College Football: History, Spectacle, Controversy

FROM THE PUBLISHER

One of the finest books on sports history I have ever read. The best such books successfully analyze a particular topic and then shed light on much broader issues, and on those grounds Watterson has succeeded. He effectively places college football in the larger context of American social, economic, cultural, and political life, and in doing so transcends the narrow confines of sports history. Outstanding." James S. Olson, co-author of "Winning is the Only Thing: Sports in America since 1945"

In this comprehensive, hundred-year history of America's popular pastime, John Sayle Watterson shows how college football evolved from a simple game played by college students into the lucrative, semiprofessional enterprise it has become today. With a historian's grasp of the broader context and a novelist's eye for the telling detail, Watterson presents a compelling portrait rich in anecdotes and colorful personalities.

He tells how the infamous Yale-Princeton "fiasco" of 1881, in which Yale forced a 0-0 tie in a championship game by retaining possession of the ball for the entire game, eventually led to the first-down rule that would begin to transform Americanized rugby into American football. He describes the kicks and punches, gouged eyes, broken collarbones, and flagrant rule violations that nearly led to the sport's demise (including such excesses as a Yale player who wore a uniform soaked in blood from a slaughterhouse). And he explains the reforms of 1910, which gave official approval to a radical new tactic traditionalists were sure would doom the game as they knew it the forward pass.

As college football grew in the booming economy of the 1920s, Watterson explains, the flow of cash added fuel to an already explosive mix. Coaches like Knute Rockne became celebrities in their own right, with highly paid speaking engagements and product endorsements. At the same time, the emergence of the first professional teams led to inevitable scandals involving recruitment and subsidies for student-athletes. Revelations of illicit aid to athletes in the 1930s led to failed attempts at reform by the fledgling NCAA in the postwar "Sanity Code," intended to control abuses by permitting limited subsidies to college players but which actually paved the way for the "free ride" many players receive today.

Watterson also explains how the growth of TV revenue led to college football programs' unprecedented prosperity, just as the rise of professional football seemed to relegate college teams to "minor league" status. He explores issues of gender and race, from the shocked reactions of spectators to the first female cheerleaders in the 1930s to their successful exploitation by Roone Arledge three decades later. He describes the role of African-American players, from the days when Southern schools demanded all-white teams (and Northern schools meekly complied); through the black armbands and protests of the 60s; to one of the game's few successful, if limited, reforms, as black athletes dominate the playing field while often being shortchanged in the classroom.

Today, Watterson observes, colleges' insatiable hunger for revenues has led to an abuse-filled game nearly indistinguishable from the professional model of the NFL. After examining the standard solutions for reform, he offers proposals of his own, including greater involvement by faculty, trustees, and college presidents. Ultimately, however, Watterson concludes that the history of college football is one in which the rules of the game have changed, but those of human nature have not.

About the Author: John Sayle Watterson is an assistant professor at James Madison University and author of "Thomas Burke, Restless Revolutionary.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

Since its rude beginnings in 1875, college football has become a vivid icon linking students, alumni, and the general public. Watterson (Thomas Burke, Restless Revolutionary ) painstakingly details the development from an overly rough, rugby-like battle to the highly organized, semi-professional game of today. (A disastrous 0-0 Yale-Princeton championship game in 1881 resulted in the first-down rule.) In the sport's early years, Harvard president Charles Eliot wanted it banned, but it was defended by Princeton's Woodrow Wilson. From the 1920s on, well-paid celebrity coaches like Knute Rockne made football big business. The years after World War II brought real integration, professional football's impact, TV, and more scandals. This frank account is a good fit for most academic and large public libraries.--Morey Berger, St. Joseph's Hosp. Lib., Tucson, AZ Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Booknews

Exploring a century of the pastime, Watterson (James Madison U.) describes how college football evolved from a simple game played by college students into the lucrative, semiprofessional enterprise it has become. The gradual differentiation of Americanized rugby into a new game, the influx of money and fame, the rise of professional football, and the emergence of television are among his landmarks. Another surprise is that Paul Robeson was a football star at Rutgers before his career in entertainment. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Kirkus Reviews

Watterson (History/James Madison Univ.) provides a broad overview of the rise, demise, and rise again of college football over the past century. A history of college football, of course, is a history of the game itself, and the author takes us from its origins in English Rugby to the massive, televisionfed industry that it is today—offering a narrative account of its development and statistics on everything from casualties on the field to attendance at games. Although Watterson mentions key personalities here and there, his main focus is on the large trends that have shaped the sport (in chapters such as "Football's Longest Season: The Fall of 1905" and "The Professional Paradigm, 1956 to 1974"). His coverage of the facts—the scandals, the commissions, committees, and conferences—is not likely to be surpassed, either in depth of detail or sharpness of analysis. And it is when the sport is in the most disarray that the author makes it seem the most interesting—with his coverage of such scandals as "illicit aid" (which provided underthetable pay to players in the 1930s) and league segregation (which led to protests by AfricanAmerican players in the 1960s).