Presidential Athletes: Woodrow Wilson Football Coach
Woodrow Wilson is often thought of as an egghead or an academic. He hardly has the image of an athlete or of a football coach. Yet Wilson was an enthusiastic supporter of the athletics, especially football and baseball. During his boyhood, Wilson helped establish the "Lightfoot Baseball Club" with his friends. Wilson played second base on the team.
From 1888 to 1889, Wilson was a Professor of Political Economy at Wesleyan University. For two seasons served as an assistant coach of the football team. On several occasions he debated those who thought the game to be too violent for college sports and he lobbied for the promotion of the sport in colleges.
Years earlier, as a sophomore student at Princeton in April of 1877, Wilson was selected to coach the school's original rugby team called the Tigers. At the time, a rugby team was made up of fifteen players, divided into forwards, half-back and backs. The ball was put in play in a "scrum" and the whole game, in fact, was typical English Rugby. Princeton lost its first match to Harvard, and later that fall, the two teams met again, this time on famous and fashionable old St. George's Cricket Ground in Hoboken, New Jersey. This time Princeton won. In 1878, Princeton met Harvard on Boston Common, and once again Princeton won. The following year, 1879, Harvard again journeyed to Hoboken and again suffered defeat. During these three years, the "fifteen" of Rugby tradition had been reduced to "eleven," and the basic line of scrimmage was established which in time morphed into the game we known today as football.
Biographies of Wilson do not offer enough detail as to how the coaching responsibilities were divided and what Wilson's responsibilities were. We do know however that when Wilson was assistant coach on the football team at Wesleyan University, the had a winning record on his watch. In addition to being an assistant coach, Wilson also served as co-director of the Foot-Ball Association. Wilson continued to promote the sport when he was a Professor and later the President of Princeton University.
According to an article in a 1918 newspaper, on Thanksgiving Day of 1889, Wesleyan's football team defeated the University of Pennsylvania in a game played at Berkeley Oval in New York City. The article states that Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Pennsylvania and Wesleyan were members of the American Intercollegiate Football Association. The article also states that at the beginning of the season, Wesleyan's team was playing poorly, so Wilson "injected himself into the situation". The article goes on to state:
"He expressed an interest in the football work and was elected faculty adviser. Strengthened by this authority, he turned to the task of building up a winning football team at Wesleyan. Loyalty and work were the twin virtues he preached to the team and he succeeded in getting the men to put them into practice. Wesleyan had no coach in those days, so the young history professor studied the rudiments of the game and taught them to the team. He was found on the field every afternoon, conferring with the captain, McDonald. The Wesleyan player in the early games of the season had displayed a tendency to try to pull off grandstand plays, as they were called. Each man seemed to want to do something spectacular. Professor Wilson realized that this spirit would mean failure in the end and he discouraged it. He talked about team play and the duty of each player to coordinate his efforts for the good of all. The undergraduates soon got to speaking of the team as the Wilson machine. After Wesleyan defeated Trinity, Rogers and Williams, there was great enthusiasm."
It is rather ironic that, many years later, it was the prissy-looking and frail Wilson who would be advocating in favour of keeping football as a college sport, while the rough and robust Theodore Roosevelt, the many who preached "the strenuous life", would be on the side of those who claimed that the game was too violent. When Wilson was President of Princeton, he sent a representative to a 1905 meeting requested by President Theodore Roosevelt, which eventually resulted in the formation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later renamed the NCAA) in 1906. Roosevelt had threatened that if the game wasn't made less dangerous, he would have it abolished. As President of Princeton, Wilson saw his Tigers win two more national championships. He was said to attend football practice two or three times a week. His love of football was so great that, according to a popular anecdote at the time, once on the train from New York to Princeton, Wilson become so interested in talking football with Princeton alum Philip Rollins, that they missed their stop Princeton Junction and had to go on to Trenton.
When football came under attack for being too violent of a sport, Wilson led a spirited defense of the game. Speaking in front of an alumni group, Wilson argued “Foot-ball is a manly game and athletics are a safety valve for animal spirits.”
From 1888 to 1889, Wilson was a Professor of Political Economy at Wesleyan University. For two seasons served as an assistant coach of the football team. On several occasions he debated those who thought the game to be too violent for college sports and he lobbied for the promotion of the sport in colleges.
Years earlier, as a sophomore student at Princeton in April of 1877, Wilson was selected to coach the school's original rugby team called the Tigers. At the time, a rugby team was made up of fifteen players, divided into forwards, half-back and backs. The ball was put in play in a "scrum" and the whole game, in fact, was typical English Rugby. Princeton lost its first match to Harvard, and later that fall, the two teams met again, this time on famous and fashionable old St. George's Cricket Ground in Hoboken, New Jersey. This time Princeton won. In 1878, Princeton met Harvard on Boston Common, and once again Princeton won. The following year, 1879, Harvard again journeyed to Hoboken and again suffered defeat. During these three years, the "fifteen" of Rugby tradition had been reduced to "eleven," and the basic line of scrimmage was established which in time morphed into the game we known today as football.
Biographies of Wilson do not offer enough detail as to how the coaching responsibilities were divided and what Wilson's responsibilities were. We do know however that when Wilson was assistant coach on the football team at Wesleyan University, the had a winning record on his watch. In addition to being an assistant coach, Wilson also served as co-director of the Foot-Ball Association. Wilson continued to promote the sport when he was a Professor and later the President of Princeton University.
According to an article in a 1918 newspaper, on Thanksgiving Day of 1889, Wesleyan's football team defeated the University of Pennsylvania in a game played at Berkeley Oval in New York City. The article states that Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Pennsylvania and Wesleyan were members of the American Intercollegiate Football Association. The article also states that at the beginning of the season, Wesleyan's team was playing poorly, so Wilson "injected himself into the situation". The article goes on to state:
"He expressed an interest in the football work and was elected faculty adviser. Strengthened by this authority, he turned to the task of building up a winning football team at Wesleyan. Loyalty and work were the twin virtues he preached to the team and he succeeded in getting the men to put them into practice. Wesleyan had no coach in those days, so the young history professor studied the rudiments of the game and taught them to the team. He was found on the field every afternoon, conferring with the captain, McDonald. The Wesleyan player in the early games of the season had displayed a tendency to try to pull off grandstand plays, as they were called. Each man seemed to want to do something spectacular. Professor Wilson realized that this spirit would mean failure in the end and he discouraged it. He talked about team play and the duty of each player to coordinate his efforts for the good of all. The undergraduates soon got to speaking of the team as the Wilson machine. After Wesleyan defeated Trinity, Rogers and Williams, there was great enthusiasm."
It is rather ironic that, many years later, it was the prissy-looking and frail Wilson who would be advocating in favour of keeping football as a college sport, while the rough and robust Theodore Roosevelt, the many who preached "the strenuous life", would be on the side of those who claimed that the game was too violent. When Wilson was President of Princeton, he sent a representative to a 1905 meeting requested by President Theodore Roosevelt, which eventually resulted in the formation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later renamed the NCAA) in 1906. Roosevelt had threatened that if the game wasn't made less dangerous, he would have it abolished. As President of Princeton, Wilson saw his Tigers win two more national championships. He was said to attend football practice two or three times a week. His love of football was so great that, according to a popular anecdote at the time, once on the train from New York to Princeton, Wilson become so interested in talking football with Princeton alum Philip Rollins, that they missed their stop Princeton Junction and had to go on to Trenton.
When football came under attack for being too violent of a sport, Wilson led a spirited defense of the game. Speaking in front of an alumni group, Wilson argued “Foot-ball is a manly game and athletics are a safety valve for animal spirits.”