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In the twentieth century, American football developed from a game with
few teams, few fans,
and little standardized equipment into a major sport. In the Chicago area, some high schools
sponsored football teams (SDN-000368, SDN-000290, SDN-000324) as did
other groups, such as Fort
Sheridan army base's team ca. 1902 (SDN-000935). But it was the college and university teams that
grew rapidly in popularity. More and more people, including many people
who never attended college,
began to pay attention to football and make celebrities of some players and coaches. Meanwhile professional
football teams struggled to gain a wider following.
SDN-0000181 |
Early images in this collection show teams with mismatched uniforms and a great variety of
padding and headgear (SDN-002159, SDN-000937, SDN-001022, SDN-004372). There were so few teams
in the decades of the 1900s that high school teams sometimes played games with college teams
(SDN-000181, SDN-000179)
and teams would travel considerable distances in order to play against an outstanding opponent.
For example, ca. 1902, a football team from Brooklyn Polytechnic
Institute (New York) traveled to Chicago and
played Hyde Park High School's team (SDN-001073, SDN-001075, SDN-001074). |
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