Photograph

American Football is considered by many to be second only to baseball as the national pastime. A slightly younger sport, football grew popular on American college campuses in the early 20th century. The game evolved from British rugby and association football, and initially American footballs resembled rugby balls, which were more spherical. American college students played some variation of football on college campuses during the first half of the 19th century. By the 20th century, the rules evolved into what we recognize today. A college team is seen in this early 20th-century photograph, posed with their leather (and slightly more bulbous) ball, marked with a "24 champs" for 1924. This photograph is quite unusual because it documents a team on which there were four African-American players--a real rarity in those days.