4 Spirit of the Times, 26 November 1892, p. See New York Herald, 20 November 1892, pp. as Napoleon would have it, for a large gain or possible touchdown There were varying accounts of the first play, and were not all consistent. who was trailing the wedge at top speed, was expected to find a hole created by the flying bodies and break through to the rear of the Yale defense. Harvard s objective was to mass all their effort at Yale s Alex Wallis, located toward the end of Yale s right side, and to literally mow him down. As Trafford picked up the ball, the two lines met just beyond him and directed their three-quarter ton of massed momentum toward one man on the opposing line who would catch the brunt of their attack that is. the heaviest men began a sprint toward Trafford, while the faster men on the other side came toward them to create a wedge-like formation. Art Brewer, a fast and shifty freshman halfback, was located between the two halves of the wedge, ready to receive the ball from Trafford. They, too, angled from the sideline toward the ball. Opposite Lewis and his slower but heavier group were four of the faster men. the first African-American to be chosen a Walter Camp all-american football player. Five of Harvard s heaviest men were located some 20 to 30 yards behind the ball at about a 45-degree angle to the sideline and in line with the ball. Harvard captain Bernie Trafford initiated the play with the remainder of the Harvard 11 located a number of yards behind the ball which lay at midfield. The startling new flying wedge necessitated the latter option. foot, then pick it up and pass it to a teammate. I (Spring 1993) Harvard s Flying Wedge was the ultimate of the mass momentum plays. He noted: To work them out at all would require a standard of team play which Harvard is not usually up to. Yet, Woolsey questioned whether Harvard players could carry them out. Woolsey Folder, Walter Camp Papers, Yale University Archives, Woolsey reported that Lorin Deland was adapting military strategy to football and testing the practicability of these new plays. Woolsy, York Harbor, Maine letter to Walter Camp, New haven, Conneticut, ca. Craig and Felix Gilbert, Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1986), p Spirit of the Times, 26 November 1892, p Theodore S. To start the second half, the rugby-like football rules that governed intercollegiate football at that time permitted a Harvard man to either kick the ball deep to the opposition. The scoreless first half had been a classic defensive battle, played between the 20-yard lines. Maine, summer training camp, 3 what occurred on that sunny. While rumors persisted that the Crimson had developed revolutionary plays at its York Harbor. and possibly viewed the contest from neighboring houses, trees, and railroad bridges. An additional 300 sat within the press enclosure. Bleacher seating accommodated 19,500 spectators, most of whom had travelled to the site on trains which serviced the increased traffic between Boston and New York. Massachusetts, on the last Saturday before Thanksgiving for the annual Harvard-Yale game. Over a century ago, a crowd of 21,500 fans squeezed into the grounds of Hampden Park in Springfield. It was a vivid example of the brutality which then ruled the sport. and an already violent game brought forth the most revolutionary football play ever developed. Ten men, running full tilt in a V formation from a position some yards behind the ball, massed upon one Yale player. the Crimson surprised its opponent at the tactical level of physical combat. 1 Football s most controversial play was first launched in 1892, when Harvard took the field to begin the second half of its battle against arch rival and perennial power Yale. His three principles of military art concentration of force, mobility, and a firm resolve to triumph or perish gloriously-had been made functional for late-nineteenth-century intercollegiate football strategy in America. Smith Penn State University Napoleon Bonaparte would have been pleased. 1 (Spring 1993) The Rise and Fall of the Flying Wedge: Football s Most Controversial Play Scott A.
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