New Tag Game: Picture Post of Davidson’s Most Unique Sport

Flickerball is a uniquely Davidson sport – first invented on campus in the fall of 1951, flickerball was originally called tag football or tag game. As an article in the October 12, 1951 issue of The Davidsonian states, tag football’s “only resemblance to actual football is the ball.” This new tag game combined some rules of basketball and tag football, and evolved over the years from a fraternity-dominated pastime to an intramural sport played by nearly all Davidson College freshmen on dormitory hall teams.

“Greeks End Week of New Tag Game,” in *The Davidsonian*, October 12, 1951.

As an article by Jack Efird in the October 5, 1951 Davidsonian says, “This fall a new type of football will be introduced onto the intra-fraternity gridiron. Because of numerous injuries incurred last year and in past years, touch football has been dropped from play and tag football has been substituted.” The Davidsonian faithfully covered flickerball games weekly over the fall season from the inaugural championship in 1951 (won by the Kappa Alpha team) until the mid-1980s.

While the game was created with the intention of being safer than football, flickerball has still resulted in some gnarly injuries, as illustrated in the November 10, 2010 Davidsonian article, “Flickerball: Freshman fun or blood sport?” Author Sarah Welty points to the change from flag to touch play as a possible reason for the increase of injuries in “the part football, part ultimate Frisbee hybrid we all know and love.”

This week, we thought we’d share some of the images we have of this Davidson sport being played and practiced throughout the years.

From the back of a photograph in our collections: “Flickerball – The Davidson Brand of Touch Football.”

The Phi Delta Theta fraternity flickerball team, champs of the 1959-1960 season.

A group of students play flickerball behind the Sigma Alpha Episilon house on Patterson Court, 1964.

Two members of the Sigma Phi Epsilon team play flickerball, fall 1974.

Fall 1974, the caption on this photo reads: "Girl's Flickerball - Zoo vs. Thesty." — Fall 1974, the caption on this photo reads: “Girl’s Flickerball – Zoo vs. Thesty.”

A group of Davidson students play flickerball, fall 1975.

Davidson students play fickerball even in the rain! The caption on the reverse of this photograph reads: "Social life. Flickerball in rain, Sept. '77." — Davidson students play flickerball even in the rain! The caption on the reverse of this photograph reads: “Social life. Flickerball in rain, Sept. ’77.”

A group of students play flickerball, circa 1980s.

Students practice their flickerball skills, fall 1984. — Students practice flickerball, fall 1984.

Susan MacDonald (Class of 1986) throws the ball in a flickerball game, circa 1984.

Members of the Rusk House team huddle, fall 1985.

The caption on the back of this photograph reads: Flickerball - Fall '85 - Rusk - Lillean Woo - '86." One student pictured is Lillian Grace Woo (Class of 1986). — The caption on the back of this photograph lets us know that the players huddling are on the 1985 Rusk House flickerball team, including Lillian Grace “Beadsie” Woo (Class of 1986).

Davidson students honing their flickerball skills, circa 1990.

Connor House, one of the college eating houses, fields a team for the 1995 flickerball season. — Connor House fields a team for the 1995 flickerball season.

While flickerball is a fall sport, with the coming of lovely spring weather Davidsonians may want to venture outdoors to practice their “new tag game” skills!

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