Today's Tidbit... The YMCA And Football's Growth

The YMCA had an underappreciated role in football's development. The organization developed out of the same Muscular Christianity stream that promoted the need to exercise the mind and body, with some, like Teddy Roosevelt, considering it vital to ensuring the right sort of people dominated the world.

The YMCA's influence began in 1890 when Yale graduate Amos Alonzo Stagg enrolled in the School for Christian Workers' one-year graduate course to become a YMCA Physical Director. The school became the International Young Men's Christian Association Training School and is now Springfield College.

Stagg coached and played for Springfield in 1890 and 1891. Among the members of his teams were John Naismith, the inventor of basketball, and William G. Morgan, who invented volleyball. Springfield had solid teams over the years, particularly under James Huff McCurdy, who coached Springfield from 1895 to 1916, save for a three-year break in the middle. Although they primarily played small colleges, the YMCA team regularly stepped up to play Yale and other Eastern powers.

The 1908 YMCA Training School football team with the TS superimposed on the ‘Mind, Body, Spirit’ triangle. James McCurdy stands at the top. (Personal collection)