Leroy N. Mills and Kicking The American Football

What was it like to be the best canal builder in the 1820s or the best buggy whip maker in 1880? It had to feel good to excel at your craft, not knowing that thirty or forty years down the road, your area of expertise would be tossed aside when something better came.

Leroy N. Mills had no idea a tsunami was coming his way, and neither did his disciples. Still, in his day, he was the foremost authority on the topic captured by the title of his book, Kicking The American Football.

By all accounts, Mills was a fabulous guy. He spent most of his life in Mount Vernon, New York, which sits in Westchester County, just north of the Bronx. Mills spent a year or two at Princeton just before the forward pass became legal, playing on the freshmen team. He lacked the physical talent to make the varsity, but after leaving Princeton, he returned to Mount Vernon and entered the legal profession via apprenticeship.

By 1904, Mills was the volunteer head coach for the Mount Vernon High School team. He not only told the backs how to run the ball but how to kick it, which was half the job for backs in those kick-happy days. Mills studied punting and kicking, breaking them down to their core elements and experimenting with new approaches until he could kick a football unlike anyone else.

(Mills, KIcking the American Football, 1932)