Eddie Cochems and Ivan Yershov: Difference between pages
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[[Image:Kashchey - Yershov as Kashchey.jpg|thumb|200px|Ivan Yershov as Kashchey<br>(Mariinsky Theatre, [[1919]])]] |
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'''Edward B. "Eddie" Cochems''' (Born [[February 4]], [[1877]] in [[Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin]] – Died [[April 9]], [[1953]] in [[Madison, Wisconsin]]) was the first [[American football]] coach to build an offense around the [[forward pass]]. |
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'''Ivan Vasiliyevitch Yershov''' or '''Ershov''' ({{lang-ru| Иван Васильевич Ершов}}), born [[November 8]], [[1863]] - died [[November 21]], [[1943]], was a great [[Russians|Russian]] [[opera]] singer. He became famous for his performances of some of the most demanding roles ever written for the dramatic [[tenor]] voice. |
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==The Father of the Forward Pass== |
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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) states that "E. B. Cochems is to forward passing what the [[Wright brothers]] are to aviation and [[Thomas Edison]] is to the electric light." |
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Yershov came from a poor family. He entered the Aleksandrovsk railroad school in 1884 which he finished in 1887. The next year he entered the [[Moscow Conservatory]] and, in December of that year, entered the [[Saint Petersburg Conservatory]], being assigned to the class of of S. I. Habel. He received vocal training between 1891 and 1893 and performed the part of [[Gounod]]'s Faust in Saint Petersburg in 1893. In 1894, he travelled to Italy to study singing further in Milan. While in Italy, he performed the roles of Don Jose and Canio in ''[[Carmen]]'' and ''[[Pagliacci]]'' respectively. |
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While great figures in the sport such as [[Walter Camp]] and [[Glenn Scobey Warner|Pop Warner]] were unenthusiastic about the forward pass<ref>Nelson, David M., Anatomy of a Game: Football, the Rules, and the Men Who Made the Game, 1994, |
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Pages 127-128</ref>, Cochems recognized its fantastic potential and immediately capitalized upon the play only five months after it had become officially legal. |
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He returned to Russia and, during the 1894-95 season, appeared at the [[Kharkov]] opera in such roles as Romeo in ''[[Roméo et Juliette (opera)|Roméo et Juliette]]'', Arturo in ''[[I puritani]]'', Samson in ''[[Samson and Delilah (opera)|Samson and Delilah]]'' and Ernani in ''[[Ernani]]''. |
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===The "Air Attack" Takes Flight=== |
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[[Image:Cochems 175.jpg|thumb|Eddie Cochems, ''1907'']] |
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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]]. |
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In January 1895, he debuted at the [[Mariinsky Theatre]] in Saint Petersburg in the title role of ''[[Faust (opera)|Faust]]''. He went on to perform in a large number of operas there, including [[Eugene Onegin (opera)|Eugene Onegin]] (as Lenski). He sang also the title roles in ''[[Tannhäuser]]'' and ''[[Lohengrin]]'', and appeared as Faust in ''[[Mefistofele]]''. |
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According to archives at St. Louis<ref>[http://www.slu.edu/readstory/more/7166 SLU Archives]</ref> <ref>[http://www.slu.edu/readstory/more/7166 St. Louis University Article on the Centennial of the Forward Pass]</ref>, Cochems (pronounced 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. |
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Yershov added the part of Roland in ''[[Esclarmonde]]'' to his Mariinsky repertoire in 1897. In 1900, he appeared as Tristan in ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'' and Raoul in ''[[Les Huguenots]]''. He sang the title role in ''[[Otello]]'' the following year, and that of Siegfried in ''[[Siegfried]]'' in 1902. He appeared also as Radames in ''[[Aida]]'' and Paolo in ''[[Francesca da Rimini (Zandonai)|Francesca da Rimini]]'', both performances taking place in 1904. Other roles which he sang included Sobinin, Tsar Berendey, Sadko and Golitsyn |
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In that historic 1906 game, after an earlier Robinson-to-Schneider attempt fell incomplete <ref>[http://daily.phanaticmag.com/2007_08_01_archive.html The Phanatic Magazine, August 31, 2007]</ref> (which resulted in a [[Turnover (football)|turnover]] to Carroll under the rules at that time), Cochems called for his team to again execute the play he called the "air attack". |
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After the [[Russian Revolution]] of 1917, he concentrated most of his activities on staging operas and teaching voice at the [[Leningrad]] Conservatory, although, in February 1919, he sang the leading role in a revival of ''[[Kashchey the Deathless]]''. He also sang Truffaldino in ''[[The Love for Three Oranges]]'', which had been first performred in [[Chicago]] in 1921. He retired from the Mariinsky stage in 1929 and died in 1943, during the height of the [[Second World War]]. |
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Robinson threw the fat, [[Rugby football|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. |
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Yershov is generally considered to be one of the world's finest tenors of the past 125 years. His high reputation is confirmed by the handful of recordings which he made in 1903 and which are now available on CD reissues. They show that he possessed a powerful, wide-ranging voice with a gleaming tone, steady intonation and an impressive technique. Russian music critics and audiences praised the intense quality of his acting, too. |
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===1906 Season: St. Louis 402 – Opponents 11=== |
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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. |
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The highlight of the season was St. Louis' shocking 31-0 thrashing of Iowa. Coach Nelson 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." |
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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." |
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"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." |
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"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." |
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===St. Louis' "perfect exhibition" of the passing game=== |
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The 1906 Iowa game was refereed by one of the top football officials in the country... [[West Point]]'s Lt. (later Major and Colonel) H. B. "Stuffy" Hackett. He had officiated games involving the top Eastern powers that year. Hackett, who would become a member of the football rules committee in December 1907 and officiated games into the 1930s, was quoted the next day in Wray's ''Post-Dispatch'' article: "It was the most perfect exhibition... of the new rules ... that I have seen all season and much better than that of Yale and Harvard. St. Louis' style of pass differs entirely from that in use in the east. ... The St. Louis university players shoot the ball hard and accurately to the man who is to receive it ... The fast throw by St. Louis enables the receiving player to dodge the opposing players, and it struck me as being all but perfect." |
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[[Image:HackettPostGame.jpg|left| Referee Hackett's analysis of St. Louis' passing game against Iowa, ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', written by Ed Wray, November 30, 1906.]] |
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===Taking full advantage of the early passing rules=== |
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Cochems had immediately grasped the strategic advantage of passing under the rules that had been established late in 1905. |
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"(A) Cochemesque feature of the practice," according to St. Louis sports columnist Dan Dillon, "was his placing his two star forward pass artists -- Robinson and Schneider -- in front of the big score board in center field (at [[Sportsman's Park]])." Writing on October 24, 1906, Dillon was astonished that the pair "actually pitch the oval much after [the] baseball idea at certain marked spots on the board. The accuracy exhibited by those men in throwing the ball was simply marvelous and if some of the Eastern critics who are reputed opposed to the baseball throw for the forward pass could see this pair execute the play it is certain they would change their views." |
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One of Cochems' star players, Frank Acker, explained the impact of the 1906 rules in an interview with Wray published on September 20, 1945: "The passer then had to run five yards to the right or left of center before passing and as a result the field was marked off in five-yard squares, like a checker board, and not merely with parallel lines 10 yards apart. |
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"The most important difference in the rules was that an incomplete forward pass was not brought back to the point of origin, but went to the enemy at the point where it grounded. The effect was, on the fourth down, the same as if the ball had been punted. |
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"If the St. Louis U. receiver caught it, he could run for that touchdown. If he muffed, the ball went to the foe some 40 yards or more from the point it was thrown... Wouldn't that do things, today?" |
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By the time of the interview, Acker was, according to Wray, "a stocky, broad-shouldered 59-year old guy"... a retired physician and real estate investor. But even 39 years distant, the memories of those early days of college football were fresh. "Robinson threw the long passes and Schneider the bullet-fast short ones," Acker recalled. "Robbie's shots were so dangerous that the opposition assigned three men to take care of him. |
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"We ran our plays from the T formation... Our opponents' attention to Robbie made things easy for us... When Robbie started a play three of our backs went in one direction... But the ball was passed to me direct and I went in the other, with no interference, usually hitting a hole in the line." |
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Acker concluded, "I am a football fan and see all the big games but I've never seen longer or more accurate passing than the Robinson-Schneider team showed me... It should be remembered that they used a bigger and fatter football, harder to grasp, and offering greater air resistance than the narrower "projectile" of today... I'd back Robinson against any of the pitchers today, big ball and all." |
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==Men on a mission== |
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[[Image:RobinsonThrowing2.jpg|left|A photograph of Brad Robinson's passing form from "The Forward Pass and the On-Side Kick" an article in Spalding's ''How to Play Football'', American Sports Publishing, Revised 1907 edition, written by Eddie Cochems, Walter Camp, Editor]] |
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Cochems and his charges took it upon themselves to convert the football world to their belief that the forward pass had fundamentally changed the sport. |
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Cochems was quoted in early November 1906 that, "I think the forward pass is sensational. My men never think of throwing the ball underhand. They throw it overhand as hard as they can." |
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"It's really a puzzle to me why the other teams are not given new style plays by their coaches," Cochems continued. "[The] Eastern elevens are using nothing but the old-style formations... It will be a matter of a season or two until the coaches throughout the country come around to my way of thinking or I will be badly mistaken." |
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Cochems was, in fact, badly mistaken. It would be seven years before [[Knute Rockne]] would begin to follow Cochems' example at [[Notre Dame]]. But, the slow adoption of his ideas was not for lack of promotional effort by Cochems. |
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The coach detailed his concepts in letters and wires to influential men in the sport. As Coach Nelson wrote, "Cochems had the passing and scoring statistics, which he broadcasted widely." |
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When the "Father of Football", Walter Camp, needed an article on the state of the forward pass after the 1906 season, he invited Cochems to write it. The St. Louis coach produced a 10-page article entitled "The Forward Pass and the On-Side Kick" for the 1907 edition of Spalding's ''How to Play Football'', a booklet that Camp edited. The coach explained in words and photographs (of Robinson) how the forward pass could be thrown and how passing skills could be developed. "[T]he necessary brevity of this article will not permit of a detailed discussion of the forward pass," Cochems lamented. "Should I begin to explain the different plays in which the pass... could figure, I would invite myself to an endless task." |
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The coach even urged the redesign of the football itself... to make it better fit the passer's hand... more aerodynamic... in other words the football we know today. |
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The ''[[St. Louis Globe-Democrat|St. Louis Star's]]'' W.G. Murphy (William G. "Billy" Murphy, 1875-1925) reported on November 7, 1906 that the prostelitizing included indoctrinating the youngest fans: "In pursuance with Coach Cochems' plan to popularize the new game, [Clarence "Pike"] Kenney, Schneider, Acker, Robinson and other members of St. Louis U.'s team visited a number of the local schools Monday and addressed the students on the fine points of the game." |
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==Cochems invention largely unappreciated== |
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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. |
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Coach Nelson concluded that, "eastern football had little respect for football west of [[Carlisle Indians|Carlise, Pennsylvania]]... [they] may not have recognized what was happening in the West, but the new forward-passing game was off to an impressive start." |
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Cochems would lead the Blue and White eleven through the 1908 season. He complied a 24-5-2 coaching record at the [[Jesuit]] school.<ref>[http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/records/fetch-team.pl?team=Saint_Louis All-Time Records for St. Louis at stassen.com]</ref> He coached the [[University of Maine]] to a 6-3 season in 1914 but, upon his departure from [[Orono, Maine|Orono]], he would disappear from the sport. |
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==Earlier career as athlete & coach== |
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Before becoming a coach, Cochems was a standout player for the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]] from 1897 to 1901.<ref>[http://www2.jsonline.com/sports/century/oct99/century11101199.asp Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online, October 11, 1999]</ref> |
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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 35-0 victory. |
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Football historian and pioneering coach [[Parke H. Davis]] believed there was "no exploit in football so difficult of achievement and so rare as the full-field run from kick-off to touch-down." Writing in the November 1913 issue of ''[[St. Nicholas Magazine]]'', Davis, who coached Wisconsin in 1893, went so far as to say, "Theoretically, such a performance would seem to be impossible. Actually, however, it has been accomplished thirteen times against elevens of major strength in the past forty years, and probably has been achieved as many more against minor teams." Davis reported that Cochems "caught the ball from kick-off on his ten-yard line, and dashed and dodged, plunged and writhed through all opponents for a touch-down... Cochem's great flight presented all of the features of speed, skill, and chance which must combine to, make possible the full-field run... he boldly laid his course against the very center of Chicago's oncoming forwards, bursting their central bastion, and then cleverly sprinting and dodging the secondary defenders." |
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Cochems was credited with four touchdowns in a 54-0 trouncing of [[Notre Dame Fighting Irish football|Notre Dame]] in 1900. |
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The Badgers posted a 35-4 record during his four seasons of play |
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According to the official website of Badger athletics<ref>[http://www.uwbadgers.com/ Official website of Badger athletics]</ref> and ''The Wisconsin alumni magazine'' Volume 30, Number 10 (July 1929), Cochems was a three-sport participant at UW, playing football, track and [[baseball]]. |
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Cochems served as [[head coach|head football coach]] at North Dakota Agricultural College (now [[North Dakota State University]]) in 1902 and 1903 <ref>[http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_year_by_year.php?coachid=402 College Football Data Warehouse]</ref>, before returning to [[Madison, Wisconsin|Madison]], where he would encounter the player who would change his career. Robinson had played for the Badgers in 1903. He was working out with the team prior to the 1904 season when Cochems re-joined the Badgers as an assistant coach. They weren't together long at Wisconsin. Robinson got into a fight with the "school bully" and was dismissed from the team. He transferred to St. Louis where he played the 1904 season. |
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The next year, Cochems departed to become head coach at [[Clemson University|Clemson]] for the 1905 season. |
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According to Robinson's memoirs and contemporary newspaper accounts, Robinson played a key role in St. Louis' decision to hire Cochems for the 1906 season. |
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==Organizer and political activist== |
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After leaving St. Louis, Cochems began a life as an "organizer, speaker and as political campaigner."<ref>''The Capital Times'', April 9, 1953</ref> |
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According to his obituary in Madison's ''[[The Capital Times]]'', "Cochems was director of the National Speakers Bureau in 1912 during the campaign of [[Theodore Roosevelt]], and again in 1916 during the [[Charles Evans Hughes|Hughes]] campaign. He also served actively in the [[Calvin Coolidge|Coolidge]] and [[Herbert Hoover|Hoover]] campaigns." |
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He was a national organizer for the American [[Commission for Relief in Belgium]]. |
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During [[World War I]], he served as executive secretary of the New York Mayor's Committee on National Defense and served as the civilian aide to the Adj. General at Long Island.<ref>''The Wisconsin alumni magazine'', Volume 19, Number 9, July 1918</ref> |
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Cochems led an effort to end [[Prohibition]] as the president of the Association of American Rights -- Repeal of the [[18th Amendment]]. |
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He also served on the staff of the Gibson Private Relief Association of New York. |
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==Family== |
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Cochems married May Mullen of Madison in August 1902. They were together until his death and had five children: daughter Elizabeth and sons John, Henry, Phillip and David, who was killed in action in [[Essen, Germany]] in the closing weeks of [[World War II]]. |
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Cochems died after a long illness on April 9, 1953 in the same Madison hospital in which his 14th grandchild had been born a week earlier.<ref>''The Capital Times'', April 9, 1953</ref> |
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==Honors== |
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Cochems is a member of St. Louis Billiken Hall of Fame <ref>[http://slubillikens.cstv.com/boosters/stlo-boosters-hof-members.html Billiken Hall of Fame]</ref>, The University of Wisconsin Division of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame and the Madison Sports Hall of Fame. |
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He was named one of the 30 greatest [[Wisconsin]] athletes of the 20th century in the [[December 27]], [[1999]] issue of ''[[Sports Illustrated]]''.<ref>[http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/1999/states/wisconsin/ CNN/Sports Illustrated: The 50 Greatest Sports Figures: Wisconsin]</ref> |
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==Sources== |
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* [[Bradbury Robinson|Wikipedia article on Bradbury Robinson]] |
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* St. Louis University archives |
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* University of Wisconsin archives |
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* Boyles, Bob and Guido, Paul, ''50 Years of College Football'', 2007 |
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* Gregorian, Vahe, "100 years of Forward Passing; SLU Was the Pioneer", ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', September 4, 2006 |
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* Nelson, David M., ''Anatomy of a Game: Football, the Rules, and the Men Who Made the Game'', 1994 |
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* Danzig, Allison, ''The History of American Football: Its Great Teams, Players, and Coaches'', Page 34, 1956 |
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* ''Wisconsin alumnus'', Volume 54, Number 10, May 1953 |
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* ''[[St. Nicholas Magazine]]'', November 1913 |
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* ''The Wisconsin alumni magazine'', Volume 15, Number 2, November 1913 |
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* ''American Gymnasia and Athletic Record'', Volume IV, No. 5, Whole Number 41, Page 62, January 1908 |
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* Cochems, Eddie, "The Forward Pass and the On-Side Kick", Spalding's ''How to Play Football''; Camp, Walter, editor, 1907 |
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* Scrapbook of Bradbury N. Robinson, Jr., 1903-1949 |
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==References== |
==References== |
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*[http://lit.lib.ru/k/kriwosheina_ksenija_igorewna/ivanerchov-7.shtml Calendar events from life of Ivan Yershov (in Russian)] |
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{{reflist|1}} |
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*''The Record of Singing'', Volume 1, by Michael Scott; Duckworth, London, 1978. |
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*''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera'' (second edition), by Harold Rosenthal and John Warrack; Oxford University Press, London, 1980. |
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[[Category:Russian opera singers]] |
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Revision as of 04:42, 10 October 2008
(Mariinsky Theatre, 1919)
Ivan Vasiliyevitch Yershov or Ershov (Russian: Иван Васильевич Ершов), born November 8, 1863 - died November 21, 1943, was a great Russian opera singer. He became famous for his performances of some of the most demanding roles ever written for the dramatic tenor voice.
Yershov came from a poor family. He entered the Aleksandrovsk railroad school in 1884 which he finished in 1887. The next year he entered the Moscow Conservatory and, in December of that year, entered the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, being assigned to the class of of S. I. Habel. He received vocal training between 1891 and 1893 and performed the part of Gounod's Faust in Saint Petersburg in 1893. In 1894, he travelled to Italy to study singing further in Milan. While in Italy, he performed the roles of Don Jose and Canio in Carmen and Pagliacci respectively.
He returned to Russia and, during the 1894-95 season, appeared at the Kharkov opera in such roles as Romeo in Roméo et Juliette, Arturo in I puritani, Samson in Samson and Delilah and Ernani in Ernani.
In January 1895, he debuted at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg in the title role of Faust. He went on to perform in a large number of operas there, including Eugene Onegin (as Lenski). He sang also the title roles in Tannhäuser and Lohengrin, and appeared as Faust in Mefistofele.
Yershov added the part of Roland in Esclarmonde to his Mariinsky repertoire in 1897. In 1900, he appeared as Tristan in Tristan und Isolde and Raoul in Les Huguenots. He sang the title role in Otello the following year, and that of Siegfried in Siegfried in 1902. He appeared also as Radames in Aida and Paolo in Francesca da Rimini, both performances taking place in 1904. Other roles which he sang included Sobinin, Tsar Berendey, Sadko and Golitsyn
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, he concentrated most of his activities on staging operas and teaching voice at the Leningrad Conservatory, although, in February 1919, he sang the leading role in a revival of Kashchey the Deathless. He also sang Truffaldino in The Love for Three Oranges, which had been first performred in Chicago in 1921. He retired from the Mariinsky stage in 1929 and died in 1943, during the height of the Second World War.
Yershov is generally considered to be one of the world's finest tenors of the past 125 years. His high reputation is confirmed by the handful of recordings which he made in 1903 and which are now available on CD reissues. They show that he possessed a powerful, wide-ranging voice with a gleaming tone, steady intonation and an impressive technique. Russian music critics and audiences praised the intense quality of his acting, too.
References
- Calendar events from life of Ivan Yershov (in Russian)
- The Record of Singing, Volume 1, by Michael Scott; Duckworth, London, 1978.
- The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera (second edition), by Harold Rosenthal and John Warrack; Oxford University Press, London, 1980.