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C H A P T E R 3 • • • The Springfield Challenge— and a New Game O ne of the first things Naismith did after arriving in Springfield in the fall of 1890 was to see Dr. Gulick. Walking into the dean’s office, he found Gulick sitting at his desk, talking to another young man. Gulick immediately stood up and introduced Naismith to another student coming into the school that fall—Amos Alonzo Stagg. Stagg had been an All-America football player at Yale, and a theological student, and it was natural that he and Naismith would become great friends because they shared many of the same ideas and philosophies about life and athletics. Like Naismith , Stagg and Gulick were both in their twenties, and the three were united in their beliefs that they had been called not only to train young men in athletics, but to build men of strong value and character. It was Gulick, the son of a missionary in Hawaii, who invented the Y’s inverted triangle symbol, representing the mind, body, and spirit. At his own expense, he founded a newspaper for the Y called the Triangle in 1891. Naismith was to recall years later that Gulick “was one of the few men whose teachings have remained 30 • Chapter 3 with me and have been a help not only in my profession but in my life as well.” Stagg, like Naismith, had been educated to become a minister but had turned down the opportunity to accept a pastorate in favor of working with young men in the field of athletics. A star pitcher at Yale, Stagg also turned down an offer to sign professionally in that sport with the New York Giants. Possibly because of Stagg’s presence, Gulick decided to start a football team at the YMCA Training School and appointed Stagg as the coach. Thirteen students, including Naismith, from the school’s enrollment of 57 men were selected to play on the team. “Just before the opening game, I had my first view of the man who, through the years, has become the dean of American football ,” Naismith wrote. “It was in the dressing room, just before we were to go out on the field. Stagg had given us our instructions , then he turned to us and said, ‘Let us ask God’s blessing on our game.’ “He did not pray for victory, but he prayed that each man should do his best and show the true Christian spirit.” It was no surprise that the team became known as “Stagg’s Stubby Christians” as they competed against Harvard, Yale, Amherst , and other eastern colleges and universities in 1890 and 1891. Naismith played center on the team, as he had done at McGill. “I recognized Stagg’s ability as a coach and noticed that he would pick one man for a position and keep him there,” Naismith said. “He seemed to have the uncanny ability to place the right man in the right position. I asked him one day how it happened that he played me at center. Stagg looked at me and in a serious voice replied, ‘Jim, I play you at center because you can do the meanest things in the most gentlemanly manner.’” The outmanned squad’s game against Yale caught the attention of New York sportswriters. In a story on October 18, 1891, the New York Times reported, “It has been said that Yale methods and training in football will make good players out of ordinary The Springfield Challenge • 31 material. A test of this, perhaps, is given in the practice games with the second class elevens from the smaller colleges. With an eleven that has not had the benefit of Yale training, the Yale eleven can do about what it pleases; while with an eleven like that from Springfield, trained by Stagg, the wearers of the blue had a struggle which strained their muscles, sprained their limbs, and brought out all that was in them. That game with Stagg’s eleven lessened somewhat the feeling of confidence in Yale’s prowess previously entertained, and showed the necessity of hard work under careful coaching if the football superiority is to be wrested from Harvard and Princeton.” Naismith and Stagg developed a close friendship that was to last the rest of their lives. Both completed the two-year course at Springfield in one year, and both were asked to remain the following year as members of the faculty. It was during...

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