18 Deaths in College Football in 1905 Led To Calls to Ban Football in the United States

Published on May 11th, 2025 5:43 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


Did you know that there was a very real possibility of the game of football being banned in the United States in the early 1900s?

It's true - in 1905 alone, a staggering 18 young men died playing college football in the United States.

This led to many calls to ban the game of football entirely in the United States.

In those days, there was no NFL, and professional football was a fringe sport.

College football was much bigger than professional football in those days, and many worried parents were calling for the outright ban of football in the United States, especially at the collegiate level.

President Theodore Roosevelt, who served for two terms in the early 1900s, had two choices - agree to the ban, or work to save the game of football in the United States.

He chose the latter.

At the time, three of the most prominent college football programs were Harvard, Princeton and Yale, and President Roosevelt first called upon these three institutions to try and brainstorm ways to make the game safer.

Roosevelt knew that a powerful governing body was needed to police the game of football and offer up needed changes, which is what led to the formation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS), which eventually became the NCAA, or National Collegiate Athletic Association.

As part of college football's reforms to make the game safer, a number of crucial rule changes were brought in, including:

1. Banning of "mass formations", such as the flying wedge

2. Adoption of the forward pass

3. Lengthening of first down from 5 to 10 yards

These changes fundamentally changed the game of football and, more importantly, made the game much safer.

The number of deaths and serious injuries in college football dropped significantly, and the game continued to grow in popularity throughout the rest of the century.

If not for President Roosevelt, the game of football may have died an untimely death in the early 1900s.