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EspañolEDDIE COCHEMS
Edward "Eddie" Cochems (Born 1877 in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin - Died 1953 in Madison, Wisconsin) was the first American football coach to build an offense around the forward pass.
Cochems was coach of the St. Louis University football team when the first legal forward pass was thrown by Bradbury Robinson to Jack Schneider in a game against Carroll College (Wisconsin) at Waukesha on September 5, 1906.
According to archives at St. Louis[1], Cochems (coke-ems) didn't start calling pass plays in the Carroll game until after he had grown frustrated with the failure of his offense to move the ball on the ground.
In that historic 1906 game, after an earlier Robinson-to-Schneider attempt fell incomplete (which resulted in a turnover to Carroll under the rules at that time), Cochems called for his team to again execute the play he called the "air attack".
Robinson threw the fat, rugby-style ball for a 20-yard touchdown pass to Schneider. The play stunned the fans and the Carroll players. St. Louis went on to win, 22-0.
Cochems created an offensive scheme that propelled the Blue & White to an undefeated (11-0) 1906 season. They led the nation in scoring, annihilating their opponents 402-11.
The highlight of the season was St. Louis' shocking 31-0 thrashing of Iowa. Writing in his book The Anatomy of a Game: Football, the Rules, and the Men Who Made the Game, which was published posthumously in 1994, College Football Hall of Fame coach David M. Nelson (1920-1991) reports that "eight passes were completed in ten attempts for four touchdowns" in the Iowa game. "The average flight distance of the passes was twenty yards."
Nelson continues, "the last play demonstrated the dramatic effect that the forward pass was having on football. St. Louis was on Iowa's thirty-five-yard line with a few seconds to play. Timekeeper Walter McCormack walked onto the field to end the game when the ball was thrown twenty-five yards and caught on the dead run for a touchdown."
"Cochems said that the poor Iowa showing resulted from its use of the old style play and its failure to effectively use the forward pass", Nelson writes. "Iowa did attempt two basketball-style forward passes."
"During the 1906 season [Robinson] threw a sixty-seven yard pass... and... Schneider tossed a sixty-five yarder. Considering the size, shape and weight of the ball, these were extraordinary passes."
Because St. Louis was geographically isolated from both the dominating teams and the major sports media (newspapers) of the era... all centered in and focused on the East... Cochems' revolutionary offense was not picked up by other teams. Pass-oriented offenses would not be adopted by the major football powers until the next decade.
Before becoming a coach, Cochems was a standout player for the University of Wisconsin from 1898 to 1901. According to the Wisconsin alumnus Volume 54, Number 10 (May 1953), left halfback Cochems',"100 yard kickoff return for a touchdown against the University of Chicago in 1901 brought him undying fame as a gridder." It was one of Cochems' three touchdowns in the game.
Cochems was credited with four touchdowns in a 1900 game against Notre Dame.
The Badgers posted a 35-4-1 record during his four seasons of play
According to the official website of Badger athletics [2] and The Wisconsin alumni magazine
Volume 30, Number 10 (July 1929), Cochems was a three-sport participant at UW, playing football, track and baseball.
It was at Wisconsin that Cochems first met Robinson. "Robby" was a playing for the Badgers in 1904 -- the year Cochems returned as an assistant coach after spending two years as head coach at North Dakota Agricultural College (now North Dakota State University).
Robinson transferred to St. Louis in 1905, the same year that Cochems departed to become head coach at Clemson.
According to letters written by Robinson decades later, Robinson played a key role in St. Louis' decision to hire Cochems for the 1906 season.
Cochems is a member of St. Louis Billiken Hall of Fame[3], The University of Wisconsin Division of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame and the Madison Sports Hall of Fame.
He was named one of the 30 greatest Wisconsin athletes of the 20th century in the December 27, 1999 issue of Sports Illustrated.
According to The Wisconsin alumni magazine Volume 19, Number 9 (July 1918), Cochems served as the civilian aide to the Adj. General at Long Island during World War I.
★ St. Louis University archives
★ Scrapbook of Bradbury N. Robinson
★ "Wray's Column" of the 1930s and 40s, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
★ University of Wisconsin archives
★ St. Louis University Article on the Centennial of the Forward Pass
★ Official Web Site of University Wisconsin Athletics
★ St. Louis Billiken Hall of Fame
| Contents |
| The "Air Attack" Takes Flight |
| 1906 Season: St. Louis 402 - Opponents 11 |
| Earlier Career as Athlete & Coach |
| Honors |
| Sources |
| External Links |
The "Air Attack" Takes Flight
Eddie Cochems, circa 1906
Cochems was coach of the St. Louis University football team when the first legal forward pass was thrown by Bradbury Robinson to Jack Schneider in a game against Carroll College (Wisconsin) at Waukesha on September 5, 1906.
According to archives at St. Louis[1], Cochems (coke-ems) didn't start calling pass plays in the Carroll game until after he had grown frustrated with the failure of his offense to move the ball on the ground.
In that historic 1906 game, after an earlier Robinson-to-Schneider attempt fell incomplete (which resulted in a turnover to Carroll under the rules at that time), Cochems called for his team to again execute the play he called the "air attack".
Robinson threw the fat, rugby-style ball for a 20-yard touchdown pass to Schneider. The play stunned the fans and the Carroll players. St. Louis went on to win, 22-0.
1906 Season: St. Louis 402 - Opponents 11
Cochems created an offensive scheme that propelled the Blue & White to an undefeated (11-0) 1906 season. They led the nation in scoring, annihilating their opponents 402-11.
The highlight of the season was St. Louis' shocking 31-0 thrashing of Iowa. Writing in his book The Anatomy of a Game: Football, the Rules, and the Men Who Made the Game, which was published posthumously in 1994, College Football Hall of Fame coach David M. Nelson (1920-1991) reports that "eight passes were completed in ten attempts for four touchdowns" in the Iowa game. "The average flight distance of the passes was twenty yards."
Nelson continues, "the last play demonstrated the dramatic effect that the forward pass was having on football. St. Louis was on Iowa's thirty-five-yard line with a few seconds to play. Timekeeper Walter McCormack walked onto the field to end the game when the ball was thrown twenty-five yards and caught on the dead run for a touchdown."
"Cochems said that the poor Iowa showing resulted from its use of the old style play and its failure to effectively use the forward pass", Nelson writes. "Iowa did attempt two basketball-style forward passes."
"During the 1906 season [Robinson] threw a sixty-seven yard pass... and... Schneider tossed a sixty-five yarder. Considering the size, shape and weight of the ball, these were extraordinary passes."
Because St. Louis was geographically isolated from both the dominating teams and the major sports media (newspapers) of the era... all centered in and focused on the East... Cochems' revolutionary offense was not picked up by other teams. Pass-oriented offenses would not be adopted by the major football powers until the next decade.
Earlier Career as Athlete & Coach
Before becoming a coach, Cochems was a standout player for the University of Wisconsin from 1898 to 1901. According to the Wisconsin alumnus Volume 54, Number 10 (May 1953), left halfback Cochems',"100 yard kickoff return for a touchdown against the University of Chicago in 1901 brought him undying fame as a gridder." It was one of Cochems' three touchdowns in the game.
Cochems was credited with four touchdowns in a 1900 game against Notre Dame.
The Badgers posted a 35-4-1 record during his four seasons of play
According to the official website of Badger athletics [2] and The Wisconsin alumni magazine
Volume 30, Number 10 (July 1929), Cochems was a three-sport participant at UW, playing football, track and baseball.
It was at Wisconsin that Cochems first met Robinson. "Robby" was a playing for the Badgers in 1904 -- the year Cochems returned as an assistant coach after spending two years as head coach at North Dakota Agricultural College (now North Dakota State University).
Robinson transferred to St. Louis in 1905, the same year that Cochems departed to become head coach at Clemson.
According to letters written by Robinson decades later, Robinson played a key role in St. Louis' decision to hire Cochems for the 1906 season.
Honors
Cochems is a member of St. Louis Billiken Hall of Fame[3], The University of Wisconsin Division of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame and the Madison Sports Hall of Fame.
He was named one of the 30 greatest Wisconsin athletes of the 20th century in the December 27, 1999 issue of Sports Illustrated.
According to The Wisconsin alumni magazine Volume 19, Number 9 (July 1918), Cochems served as the civilian aide to the Adj. General at Long Island during World War I.
Sources
★ St. Louis University archives
★ Scrapbook of Bradbury N. Robinson
★ "Wray's Column" of the 1930s and 40s, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
★ University of Wisconsin archives
External Links
★ St. Louis University Article on the Centennial of the Forward Pass
★ Official Web Site of University Wisconsin Athletics
★ St. Louis Billiken Hall of Fame
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