David S. Schaff (Yale "73) Autograph and Cabinet Photo

Two handwritten and signed ("David S. Schaff" and "D.S.S.") postcards, stamped "PRAHA" [Prague] 19. VII. and INNSBRUCK (Austria) 22. VII. 1913, both to his daughter Mary Louise Schaff.  Exceedingly rare autographs.

Forget most of what you think you know or what you have read in the great majority of the books, David Schaff, Yale class of '73 never attended or played rugby at the Rugby school in England. He did however learn the game while at boarding school at Kornthal (near Stuttgart) where there were English boys in attendance who played the game on a regular basis. One of my favorite quotes that I read from his time at Kornthal related to rugby was as follows:, "The German and French boys at the school never entered the field; the play was too much like 'work' to them".
Schaff is properly credited with being one of the main forces reintroducing football (soccer) at Yale in the first years of the 1870s, after about a thirteen year hiatus from the time it was prohibited (banned by the faculty in October of 1857).
On November 3, 1872 Schaff was elected president of the newly formed Yale Football Club (captaining the football team this same year) and he was singly instrumental in arranging for the November 16, 1872 Yale - Columbia Football match (picked twenties), at Hamilton Park, which he was unable to compete in, having injured himself the Wednesday before.

Quoting Schaff in 1894:  "As early as 1871, and perhaps as early as 1870, when I entered college as a sophomore, a number of us began playing football.  Many in the class of '73 made a great deal out  of it as a daily after-dinner sport. We then played on some large, open lots on Elm street, I think, and  just in the rear of a young ladies' boarding school. Some of the leading boating and baseball men in   the class joined in the sport and were prominent players, such as Boyce, Oaks, Meyer, McCook, Piatt and Hemingway. The ball used in the early part of this period was the round rubber ball, wound up by a key. In the fall of  '71 I sent to a school friend, ' Babes ' Smith, of Bath, England, for a Rugby    ball. Smith and I had played together in many a game at school near Stuttgart. He sent me an oval     ball with leather cover. It came blown-up and incased in a wooden box. To his honor, as a football   man, be it said, the ball came as a gift to the football interests of the class. It came with the freight    paid in advance, and how it got through the custom-house remained a mystery to me. The coming of the new ball had been much talked about, and on its arrival was looked upon as a curiosity. So far as  the tradition among us went, this was the first Rugby ball ever seen on the college grounds. I remember well the man who carried it out to the grounds with me for the first afternoon's play and the expectancy with which its first use excited us. Like some other good things in this world, the Rugby   ball met with anything but general favor at first. It was tried, reprobated by some, put aside, but  brought out again and kept before the players till it came to be regarded as the best kind of ball for a  football field" (which was years away) -  for the early history of rugby football see the blog entry for June 13, 2015.

 

                                                  Schaff cabinet photo from 1872/73

 

Reverse of the Notman cabinet photo

Hyde Park (Massachusetts) Football Team

Benefit Program from March of 1895, picturing the 1894 Hyde Park* Championship team. The benefit was held to raise money for the Hyde Park Football Team which included William Henry Lewis (lower right corner) (see August 10, 2015 blog posting). 

 

Oversized albumin matching the benefit photo of the 1894 Hyde Park team.

 

 

In 1893 Hyde Park applied for and was admitted to the Suburban Football League (Eastern Massachusetts). At the time the league consisted of teams from Lynn, Newton and West Roxbury.

In 1894, the team was bolstered by ex-collegians, including William Henry Lewis, who played for Hyde Park this year. A larger complement of opposition this year included league and non-league teams and included the Brockton Athletic Association, Lynn, Newton, Dorchester,  the Haverhill Athletic Association, Tufts College,  the Highland Athletic Association, and MIT (the only loss of the season).

Other games had been scheduled for 1894, however teams backed out rather than suffering a presumed loss to a powerful Hyde Park. This included teams from the Manual Training School, Andover and a second round of matches with Newton and Dorchester. Hyde Park retained the League championship that it had also won in 1893. For the 1894 season Hyde Park scored 140 points to the opposition’s 10. 

*We have seen reference to Hyde Park as the Hyde Park Athletic Association in several sources.

Dartmouth College "Old Division Football" 1870s

A fall football game on the Dartmouth College Green. Reed Hall on the left, Gates House, Bissell Hall, Chase residence and the Dartmouth Hotel.

Old Division Football was played exclusively on the Dartmouth College green. It was a brand of football with no limitations as to the size of the teams (normally of equal numbers), and where the two defended ends of the field in their entirety were considered the goal line. A set of rules was initially established for this game in 1871. Old Division was played primarily between classes or combinations thereof, such as contests between freshman and sophomores or between combined teams of freshman and juniors competing against sophomores and seniors.

This is a very rare early cabinet photo, picturing what some might term mob football. Image 7 3/8 x 4 3/8.

Halsted's Patented Exercising Chair 1844

The first patent for a true “exercising machine” was issued on March 13, 1844 to Oliver Halsted of New York; Specification of Letters Patent No. 3,480, “Machine For Producing Exercise”.

 

 

This chair’s significance lies in it’s being the earliest documented and manufactured piece of American exercising equipment. An extreme rarity, we know of only this example. The chair is stamped twice on the underside with “Halsted’s Patent  New York”. Period advertisements in the New York Herald and New York Evening Post ran sporadically for this chair in 1844 and 1845. No advertisements or information post 1845 can be located and sales of the exercising chairs must have been extremely limited.

The “ purpose for which it is designed, a substitute for carriage, horse and many other forms of gymnastic exercise” …"an admirable substitute for horseback exercise , which its motion most resembles. It has however, the additional advantage of giving active exercise to the arms and chest.”  There are also numerous recommendations from physicians  on its benefits to dyspeptics, primarily those with irritable dispositions or digestive issues, as well.

 

 

 

             Moving the levers slightly raises and lowers the seat, exercising primarily the arms and chest,  body weight providing the resistance.

1920s Football Kicking Shoes

 

We have a pretty good selection of football shoes but had a hole in the collection, never having picked up any kicking shoes. We found this pair at Brimfield. They are earlier than most (figuring likely 1920s due to the construction) and are unusual in that they are for a left footed kicker. They are labeled "Golden" (Golden Sporting Shoe Co., Brockton, Mass.) and are just over 12" in length.

A Meeting at Brimfield May 10, 2016

From left to right, Dan Hauser, up from North Carolina, Joe Lurie and Ed Turner, down from Maine. Meeting on the field at the Brimfield Fair on Tuesday. Great to have met up with these guys. As expected, saw a lot of interesting pieces.

A Great Get-Together April 29, 2016

From L to R: John Gennantonio, Ed Turner, Joe Lurie and Jacob Lurie

What a great day. We spent the day delving into two of our football collections, swapping stories and looking over some pretty special pieces, driving back and forth between Maine and Massachusetts. John even flew in from Cincinnati, and Jacob in from New York City.