dc:identifier=httphdllocgovlocpnpggbain16360

Class Day, Yale -- Class of 1908 (LOC)

from The Library of Congress

• Wystan said:

  These could be former Yale football players of the Class of 1908, in a skit at commencement, 1914, satirizing reports of injuries sustained by lightly-padded players of the era in rough-and-tumble play. In 1902, for example, college play was so rough that several players died, while others were severely injured -- a crisis that provoked intervention by then-President Theodore Roosevelt. (The 18th-century militia outfits were 1908's costume du jour, and had no connection with the gridiron theme.) Other Bain/LOC photos of the 1914 Yale Class Day activities: