{"id":16806,"date":"2011-04-22T13:58:52","date_gmt":"2011-04-22T18:58:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artofmanliness.com\/?p=16806"},"modified":"2026-10-29T20:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T01:34:10","slug":"art-of-manliness-podcast-episode-37-how-teddy-roosevelt-saved-football-with-john-miller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/art-of-manliness-podcast-episode-37-how-teddy-roosevelt-saved-football-with-john-miller\/","title":{"rendered":"Art of Manliness Podcast Episode #37: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football with John Miller"},"content":{"rendered":"

While it\u2019s now arguably America\u2019s favorite pastime<\/a>, football came close to extinction only a short time after it started. Severe injuries and even death were common in the early days of football as players used little or no protection and the rules of the game encouraged ruthless play. Many university presidents and other social leaders called for the game\u2019s prohibition and came close to getting their way, that is until President Theodore Roosevelt stepped in.<\/p>\n

Our guest today has written a book on how TR helped save football. His name is John Miller and his book is called The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While it\u2019s now arguably America\u2019s favorite pastime, football came close to extinction only a short time after it started. Severe injuries and even death were common in the early days of football as players used little or no protection and the rules of the game encouraged ruthless play. Many university presidents and other social leaders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":196024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42376,42385,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-history","category-podcast"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/37-538x280.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/37-768x432.png","aom":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/37-372x230.png","reactor-320":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/37-320x180.png","reactor-640":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/37-640x360.png"},"yoast_head":"\nPodcast: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football | The Art of Manliness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While it\u2019s now arguably America\u2019s favorite pastime, football came close to extinction only a short time after it started. 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