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Forward Pass: The Play That Saved Football | 
 enlarge | Author: Philip L. Brooks
Publisher: Westholme Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $18.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 1096479
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 159416052X
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.33225
EAN: 9781594160523
ASIN: 159416052X
Publication Date: October 31, 2007
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
On a cool autumn afternoon in 1913, a small, up-and-coming school came to West Point to challenge the great Army football team. Early in the game, the opposing quarterback dropped back, raised the football, and threw a perfect overhead spiral into the outstretched hands of his wide open teammate. Again and again the quarterback and his receiver completed passes, resulting in a stunning 35-13 defeat of Army. That midwestern school was Notre Dame and the receiver was Knute Rockne: the game of football was transformed. The story of Notre Dame's passing attack goes back seven years, however, when the forward pass was first legalized as a means of opening the game up to avoid the fatalities that plagued early football and nearly saw the game banned. At first, passing was accomplished by pushing the ball forward, swinging it underhanded, and occasionally tossing it overhead, and was used to make up a deficit late in a game. But a student of the legendary Amos Alonzo Stagg, Jesse Harper, envisioned a mixture of precision passing and running throughout the game, and after arriving at Notre Dame, he schooled his team in his new-fangled approach. In Forward Pass: The Play That Saved Football, Philip L. Brooks introduces the reader to the dirt, spectacle, and emotion of the great teams of the early twentieth century. All teams of the era--Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indians, Stagg's University of Chicago Maroons, Fielding Yost's Michigan Wolverines, Johnny Heisman's Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, the Ivy League's Big Three, and Gil Dobie's Washington Huskies--experimented with passing in order to keep the sport alive. But it was Jesse Harper and Knute Rockne who showed the country how the forward pass could be used as the ultimate offensive strategy, the key to the brilliant future of football.
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| Customer Reviews:
An important book for all football fans November 6, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Phil Brooks has written the definitive book on the history of the forward pass and tells why this is important to all football fans. He describes how the brutal and dangerous sport was threatened with banishment by administrators of many colleges and how football innovators saved the game.
I really didn't know what to expect when I started this book as I had read no individual reviews, only the book liner notes. I was mostly intrigued by the history as I often wonder how we came to play football as we do, and how football evolved. But, what I found was much more than mere history. I found an amazing story of individuals striving to make the game they loved safer and more exciting for players and fans. In addition, I was struck by the honest and moral character of the main players in this story; it engendered a sort of nostalgic feeling for a time when a man's word was good and when leaders were actually admired.
Aside from that bit of introspection, the author's use of play diagrams and historical photos will help even those a bit fuzzy on what happens behind the line of scrimmage. His description of the playing field, uniforms (or lack thereof), the brutality of the sport, the use of the punting game, and numerous other features gave me a clear picture of a time much different than today.
Of course, it is the forward pass that is the main story here. When it was first legalized it was slow to come about for many reasons, not the least of which was that no one had any experience with the overhand throwing of a football. To further complicate the matter, rules committees made it difficult to fully implement the play (for example, for a number of years any untouched forward pass was not just incomplete, but resulted in the loss of possession for the offense).
Overall, I found this book very interesting and enjoyable. I highly recommend it.
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