1905

Spring
The Western Conference adopted major changes in its regulations governing football, limiting the number of intercollegiate games to five per season and declaring graduate students ineligible to compete. The new rules also stipulated that no one could play intercollegiate athletics for more than three years and that no training table or training quarters would be permitted. Furthermore, the six-month residence requirement before a player could be eligible was extended to a full year. The conference also recommended that steps be taken “to reduce athletic receipts and expenses.”

1905
Where will the notion of a team mascot lead? The 1905 team photo includes a youth named Kent Philip Akerman, identified as the mascot, and a very young boy, Arthur Reddick, identified as the “Pet.”

Writing for the Hawkeye yearbook at the end of the season, an unknown author claimed that “the days of good old football are passed. A new game is rapidly evolving. As the game is played now, it is only for a few who are fortunately gifted with powerful physiques. Whether the new game will be a game for everybody, as the changes are indicating, and become so hampered and complicated with rules that the spice and glory are taken out of it, can only be told with experience.”