Character of College Football.

College football began as a student-centered activity on the campuses of a few private northeastern colleges. By the turn of the century, however, the game had evolved into a nationwide commercial spectacle, controlled by college and university administrators, and played more for spectator enjoyment and college prestige than player satisfaction. From this transformation came an emphasis upon winning, recruitment of players, abuses of eligibility, intense training schedules, professional coaching, and deliberate violence. The brutality of the game, which often resulted in injury and death, nearly led to football's demise. While some journalists, college presidents, and politicians called for the game's abolition, others such as R. Tait McKenzie, the director of physical education at the University of Pennsylvania, urged reform, recognizing the "training in presence of mind, audacity, courage, and...