Vintage Athletes - Part 40

 Muybridge - Other Athletics

We continue our look at the stop-motion photography of Eadweard Muybridge, published in his 1887 book Animal Locomotion. Muybridge did his work at the University of Pennsylvania, and his subjects were mostly students, graduates, or teachers at the university.  Today we look at some miscellaneous sports.

Each plate in Animal Locomotion consists of a series of photos taken at split-second intervals.  I made all of the gifs in this post from the photos on the plates.

We begin with football.  Above is plate 300, called "Foot-ball drop kick."  The model is model 63, who has not been identified.

This is another view of plate 300, "Foot-ball drop kick."  Muybridge often took photographs from two different angles.

This is Plate 301, called "Foot-ball punt."  The model is again model 63, who is unidentified, but presumably he was a Penn student who played football.

Note that the ball is more or less round.  In the 1880s, when Muybridge was taking these photos, football was evolving from a rugby-like game into the modern American game, largely due to changes introduced by Walter Camp of Yale, the "father of American football".  The modern-shaped ball was not developed until after 1906, when the forward pass was legalized, making passing as important as running the ball and kicking.

Above is plate 154, called "Jumping; running straight high jump."  The model is model 26, unidentified, but probably a Penn track and field athlete.

This is plate 165, pole vaulting.  The model is model 46, Jacob K. Shell.  He's not vaulting over a bar here, just demonstrating how to vault for Muybridge's cameras.

Above is Dr. Jacob K. Shell (1862-1940) later in life.  He was a talented football player at Penn, lettering four times in the late 1870s and early 1880s.  He graduated with a degree in medicine and dentistry.

This is plate 294, called "Lawn Tennis; serving."  The model is model 25, Morris Hacker, Jr.  This is one of the most widely reproduced gifs from Muybridge's book.

Like many of the plates in the book, plate 294 shows the action from two different angles.  Here's the seldom-seen rear view of Morris Hacker, Jr. serving at tennis.

This is Morris Hacker, Jr. in 1890, a few years after Muybridge's photos of him.  Hacker was on the Penn baseball team, and Muybridge also photographed him batting and pitching.

There are a couple of other plates showing tennis.  This is plate 486, called "Lawn tennis," with model 102, unidentified.

We end with plate 488, also called "Lawn tennis," with model 96, unidentified.