The Lamar Punt Return

The greatest play of 1885

The Lamar Punt Return

As we’ve seen, the true football rivalry of the early 1880s was between Yale and Princeton. Harvard, which had a natural rivalry with Yale, was mostly an afterthought on the gridiron.

Yale and Princeton were both undefeated when they faced each other in the final game of the season in 1884 — a game that had been marred by controversy and poor refereeing. The game was ruled a draw at the end due to darkness, despite the fact that Yale had the lead.

That set the stage for the Yale - Princeton game of 1885, which was held at Yale Field. As usual, both teams were undefeated, setting up one of the great classic college games of the 19th century:

From The Day (New London, CT), November 21, 1885, page 1

To say that this game was a classic would be an understatement. This might have been the greatest football game of the 19th century.

Yale got out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first half, and looked a safe bet to finish the deed at home. The crowd of 5,000 or so was mostly on Yale’s side, as only 300 people made the trek up from New Jersey.

There were only a few minutes left to play when Yale was forced to punt in the second half. Yale punted it to Henry Lamar, who proceeded to return the ball the length of the field:

From The Boston Globe, November 22, 1885, page 1

Here’s how The New York Times described it:

From The New York Times, November 22, 1885, page 1

The touchdown and conversion gave Princeton a combined 6 points, enough to overcome the 5 points Yale scored through its field goal. And that’s how this classic ended.

Interestingly enough, the newspapers celebrated the fact that no acts of violence marred the game:

From The New York Times, November 22, 1885, page 8

But, of course, despite the occasional good play, the threat of violence still loomed right below the surface.