Book Report: James R. Church's University Foot-Ball of 1893

I never liked book reports in grade school, and it wasn't because I did not like reading books or writing about them. Instead, it seemed the book report's purpose was to show that I read the entire book rather than discuss whatever I found interesting. So, while I plan to write occasional book reports here, I will focus on the interesting content, not prove that I read the entire book—which I did. Trust me.

James R. Church, a former Princeton player, published University Foot-Ball in 1893, making it among the earliest volumes covering the game. The book opens with Church reviewing football's development since the first games in 1876 (per Church), and he returns at the end to summarize football training methods and officiating. However, the book mostly consists of essays by premier players of the time that describe each football position, so it includes interesting points and reminders about how they played the game early on. (You can download the book for free from the Library of Congress. Here's a link to the PDF version.)

I wrote in the past about how the diagramming of football plays evolved, as did the term "X's and O's," and Church clearly struggled with the issue. His diagram below shows how the offense and defense lined up to start a play, followed by a second diagram representing the play in progress.

An example play design. (Church, James. University Foot-Ball. New York- Scribners. 1893.)