Former pastime comes full circle

By Mary O'Donohue
Assistant CU125 Editor

Although push ball may not ring a bell for any of today’s athletes, it was not long ago that this game was played right here on Creighton’s campus.

Rosemary Gross was a student at Creighton from 1953 to 1957 and was a math and computer science teacher until her recent retirement in 2000. During the homecoming festivities of 1956, her sorority Theta Phi Alpha played the sorority Theta Epsilon in a push ball tournament.

“ Push ball was basically two teams trying to push a huge ball against each other,” Gross said. “We would put as many people around it as we could and just started shoving.”

The goal of push ball was to roll an oversized inflatable ball past the other team in order to score on the other side of the field.

The balls were 6 feet in diameter and weighed 50 pounds.  However, with enough people on each side of the ball, the pressure could shoot the ball in the air as players tried to steer it in the right direction.

“ It was a huge canvas ball that had quite a bit of weight to it,” Gross said. “It was very hard to get off the ground because it was so heavy.”

Teams typically consisted of 11 or more players.              

“ It is one of the games that didn’t have any rules,” Gross said. “There was no safety equipment, but for that game we borrowed Creighton Prep’s football uniforms. When we went out on the field everyone was surprised. No one was expecting that.  The other team was just in jeans and sweatshirts.”

The games at Creighton took place in the old football stadium. The field was 120 yards long and about 50 yards wide, although these measurements could be adapted to fit any field size.

In push ball the goal was two posts 20 feet apart and 18 feet high with a bar suspended across the middle. 

When the ball was rolled under the bar the team scored five points, but when the ball was lifted over the bar the team received eight. The game often was played without the top bar.

Gross found push ball to be a good break from the normal routine of everyday life.

“ Back then there were no nonvarsity sports for women because there weren’t a lot of us around,” Gross said. “There were only 42 wom en in my freshman class.”

In the fall of 2003, the Residence Life department integrated push ball into the student staff’s training regimen.

“ It was a part of our team building activities,” said Katie Kubovy, resident advisor on the second floor of Swanson Hall. “It was really important to work with everyone on the team in order to make progress.”

A few unfortunate factors contributed to the demise of push ball.

Push ball was noted for being just as, if not more, physically demanding as football or soccer. With no real standardized safety equipment, injuries such as split lips, knocked-out teeth and broken noses were common.

“ It was a little dangerous because we got trampled,” Kubovy said.  “We had a lot of people on our team, so when everyone tried to push the ball you had people pushing people.”

In addition to the high risk of injury, the balls lacked durability. The extreme pressure applied to the push ball caused the shells to spring leaks and collapse.

“ We were all pushing on the ball so hard that the colorful outer layer cover broke,” Kubovy said. “Inside the outer case was a canvas ball that reminded me of an exercise ball, except heavier.”

It also can be an expensive sport to maintain. 

“ Creighton owned the push ball,” Gross said. “I don’t remember if we had to rent it or not, but it was difficult to store.”

Creighton no longer owns a push ball available for student use, but refined versions of the push ball that are much lighter, cheaper and more durable are available on the Internet and at athletic equipment stores.