Football Practice IV (1898-1899)

In the 1898-1899 academic year, the team record was 0-2 and they were coached by James Huff McCurdy (1866-1940), a graduate of Springfield College (class of 1890). McCurdy taught football at his alma mater for eighteen years. He contributed to the field of physical education in many ways, including his studies on the relationship between heart rate, blood pressure, and motor tasks in adolescent boys. In 1924, he published one of the first articles for Exercise Physiology. In 1918, McCurdy realized the need “for an extensive programme of sports and recreation in the immediate postwar period that would bridge the gap and ease the transition between military service and civilian life.” The result was the Inter-Allied Games, the biggest international sports event that had ever been held at that time. Attended by 25,000 people, the Games were a huge success. McCurdy was the Director of the Division of Athletes, Hygiene and Health for the American YMCA among American troops in France.

This lantern slide, “Football Practice IV (1898-1899),” shows two men who might be members of the International YMCA Training School (now known as Springfield College) football team. One man is holding a football, and the second man is tackling him.