The first mention of football's "chains" for tracking the spot of the first down and the yard to gain came in a story about the innovation's use by Brooklyn's Crescent Athletic Club in 1894. Two weeks later, George Pratt, a former Amherst player and captain of the Crescent team, served as the linesman for the Harvard-Yale game. Pratt had an assistant who handled the stick at the other end of the five-yard-long ribbon. The chain connecting the poles came later.
Great research once again on the field and equipment of the gridiron!