93: War Football-NFL

When the United States entered World War I, it signaled the end, for a while, to the landscape of college football. So many of the young men playing the game, put their college careers on hold, withdrew from school and joined the military to fight for their country. They left school and found themselves in “training camps” across the U.S., learning how to fight and preparing for deployment to help defeat Germany, Bulgaria, Austria, the Ottoman Empire. Thankfully, a majority of these men, young and older, never left the U.S. as the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918. But, while they were training, the college stars of the day, and college stars who had preceded them still had a thirst to play the game. So they formed teams, challenged other camps and, ultimately, schedules were created, games were played, playoffs staged and championships won. War Football was a “thing”. Games between military bases were highly contested and replaced America’s thirst, for the time-being, to watch college football. In fact, fans from across the land came out in huge numbers to watch. The success of War Football couldn’t be understated. In fact, when money was needed for various types of funds to help the military, fans turned out in big numbers. The games were so well played, the competition was so strong that men like renowned football reporter Walter Camp started writing about them. All-America teams were named. Games between the best were contested, even the 1918 Rose Bowl was contested by two military teams, with the Mare Island Marines beating the Camp Lewis Army, 19-7. All of this led to such men as George Halas recognizing the fact that a professional game, with the right organization managing it, could be created and just two years after the armistice was signed, the American Professional Football Association was created. Two years later, 1922, it was renamed, the National Football League. Chris Serb, who wrote the book, “War Football: World War I and The Birth of The NFL,” joins Sports’ Forgotten Heroes for a most interesting topic on the world of football prior to the formation of the NFL.

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