Football Archaeology

Share this post

Today's Tidbit... The Kangaroo Kicker Had Some Punch

www.footballarchaeology.com

Discover more from Football Archaeology

Digging into gridiron history to examine how football's evolution shapes today's game.
Over 1,000 subscribers
Continue reading
Sign in
Tidbits

Today's Tidbit... The Kangaroo Kicker Had Some Punch

Timothy P. Brown
Aug 18, 2022
1
Share this post

Today's Tidbit... The Kangaroo Kicker Had Some Punch

www.footballarchaeology.com
Share

Football had many neutral site games in big cities before WWI because that is where the large stadiums and people were. The 1899 contest matching 8-1 Wisconsin and 8-1 Michigan at West Side Park in Chicago proved that point by attracting an estimated 22,000 fans, one of the largest crowds to see a football game in Chicago that century. 

Wisconsin lost to Yale earlier in the year, and Michigan had fallen to Penn, but the two teams had run through their Midwestern competition. Wisconsin had a solid team and an absolute star in Pat O'Dea, an Australian nicknamed the Kangaroo Kicker. O'Dea played Australian rules football before enrolling at Wisconsin and was a star of stars when the foot was still the most important element of football. In Wisconsin's 1898 game against Northwestern, O'Dea dropkicked a record-setting 62-yard field goal and had a 116-yard punt. Big kicker, the Aussie. Long.

O’Dea’s signed portrait to the University of Wisconsin president. (University of Wisconsin Archives)

So it was no surprise that the first score of the Wisconsin-Michigan game came on an O'Dea dropkicked field goal. The next points came when O'Dea’s punt sailed over every Wolverine head, and a fellow Badger recovered the punt for a touchdown. On that play, however, a Michigan player roughed O'Dea, leading O'Dea to throw a punch. Laurie Bliss, the umpire and former Yale player, saw only the punch and tossed O'Dea from the game. (Another Yalie, "Pa" Corbin, umpired the game. He centered for Eli when centers still snapped the ball with their feet.)

An illustration showing O’Dea dropkicking the game’s first field goal. (Chicago Tribune, December 1, 1899)

Alas, the Badgers dominated without O'Dea, winning 17 to 5. Unfortunately, they lost the following week to the 16-0-2 Chicago Maroons, who claimed the Western Conference title.


Subscribe for free and never miss a story. You can also support this site with a paid subscription to receive additional content or check out my books here.

1
Share this post

Today's Tidbit... The Kangaroo Kicker Had Some Punch

www.footballarchaeology.com
Share
Previous
Next
Comments
Top
New
Community

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Timothy P. Brown
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing