This is what the plaque says, interesting.
and he learned from his mentor Amos Alonzo Stagg at U of C. Read Philip Brooks' book "The Forward Pass: How it Saved College Football" for a detailed account of its evolution.
Sure, the forward pass was tried in the latter 1800's, maybe earlier, and Stagg's 1906 pass playbook contained dozens of formations. But nobody featured it like Harper and his prized pupils, Rockne and Dorais. I remember seeing that plaque as a young kid and thinking "wow".
Harper's other major contribution to ND and college football was playing a national schedule, and Rock took that to new heights. In my book Harper was the first great ND coach. And it was he who convinced Rock to stay on as his replacement.
Found this after posting the following comment about what the Smithsonian thinks. Think the whole thread reflects the presumption that someone was "first" to implement a passing game. As all this happened in the era of limited communication it is easy to picture that multiple coaches looked at the rules and tried to find a way to use them to gain an edge. Would guess that the Army game was the first time the passing game was ever the storyline of game that was publicized nationally thanks to "the Eastern Media."
The link which also covers some other thoughts in the thread: http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/101713aab.html
See the link for a lot of history that happened before Knute Rockne spent a summer at Cedar Point. As is noted indirectly in the following message news about football innovations spread slowly, there was no internet. Even up into the 50s a common way of learning about a school that pioneered something groundbreaking (like the Oklahoma offense and defense) was to hire someone from the staff or a former player. ND's role in using the pass was a function of the Army game being of so much interest it got national coverage. BTW has noticed that when it comes to older sports history something interesting but not necessarily accurate that gets written up often gets picked up without fact checking and becomes part of "history."
A historical perspective on the origins of the passing game: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-early-history-of-footballs-forward-pass-78015237/
Most sources credit St. Louis University's Bradbury Robinson from Bellevue, Ohio with throwing the first legal forward pass. On September 5, 1906, in a game against Carroll College, Robinson's first attempt at a forward pass fell incomplete and resulted in a turnover under the 1906 rules.
In 1952, football coaching legend Amos Alonzo Stagg discounted accounts crediting any particular coach with being the innovator of the forward pass. Stagg noted that he had Walter Eckersall 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, Hall of Fame coach Gus Dorais 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 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 ..."
(Cont'd at link)
Link: Who invented the Forward Pass?
Rockne and QB Gus Dorais had summer jobs at Cedar Point Amusement Park, still one of the top parks in the country. As legend has it, they spent their free time perfecting their passing game, something few teams used in those days.In the fall, they completed several key passes to beat a strong Army team in NYC. Army was totally surprised and unprepared. The press had a field day. And so the Glory of Notre Dame football began.
their innovated approach was that Dorais hit Rockne while he was moving, whereas at that time the receivers went down field, stopped and waited for the ball. At least I read that somewhere.
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