It was after the three Yale victories in the University, Freshman and single-scull race, in 1873, that by the energy of Mr. C. H. Ferry the sum of $16,500 was raised to build the fine boat-house that Yale now possesses.
The year 1876, bringing as it did the formation of the Intercollegiate Football Association, the introduction of eight-oared four-mile Yale-Harvard races, and the presentation of the Mott Haven Cup, may be taken as a starting-point for modern athletics. It is not so much that there was any distinct stride in advance in this year, but rather that with the better organization of athletic sports, better opportunities were given for their development.
FOOTBALL SINCE 1876.
In this year the American Rugby rules and the oval Rugby ball were adopted by the association composed of Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia. Yale declined to join this association, but defeated every member of it, thus being virtually champion for that year.
In the following year Yale desired to play with elevens, and the other colleges with fifteens. No game was played with Harvard, but for the sake of a game Yale consented to play Princeton with fifteens. The game, which was a draw, was probably the best exhibition of football thus far given in America. The only possible drawback was the fact that weight and roughness were to some extent substituted for skill in the Yale team.
FOOTBALL TEAM—CHAMPIONS, 1887.
F. C. PRATT, ’88 S. S. M. CROSS, ’88. G. W. WOODRUFF, ’89. W. H. CORBIN, ’89.
G. R. CARTER, ’88 S. C. O. GILL, ’89. F. W. WALLACE, ’89. W. T. BULL, ’88 S.
W. C. WURTENBERG, ’89 S. H. BEECHER, ’88 (CAPT.). W. P. GRAVES, ’91.
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