September 5, 1906: College Football's 1st Legal Forward Pass

Brad Robinson

September 5, 1906: For the 1st time, the newly legalized forward pass is used in a college football game.

The coach who called the play was Eddie Cochems. Born in 1877 in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, not far from Green Bay where football would be raised to the level of an art form, more than once, he had played at the University of Wisconsin. Newly hired as head coach at Saint Louis University -- the first word in the university's name is always spelled out as "Saint," never the abbreviation "St." -- he had his players practice the newly-legal play prior to the season.

The passer was Bradbury Norton Robinson Jr. Born in 1884 in Bellevue, Ohio, "Brad" moved to St. Louis with his family as a toddler. He went to SLU, where he joined the football team, excelling at running, passing, and kicking.

The receiver was William John Schneider. Born in 1883 in Wisconsin, "Jack" was 1 of 4 UW players who had followed Cochems to SLU.

On September 5, Saint Louis played Carroll College, in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The 1st pass attempt was incomplete. Under the rule of the time, that meant a turnover. But the 2nd attempt was not only successful, it went for a touchdown. Schneider recalled:

We were in the 2nd half, and the game was tied when Robinson called the pass. Actually, Robinson was an end, and I was a fullback. But Brad could throw the ball a long way, so we switched positions for that one play.

We were told to run after the snap and just keep going until we heard the passer yell "hike' or our name. So, I ran and ran. I was about to give up when I heard Robinson call. I turned and caught the ball a yard or so short of the goal, and went over with it.

SLU won, 22-0. That season, they went 11-0, outscoring their opponents 407-31, for an average of 37-3; including beating such modern "big schools" as Iowa, 39-0; and Kansas, 34-2.

In spite of this success, Cochems was only a head coach for 3 more seasons: The next 2 at SLU, and in 1914 at the University of Maine. He moved into politics, becoming a campaign aide to the Presidential campaigns of Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, Charles Evans Hughes in 1916, Calvin Coolidge in 1924 and Herbert Hoover in 1928. He died in 1953.

Robinson became a doctor, and performed surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. In World War I, he was a Captain in the U.S. Army -- not as a doctor, but as an instructor in the operation of a new vehicle, the tank.

He later served on the staff of U.S. Surgeon General Hugh Cumming, and moved to St. Louis -- not the better-known city of the name, in Missouri, but to one in Michigan. There, he practiced medicine, and was elected Mayor in 1931 and 1937, as a Republican. In the 1940s, Robinson was among the first to warn against the dangers of DDT use in agriculture. He died in 1949, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. 

Schneider went on to coach at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, before also becoming a doctor. He died in 1958, at 74.

Saint Louis University stopped playing football after the 1949 season. Carroll College became a "small college," and were placed in NCAA Division III upon its creation in 1973. The school became Carroll University in 2008.

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September 5, 1906 was a Wednesday. There were no other college football games that day. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Highlanders beat the Boston Americans, 6-1 at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston. The Americans became the Boston Red Sox in 1908. The Highlanders became the New York Yankees in 1913.

* The New York Giants swept their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Superbas, 4-3 in 10 innings and 2-1 at the Polo Grounds. The Superbas became the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1911.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Boston Beaneaters, 8-5 at National League Park (later renamed Baker Bowl) in Philadelphia. The Beaneaters became the Boston Braves in 1912.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 3-1 at American League Park in Washington.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-4 at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. Honus Wagner did not play.

* The Cleveland Naps beat the St. Louis Browns, 1-0 at League Park in Cleveland. Addie Joss pitched a 6-hit shutout. Named for manager-2nd baseman-slugger Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, who went 1-for-4 in this game, they became the Cleveland Indians in 1915 and the Cleveland Guardians in 2022.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-0 at Bennett Park in Detroit. Doc White pitched a 2-hit shutout. Ty Cobb, 19 years old, got 1 of those hits.

* And the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds were not scheduled.