Football Blankets and Feeling Warm All Over

Offensive formations evolved over the years, and some, like the Single Wing, largely disappeared. Likewise, other aspects of the game that were once commonplace have been gone so long few realize they were ever part of the game. Such is the case with football blankets, a common sight on football fields when the leaves began changing colors one hundred some years ago.

Football blankets of old served functional and symbolic purposes. Players first brought blankets onto the field to -wait for it- keep warm while sitting on the bench. In the single platoon football of the day, second-string players often sat on the bench the entire game. Teams commonly played only eleven, twelve, or thirteen players in games against evenly matched opponents. By rule, substitutes had to be seated on the sideline and got chilly when the gales of November came early. It only took a few intelligent reserves bringing blankets to the sidelines before the wraps were off, and soon, everybody was doing it.

Drake's 1910 team kept themselves under wraps while resting on the side of a hill, accompanied by two emotional support dogs. (1911 Drake yearbook)

The substitutes on Navy's bench monitor a 1912 game while wrapped in blankets. (1913 Navy yearbook)

Given the absence of sideline heaters and team-issued jackets, the fact that substitutes brought blankets onto the field should be no surprise. It was more surprising that starters jogged onto the field wrapped in blankets, and they did so for two reasons. First, the starters sometimes left the game, and blankets helped them keep warm while nursing an injury or waiting to reenter the game. Second and more important, early stadiums did not have locker rooms. Unable to spend halftime in a heated room, teams went to one end of the field to rest and talk things over, all while the starters wrapped themselves in their blankets. There were exceptions, of course. The Carlisle teams of the 1890s, who were pretty tough lads, laughed at their white opponents for blanketing themselves against adverse weather.