Today's Tidbit... Eddie Mahan and Backfield Play

While Jim Thorpe called him the greatest football player ever, Eddie Mahan is today known only to football history nerds. A three-time All-America at Harvard (1913, 1914, 1915), Mahan scored four touchdowns and kicked five extra points in the final fame of his college career, a 41-0 shellacking of Yale.

Given his prominence, the Draper-Maynard sporting goods manufacturer chose Mahan as their spokesperson for an eight-page foldover pamphlet used as a store premium.

We’ll let the images and text speak for themselves as Mahan explain the four backfield positions. (Click to enlarge)

c. 1916 Draper-Maynard How To Play The Backfield, p. 1, 8