1905 Washburn vs. Fairmount football game

The Three Down Experiment
Fairmount vs. Washburn

Washburn Ichabods	Fairmount Shockers
0	0
Head coach: John H. Outland	Head coach: Willis Bates

	1	2	3	4	Total
Washburn	0	0	0	0	0
Fairmount	0	0	0	0	0

Date

December 25, 1905

Season

1905

Location

Wichita, Kansas

The 1905 Washburn vs. Fairmount football game was a college football game between Fairmount College (now called the Wichita State University Shockers) and the Washburn Ichabods played on December 25, 1905, in Wichita, Kansas. It marked the first experiment with the forward pass and with the ten-yard requirement for first downs. It is unclear if the game was considered "regular season", "post season", or "exhibition" in classification.

Game play

Fairmount college was coached by Willis Bates for Fairmount. The head coach for Washburn that season was John H. Outland, but since he was officiating it is likely that the coaching duties fell to assistant coach (and next year's head coach) Garfield Weede. The game ended in a 0–0 tie.^[1]

The conditions for the game were excellent, but neither side was able to approach the other team's goal except by a punt. Only seven first downs were made the entire game—four by Washburn and three by Fairmount. Most of the game was played in the middle of the field, to the disappointment of the fans.^[2]

New rule test

Safer but not "conducive"

Both teams had played a previous game that same season. What made this second game unique was that it was a test of a proposed rule of play. During the game, each team's offense was required to gain ten yards in three downs instead of four to earn a new first down.

The experiment was considered a failure. Football legend John H. Outland officiated the game and commented, "It seems to me that the distance required in three downs would almost eliminate touchdowns, except through fakes or flukes."^[3] The Los Angeles Times reported that there was much kicking and that the game was considered much safer than regular play, but that the new rule was not "conducive to the sport."^[4]

Impact

Three days later, 62 schools met in New York City to discuss rule changes to make the game safer. As a result of that meeting, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States, later named the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), was formed and several other rule changes were made to improve safety for players, including the addition of the forward pass.^[5]

First forward pass

In his history of the sport of football, David M. Nelson concluded that "the first forward passes were thrown at the end of the 1905 season in a game between Fairmount and Washburn colleges in Kansas."^[6] According to Nelson, Washburn completed three passes, and Fairmount completed two. Credit for the first pass goes to Fairmount's Bill Davis, who completed a pass to Art Solter.^[7]

References

↑ College Football Data Warehouse Willis Bates 1905 results
↑ "Football Reform Rules are No Good". St. John Daily Sun. December 28, 1905. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
↑ "Ten Yard Rule a Failure". New York Times. December 26, 1905.
↑ "New Football Rules Tested". Los Angeles Times. December 26, 1905.
↑ "The History of the NCAA". NCAA.org. National Collegiate Athletic Association. Archived from the original on 2007-04-30. Retrieved 2007-05-19.
↑ Nelson, David M. (1994). The Anatomy of a Game: Football, the Rules, and the Men Who Made the Game. University of Delaware Press. ISBN 0-87413-455-2. , p. 128
↑ "ADDENDA TO "COLLEGE FOOTBALL IN KANSAS"". Kansas State Historical Society. Retrieved November 11, 2012.

Wichita State Shockers football

Venues	Cessna Stadium (1969–1986)

Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games

Culture & lore	1905 Cooper game 1905 Washburn game Camellia Bowl 1970 plane crash Timeline of football in Kansas

People	Head coaches

Seasons	1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986

Wichita State University

Athletics	Teams Baseball Men's Basketball Football Facilities Cessna Stadium Charles Koch Arena Eck Stadium

Museum	Lowell D. Holmes Museum of Anthropology

Media/Arts	KMUW Personnage Oiseaux

People	WSU Alumni President John Bardo

Related	1905 Cooper vs. Fairmount football game 1905 Washburn vs. Fairmount football game Camellia Bowl Wichita State University football team plane crash

Established: 1895 – Endowment: $235.5 million – Students: 14,474 (Fall 2016)

Washburn Ichabods football

Venues	Yager Stadium at Moore Bowl (1928–present)

Culture & lore	1905 Fairmount game Timeline of college football in Kansas

People	Head coaches NFL Draftees

Seasons	1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Washburn University

Academics

Athletics

Overview: Washburn Ichabods (Conference) Ichabod

Teams	Basketball Men's Women's Football seasons

Facilities	Yager Stadium at Moore Bowl Lee Arena

Misc.

Established: 1865 – Endowment: $156.48 million – Students: 7,971 (Fall 2016)

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