fan's understanding and appreciation of the gridiron game. Entertaining and educational, this volume is an essential resource for football fans, players, students, scholars, art lovers and history buffs. "The man who receives the ball from the snap-back shall be called quarter-back." Pg. 83 "It used to be a simple matter to seek out the localities in which football is played; nowadays it would be far easier to say where it is not played." Pg. 473 "This half-way manner of settling a championship is only productive of further dissension and gives plenty of ground to the press and the public for ridiculing the association." Pg. 157 "It may be that professional matches would be better attended because the contests would be between rival cities." Pg. 443 "He not only played, but played well, desperately well at times, although he actually knew nothing of his actions and was placed in a physician's care immediately after the game. It was some 12 hours before he recovered ordinary powers of thought, and then he knew nothing whatever of the game or its results after he was hurt." Pg. 387 "Football can be played by electric light and under such a huge roof as that of the Madison Square Garden." Pg. 310 "It is the lack of money which seems to our struggling colleges to be the root of all evil. They stand agape when they learn from the public press that the income from the Thanksgiving game of foot-ball is greater than the total annual expenditure of their trustees for the support of twenty-five professors and the education of 300 boys." Pg. 555 "It is not uncommon today for a father to make matters worse by unconsciously over-encouraging his son, thereby fortifying him in his delusion that the sport is the most important part of college life." Pg. 397 "In every man's pocket there is a generous wad of greenbacks to bet on the great football game tomorrow." Pg. 415 "A mass meeting of the students will be held on Monday night at which steps will be taken towards effective organization for cheering at the big game." Pg. 416 Fully indexed. LostCentury.com

In terms of books, Texas Football Trilogy could well become the Friday Night Lights of 1999. From the innocent exuberance of high school football to the spectacle of the college game to the glitz of America’s Team, the story of the importance of football to the state of Texas is told in this book. Trilogy takes readers behind the scenes to look at the night before the big game, the life of the star player and how football at any level is big business in Texas. The state’s most popular entertainers, the Cowboys, are part of the focus of Trilogy, which looks at the religion of football in Texas at the professional, college and high school levels. Texas Football Trilogy also chronicles a banner season for Texas A & M, including an inside look at the Aggies’ stunning upset of Nebraska, and a view of one of the state’s premier prep programs, Austin’s Westlake High School. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.