Paul Veeder
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Paul Lansing Veeder (June 5, 1884 – March 10, 1942) was an All-American football player for
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
. Veeder played halfback, fullback, quarterback and punter for the Yale Bulldogs from 1904–1906 and was selected as an All-American in 1906.


Biography

A native of
Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, Veeder attended the Latin School of Chicago. He left Chicago to enroll at Phillips Academy in
Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...
, where he was quarterback of the school's 1903 football team. Veeder enrolled at Yale in the fall of 1903. He played for Yale's football team from 1904 to 1906. Veeder was 5 feet, 10 inches in height and weighed 167 pounds. He played mostly at halfback, but also quarterback and fullback. He also handled punting and place kicking for Yale. A November 1904 article in ''
The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...
'' noted that Veeder averaged 50 yards per punt. He was also considered an excellent defensive back, with coaches rating him as "a capital man to bore through an opposing line." Veeder also played baseball as a pitcher at Yale, and in March 1907, the ''Sporting Life'' noted: "He is said to possess good curves and speed and good control." In April 1905, ''The Washington Post'' reported that Veeder won the first prize for punting at the annual Yale kicking contest with a total of 175 points. In 1904, the ''Trenton Times'' reported that "the fleet quarter and half back" had missed the Princeton game after becoming involved in "a slight scholarship complication," but the matter was closed in time for him to play in the Harvard game. In the
1906 college football season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...
, the
forward pass In several forms of football, a forward pass is the throwing of the ball in the direction in which the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line. The forward pass is one of the main distinguishers between gridir ...
was introduced to the game of football. The first legal forward pass has been credited to
Bradbury Robinson Bradbury Norton Robinson Jr. (February 1, 1884 – March 7, 1949) was a pioneering American football player, physician, nutritionist, conservationist and local politician. He played college football at the University of Wisconsin in 1903 and a ...
of St. Louis University, but some publications say the "first forward pass in a major game" was thrown by Veeder in the Yale-Harvard game on November 24, 1906. Veeder helped Yale defeat Harvard 6-0 in front of a crowd of 32,000 at New Haven. In a game that commentators noted was unlike any game played before, Yale relied heavily on the newly permitted forward pass, and Veeder completed a 30-yard pass to Harvard's 3-yard line for a first down. The completion led to Yale's only touchdown. In 2007, ''The Washington Post'' identified Veeder's 30-yard pass as one of the few significant forward passes thrown in the first season of the forward pass. The famous Chicago football expert
Walter Eckersall Walter Herbert "Eckie" Eckersall (June 17, 1883 – March 24, 1930) was an American college football player, official, and sportswriter for the ''Chicago Tribune''. He played for the Maroons of the University of Chicago, and was elected to the ...
later wrote that Veeder was one of the finest football players to come from Chicago:
"Of the recent players who have made names for themselves on Eastern College teams none is so conspicuous as Paul Veeder. This remarkable football player is a product of the Chicago Latin School. He went to Yale at the conclusion of his prep course, and after two years of hard work finally managed to make the team. He was placed at full back and was pronounced 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 ...
as one of the best backs that ever represented Yale on the gridiron and as proof of his conviction Camp placed him on the All American team."
At the end of the 1906 season, Veeder announced he would return to Yale for another season of varsity football player, and one Washington newspaper called him Yale's "star punter and half back." Veeder graduated from Yale's
Sheffield Scientific School Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffiel ...
in June 1907. He returned in the fall of that year as an academic student and became the coach of Yale's backs. In November 1907, ''The New York Times'' wrote about Veeder's innovations with the newly developed " on-side kick" play:
"Veeder ran off a new on-side kick which is one of the novelties of revised football for 1907. His idea is to make a drop kick, booting the top instead of the bottom of the ball, driving the oval low over or into the line, and putting every one on side. He worked the kick so cleverly that in nearly every case the scrubs retained possession of the ball."
This strategy had been used by St. Louis coach
Eddie Cochems Edward Bulwer Cochems (; February 4, 1877 – April 9, 1953) was an American football player and coach. He played football for the University of Wisconsin from 1898 to 1901 and was the head football coach at North Dakota Agricultural College—no ...
and perhaps others the previous season. Veeder remained a part of Yale's coaching staff at least through the 1909 and 1911 seasons. ("Paul Veeder, Yale's old half-back, is coaching the Eli backs at New Haven.")


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Veeder, Paul 1884 births 1942 deaths All-American college football players American football punters American football halfbacks American football quarterbacks American football placekickers Players of American football from Chicago Yale Bulldogs football players Yale Bulldogs football coaches