The Original Bowl Game

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By Nate Scaniffe

The day of November 21st, 1914 started with great excitement in the quiet neighborhood of Westville in New Haven, Connecticut. Masses of people numbering over a hundred thousand descended on the gleaming new stadium Yale had constructed for its inaugural game. This day marked the first time Yale Bowl hosted a football game, a historic rivalry featuring Yale and Harvard. This has become a classic moment in the history of Westville and the larger New Haven area, Yale Athletics and the sport of football as a whole.
           
Football, despite its obscure beginnings at elite Ivy League universities and roots in the European game of rugby, became the game easily recognizable to all Americans today at Yale University. More specifically, Walter Camp, a Yale football player and coach, was the driving force behind creating a universal set of rules that organized the game of football into a modern game distinct from rugby and uniquely American. The work Camp did down on the old Yale athletic fields in Westville helped create the nation’s most popular game.
           
Since the Camp’s Day, Yale has had a deep connection with the game of football and its continued growth. (National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form) Yale football games had previously been played down at the old Yale athletic fields right next to the spot Yale Bowl is today. Despite already having a field, by the time 1913 rolled around Yale was ready to build a new stadium for their team to compete in. At the time, other universities such as Harvard, had just built their own athletic stadiums and it was no surprise Yale would follow suit to fill the needs of their growing athletics program along with an increasingly large fan base who regularly came to watch the football team play. In contrast to Harvard, as constant innovators, Yale elected to build a stadium that was built only for football rather than a stadium suited for all types of athletic competition. This was an exciting concept that was unheard of in the baseball obsessed United States at the time. With this decision, Yale furthered their legacy as football pioneers. (Yale Alumni Magazine)
           
The man given the job to design this new stadium was a Yale alum, Charles A. Ferry. Ferry’s project broke ground in August, 1913, and would cost seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars before the project was complete. In undergoing this year long task, Ferry made many decisions that significantly impacted the future of the stadium. (National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form) First and foremost, the Bowl was designed so that the field was dug thirty feet into the ground and below the ground level entrances to the stadium. This bowl shaped design would eventually lead to its name as the Yale Bowl. Ferry also chose to leave out any bathrooms and lockers so that fans would have to seek facilities elsewhere and the players would use the locker rooms elsewhere. The reasoning behind this decision is unclear but it has since become a tradition for fans to cheer on the team as they walk from the external locker rooms to the field. Along with this, the location in residential Westville created potential conflict with the surrounding neighborhoods that could push back at large crowds and loud noises. At the time of its creation, Yale Bowl was the largest stadium in the United States and the idea of 70,000 fans descending into the Westville neighborhood was not exactly exciting to those that lived there. (Hartford Courant, November 14, 1914) Despite all the questions left, the stadium was ready to open in the fall of 1914.
           
The inaugural game was scheduled for November 21st, 1914 and it was between Yale and their rival Harvard. The press coverage surrounding the game was massive. The local newspapers covered the games for weeks before and spoke both excitedly and nervously about the coming game. Hartford Courant wrote in the build up to the game “The Yale Bowl - The last word in football stadiums.” (Hartford Courant, November 14, 1914) These words speak volumes to the atmosphere that was expected and how innovative the stadium was at the time. This excitement was not without concern however, there was great worry that the players would suffer from a lack of oxygen on the sunken field and this would be dangerous. There was great anticipation however that the game would be a nail biter and that Yale would steal the victory. (Hartford Courant, November 14, 1914) The anticipated crowd was over 200,000 and the real number of 150,000 both in the Bowl and outside was no small gathering. The Hartford Courant compared this stadium to the “Roman Coliseum” and conjured images of gladiators and Olympians on the field. Aside from the game itself, the whole day was a spectacle that no one had ever seen before. This was due to the unprecedented crowd size never before seen at any American sporting event and it all took place in the largest sporting arena in the world. Those in attendance had never witnessed such an event before.
           
The game itself was very disappointing for the Bulldogs who lost 30-6 to the Harvard Crimson but the day was a smashing success. One Harvard commentator observed “Yale supplied the Bowl and Harvard supplied the Punch.”(Yale Alumni Magazine) Regardless of outcome, the stadium was filled to brim with 70,000 fans in the stadium with another 80,000 around the stadium and the small neighborhood surrounding it. There were no issues with air quality and the players had no problem walking from the detached locker rooms into the stadium. This all created a wonderful atmosphere on that fateful November day in New Haven. (Hartford Courant, November 24, 1914) The success of this game added to the continued growth of football and a new movement of university-built football stadiums. The stadium designs such as the University of Michigan’s Stadium, Louisiana State University’s “Valley of Death” and most iconic, the Rose Bowl in California all took inspiration from the Yale Bowl. (Siefried 185) Year after year fans return to Yale Bowl and watch football games and enjoy other festivities outside the stadium such as tailgating. Games continue to draw massive crowds, even in modern times, and the impact of Yale Bowl and its inaugural game can still be felt and the legacy of that stadium in Westville continues to give great character to the City of New Haven, Yale and football fans across the United States. 

Bibliography
“Harvard and Yale in the Big New Bowl.” Hartford Courant, (Hartford, Ct) November 14, 1914

    “New Haven’s Good Work.” Hartford Courant, (Hartford, Ct) November 24, 1914
           
    SEIFRIED, CHAD. "The Development of "Death Valley" in Louisiana: Modernization and Tiger                     Stadium, 1924-2013." Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical                                 Association             57,   no. 2 (2016): 184-219.

   National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form -                                                                       https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NHLS/Text/87000756.pdf

   Branch, Mark Alden. “A Hundred Years in The Round.” Yale Alumni Magazine                                                 September/October 2014
                 https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3942-yale-bowl

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