Forward pass - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

In several forms of football

Football

Football may refer to one of a number of team sports which all involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer"...

a forward pass is when the ball is thrown in the direction that the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line. The forward pass is one of main distinguishers between gridiron football

Gridiron football

Gridiron football , sometimes known as North American football, is an umbrella term for related codes of football primarily played in the United States and Canada. The predominant forms of gridiron football are American football and Canadian football...

(American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

and Canadian football

Canadian football

Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...

) in which the play is legal and widespread, and rugby football

Rugby football

Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

(union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

and league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

) from which the North American games evolved, in which the play is illegal.

In some football codes, such as association football (soccer), the forward pass is used so ubiquitously that it is not thought of as a distinct kind of play at all. In these sports, the concept of offside

Offside (sport)

Offside is a rule used by several different team sports regulating aspects of player positioning. It is particularly used in field sports with rules deriving from the various codes of football, such as association football, rugby and field hockey, as well as in ice hockey.Offside rules are...

is used to regulate who can be in front of the play or be nearest to the goal. However, this has not always been the case. Some earlier incarnations of football allowed unlimited forward passing, while others had strict offsides rules similar to rugby. Rules regarding the forward pass in American football were standardized in 1863.

The development of the forward pass in American football shows how the game has evolved from its rugby roots into the distinctive game it is today. Illegal and experimental forward passes had been attempted as early as 1876, but the first legal forward pass in American football

American football

took place in 1906, after a change in rules. Another change in rules occurred on January 18, 1951, which established that no center, tackle, or guard could receive a forward pass. Today, the only linemen who can receive a forward pass are the ends and, if they report as eligible prior to the snap, the offensive tackle. Current rules regulate who may throw and who may receive a forward pass, and under what circumstances, as well as how the defensive team may try to prevent a pass from being completed. The primary pass thrower is the quarterback

Quarterback

Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

, and statistical analysis is used to determine a quarterback's success rate at passing in various situations, as well as a team's overall success at the "passing game."

American and Canadian football

In American

American football

and Canadian football

Canadian football

, a forward pass—usually referred to simply as a pass—consists of one offensive player throwing the football towards another downfield in the direction of the opponent's goal line. This is permitted only once during a scrimmage

Line of scrimmage

In American and Canadian football a line of scrimmage is an imaginary transverse line beyond which a team cannot cross until the next play has begun...

down by the offensive team before team possession has changed, provided the pass is thrown from in or behind the neutral zone

Neutral zone (American football)

In American football, the neutral zone can be described as the length of the football from one tip to the other when it is spotted on the field prior to the snap of the ball during a scrimmage down...

. An illegal forward pass incurs a five-yard penalty and the loss of a down.

If an eligible receiver

Eligible receiver

In American football and Canadian football, not all players on offense are entitled to receive a forward pass. Only an eligible pass receiver may legally catch a forward pass, and only an eligible receiver may advance beyond the neutral zone if a forward pass which crosses the neutral zone is thrown...

on the passing team legally catches the ball it is a complete pass and the receiver may attempt to advance the ball. If an opposing player legally catches the ball (all defensive players are eligible receivers) it is an interception. That player's team immediately gains possession of the ball and he may attempt to advance the ball toward his opponent's goal. If no player is able to legally catch the ball it is an incomplete pass

Incomplete pass

An incomplete pass is a term in American football which means that a legal forward pass hits the ground before a player on either team gains possession. For example, if the quarterback throws the ball to one of his wide receivers, and the receiver either does not touch it or tries to catch it...

and the ball becomes dead the moment it touches the ground. It will then be returned to the original line of scrimmage for the next down

Down (football)

A down is a period in which a play transpires in American and Canadian football.-Description:A down begins with a snap or free kick , and ends when the ball or the player in possession of it is declared down by an official, a team scores, or the ball or player in possession of it leaves the field...

. If any player interferes with an eligible receiver's ability to catch the ball it is pass interference

Pass interference

In American and Canadian gridiron football, pass interference is a penalty that occurs when a player interferes with an eligible receiver's ability to make a fair attempt to catch a forward pass. Pass interference may include tripping, pushing, pulling, or cutting in front of the receiver or...

which draws a penalty of varying degree (largely depending upon the particular league's rules).

The person passing the ball must be a member of the offensive team, and the recipient of the forward pass must be an eligible receiver

Eligible receiver

and must touch the passed ball before any ineligible player.

The moment that a forward pass begins is important to the game. The pass begins the moment the passer's arm begins to move forward. If the passer drops the ball before this moment it is a fumble

Fumble

A fumble in American and Canadian football occurs when a player, who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed or scoring. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking or successful handing that results in loss of player possession...

and therefore a loose ball. In this case anybody can gain possession of the ball before or after it touches the ground. In Canadian football, if the passer drops the ball while his arm is moving forward it is an incomplete pass (unless someone catches the ball before it hits the ground in which case it is a completed pass or an interception). Under American football's tuck rule

Tuck rule

The tuck rule is a rule in American football, currently used only by the National Football League .Introduced in 1999, it reads:NFL Rule 3, Section 22, Article 2, Note 2. When [an offensive] player is holding the ball to pass it forward, any intentional forward movement of his arm starts a forward...

, if the quarterback is attempting to bring the ball back to his body after starting a passing motion, a lost ball may be considered an incomplete pass even if the quarterback's arm is moving backward at the time.

The quarterback generally either starts a few paces behind the line of scrimmage or drops back a few paces as the ball is snapped. This places him in an area called the "pocket" which is a protective region formed by the offensive blockers up front and between the tackles on each side. A quarterback who runs out of this pocket is said to be scrambling. Under NFL and NCAA rules, once the quarterback moves out of the pocket, and there is no good option for a forward pass, the ball may be legally thrown away to prevent a sack. NFHS (high school) rules do not allow for a passer to intentionally throw an incomplete forward pass to save loss of yardage or conserve time, except for a spike to conserve time after a hand to hand snap. If he throws the ball away while still in the pocket then a foul called "intentional grounding" is assessed. In Canadian football

Canadian football

the passer must simply throw the ball across the line of scrimmage—whether he is inside or outside of the "pocket"—to avoid the foul of "intentionally grounding".

If a forward pass is caught near a sideline or endline it is a complete pass (or an interception) only if a receiver catches the ball in bounds. For a pass to be ruled in bounds, the receiver's feet must be in contact with the in bounds portion of the playing field, or, if the ball is caught in the air, either one or two feet must touch the ground within the field boundaries, after the ball is caught. In the NFL the receiver must touch the ground with both feet, but in most other codes—CFL

Canadian Football League

The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....

, NCAA

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

and high school—one foot in bounds is enough.

Common to all gridiron

Gridiron football

codes is the notion of control—a receiver must demonstrate control of the ball in order to be ruled in possession of it, while still in bounds, as defined by his code. If the receiver catches the ball but the official determines that he was still "bobbling" it prior to the end of the play, then the pass will be ruled incomplete.

Early illegal and experimental passes

The forward pass had been attempted at least 30 years before the play was actually made legal. Passes "had been carried out successfully but illegally several times, including the 1876 Yale

YALE

RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...

–Princeton

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

game in which Yale’s Walter Camp

Walter Camp

Walter Chauncey Camp was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". With John Heisman, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Pop Warner, Fielding H. Yost, and George Halas, Camp was one of the most accomplished persons in the early history of American football...

threw forward to teammate Oliver Thompson as he was being tackled. Princeton's protest, one account said, went for naught when the referee 'tossed a coin to make his decision and allowed the touchdown to stand' ".

The University of North Carolina

North Carolina Tar Heels football

The North Carolina Tar Heels football team represents the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in collegiate level football. In Carolina’s first 121 seasons of football competition, the Tar Heels have compiled a record of 646–488–54, a winning percentage of .566...

used the forward pass in an 1895 game against the University of Georgia

Georgia Bulldogs football

The Georgia Bulldogs football team represents the University of Georgia in football. The Bulldogs are a member of the Southeastern Conference and are frequently a top-25 team. The University of Georgia has had a football team since 1892 and has an all-time record of 738–398–54...

. However, the play was still illegal at the time. Bob Quincy stakes Carolina's claim in his 1973 book They Made the Bell Tower Chime:

John Heisman
John Heisman
John William Heisman was an American player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College , Buchtel College, now known as the University of Akron , Auburn University , Clemson University , Georgia Tech , the...

, namesake of the Heisman Trophy
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...

, wrote 30 years later that, indeed, the Tar Heels had given birth to the forward pass against the Bulldogs (UGA). It was conceived to break a scoreless deadlock and give UNC a 6–0 win. The Carolinians were in a punting situation and a Georgia rush seemed destined to block the ball. The punter, with an impromptu dash to his right, tossed the ball and it was caught by George Stephens, who ran 70 yards for a touchdown.

In a 1905 experimental game

1905 Fairmount vs. Washburn football game

The 1905 Washburn vs. Fairmount football game was a college football game between Fairmount College and the Washburn Ichabods played on December 25, 1905. The game was played in Wichita, Kansas...

, Washburn

Washburn University

Washburn University is a co-educational, public institution of higher learning in Topeka, Kansas, USA. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,400 undergraduate students and...

and what would become Wichita State

Wichita State University

Wichita State University is a NCAA Division I public university in Wichita, Kansas with selective admissions. WSU is one of six state universities governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The current president is Dr. Donald Beggs....

used the pass before new rules allowing the play were approved in early 1906.

Rules changed in 1906 to allow the forward pass

1905 had been a bloody year on the gridiron; the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

reported 18 players had been killed and 159 seriously injured that season. There were moves to abolish the game. But President Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

personally intervened and demanded that the rules of the game be reformed. In a meeting of more than 60 schools in late 1905, the commitment was made to make the game safer. This meeting was the first step toward the establishment of what would become the NCAA

National Collegiate Athletic Association

and was followed by several sessions to work out "the new rules."

The final meeting of the Rules Committee tasked with reshaping the game was held on April 6, 1906, at which time the forward pass officially became a legal play. The New York Times reported in September 1906 on the rationale for the changes: "The main efforts of the football reformers have been to 'open up the game'—that is to provide for the natural elimination of the so-called mass plays and bring about a game in which speed and real skill shall supersede so far as possible mere brute strength and force of weight." However the Times also reflected widespread skepticism as to whether the forward pass could be effectively integrated into the game: "There has been no team that has proved that the forward pass is anything but a doubtful, dangerous play to be used only in the last extremity." The forward pass was not allowed in Canadian football until 1929.

First legal pass

Most sources credit St. Louis University's

Saint Louis University

Saint Louis University is a private, co-educational Jesuit university located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by the Most Reverend Louis Guillaume Valentin Dubourg SLU is the oldest university west of the Mississippi River. It is one of 28 member institutions of the...

Bradbury Robinson

Bradbury Norton Robinson, Jr. was a pioneering American football player, physician, and local politician. He played college football at the University of Wisconsin in 1903 and at Saint Louis University from 1904 to 1907. In 1904, though personal connections to Wisconsin governor Robert M. La...

from Bellevue, Ohio

Bellevue, Ohio

Bellevue is a city in Erie, Huron, Sandusky and Seneca counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 8,193 at the 2000 census. The National Arbor Day Foundation has designated Bellevue as a Tree City USA....

with throwing the first legal forward pass. On September 5, 1906, in a game against Carroll College

Carroll College (Wisconsin)

Carroll University is a private liberal arts college affiliated with the Presbyterian church located in Waukesha in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Carroll opened in 1846, two years before Wisconsin became a state...

, Robinson's first attempt at a forward pass fell incomplete and resulted in a turnover under the 1906 rules. In the same game, Robinson later completed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Jack Schneider. The 1906 St. Louis University team was coached by Eddie Cochems

Eddie Cochems

Edward Bulwer "Eddie" Cochems was an American football player and coach. He played football for the University of Wisconsin from 1898 to 1901 and was the head football coach at North Dakota State , Clemson , Saint Louis University , and Maine . During his three years at St...

. Football authority and College Football Hall of Fame

College Football Hall of Fame

The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...

coach David M. Nelson

David M. Nelson

David Moir Nelson was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, author, and authority on college football playing rules...

wrote that "E. B. Cochems is to forward passing what the Wright brothers

Wright brothers

The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...

are to aviation and Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...

is to the electric light."

While St. Louis University completed the first legal forward pass in the first half of September, this accomplishment was in part because most schools did not begin their football schedule until early October.

In 1952, football coaching legend Amos Alonzo Stagg

Amos Alonzo Stagg

Amos Alonzo Stagg was an American athlete and pioneering college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football...

discounted accounts crediting any particular coach with being the innovator of the forward pass. Stagg noted that he had Walter Eckersall

Walter Eckersall

Walter "Eckie" Eckersall was an American football player, official, and sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.-Early life:...

working on pass plays and saw Pomeroy Sinnock of Illinois throw many passes in 1906. Stagg summed up his view as follows: "I have seen statements giving credit to certain people originating the forward pass. The fact is that all coaches were working on it. The first season, 1906, I personally had sixty-four different forward pass patterns." In 1954, Stagg disputed Cochems' claim to have invented the forward pass:

"Eddie Cochems, who coached at St. Louis University in 1906, also claimed to have invented the pass as we know it today ... It isn't so, because after the forward pass was legalized in 1906, most of the schools commenced experimenting with it and nearly all used."

Stagg asserted that, as far back as 1894, before the rules committee even considered the forward pass, one of his players used to throw the ball "like a baseball pitcher." On the other hand, when Hall of Fame

College Football Hall of Fame

coach Gus Dorais

Gus Dorais

Charles Emile "Gus" Dorais was an American football player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He played college football as a quarterback at the University of Notre Dame, where he was an All-American in 1913, and then professionally with the Fort Wayne Friars and Massillon Tigers...

told the United Press that "Eddie Cochems of the St. Louis University team of 1906–07–08 deserves the full credit." Writing in Collier's more than 20 years earlier, Dorais' Notre Dame teammate Knute Rockne

Knute Rockne

Knute Kenneth Rockne was an American football player and coach. He is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in college football history...

acknowledged Cochems as the early leader in the use of the pass, observing, "One would have thought that so effective a play would have been instantly copied and become the vogue. The East, however, had not learned much or cared much about Midwest and Western football. Indeed, the East scarcely realized that football existed beyond the Alleghanies ..."

In his history of the game, historian David Nelson concluded that the first forward passes were thrown on Christmas Day 1905 in a match between two small colleges in Kansas: "Although Cochems was the premier passing coach during the first year of the rule, the first forward passes were thrown at the end of the 1905 season in a game between Fairmount and Washburn colleges in Kansas." According to Nelson, Washburn completed three passes, and Fairmount completed two.

Once the 1906 season got underway, many programs began experimenting with the forward pass. On September 26, 1906, Villanova's game against the Carlisle Indians was billed as "the first real game of football under the new rules." In the first play from scrimmage after the opening kicks, Villanova completed a pass that "succeeded in gaining ten yards." Following the Villanova-Carlisle game, The New York Times described the new passing game this way:

"The passing was more of the character of that familiar in basket ball than that which has hitherto characterized football. Apparently it is the intention of football coaches to try repeatedly these frequent long and risky passes. Well executed they are undoubtedly highly spectacular, but the risk of dropping the ball is so great as to make the practice extremely hazardous and its desirability doubtful."

Another coach sometimes credited with popularizing the overhead spiral pass in 1906 is former Princeton

Princeton University

All-American "Bosey" Reiter

Howard R. Reiter

Howard Roland "Bosey" Reiter was an All-American football player, coach and athletic director. He was selected for the 1899 College Football All-America Team and played professional football as a player coach for the Philadelphia Athletics of the first National Football League in 1902...

. Reiter claimed to have invented the overhead spiral pass while playing professional football as a player-coach for Connie Mack

Connie Mack (baseball)

Cornelius McGillicuddy, Sr. , better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball player, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds records for wins , losses , and games managed , with his victory total being almost 1,000 more...

's Philadelphia Athletics

Philadelphia Athletics (NFL)

The Philadelphia Athletics were a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1902. The team was member of what was referred to as the National Football League. This league has no connection with the National Football League of today. The whole "league" was a curious...

of the original National Football League (1902)

National Football League (1902)

The National Football League was the first attempt at forming a national professional football league in 1902. The league has no ties with the modern National Football League. In fact the league was only composed of teams from Pennsylvania, which was hardly "national". Two of the teams were based...

. While playing for the Athletics, Reiter was a teammate of Hawley Pierce, a former star for the Carlisle Indian School. Pierce, a Native American

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

, taught Reiter to throw an underhand spiral pass, but Reiter had short arms and was unable to throw for distance from an underhand delivery. Accordingly, Reiter began working on an overhand spiral pass. Reiter recalled trying to imitate the motion of a baseball catcher throwing to second base. After practice and experimentation, Reiter "discovered he could get greater distance and accuracy throwing that way." In 1906, Reiter was the head coach at Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

. In the opening game of the 1906 season against Yale

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, Reiter's quarterback Sammy Moore completed a forward pass to Irvin van Tassell for a thirty-yard gain. The New York Times called it "the prettiest play of the day," as Wesleyan's quarterback "deftly passed the ball past the whole Yale team to his mate Van Tassel." Van Tassel later described the historic play to the United Press:

"I was the right halfback, and on this formation played one yard back of our right tackle. The quarterback, Sam Moore, took the ball from center and faded eight or 10 yards back of our line. Our two ends angled down the field toward the sidelines as a decoy, and I slipped through the strong side of our line straight down the center and past the secondary defense. The pass worked perfectly. However, the quarterback coming up fast nailed me as I caught it. This brought the ball well into Yale territory, about the 20-yard line."

The football season opened for most schools during the first week of October, and the impact of the forward pass was immediate:

On October 3, 1906, the Des Moines Daily News reported "probably the first use" of the "long forward pass" in the University of Missouri's
Missouri Tigers football
The Missouri Tigers football team represents the University of Missouri in NCAA Division I FBS college football. The team has competed in the North Division of the Big 12 Conference since the conference's inception in 1996...

23–4 win over Kirksville Normal School
Truman State University
Truman State University is a public liberal arts and sciences university in Missouri, United States and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. About 6,000 students attend Truman, pursuing degrees in 43 undergraduate and 9 Graduate programs. It is located in Kirksville in...

.
On October 4, 1906, Princeton opened its season with a 22–0 win over Stevens. Press accounts indicate that Princeton put the forward pass to good use, as "old-time football gave way to the new game."
On October 4, 1906, the Carlisle Indians beat Susquehanna University 40–0, as "the forward pass was used for a number of good gains."
On October 4, 1906, Harvard defeated Bowdoin 10–0 "in a hard-fought contest that was featured by a newfangled and daring forward pass that Crimson worked in the closing minutes of play."
On October 4, 1906, Williams College defeated the Massachusetts Agricultural College, scoring the game's only touchdown on a forward pass by Waters.

Some publications credit Yale

Yale University

All-American Paul Veeder

Paul Veeder

Paul L. Veeder was an All-American football player for Yale University. Veeder played halfback, fullback, quarterback and punter for the Yale Bulldogs from 1904–1906 and was selected as an All-American in 1906.-Biography:...

with the "first forward pass in a major game." Veeder threw a 20 to 30-yard completion in leading Yale past Harvard

Harvard Crimson

The Harvard Crimson are the athletic teams of Harvard University. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2006, there were 41 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at any other NCAA Division I college in the country...

6–0 before 32,000 fans in New Haven

New Haven, Connecticut

New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...

on November 24, 1906. However, that Yale/Harvard game was played three weeks after St. Louis completed 45 and 48-yard passes against Kansas

Kansas Jayhawks football

The Kansas Jayhawks football program is the intercollegiate football program of the University of Kansas Jayhawks. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I, and the team competes in the Big 12 Conference....

before a crowd of 7,000 at Sportsman's Park

Sportsman's Park

Sportsman's Park was the name of several former Major League Baseball ballpark structures in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, all but one of which were located on the same piece of land, the northwest corner of Grand Boulevard and Dodier Street on the north side of the city.- History :From...

First passing offense

The forward pass was a central feature of Cochems' offensive scheme in 1906 as his St. Louis University team compiled an undefeated 11–0 season in which they outscored opponents by a combined score 407 to 11. The highlight of the campaign was St. Louis' 31–0 win over Iowa

University of Iowa

The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...

. Cochems' team reportedly completed eight passes in ten attempts for four touchdowns. "The average flight distance of the passes was twenty yards." Nelson continues, "the last play demonstrated the dramatic effect that the forward pass was having on football. St. Louis was on Iowa's thirty-five-yard line with a few seconds to play. Timekeeper Walter McCormack walked onto the field to end the game when the ball was thrown twenty-five yards and caught on the dead run for a touchdown."

The 1906 Iowa game was refereed by one of the top football officials in the country, West Point's Lt. Horatio B. "Stuffy" Hackett. He had officiated games involving the top Eastern powers that year. Hackett, who would become a member of the football rules committee in December 1907 and officiated games into the 1930s, was quoted the next day in Ed Wray's Post-Dispatch article: "It was the most perfect exhibition ... of the new rules ... that I have seen all season and much better than that of Yale and Harvard. St. Louis' style of pass differs entirely from that in use in the east. ... The St. Louis university players shoot the ball hard and accurately to the man who is to receive it ... The fast throw by St. Louis enables the receiving player to dodge the opposing players, and it struck me as being all but perfect."

"Cochems said that the poor Iowa showing resulted from its use of the old style play and its failure to effectively use the forward pass", Nelson writes. "Iowa did attempt two basketball-style forward passes."

"During the 1906 season [Robinson] threw a sixty-seven yard pass ... and ... Schneider tossed a sixty-five yarder. Considering the size, shape and weight of the ball, these were extraordinary passes."

In 1907, after the first season of the forward pass, one football writer noted that, "with the single exception of Cochems, football teachers were groping in the dark."

Because St. Louis was geographically isolated from both the dominating teams and the major sports media (newspapers) of the era ... all centered in and focused on the East ... Cochems' groundbreaking offensive strategy was not picked up by the major teams. Pass-oriented offenses would not be adopted by the Eastern football powers until the next decade.

But that does not mean that other teams in the Midwest did not pick it up. Arthur Schabinger, quarterback for the College of Emporia in Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, was reported to have regularly used the forward pass in 1910. Coach H. W. "Bill" Hargiss'

Homer Woodson Hargiss

Homer Woodson "Bill" Hargiss was an American football and basketball player, and track and field athlete, and coach in Kansas and Oregon...

"Presbies" are said to have featured the play in a 17–0 victory over Washburn University

Washburn University

and in a 107–0 destruction of Pittsburg State University

Pittsburg State University

Pittsburg State University, also called Pitt State or PSU, is a public university with approximately 7,100 students located in Pittsburg, Kansas, United States. A large percentage of the student population consists of residents within the Pittsburg region; the gender proportion is relatively equal...

Adoption by Notre Dame expands popularity

Knute Rockne

Knute Kenneth Rockne was an American football player and coach. He is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in college football history...

and Gus Dorais

Gus Dorais

worked on the pass while lifeguarding on a Lake Erie

Lake Erie

Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...

beach at Cedar Point

Cedar Point

Cedar Point is a 364 acre amusement park located in Sandusky, Ohio, United States on a narrow peninsula jutting into Lake Erie. Cedar Point is the only amusement park with four roller coasters that are taller than...

in Sandusky, Ohio

Sandusky, Ohio

Sandusky is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Erie County. It is located in northern Ohio and is situated on the shores of Lake Erie, almost exactly half-way between Toledo to the west and Cleveland to the east....

, during the summer of 1913. That year, Jesse Harper

Jesse Harper

-External links:* * at College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com...

, Notre Dame

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football

Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...

head coach, also showed how the pass could be used by a smaller team to beat a bigger one, first utilizing it to defeat rival Army

Army Black Knights football

The Army Black Knights football program represents the United States Military Academy. Army was recognized as the national champions in 1944, 1945 and 1946....

. After it was used against a major school on a national stage in this game, the forward pass rapidly gained popularity.

First pass in a professional game

The first forward pass in a professional football game may have been thrown in an Ohio League game played on October 25, 1906. The Ohio League, which traced its history to the 1890s, was the predecessor of today's NFL. According to Robert W. Peterson in his book Pigskin The Early Years of Pro Football, the "passer was George W. (Peggy) Parratt

Peggy Parratt

George Watson "Peggy" Parratt was a professional football player who played in the "Ohio League" prior to it becoming a part of the National Football League...

, probably the best quarterback of the era", who played for the Massillon, Ohio Tigers

Massillon Tigers

The Massillon Tigers were an early professional football team from Massillon, Ohio. Playing in the "Ohio League", the team was a rival to the pre-National Football League version of the Canton Bulldogs. The Tigers won Ohio League championships in 1903, 1904, 1905, and 1906, then merged to become...

, one of pro football's first franchises. Citing the Professional Football Researchers Association

Professional Football Researchers Association

The Professional Football Researchers Association is an organization of researchers whose mission is to preserve and, in some cases, reconstruct professional football history. It was founded on June 22, 1979 in Canton, Ohio by writer/historian Bob Carroll and six other football researchers and is...

as his source, Peterson writes that "Parratt completed a short pass to end Dan Riley (real name, Dan Policowski

Dan Policowski

Dan Policowski was an early professional football player for the Massillon Tigers from 1904 to 1906. Originally from Canton, Ohio, which was the home of the Tigers', rival the Canton Bulldogs, Policowski played end under the alias Dan Riley...

)" in a game played at Massillon

Massillon, Ohio

Massillon is a city located in Stark County in the U.S. state of Ohio, approximately 8 miles to the west of Canton, Ohio, 20 miles south of Akron, Ohio, and 50 miles south of Cleveland, Ohio. The population was 32,149 at the 2010 census....

against a team from West Virginia. Since the Tigers "ran up a 61 to 0 score on the hapless Mountain Staters, the pass played no important part in the result."

According to National Football League history, it legalized the forward pass from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage on February 25, 1933. Before that rule change, a forward pass had to be made from 5 or more yards behind the line of scrimmage.

Forward passes were first permitted in Canadian football in 1929, but the tactic remained a minor part of the game for several years. Jack Jacobs

Jack Jacobs

"Indian" Jack Jacobs was an American and Canadian football player in the National Football League and Western Interprovincial Football Union. He was a charter member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1963....

of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League . They play their home games at Canad Inns Stadium, and plan to move to a new stadium for the 2012 season.The Blue Bombers were founded...

is recognized, not for inventing the forward pass, but for popularizing it in the Western Interprovincial Football Union

Canadian Football League West Division

The West Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the West Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues.-Pre-1936:...

, thus changing the Canadian game from a more run-dominated game to the passing game as seen today.

Change in ball shape

Specification of the size of the ball for the American game came in 1912, but it was still essentially a rugby ball. Increased use of the forward pass encouraged adoption of a narrower ball, starting with changes in the 1920s which enhanced rifled throwing and also spiral punting. This had the negative consequence of all but eliminating the drop kick

Drop kick

A drop kick is a type of kick in various codes of football. It involves a player dropping the ball and then kicking it when it bounces off the ground. It contrasts to a punt, wherein the player kicks the ball without letting it hit the ground first....

from the American game.

Rugby football

In the two codes of rugby (union

Rugby union

and league

Rugby league

) a forward pass is against the rules. It results in a scrum

Scrum (rugby)

Scrum , in the sports of rugby union and rugby league, is a way of restarting the game, either after an accidental infringement or when the ball has gone out of play...

to the opposing team.

The team in possession must get behind the ball carrier or be ruled offside

Offside (rugby)

In rugby football, the offside rule prohibits players from gaining an advantage from being too far forward. The specifics of the rule differ between the two major codes.-Rugby union:Offside rules in rugby union are complex...

. Offside players will not be penalised as long as they remain inactive but if the ball is thrown to them then they become active and thus a scrum or penalty is awarded to the opposition. To minimize the chances of this happening and to support the ball carrier, teammates try to stay behind the player with the ball.

According to the rules stipulated by the governing body of Rugby League in Australia a forward pass is relative to the player making the pass and not the actual path relative to the ground. A forward pass occurs when the player passes the ball forward in relation to himself. Invariably this is rarely a deliberate offense and is often caused by misjudgment. A forward pass is generally restarted with a scrum after an accidental infringement, however a penalty may be awarded if the referee is of the belief that the ball was deliberately thrown forward.

American and Canadian football

Early illegal and experimental passes

Rules changed in 1906 to allow the forward pass

First legal pass

First passing offense

Adoption by Notre Dame expands popularity

First pass in a professional game

Change in ball shape

Rugby football

See also

Additional sources