Why Did Teddy Roosevelt Step Into Football?

Roman Mars says football was already a national obsession by the late 19th century, and it was violent enough that players died. In 1905, 19 players died at the high school and college levels. Charles Eliot, the president of Harvard, wanted his own university to stop playing. The calls to ban the sport got loud enough that President Theodore Roosevelt had to step in.

Roosevelt loved the game. In a letter he told his son Ted Jr. that the chance of damaging the body was outweighed by bitterness of spirit if he did not play. He still called an emergency meeting at the White House that year. Coaches and officials created the body that became the NCAA and added the forward pass to cut down on violent pileups. Shoulder pads, face guards, and the first helmets followed. College football did not make helmets mandatory until 1939.