Pushball in the DePaulia

Pushball is a game in which two teams of eleven push a 50 pound ball, approximately 6 feet in diameter, through goal posts at opposite ends of a 140 yard long field. Invented in 1894, pushball was played at Harvard University the following year sparking a trend at other schools around the country. DePaul University adopted the game in 1927 as an outgrowth of the annual Thanksgiving freshman-sophomore football game. By the 1940s the sport had become an annual means of settling the rivalry between freshmen and upperclassmen. After DePaul’s pushball was discovered to have a leak in 1975, the tradition was replaced with a Tug-of-War match. A new ball was purchased for one final battle in 1981. 

Front page of The DePaulia 10/16/1953, published by DePaul University, Chicago.

Front page of The DePaulia 10/05/1962, published by DePaul University, Chicago.