Red, Red (1929–1930)
120-555: The Minneapolis Marines were an early professional football team that existed from 1905 until 1928. The team did not play in 1918 or 1925 to 1926 and was later resurrected from 1929 to 1930 under the Minneapolis Red Jackets name. The Marines were originally owned by the Marine Athletic Club of Minneapolis and later by Minneapolitans John Dunn and Val Ness. The Marines played their earliest games in
240-403: A halftime period, and the first and third quarters are followed by a short break. Before the game starts, the referee and each team's captain meet at midfield for a coin toss . The visiting team can call either "heads" or "tails"; the winner of the toss chooses whether to receive or kick off the ball or which goal they wish to defend. They can defer their choice until the second half. Unless
360-401: A 10-yard-long chain between them, are used to measure for a first down. The chain crew stays on the sidelines during the game, but if requested by the officials they will briefly bring the chains on to the field to measure. A typical chain crew will have at least three people—two members of the chain crew will hold either of the two sticks, while a third will hold the down marker. The down marker,
480-525: A PAT attempt or successful field goal, the scoring team must kick the ball off to the other team. A safety is scored when the ball carrier is tackled in the carrier's own end zone. Safeties are worth two points, which are awarded to the defense. In addition, the team that conceded the safety must kick the ball to the scoring team via a free kick . Football games are played on a rectangular field that measures 120 yards (110 m) long and 53 + 1 ⁄ 3 yards (48.8 m) wide. Lines marked along
600-453: A field goal instead. A group of officials, the chain crew, keeps track of both the downs and the distance measurements. On television, a yellow line is electronically superimposed on the field to show the first down line to the viewing audience. There are two categories of kicks in football: scrimmage kicks, which can be executed by the offensive team on any down from behind or on the line of scrimmage, and free kicks. The free kicks are
720-544: A game against the Adams Athletic Club of Duluth, Minnesota, Hammer recruited former Gophers phenom Bobby Marshall to play for the Marines. Marshall would be the first player with major college football experience to play for the club. Hammer then hired former Gophers player Ossie Solem to coach the Marines, and he recruited a professional baseball and basketball player named Fred Chicken to play fullback for
840-457: A group of Princeton players realized that, as the snap was uncontested, they could now hold the ball indefinitely to prevent their opponent from scoring. In 1881, in a game between Yale and Princeton, both teams used this strategy to maintain their undefeated records. Each team held the ball, gaining no ground, for an entire half, resulting in a 0–0 tie. This "block game" proved extremely unpopular with both teams' spectators and fans. A rule change
960-533: A large stick with a dial on it, is flipped after each play to indicate the current down and is typically moved to the approximate spot of the ball. The chain crew system has been used for over 100 years and is considered an accurate measure of distance, rarely subject to criticism from either side. Football is a full-contact sport, and injuries are relatively common. Most injuries occur during training sessions, particularly ones that involve contact between players. To try to prevent injuries, players are required to wear
1080-408: A long circumference of 28 to 28 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (71 to 72 cm), and a short circumference of 21 to 21 + 1 ⁄ 4 inches (53 to 54 cm). In college and high school play the ball has a long axis of 10 + 7 ⁄ 8 to 11 + 7 ⁄ 16 inches (27.6 to 29.1 cm), a long circumference of 27 + 3 ⁄ 4 to 28 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (70 to 72 cm), and
1200-420: A minimum of 10 feet (3.0 m) on high school fields. Goal posts are padded at the base, and orange ribbons are normally placed at the tip of each upright as indicators of wind strength and direction. The football itself is a prolate spheroid leather ball, similar to the balls used in rugby or Australian rules football . To contain the compressed air within it, a pig's bladder was commonly used before
1320-510: A modified scoring system. These schools formed the Intercollegiate Football Association , although Yale did not join until 1879. Yale player Walter Camp , now regarded as the "Father of American Football", secured rule changes in 1880 that reduced the size of each team from 15 to 11 players and instituted the snap to replace the chaotic and inconsistent scrum . While the game between Rutgers and Princeton
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#17327753626971440-535: A name he inherited, and later with the 151st Field Artillery, the name for his minor league football team and practice squad. It is conceivable that the name “Red Jackets” may have been inspired by the 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment that fought in the American Civil War and wore red shirts. As a football team, the Red Jackets wore red helmets, red jerseys, red pants, and red socks. On the sideline,
1560-477: A pass hits the ground without a player having caught it. A forward pass can be legally attempted only if the passer is behind the line of scrimmage; only one forward pass can be attempted per down. As in rugby, players can also pass the ball backwards at any point during a play. In the NFL, a down also ends immediately if the runner's helmet comes off. The offense is given a series of four plays, known as downs . If
1680-583: A player being paid to participate in a game of American football , although many athletic clubs in the 1880s offered indirect benefits, such as helping players attain employment, giving out trophies or watches that players could pawn for money, or paying double in expense money. Despite these extra benefits, the game had a strict sense of amateurism at the time, and direct payment to players was frowned upon, if not prohibited outright. Over time, professional play became increasingly common, and with it came rising salaries and unpredictable player movement, as well as
1800-427: A quarter ends, play continues until the down is completed. If certain fouls are committed during play while time has expired, the quarter may be extended through an untimed down . Games last longer than their defined length due to play stoppages—the average NFL game lasts slightly over three hours. Time in a football game is measured by the game clock. An operator is responsible for starting, stopping and operating
1920-645: A result, John Dunn tried to drum up support to move the team to Rochester, Minnesota , in 1925, but that effort failed. In 1926, John Dunn and Val Ness teamed up with boxing promoter Jack Reddy in an effort to revive the NFL franchise under a new name, the Twin City Lumberjacks. Dunn signed several players for the team, including former Gophers captain Carl L. Lidberg and three former College of St. Thomas players, Chuck Reichow , Jack Murray, and Walt Kiesling . Former Marines coach Joe Brandy would coach
2040-511: A round ball. An 1875 Harvard–Yale game played under rugby-style rules was observed by two Princeton athletes who were impressed by it. They introduced the sport to Princeton, a feat the Professional Football Researchers Association compared to "selling refrigerators to Eskimos ". Princeton, Harvard, Yale, and Columbia then agreed to intercollegiate play using a form of rugby union rules with
2160-436: A secondary signal. Women can serve as officials; Sarah Thomas became the NFL's first female official in 2015. The seven officials (of a standard seven-man crew; lower levels of play up to the college level use fewer officials) on the field are each tasked with a different set of responsibilities: Another set of officials, the chain crew , are responsible for moving the chains. The chains, consisting of two large sticks with
2280-403: A separate sport from rugby, and the resulting five-yard lines added to the field to measure distances made it resemble a gridiron in appearance. Other major rule changes included a reduction of the field size to 110 by 53 + 1 ⁄ 3 yards (100.6 m × 48.8 m) and the adoption of a scoring system that awarded four points for a touchdown, two for a safety and a goal following
2400-530: A set of equipment. At a minimum players must wear a football helmet and a set of shoulder pads , but individual leagues may require additional padding such as thigh pads and guards, knee pads, chest protectors, and mouthguards . Most injuries occur in the lower extremities, particularly in the knee, but a significant number also affect the upper extremities. The most common types of injuries are strains , sprains , bruises , fractures , dislocations , and concussions . Lexington Park Lexington Park
2520-410: A short circumference of 20 + 3 ⁄ 4 to 21 + 1 ⁄ 4 inches (53 to 54 cm). Football games last for a total of 60 minutes in professional and college play and are divided into two halves of 30 minutes and four quarters of 15 minutes. High school football games are 48 minutes in length with two halves of 24 minutes and four quarters of 12 minutes. The two halves are separated by
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#17327753626972640-838: A team. However, the flu pandemic prevented the Marines from taking the field. Meanwhile, a few members of the Marines played on service teams. After the war, several Marines players who had played as ringers for the Rock Island Independents and the Davenport Athletics in 1917 chose to play for Rock Island, instead. The men who departed the Marines for the Independents in 1919 included Reuben Ursella , Walt Buland , Fred Chicken , Dewey Lyle , Bobby Marshall , and Eddie Novak . In 1920, two more Marines players, Harry Gunderson and Frank Jordan, left to play for Rock Island. Marines manager John Dunn backfilled
2760-416: A touchdown , and five for a goal from the field . Additionally, tackling below the waist was legalized, and a static line of scrimmage was instituted. Despite these new rules, football remained a violent sport. Dangerous mass-formations like the flying wedge resulted in serious injuries and deaths. A 1905 peak of 19 fatalities nationwide resulted in a threat by President Theodore Roosevelt to abolish
2880-661: A wave of euphoria the way its Twin Cities cousin Nicollet Park did, but the Saints did manage to defeat the Minneapolis Millers in the final game. Although demolished in the 1950s, elements of the park remain in existence to this day. A significant segment of the southwestern foundation can still be seen by the knowledgeable observer, and as late as the 1990s a grocery store on the site (since demolished) preserved
3000-460: Is a sport in which two competing teams vie for control of a ball, which can be kicked through a set of goalposts or run into the opponent's goal area to score points. What is considered to be the first American football game was played on November 6, 1869 , between Rutgers and Princeton , two college teams. They consisted of 25 players per team and used a round ball that could not be picked up or carried. It could, however, be kicked or batted with
3120-425: Is called on the offense. There are two main ways the offense can advance the ball: running and passing . In a typical play, the center passes the ball backwards and between their legs to the quarterback in a process known as the snap . The quarterback then either hands the ball off to a running back, throws the ball, or runs with it. The play ends when the player with the ball is tackled or goes out-of-bounds or
3240-437: Is caught or recovered behind the line of scrimmage. If it is touched or recovered by the kicking team beyond this line, it becomes dead at the spot where it was touched. The kicking team is prohibited from interfering with the receiver's opportunity to catch the ball. The receiving team has the option of signaling for a fair catch , which prohibits the defense from blocking into or tackling the receiver. The play ends as soon as
3360-579: Is commonly considered the first American football game, several years prior in 1862, the Oneida Football Club formed as the oldest known football club in the United States. The team consisted of graduates of Boston's elite preparatory schools and played from 1862 to 1865. The introduction of the snap resulted in an unexpected consequence. Before the snap, the strategy had been to punt if a scrum resulted in bad field position. However,
3480-403: Is known as a two-point conversion . In general, the extra point is almost always successful, while the two-point conversion is a much riskier play with a higher probability of failure; accordingly, extra point attempts are far more common than two-point conversion attempts. A field goal (FG), worth three points, is scored when the ball is place kicked or drop kicked through the uprights and over
3600-407: Is responsible for all kicking plays. The special teams unit of the team in control of the ball tries to execute field goal (FG) attempts, punts , and kickoffs , while the opposing team's unit will aim to block or return them. Three positions are specific to the field goal and PAT (point-after-touchdown) unit: the placekicker (K or PK), holder (H), and long snapper (LS). The long snapper's job
3720-421: Is to block members of the defensive line from tackling the ball carrier on running plays or sacking the quarterback on passing plays. The leader of the offensive line is the center, who is responsible for snapping the ball to the quarterback, blocking, and for making sure that the other linemen do their jobs during the play. On either side of the center are the guards (G), while tackles (T) line up outside
Minneapolis Marines/Red Jackets - Misplaced Pages Continue
3840-437: Is to snap the football to the holder, who will catch and position it for the placekicker. There is not usually a holder on kickoffs, because the ball is kicked off a tee; however, a holder may be used in certain situations, such as if wind is preventing the ball from remaining upright on the tee. The player on the receiving team who catches the ball is known as the kickoff returner (KR). The positions specific to punt plays are
3960-536: The 42nd “Rainbow” Infantry Division during World War I . The 151st Field Artillery played the pre-NFL Duluth Kelleys at Athletic Park in Duluth and then ended its season in late October after a handful of games. By 1927, the Dunn family had started spending their summers at Clef Camp, a resort on Lake Pokegama southwest of Grand Rapids, Minnesota . When John Dunn and Val Ness decided to revive their NFL franchise as
4080-602: The American League in an ultimately successful bid to gain major league status. While the Saints were initially a member of that league, Comiskey moved his team to Chicago prior to Opening Day 1900 (where they still exist today as the Chicago White Sox ). As such, the ballpark holds at least the technical distinction of being the original home to a current American League franchise—even if, admittedly,
4200-776: The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) in 1997. The BCS arrangement proved to be controversial , and was replaced in 2014 by the College Football Playoff (CFP). A football game is played between two teams of 11 players each. Playing with more on the field is punishable by a penalty. Teams may substitute any number of their players between downs; this "platoon" system replaced the original system, which featured limited substitution rules, and has resulted in teams utilizing specialized offensive, defensive and special teams units. The number of players allowed on an active roster varies by league;
4320-858: The Chicago Bears . Dunn and Ness sold season tickets for their team for the first time in 1930, and while the Red Jackets' game versus Nagurski and the Bears drew a crowd, the Red Jackets only won one game in 1930 against the Portsmouth Spartans . After a loss to the Chicago Bears at Wrigley Field on November 2, and after the Frankford Yellow Jackets lost to the Chicago Cardinals at Comiskey Park that same day, Dunn sold most of his franchise's player contracts to Frankford and sold three player contracts to
4440-836: The Green Bay Packers . It's not clear whether Dunn and Ness had sold the franchise per se to Frankford, because later reports indicated they still had a stake in the league. Either way, the Frankford Athletic Association would oversee finishing the schedule for both the Yellow Jackets and the Red Jackets, and for the remainder of the 1930 season, the manager and coaches of Frankford A. A. would use players from both rosters to play in Yellow Jackets and Red Jackets games. A total of twenty players including ten original Red Jackets and ten original Yellow Jackets jumped back-and-forth between both teams, and in
4560-742: The Hammond All-Stars in 1919 and the Decatur Staleys in 1920. In 1920, John Dunn decided to stop playing and instead focus on managing the team, and in 1921, he sought to join a new western professional league based in Omaha, Nebraska. When that league never materialized, Dunn and a business partner, Val Ness, (who had played for the Marines in 1919), secured a franchise for the team in the National Football League . Dunn then recruited Reuben Ursella to play and coach
4680-479: The Super Bowl , ranks among the most-watched club sporting events globally. In 2022, the league had an annual revenue of around $ 18.6 billion, making it the most valuable sports league in the world. Other professional and amateur leagues exist worldwide, but the sport does not have the international popularity of other American sports like baseball or basketball ; the sport maintains a growing following in
4800-470: The University of Minnesota , to coach and play for the Red Jackets. Gibson traveled to California where he recruited former University of Southern California linemen Nate Barrager , John Ward, and Tony Steponovich to play for the Red Jackets. Meanwhile, Dunn attempted to recruit former Gophers player Bronko Nagurski to play for the home team, but Nagurski found better offers elsewhere and signed with
4920-412: The center (C), are allowed to line up in or cross the neutral zone until the ball is snapped. Interior offensive linemen are not allowed to move until the snap of the ball. The main backfield positions are the quarterback (QB), halfback/tailback (HB/TB), and fullback (FB). The quarterback is the leader of the offense. Either the quarterback or a coach calls the plays. Quarterbacks typically inform
Minneapolis Marines/Red Jackets - Misplaced Pages Continue
5040-409: The commissioner . NCAA and NFHS teams are "strongly advised" to number their offensive players according to a league-suggested numbering scheme. Although the sport is played almost exclusively by men, women are eligible to play in high school, college, and professional football. No woman has ever played in the NFL, but women have played in high school and college football games. In 2018, 1,100 of
5160-494: The drive . Points are scored primarily by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal . The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of soccer and rugby . The first American football game was played on November 6, 1869 , between two college teams, Rutgers and Princeton , using rules based on
5280-411: The kickoff , which starts the first and third quarters and overtime and follows a try attempt or a successful field goal; the safety kick follows a safety. On a kickoff, the ball is placed at the 35-yard line of the kicking team in professional and college play and at the 40-yard line in high school play. The ball may be drop kicked or place kicked. If a place kick is chosen, the ball can be placed on
5400-407: The neutral zone was created along the width of the football before the snap. Scoring was also adjusted: points awarded for field goals were reduced to three in 1909 and points for touchdowns were raised to six in 1912. Also in 1912, the field was shortened to 100 yards (91 m) long, two 10-yard-long (9.1 m) end zones were created, and teams were given four downs instead of three to advance
5520-407: The punter (P), long snapper, upback , and gunner . The long snapper snaps the football directly to the punter, who then drops and kicks it before it hits the ground. Gunners line up split outside the line and race down the field, aiming to tackle the punt returner (PR)—the player who catches the punt. Upbacks line up a short distance behind the line of scrimmage, providing additional protection to
5640-557: The 1928 NFL season. By 1924, interest in pro football in Minneapolis had declined significantly, in no small part because the University of Minnesota Gophers football team had opened a new half-a-million-dollar, horseshoe-shaped venue dubbed Memorial Stadium that seated up to 52,000 fans. On average, the Gophers drew over 23,000 fans per game that first season in the new venue, and the Marines could not compete for fan interest. As
5760-413: The 1966 season. Once the merger was completed, it was no longer a championship game between two leagues and reverted to the NFL championship game, which came to be known as the Super Bowl . College football maintained a tradition of postseason bowl games . Each bowl game was associated with a particular conference and earning a spot in a bowl game was the reward for winning a conference. This arrangement
5880-567: The 225,000 players in Pop Warner Little Scholars youth football were girls, and around 11% of the 5.5 million Americans who report playing tackle football are female according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. The role of the offensive unit is to advance the football down the field with the ultimate goal of scoring a touchdown . The offensive team must line up in a legal formation before they can snap
6000-811: The Lincoln Athletic Club. The Indians also featured future boxer , Labe Safro. Irgens took over management of the Marines for a season in 1909 and Safro joined the Marines as a fullback that same year, and the Marines started a new inter-city rivalry with the St. Paul Laurels. During this sandlot period from 1905 to 1909, six players who joined the Marines would later play in the National Football League , including Dutch Gaustad , Walt Buland , Sheepy Redeen , Reuben Ursella , Charles Jonasen , and Mike Palmer . One Marines player, John Dunn , would go on to serve as team's manager, NFL franchise owner, and NFL vice president. The Marines would only have players on
6120-436: The Marines as a vehicle to feature former Gophers standout Herb Joesting who, despite finishing his college career setting new school rushing records of 1,850 career yards and 23 touchdowns, received disappointing offers from professional football teams. Joesting and the Marines played games against the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears . In late May 1928, Herb Joesting announced he would captain and manage an entrant in
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#17327753626976240-563: The Marines baseball team played its final game. Rhoades left the amateur Marines baseball team in 1910 to play professional baseball. Early on, the Marines baseball and football teams featured working-class teenagers, mostly first-generation Scandinavian-Americans from the Cedar-Riverside, Minneapolis neighborhood. The meaning of the Marines nickname, whether it referred to the United States Marine Corps , to
6360-641: The Marines beat the Laurels at Lexington Park and the Beavers at Nicollet Park to claim the title of Twin Cities Champions. In 1911, for the first time, the Marines began to use the Minnesota Shift , an offensive tactic first employed by Coach Henry L. Williams at the University of Minnesota the year before. The Marines would outscore opponents 123 to 11 that season but would finish as
6480-408: The Marines in 1916, and former Gophers player Gus Ekberg as Tollefson's assistant. Harry Mehre played and coached in 1923, and Joe Brandy coached in 1924. John Dunn was elected vice president of the National Football League in 1922, but after posting an 0–6 record in 1924, Dunn folded the team, yet he retained the franchise and his position as vice president. He would serve in that role through
6600-658: The Marines increased their ranks by absorbing players from the Beavers. After they established a new local rivalry with the Minneapolis East Ends, the Marines absorbed players from that team, too. Three more future NFL players joined the team, including Harry Gunderson, Art Sampson, and Eddie Novak . Newspapers dubbed the Marines the Northwest Champions and also the "Pride of the Northwest" from 1915 to 1917. Across seven seasons, from 1911 to 1917,
6720-526: The Marines struggled in the NFL, John Dunn and Val Ness fielded a second team, the semi-professional 151st Field Artillery, the “soldiers,” which played at Nicollet Park during Marines away games. The team played in a new Twin City football league with five other semi-professional teams. The 151st Field Artillery would serve as a practice squad for the Marines. The team's name paid homage the 151st Field Artillery Regiment from Minnesota, which had fought valiantly in
6840-619: The Marines would use the Minnesota Shift to outscore opponents 1,539 to 156, nearly a 10:1 ratio. The United States declared war on Germany in April 1917 to during World War I , and by 1918 several key members of the Marines football team had enlisted, which depleted the team's roster. John Dunn, who had taken over management of the Marines in 1915, joined the Minnesota National Guard , but still he attempted to field
6960-609: The Marines. The Marines beat the Adams team and the Beavers twice and earned the title Minnesota Champions and the opportunity to play the All-Stars on Thanksgiving Day. The Marines would finish as the state champions from 1913 to 1917 and play the All-Stars for nine consecutive matchups, from 1913 to 1916 and from 1919 to 1923. (The All-Stars did not play in 1917 and 1918.) After the Marines made Nicollet Park their new home venue in 1915 and started playing teams from outside Minnesota,
7080-578: The Minneapolis Red Jackets, Dunn hit on the idea of using Clef Camp as a training camp for the Red Jackets players. The team assembled in Minneapolis in late summer and traveled together to camp where they engaged in two-a-day practices at 10:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. The two-week training camp included a training table and conditioning that included swimming and running and daily practices at Grand Rapids High School . Christiansen, R. C. Mill City Scrum: The History of Minnesota's First Team in
7200-516: The NFL had established itself as America's premier professional football league. The dominant form of football at the time was played at the collegiate level . The upstart NFL received a boost to its legitimacy in 1925, however, when an NFL team, the Pottsville Maroons , defeated a team of Notre Dame all-stars in an exhibition game . A greater emphasis on the passing game helped professional football to distinguish itself further from
7320-570: The NFL has a 53-man roster, while NCAA Division I allows teams to have 63 scholarship players in the FCS and 85 scholarship players in the FBS, respectively. Individual players in a football game must be designated with a uniform number between 1 and 99, though some teams may "retire" certain numbers , making them unavailable to players. NFL teams are required to number their players by a league-approved numbering system, and any exceptions must be approved by
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#17327753626977440-405: The NFL with former Gophers player Ken Haycraft as his assistant. He promised the team would be an "all-college aggregation," unlike previous attempts to field an NFL team in Minneapolis. Behind the scenes, Dunn and Ness paid the NFL franchise fee for 1928 to revive the team as the Minneapolis Red Jackets, a name that perhaps continued the military theme that Dunn had adopted, first with the Marines,
7560-517: The National Football League . June 16, 2023. ISBN 9798398571127 American football American football , referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football , is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense , the team with possession of the oval-shaped football , attempts to advance down
7680-474: The Red Jackets in 1930. The Minneapolis Marines were the first Minnesota-based team to join the National Football League , predating the Duluth Eskimos (1923) and Minnesota Vikings (1961). Henry Harrison "Pecky" Rhoades formed the Marines baseball team in 1905, and in that same year, some players decided to form a Marines football team, too. The teams shared some players and managers until 1912, when
7800-539: The Red Jackets wore hooded coats in the same color. Outside of Joesting, the most accoladed player to join the Red Jackets was Hal Erickson , who had played in two Rose Bowl games and later for the Milwaukee Badgers and Chicago Cardinals . Meanwhile, Reuben Ursella rejoined the team, in part to signify continuity with the original Marines team. The Red Jackets practiced at the Parade Grounds,
7920-460: The advent of artificial rubber inside the leather outer shell to sustain crushing forces . At all levels of play, the football is inflated to 12 + 1 ⁄ 2 to 13 + 1 ⁄ 2 psi (86 to 93 kPa), or just under one atmosphere, and weighs 14 to 15 ounces (400 to 430 g); beyond that, the exact dimensions vary slightly. In professional play the ball has a long axis of 11 to 11 + 1 ⁄ 4 inches (28 to 29 cm),
8040-572: The ball 10 yards (9.1 m). The roughing the passer penalty was implemented in 1914, and eligible players were first allowed to catch the ball anywhere on the field in 1918. On November 12, 1892, Pudge Heffelfinger was paid $ 500 (equivalent to $ 16,956 in 2023) to play a game for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club . This is the first recorded instance of
8160-435: The ball is caught, and the ball may not be advanced. Officials are responsible for enforcing game rules and monitoring the clock. All officials carry a whistle and wear black-and-white striped shirts and black hats except for the referee, whose hat is white. Each carries a weighted yellow flag that is thrown to the ground to signal that a foul has been called. An official who spots multiple fouls will throw their hat as
8280-430: The ball. An offensive formation is considered illegal if there are more than four players in the backfield or fewer than five players numbered 50–79 on the offensive line. Players can line up temporarily in a position whose eligibility is different from what their number permits as long as they report the change immediately to the referee, who then informs the defensive team of the change. Neither team's players, except
8400-467: The block. Following a fire in November, 1915, a steel and concrete grandstand was built with the plate repositioned to the northwest corner. Lights were installed in 1937. The first night game was played on July 15, with the Saints hosting the arch-rival Minneapolis Millers . The teams played again the next night, at Nicollet Park 's first night game. The six-decades-old ballpark did not quite go out in
8520-467: The case of the original Red Jackets, three players, Gibson, Barrager, and Joesting, appeared in every single Red Jackets and Yellow Jackets game after November 2. The Red Jackets finished the season with a 1–7–1 NFL record (3–7–1 including non-NFL games). Minneapolis would not hold another NFL franchise for the next three decades, before the Minnesota Vikings debuted in 1961. In 1922, while
8640-591: The college game during the late 1930s. Football, in general, became increasingly popular following the 1958 NFL Championship game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants , still referred to as the "Greatest Game Ever Played". The game, a 23–17 overtime victory by the Colts, was seen by millions of television viewers and had a major influence on the popularity of the sport. This, along with
8760-608: The conference, as they favored a rugby-style game that allowed running with the ball. After playing McGill University using both American (known as "the Boston game ") for the first game and Canadian (rugby) rules for the second one, the Harvard players preferred the Canadian style of having only 11 men on the field, running the ball without having to be chased by an opponent, the forward pass, tackling, and using an oblong instead of
8880-551: The conservative NFL to expand to Dallas and Minnesota in an attempt to destroy the new league. Meanwhile, the AFL introduced many new features to professional football in the United States: official time was kept on a scoreboard clock rather than on a watch in the referee's pocket, as the NFL did; optional two-point conversions by pass or run after touchdowns; names on the jerseys of players; and several others, including expansion of
9000-413: The crossbars of the defense's goalposts. In practice, almost all field goal attempts are done via place kick. While drop kicks were common in the early days of the sport, the shape of modern footballs makes it difficult to reliably drop kick the ball. The last successful scoring play by drop kick in the NFL was accomplished in 2006; prior to that, the last successful drop kick had been made in 1941. After
9120-399: The defense is to prevent the offense from scoring by tackling the ball carrier or by forcing turnovers . Turnovers include interceptions (a defender catching a forward pass intended for the offense) and forced fumbles (taking possession of the ball from the ball-carrier). The defensive line (DL) consists of defensive ends (DE) and defensive tackles (DT). Defensive ends line up on
9240-430: The defensive backfield. They are divided into two types: middle linebackers (MLB) and outside linebackers (OLB). Linebackers tend to serve as the defensive leaders and call the defensive plays, given their vantage point of the offensive backfield. Their roles include defending the run, pressuring the quarterback, and tackling backs, wide receivers, and tight ends in the passing game. The defensive backfield , often called
9360-472: The ends and sides of the field are known as the end lines and sidelines . Goal lines are marked 10 yards (9.1 m) inward from each end line. Weighted pylons are placed the sidelines on the inside corner of the intersections with the goal lines and end lines. White markings on the field identify the distance from the end zone. Inbound lines, or hash marks , are short parallel lines that mark off 1-yard (0.91 m) increments. Yard lines , which can run
9480-404: The ends of the line, while defensive tackles line up inside, between the defensive ends. The primary responsibilities of defensive ends and defensive tackles are to stop running plays on the outside and inside, respectively, to pressure the quarterback on passing plays, and to occupy the line so that the linebackers can break through. Linebackers line up behind the defensive line but in front of
9600-499: The feet, hands, head, or sides, with the objective being to advance it into the opponent's goal. Rutgers won the game 6–4. Collegiate play continued for several years with games played using the rules of the host school. Representatives of Yale, Columbia , Princeton and Rutgers met on October 19, 1873, to create a standard set of rules for use by all schools. Teams were set at 20 players each, and fields of 400 by 250 feet (122 m × 76 m) were specified. Harvard abstained from
9720-412: The field by running with the ball or throwing it , while the defense , the team without possession of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance the ball at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense, but if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs to continue
9840-518: The future home of Parade Stadium , and at some point during the season, Joesting sought out Sigmund Harris , who had worked as an assistant coach at the University of Minnesota for 22 years, to assist with coaching the Red Jackets. The Red Jackets finished 1–9 in the NFL in 1929 (3–9 including non-NFL games), and so for 1930, John Dunn recruited former Gophers captain George Gibson , who had worked as an assistant for coach Clarence Spears at
9960-519: The game are professional and college football , with the other major levels being high-school and youth football. As of 2022 , nearly 1.04 million high-school athletes play the sport in the U.S., with another 81,000 college athletes in the NCAA and the NAIA . The National Football League (NFL) has the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world . Its championship game,
10080-419: The game clock based on the direction of the appropriate official . A separate play clock is used to show the amount of time within which the offense must initiate a play. The play clock is set to 25 seconds after certain administrative stoppages in play and to 40 seconds when play is proceeding without such stoppages. If the offense fails to start a play before the play clock reads "00", a delay of game foul
10200-655: The game unless major changes were made. In response, 62 colleges and universities met in New York City to discuss rule changes on December 28, 1905. These proceedings resulted in the formation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States, later renamed the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The legal forward pass was introduced in 1906, although its effect
10320-443: The ground or a tee; a holder may be used in either case. On a safety kick, the kicking team kicks the ball from their own 20-yard line. They can punt, drop kick or place kick the ball, but a tee may not be used in professional play. Any member of the receiving team may catch or advance the ball. The ball may be recovered by the kicking team once it has gone at least ten yards and has touched the ground or has been touched by any member of
10440-434: The guards. The principal receivers are the wide receivers (WR) and the tight ends (TE). Wide receivers line up on or near the line of scrimmage, split outside the line. The main goal of the wide receiver is to catch passes thrown by the quarterback, but they may also function as decoys or as blockers during running plays. Tight ends line up outside the tackles and function both as receivers and as blockers. The role of
10560-555: The illegal payment of college players who were still in school. The National Football League (NFL), a group of professional teams that was originally established in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, aimed to solve these problems. This new league's stated goals included an end to bidding wars over players, prevention of the use of college players, and abolition of the practice of paying players to leave another team. By 1922,
10680-533: The inaugural Thanksgiving Day matchup between the best independent team in the city versus the Minnesota All-Stars, an exhibition team rostered with mostly former University of Minnesota Gophers players. In 1913, nearly a dozen teams competed in football in the heavyweight class in Minneapolis, and while most teams included former college players, the Marines remained a team of working men with little high school and no college experience. But then before
10800-451: The innovations introduced by the new American Football League (AFL) in the early 1960s, helped football to become the most popular sport in the United States by the mid-1960s. The rival AFL arose in 1960 and challenged the NFL's dominance. The AFL began in relative obscurity but eventually thrived, with an initial television contract with the ABC television network. The AFL's existence forced
10920-419: The league wasn't major at the time, and not a single major league game was ever played there. Comiskey continued to own the ballpark for another decade or so (leasing it out to a replacement American Association club), until finally selling it to local interests in 1909. It was on the block bounded by Lexington Parkway, University Avenue, Fuller and Dunlap. Home plate was originally in the southwest corner of
11040-496: The location of Lexington's home plate with a distinctively-shaped commemorative floor tile. The area is currently being redeveloped. An Aldi grocery store is one of the most recent additions to the site. According to Stew Thornley's 2006 book, a plaque that had once been affixed to the grocery store is now reinstated, at the TCF Bank branch building. †= Team's stadium under construction or refurbishment at time 1 = A team used
11160-462: The merchant fleet, or to life on the water in the lakes of Minnesota, is unknown. One player from the team later recollected that the Marines had adopted the nickname from another, defunct youth baseball team in the Prospect Park neighborhood in Minneapolis. The widely held assumption is that the Marines refer to their military antecedent. From 1905 to 1909 the Marines football team played in
11280-455: The new team, and the effort depended on Brandy financially investing in the team. When the group failed to pay the NFL franchise fee for the 1926 season, reportedly because Brandy pulled out of the deal, the effort fell apart. Still inactive as an NFL franchise, the Marines returned to the field to play exhibition games in 1927 and 1928. The Marines hosted Red Grange and his New York Yankees NFL franchise in 1927, and in 1928, John Dunn revived
11400-573: The newspaper trade, to be the team's new manager. Under Hammer, the team took steps toward professionalism by demanding prize purses for games and later by holding fundraisers for the team. It appears that this transition also coincided with the formation of the Marine Athletic Club, (first mentioned in 1910 in relation to the Marines baseball team), a subsidiary of the Metropolitan Social Club at 300 Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis, which oversaw athletics for member-players. In November 1910,
11520-429: The offense advances ten or more yards in the four downs, they are awarded a new set of four downs. If they fail to advance ten yards, possession of the football is turned over to the defense. In most situations, if the offense reaches their fourth down they will punt the ball to the other team, which forces them to begin their drive from farther down the field; if they are in field goal range , they might attempt to score
11640-445: The plane of the two end lines. The crossbar of these posts is 10 feet (3.0 m) above the ground, with vertical uprights at the end of the crossbar 18 feet 6 inches (5.64 m) apart for professional and collegiate play, and 23 feet 4 inches (7.11 m) apart for high school play. The uprights extend vertically 35 feet (11 m) on professional fields, a minimum of 10 yards (9.1 m) on college fields, and
11760-451: The point(s)-after-touchdown (PAT) or conversion, which is a single scoring opportunity. This is generally attempted from the two- or three-yard line, depending on the level of play. If the PAT is scored by a place kick or drop kick through the goal posts, it is worth one point, typically called the extra point. If the PAT is scored by what would normally be a touchdown, it is worth two points; this
11880-478: The punter. In football, the winner is the team that has scored more points at the end of the game. There are multiple ways to score in a football game. The touchdown (TD), worth six points, is the most valuable scoring play in American football. A touchdown is scored when a live ball is advanced into, caught, or recovered in the opposing team's end zone. The scoring team then attempts a try, more commonly known as
12000-401: The receiving team. The three types of scrimmage kicks are place kicks, drop kicks, and punts. Only place kicks and drop kicks can score points. The place kick is the standard method used to score points, because the pointy shape of the football makes it difficult to reliably drop kick. Once the ball has been kicked from a scrimmage kick, it can be advanced by the kicking team only if it
12120-411: The rest of North America, Europe, Brazil, and Japan. In the United States, American football is referred to as "football". The term "football" was officially established in the rulebook for the 1876 college football season , when the sport first shifted from soccer-style rules to rugby-style rules. Although it could easily have been called "rugby" at this point, Harvard, one of the primary proponents of
12240-631: The rest of the offense of the play in the huddle before the team lines up. The quarterback lines up behind the center to take the snap and then hands the ball off, throws it, or runs with it. The primary role of the halfback, also known as the running back or tailback, is to carry the ball on running plays. Halfbacks may also serve as receivers. Fullbacks tend to be larger than halfbacks and function primarily as blockers, but they are sometimes used as runners in short-yardage or goal-line situations. They are seldom used as receivers. The offensive line (OL) consists of several players whose primary function
12360-507: The role of minority players, actively recruited by the league in contrast to the NFL. The AFL also signed several star college players who had also been drafted by NFL teams. Competition for players heated up in 1965, when the AFL New York Jets signed rookie Joe Namath to a then-record $ 437,000 contract (equivalent to $ 4.23 million in 2023). A five-year, $ 40 million NBC television contract followed, which helped to sustain
12480-530: The rugby-style game, compromised and did not request the name of the sport be changed to "rugby". The terms " gridiron " or "American football" are favored in English-speaking countries where other types of football are popular, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia. American football evolved from the sports of rugby and soccer . Rugby, like American football,
12600-451: The rules of soccer at the time. A set of rule changes drawn up from 1880 onward by Walter Camp , the "Father of American Football", established the snap , the line of scrimmage , eleven-player teams, and the concept of downs. Later rule changes legalized the forward pass , created the neutral zone , and specified the size and shape of the football. The sport is closely related to Canadian football , which evolved in parallel with and at
12720-511: The runner-up to the Beavers for the Minneapolis championship. In 1912, the Marines rented a home venue, the North Minneapolis Athletic Association grounds at the intersection of 25th Avenue North and Washington Ave in Minneapolis. The Marines sold tickets and operated professionally as a cooperative and they outscored opponents 293 to 37, but still they finished second to the Beavers and missed out on playing
12840-435: The same time as the American game, although its rules were developed independently from those of Camp. Most of the features that distinguish American football from rugby and soccer are also present in Canadian football. The two sports are considered the primary variants of gridiron football . American football is the most popular sport in the United States in terms of broadcast viewership audience. The most popular forms of
12960-412: The sandlots of Minneapolis and at Minnehaha Park . They made their first appearance at Lexington Park in 1909 and Nicollet Park in 1910. From 1912 to 1914, the team rented the North Minneapolis Athletic Association grounds at 25th Avenue North and Washington Avenue in Minneapolis, a site now overrun by Interstate 94 . The Marines moved to Nicollet Park in 1915 and played there until they disbanded as
13080-580: The sandlots, first in the self-reported 115-pound weight class , and by 1909 in the 140-pound weight class, considered heavyweight at the time. The Marines claimed the championship in the 130-pound weight class in 1908. Minnehaha Park served as the premiere venue for sandlot teams in Minneapolis at this time. The team's main sandlot rival was the Indians, a team managed by Einar M. Irgens, a Norwegian immigrant who had been involved with independent football in Minneapolis since 1898 when he first played guard for
13200-503: The secondary, consists of cornerbacks (CB) and safeties (S). Safeties are themselves divided into free safeties (FS) and strong safeties (SS). Cornerbacks line up outside the defensive formation, typically opposite a receiver to be able to cover them. Safeties line up between the cornerbacks but farther back in the secondary. Safeties tend to be viewed as "the last line of defense" and are responsible for stopping deep passing plays as well as breakout running plays. The special teams unit
13320-537: The team with more former East Ends players and also former members of the Arrows, a team sponsored by the Citizens Club in Minneapolis. Six new future NFL players joined the team, including Rudy Tersch , Larry "Sox" Erickson, John Norbeck, Oscar "Bully" Christianson, Ainer Cleve, Harold D. Hanson, and Frank Jordan. The Marines enjoyed a 10–2–4 overall record from 1919 to 1920 on schedules that included games against
13440-429: The team with no high school or college playing experience until 1912 when Harold Costello, a law student who had captained the St. Mary's College football team in St. Mary's, Kansas, joined the squad. The Minneapolis Beavers, not the Marines, were the biggest independent football attraction in Minneapolis through 1909, but that would soon change. In September 1910, the Marines selected Frank J. Hammer, an apprentice in
13560-530: The team, and he beefed up the Marines backfield by recruiting two former Gophers players Pete Regnier and Ben Dvorak . The Marines won the first NFL game they ever played at Nicollet Park when they beat the Columbus Panhandles 28–0, but overall from 1921 to 1924, the Marines won only four games and finished 4–18–2 in the NFL (15–21–2 overall including non-NFL opponents). Other coaches during this period included Russell Tollefson , who had coached
13680-411: The width of the field, are marked every 5 yards (4.6 m). A one-yard-wide line is placed at each end of the field; this line is marked at the center of the two-yard line in professional play and at the three-yard line in college play. Numerals that display the distance from the closest goal line in yards are placed on both sides of the field every ten yards. Goalposts are located at the center of
13800-408: The winning team decides to defer, the losing team chooses the option the winning team did not select—to receive, kick, or select a goal to defend to begin the second half. Most teams choose to receive or defer, because choosing to kick the ball to start the game allows the other team to choose which goal to defend. Teams switch goals following the first and third quarters. If a down is in progress when
13920-408: The young league. The bidding war for players ended in 1966 when NFL owners approached the AFL regarding a merger, and the two leagues agreed on one that took full effect in 1970. This agreement provided for a common draft that would take place each year, and it instituted an annual World Championship game to be played between the champions of each league. This championship game began play at the end of
14040-418: Was initially minimal due to the restrictions placed on its use. The idea of a 40-yard-wider field was opposed by Harvard due to the size of the new Harvard Stadium . Other rule changes introduced that year included the reduction of playing time from 70 to 60 minutes and an increase of the distance required for a first down from 5 to 10 yards (4.6 to 9.1 m). To reduce infighting and dirty play between teams,
14160-440: Was necessary to prevent this strategy from taking hold, and a reversion to the scrum was considered. However, Camp successfully proposed a rule in 1882 that limited each team to three downs , or tackles, to advance the ball 5 yards (4.6 m). Failure to advance the ball the required distance within those three downs would result in control of the ball being forfeited to the other team. This change effectively made American football
14280-556: Was profitable, but it tended to prevent the two top-ranked teams from meeting in a true national championship game, as they would normally be committed to the bowl games of their respective conferences. Several systems have been used since 1992 to determine a national champion of college football. The first was the Bowl Coalition , in place from 1992 to 1994. This was replaced in 1995 by the Bowl Alliance , which gave way to
14400-449: Was the name of a former minor league baseball park in St. Paul, Minnesota . It was the home of the St. Paul Saints from 1897 through 1956, when it was replaced by the first version of Midway Stadium . Lexington Park was commissioned by baseball owner Charlie Comiskey to serve as home for his St. Paul Saints Western League baseball franchise. In late 1899 the league changed its name to
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