Pushball

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. 

Pushball contest held on the shore of Lake Michigan, from The DePaulian 1964, published by DePaul University, Chicago.

Pushball... A Twenty Year Record Shattered, from The DePaulian 1962, published by DePaul University, Chicago. 

Pushball section of The DePaulian 1965, published by DePaul University, Chicago.

Girl covered in mud at pushball, from the Signpost 1968-1969, published by DePaul University, Chicago.

Students wrestling in mud at pushball. 1971.

Jim Higgins covered in mud at pushball, from The DePaulian 1971, published by DePaul University, Chicago. 

Mary Dickson covered in mud at pushball, from The DePaulian 1971, published by DePaul University, Chicago.