Rise of Intercollegiate Sport

By themid-1840s and 1850s，the sportof rowing enjoyed considerable popularity.Rowing clubs were formed formiddle-and upper-classmen and their sons，and rowing matches began to play a significant role in athletic life for young whitemen at some of the elite Eastern universities.Sons of the wealthy organized a collegiate rowing club at Yale College in New Haven，Connecticut，in 1843：“William J.Weeks，'44，purchased a four-oared Whitehall boat in New York，and bringing it to New Haven formed with Henry W.Buel，John W.Dulles，John McLoud，Virgil M.D.Marcy，John P.Marshall，and William Smith the first boat club at Yale，and which was also the first rowing organization at any American college”.Spurred by Yale's club and by the Chelsea regattas of the 1840s，Harvard College followed suit by forming its own rowing club in 1844.The“Yale oarsmen had their eyes on” the progress of Harvard's club，which in time led to a challenge to Harvard“‘to test the superiority of the oarsmen of the two colleges，'and a race was arranged for August 3，1852”.This crew race marked the first intercollegiate sporting contest in the United States.

The enthusiasm for this first collegiate regatta led to another rowingmatch，when Yale issued another challenge to Harvard in 1855.The race took place on the Connecticut River at Springfield，Massachusetts，and once again Harvard triumphed.The advent of the Civil War in 1861，however，halted the regattas，andmany of the youngmen wentoff towar.When intercollegiate regattas resumed in 1864，the increasing rivalry between Yale and Harvard，along with Yale's intense desire to win，brought about a shift in tactics，as Yale students hired a professional coach.

7-10　RoWing M atch Between Yale and Harvard

The first intercollegiate baseball game was played in Massachusetts in July 1859，with Amherst College defeating Williams College by a score of 73-32.College baseball，however，did not take off as fast as other collegiate sports，such as rowing and，later，football and track and field.College football was first played in the United States in 1869 by Rutgers and Princeton.