The Origins of the Onside Kick
October 15, 2024
As you can tell, there were a lot of crucial onside kicks. One of the better ones occurred during that Oregon vs. Ohio State game, where the Oregon kicker bounced the ball off a Huckeye then raced in to recover it. A lot of people speculated on whether that kick was intentional and I'm still not sure myself.
But I do know that the first onside kick was quite intentional, though not as an attempt by the kicking team to get the ball back. Way back in 1927 Duke was hosting rival North Carolina State. Late in the game, with NC State leading 20-12, Duke scored. Back then there was no two point conversion and Duke missed the extra point. But there was controversy on the extra point as Duke fullback and kicker Jan Jankoski Cupp was roughed on the play by NC State star "Black Jack" McDowell. The refs didn't call a foul on the play, which infuriated Jan.
In that era teams didn't even think of trying onside kicks, instead they just kicked deep and played defense. But Jan was really angry. He saw McDowell lined up to block on the kickoff return so he booted the ball right at McDowell and hit him in the crotch. McDowell fell over in pain and a Duke player landed on the ball. The referees ruled, correctly, that the ball belonged to Duke. The Blue Devils drove down the field. However, once again, Jan missed a key kick as McDowell ran up and kicked him in the groin but again was not called for a foul. The Wolfpack held on for a 20-18 win.
As a result of the final minutes of the game the NCAA issued three new rulings - first that onside kicks were now permitted, second that kicks to the groin were no longer permitted, and third that players would now be required to wear groin protection. In honor of the ill-fated eventually childless Duke kicker, these devices were nicknamed Cupps.
And now you know the rest of the story.