More About High School Football in the 1930's.

Jul 23, 2019, 4:23 PM

High school football in the 1930's was vastly different from today's version. Rules, equipment, facilities and the playing field were entirely different. There were no offensive, defensive or special teams, we played both ways. If we came out of the game for any reason, we could not reenter until the next quarter. The coach could never come on the field, even during a time out. and the plays were called by the QB. All players had to be living with their family or a legal guardian in the school's attendance zone to be eligible.

I seem to recall the goal posts were located on the goal line but have not been able to confirm this in my search. The term "goal posts" would lead one to assume they were on the goal line. I do recall that the goal posts did influence our play, both from an offensive and defensive standpoint.

The football resembled a basketball more so than today's football. The shape of the ball did not lend itself to a passing game such as we see today. The game was more run oriented and our passing game was confined primarily to "flea flickers" out of the single wing formation. The two ends were the only pass receivers. We played a seven man front on defense, lining up the same way we were when on offense. Since there was usually no threat of a passing game by our opponents, the four backs played close to the line. The terms tight end and linebacker were not in our vocabulary.

Schools of our size had only one coach and his responsibilities ran from "A" to "Z". When the grass and weeds on the playing fields got too high, he was the one who did the mowing or found someone to do the job. Often time, he was the one who lined the field with help from dome of the players. We had no facilities for washing our uniforms at school so we have to take them home to be washed.

In earlier posts I mentioned our uniform, equipment and dressing room conditions. A weight room was unheard of. Most of the boys lived on farms and their chores provided ample opportunities for manual labor for lifting and all sorts of exercises that developed muscles. Lifting two hundred pound bags of fertilizer for much of a day was an appetite booster.

School consolidation had not yet become a factor and many schools in our area and conference would probably be classified as 2 AA by today's standards. Playing fields were as varied as the seasons. Game attendance was usually in the low hundreds. Some schools, including AHS, had small stands for the fans but many fans moved up and down the sidelines following the play on the field. Most of our games were at night so those living in the rural area could attend. There were at least two schools who were not equipped for night football because electricity had not yet arrived in those areas.

Field lighting was very crude, one huge flood light on several poles on each side of the field. The poles on which the floodlights were mounted were not very tall. The lights were usually directed down toward the field. As a result, most punts disappeared in the dark area above the lights. The return man had to guess where the ball would be coming down.

The playing surface at most schools could be compared to your typical "sand lot" experience. That Florida sand was not conducive to having a well manicured lawn. There was a mixture of grass, weeds and sand. One of our conference members were known as the "Sand Spurs" and there were plenty of those
real sand spurs on their playing field. The playing field of a school on the Gulf Coast had been built over a dumping ground for oyster shells. Top soil had been placed over the oyster shells but over time some of the shells had moved to the surface. If we came in contact with one of those shells it was a painful experience.

Our home field was not one that was going to win a trophy for "best field in the conference". One end of our field was our baseball field in the spring. A lot of red clay had been imported from Georgia for the pitcher's mound and the infield. During the football season the mound was removed but where there was clay, there was no grass. During a game I went down on that hard dry clay and had a nice abrasion on my face. To make matters worse, where I met the clay, it was also a yard marker lined with lime. This was a common occurrence during the season because the face mask had not yet become an important part of our equipment.

I suppose all of those "luxuries" we enjoyed during that era contributed to all that fun we had. Those were the days !!!!!!

Message was edited by: Joe21®

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More About High School Football in the 1930's.

Re: More About High School Football in the 1930's.

So many great details, Joe!

Re: So many great details, Joe!

Re: More About High School Football in the 1930's.

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