Football Linemen: The Center, Guard, Tackle & Ends: Written Over a Century Ago by 3 Hall of Fame Coaches and the Man Who Invented the Flying Wedge

This volume contains the chapters about linemen from the first three major books ever written about modern football, by three Hall of Fame coaches and the man who invented the flying wedge:

American Football, by Walter Camp (1891), A Scientific and Practical Treatise on American Football for Schools and Colleges, by Amos Alonzo Stagg and Henry L. Williams (1893), and Football, by Walter Camp and Lorin F. Deland (1896).

The sport has changed in significant ways since then, but the fundamentals of the game remain intact and their profound coaching wisdom is timeless and relevant today.

The text is enlivened by more than 75 rare vintage images of linemen in action, originally published in newspapers and magazines from 1857 to 1900.

The original books were written during an era when players played the entire game without substitution. As a result, the descriptions of player positions mingled the responsibilities of what are now three separate and specialized offensive, defensive, and special teams platoons.

The offensive backs were also defensive backs, punters, place-kickers, and kick-returners. The quarterback played a linebacker position (“rush line back”) on defense. Linemen (also called “forwards” and “rushers”) likewise played both offense and defense. The offensive tackle was sometimes used as a ball-carrier.

This confusion is clarified in this updated version which separates and categorizes the responsibilities into offensive and defensive platoons to fit today’s game.

The Lost Century of Sports Collection publishes rare works from America’s sporting heritage. Volumes include The Lost Century of American Football, The American Football Trilogy, The First Decade of Women’s Basketball, and Daughters of the Lost Century.

WALTER CAMP (1859-1925) was the first football coach and literally wrote the football rule book. He was Yale’s best player and captain in the 1870’s when the sport was played under Rugby rules. As the most prominent member of the football rules committee in the 1880’s, Camp introduced the line of scrimmage, the scoring system, the series of downs to retain the ball, and other fundamental features of the game. He was widely-known as “the Father of American Football” by the time these books were published. Many of his former players became pioneering coaches at colleges nationwide. Camp was a prolific writer and America’s most admired sports authority.

AMOS ALONZO STAGG (1862-1965) was a famous player for Walter Camp at Yale and was named to the first All-American team in 1889. In 1892 the University of Chicago hired Stagg as the nation’s first athletic director and football coach with faculty status. The diagrammed plays in his book became templates for innovative coaches to design their own plays. “The Grand Old Man of Football” was named Coach of the Year at age 81, and retired from coaching at age 97 with 314 career victories. Stagg was a standout pitcher in college and played in the first public basketball game in 1892. He is a member of both the football and basketball Hall of Fame.

HENRY L. WILLIAMS (1869-1931) was Stagg’s teammate on Walter Camp’s Yale squad. In 1891 he invented the “tackle-back” formation, coached West Point to its first victory against Annapolis, and set the world record in the 120 yard high hurdles. He later became the head football coach at the University of Minnesota for 22 years, during which he also maintained a medical practice. Dr. Williams was an influential member of the rules committee and an early proponent of the forward pass. Williams was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 1951, along with Camp and Stagg.

LORIN F. DELAND (1855-1917) was a military historian who never played football, or even attended a game, until he was in his mid-thirties. Within two years he was Harvard’s head coach and recognized as a football genius. Deland analyzed the American sport as if it were a battlefield and devised plays based on military tactics, including the fabled “flying wedge,” which he unveiled in a game against Walter Camp in 1892. The two rival coaches united in 1896 to write their comprehensive study of the sport.