Alexander Moffat (September 22, 1862 – February 23, 1914) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player, coach and official. He played college football at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

from 1882 to 1884 and was known as one of the greatest kickers in 19th century football. After his playing career ended, he remained active in the development of the game as a coach and founding member of football's rules committee. He was reported to have held a place in Princeton athletic history similar to that held by

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system ...

at Yale. Moffat was elected to the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 1971.

Early years

Moffat was born in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

, in 1862. He was the son of James C. Moffat, who was a professor at Princeton University for 40 years.

Football player

Moffat enrolled at Princeton and was a member of the

Princeton Tigers football The Princeton Tigers football program represents Princeton University and competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Championship, Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level as a member ...

and baseball teams in the early 1880s. In baseball, he was Princeton's star pitcher for four years. In football, he played at the halfback position and developed a reputation as "probably the greatest kicker ever seen on a football field." Football historian David M. Nelson credits Moffat with revolutionizing the kicking game in 1883 by developing the "spiral punt," described by Nelson as "a dramatic change from the traditional end-over-end kicks." Moffat has also been credited with inventing the

drop kick A drop kick is a type of kick in various codes of football. It involves a player dropping the ball and then kicking it as it touches the ground. Drop kicks are used as a method of restarting play and scoring points in rugby union and rugby league ...

, and kicked equally well with either foot. Moffat was a member of the Princeton football team from 1882 to 1884. As the team's senior captain in 1883, Moffat kicked 32 field goals in 15 games. In Princeton's 26 to 7 victory over Harvard in 1883, Moffat made five field goals, two drop kicks with his right foot, two drop kicks with his left foot, and one from placement.

Football official and coach

By profession, Moffat was a civil engineer. However, he remained an active and influential coach and official in the sport of football. Moffat was a member of football's Rules Committee for most of his adult life and, in that capacity, helped shape the game during its formative years. In October 1883, while still a student at Princeton, he was one of two Princeton representatives on an informal, seven-member rules committee that adopted the game's first modern scoring system—2 points for a touchdown, 4 points for a goal after touchdown, and 5 points for a field goal. In December 1893, with the game in turmoil as the result of deaths and serious injuries resulting from the game, a formalized Rules Committee was established consisting of

of Yale, W. A. Brooks of Harvard, and Moffat as Princeton's representative. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' urged the three men to "abolish mass plays and other brutal manoeuvres." Moffat remained on the Rules Committee until his death in 1914. For many years, Moffat also served as an "advisory coach" to the Princeton football team. Contemporaneous records show that Moffat was active in coaching the team. For example, the undefeated 1896 team is listed as having "no coach", but a report published that fall in ''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...

'' noted that "Alexander Moffat '84 has charge of the team and is being assisted by

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'96 and

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'95." According to an obituary, Moffat for many years after his graduation "acted as coach, umpire and referee and made practice of going to Princeton nearly every season to aid in the training of the football team." Big Bill Edwards, who played at Princeton from 1896 to 1899, later wrote of Moffat: "His interest in the game was great, and he was always ready to give as much time as was needed to the coaching of the Princeton teams. His hard, efficient work developed remarkable kickers. He loved the game and was a cheerful, encouraging and sympathetic coach." Moffat died from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

at Presbyterian Hospital in New York City in 1914 at age 51. In 1971, Moffat was posthumously inducted into the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moffat, Alex 1862 births 1914 deaths 19th-century players of American football College Football Hall of Fame inductees Princeton Tigers football players People from Princeton, New Jersey Players of American football from New Jersey American football drop kickers American football halfbacks American football punters Deaths from pneumonia in New York City