Sweating it Out: The Shocking Conditioning Secrets of 1923 Football

We often think of football conditioning as a precise science of hydration, nutrition, and tailored strength programs. But a century ago, the rules of getting in shape were dramatically different. Darin Hayes of Pigskin Dispatch recently dove into the past with Timothy Brown of Football Archaeology to explore an article from the 1923 season, revealing the bizarre, and sometimes dangerous, training philosophies that shaped early gridiron stars.

The episode stems from one of Tim's Tidbits titled: How Conditioning took place in 1923.

The primary source for this peek into the past is the Wilson Athletic Library, a series of publications giving professional advice for the era. The specific guidance on "conditioning" came from two knowledgeable figures: Potsy Clark, a coach at Kansas (and a future NFL head coach), and John Griffith, the influential commissioner of the Big Ten. Their shared philosophy was heavily rooted in tradition and what they believed to be common sense, even when it defied basic human physiology.

The Dangerous Doctrine of "Water Discipline"

The most striking, and arguably most harmful, advice given was the strict adherence to water discipline: explicitly telling athletes not to drink water close to or during practice. This widespread but dangerous belief held that withholding water would make players tougher, similar to the old notion of not swimming after eating.

As Timothy Brown points out, this practice put players in significant danger, especially when combined with the gear of the era. Everything worn was cotton, wool, or leather—heavy, non-wicking fabrics that made it impossible for players to perspire properly and cool down. Depriving yourself of water while wearing gear that traps heat only compounded the risk of heat-related illness.

The Summer Slump Philosophy

The coaches of 1923 also held a remarkably casual attitude toward summer training. Conditioning, in their minds, wasn't something players needed a formal program for. Instead, the ideal preparation was for athletes to be "farm boys" or to engage in "good outdoor labor" like construction, dock work, or lifeguarding. Any kind of heavy, physical work outside was deemed superior to formalized pre-season training, because that, as Brown notes, is what "training camp was for."

Training camp itself was the six-week period designed to get the players in shape. This philosophy was exemplified by the tales of players like Red Grange, who gained legendary strength hauling massive blocks of ice, earning him the nickname "Wheat and Iceman."

The Art of Avoiding "Staleness"

Clark and Griffith's advice also focused on the non-physical elements of team administration, especially avoiding the dreaded state of "staleness." They believed a coach must walk a delicate balance: working the athletes hard, but not overworking them. If a player was "stale," it was considered the worst thing that could happen to their performance.

The key barometer for a coach to know if they had pushed the team too far? Player complaints. While lazy players would complain regardless, a coach knew they had crossed the line when even the hard-working, dedicated athletes started voicing their displeasure.

The contrast between the rudimentary, sometimes dangerous, conditioning of 1923 and the hyper-scientific training of today is a fascinating look at how far the gridiron has evolved. It proves that even a century ago, coaches were desperate to find that competitive edge, even if they were wrong about the most fundamental elements of human survival.

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Now onto our episode.

Hello, my football friends.

This is Darren Hayes of pigskindispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portal to positive football history.

And welcome to another Tuesday.

It's footballarchaeology.com day.

And Timothy Brown, the founder of that fine site is with us once again to, to tell us about some great football history.

Tim, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hey Derek, good to see you again.

It's, it's going to be an opportunity for me to whip you into shape a little bit, buddy.

Whip me into shape.

All right.

Well, I need it because it's been a long, hard summer and got to get ready for these holidays coming up.

So, so you have a, of course you're, you're segueing into conditioning piece that you wrote a little while back.

So 102 years ago.

Almost 103 years ago now.

Yeah.

What can you tell us about this?

Yeah, so this, this article is based off of what was called the Wilson Athletic Library.

But so Wilson developed a comparable line that, I mean, to my knowledge they sold them.

You know, there's a price tag on these things and, and, but in 23 they introduced a series of them.

And so I've got like six or seven of them that there's like six or seven football ones and I've got all but one.

And so they're just kind of fun, you know, the, so the, the one on that they, you know, basically say it's on conditioning was written by Potsy Clark, who played at Illinois, was the coach of Kansas at the time, and then, you know, ended up he was the head coach of the Lions.

He coached, you know, a number of places.

And then the other guy was John Griffith, who was the commissioner of the Big Ten, you know, who had coached, you know, in his day.

So, you know, these are two knowledgeable people and you know, kind of in the, you know, in the midst of big time athletics.

And so, so it's just funny to see what they thought and kind of their attitude towards things.

So one of the great things, it's just that they basically would say or did say not to drink water close to or during practice.

Right.

That whole water discipline thing, you know, we've talked about it before, but you know, just a fascinating thing that, you know, somehow people develop this belief not to drink water and that that was the best thing.

And, you know, it's like the old thing about, you know, don't eat before you go swimming, you know, that same kind of thing.

It's like, you know, it's not something you really should be, you know, worrying about.

But in the case of water, you know, depriving yourself of water, depriving your team of water, you know, put all kinds of people in danger.

And especially given the gear that they wore at the time.

You know, everything was cotton or wool or leather and it just got heavy and, you know, you couldn't perspire properly.

You know, there's a reason we have wicking fabrics today, right?

So, you know, maybe, you know, 100 years from now, they'll look back at what we're doing and say, well, those guys were, well, not drinking water.

Yeah, water, but anyways.

But, but then along.

That was a lot of.

So what he called, or what they called conditioning oftentimes just involved, just general.

How do you administer a team, how do you work them out, how do you plan your practice schedule?

Because they end up spending a fair amount of time talking about things like, you know, not that players really didn't need to condition during the summer.

Right.

You know, kind of the ideal thing in their minds was if they're a farm boy who, you know for sure was going to be working, doing good outdoor labor, but otherwise, you know, if you could be a lifeguard, a camp counselor, you know, maybe work construction, anything to be outside, physically active, that was going to do a whole lot more good than any kind of conditioning program.

Because that, that's what training camp was for.

And, you know, if you think even of, like, baseball, training camp, you know, those things, you know, I remember when they lasted, like, six weeks.

I think they're a little bit shorter now.

But, you know, nobody worked out.

Nobody stayed in shape.

So camp was the time to get in shape.

And so that, you know, this whole book, you know, kind of follows that philosophy.

They would have had some good support at that time, too, because Red Grange would have been a college student at that time.

And he became the Wheat and Iceman because he carried those giant ice blocks up there.

And that's what.

That's what he claimed made him so strong and good at football.

Yeah, well.

And, you know, there is, you know, I know I grew up more in a city.

City environment.

And so, you know, sometimes we'd go wrestle, you know, these smaller towns, you know, and we always talked about, you know, farm boys, strong.

Know, these guys, these wrestlers, you know, they may not have been in the work room a whole lot, but, you know, they were pretty strong kids anyways.

But, you know, that was kind of the.

The mentality.

And so, you know, the other thing that they.

That they used to talk about a lot about was that you didn't want your athletes to get stale, you know, so there was this balance of working them hard but not overworking them, because if you overwork them, then they get stale.

And that's like the worst, you know, worst thing that can happen, you know.

And I mean, I guess, you know, for sure there's some kind of truth to it.

You know, we now, to some level, know how to, you know, train to peak, though I think that's not so much the case in football.

Right.

As it may be in track or, you know, something like that.

But anyways, there this whole notion of being stale.

And then if you're a coach, the.

The best way to know whether you're overworking your kids or not is if they.

Depending on how much they.

They complain, you know, so you want them to complain, especially the lazier ones, right?

But when the kids who love to work start complaining that, oh, man, you've gone too far, right?

So anyways, there's just the.

The whole volume is just, you know, it's maybe, I don't know, 40 pages or something like that, but it's just filled with nuggets like that.

And it's kind of interesting, though, if you really think about what's going on, you know, lately in football.

You know, of course, the hydration thing probably really came to fruition probably in the early 90s, I'm guessing, if I remember correctly, because I remember back when I was in high school, it was still the same.

You know, you don't drink water during practice, waters for after practice, you know.

And, and the other thing is with professional sports, I know there's a lot of claims, especially in NFL, that there, since they do not have very many padded practices anymore, that they become soft and that's why there's poor tackling and poor hitting and because they just avoid contact during practice.

They avoid it during games.

So.

Yeah.

Kind of interesting, the dichotomy here.

Yeah.

Now, I mean, in my mind, the water thing changed in the 60s when Gatorade came out.

You know, that was a, that was the high water mark of, of the water discipline.

Now, I'm sure, and especially, you know, depending on high schools and things like that, sometimes the word didn't get out, you know, but like, you know, even.

You know, it didn't make it to Erie, Pennsylvania, I can tell you that.

While it was out there in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, I can tell you that.

Yeah.

So, yeah, you know, it's just one of those things.

I mean, I, I remember like in college, the, you could drink water, all the water you wanted during practice.

I mean, as long as you weren't in a drill or something.

And, and certainly during, and then in games and after practice Gatorade was available.

So, you know, and that was just a budget thing.

I can remember like basketball practices with the drinking fountains right there in the gym, right where you're running and, and coach were saying, oh, you guys want that drink?

You know, run a couple more sprints.

Let's go.

You'd have to run sprints until somebody would sink like three free throws in a row and then you could end practice.

But yeah, it's, it's horrible.

Well, and the, the other thing that's different too.

It's just that the in season weight training, you know, that, you know, I mean, back in the day, a lot of places just, you know, high school, small colleges just didn't have the facilities.

And you know, if they had a, a universal gym, you know, that was a big deal.

And you know, now even small colleges has some really beautiful facilities, you know, for weight training and, and everything else, every other form of training.

So it's kind of become a bit of an arms race.

You know, though I think for smaller colleges, a lot of times the facilities are built as, you know, there's going to be varsity facilities, but by and large, for the student body overall, you Know, they're not as targeted to the.

To the varsity athletes.

Yeah, I was shocked.

My daughter goes to a Division 2 college here near Gannon University.

And, you know, Gannon and I go by it all the time.

You know, it's right here in town.

But I didn't realize they have this one building, which I thought was.

They call the rec center.

And we went in there.

I thought it was just a gymnasium.

You go in there, they have half of a football field in this brick building.

You know, they're.

They're practicing in there.

They have a full, you know, full outdoor stadium.

But just.

I couldn't believe this little school had.

Has a facility like that, which is pretty nice.

Yeah.

And.

Well, I mean, you can.

I mean, the beauty of it is you can use it for a lot of things.

I mean, the whole development of artificial turf, you know, allows any number of teams to.

To play on a tur.

That turf, whether it's indoors or outdoors.

And so those.

Those things tend to see a fair amount of use.

You know, even like intramural soccer or lacrosse or whatever.

You know, they can.

They can do something like that, you know, indoors during the.

During the winter.

Because it.

I heard it snows in the area every once in a while.

Yeah, it's an occasional thing.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's for sure.

Well, very interesting.

This is, you know, taking us back 100 some years.

It's grabbing an era of football that many of us today, you know, are unfamiliar with and really shed some light on what some of the forefathers of football players and coaches were thinking and thought process.

And you do this a lot in your tidbits, and maybe you could share with the listeners how they can take in some of your tidbits and enjoy some of this.

Sure.

Just go to footballarchaology.com it's a substack site.

So either sign up, meaning, you know, if you.

If you subscribe, then you'll get it.

Get an email every time that I publish a new one, and which tends to be a couple times a week, plus the, you know, this podcast, and then otherwise just, you know, bookmark it.

Or, you know, you can also follow me on Blue sky and because I. I do publish it on there every time that I.

Or posted on there every time.

So kind of whatever floats your boat.

All right, well, we sure appreciate you sharing this with us today, and we'd love to talk to you again next week.

Very good.

Thank you.

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