O. D. Thompson
| Date of birth | September 24, 1855 |
|---|---|
| Place of birth | Butler, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Date of death | June 10, 1925 (aged 69) |
| Place of death | Edgeworth, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Career information | |
| Position(s) | Halfback/Fullback/Tackle |
| College | Yale |
| Career history | |
| As player | |
| 1890–1894 | Allegheny Athletic Association |
| As manager | |
| 1890–1891, 1893–1896 | Allegheny Athletic Association |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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Oliver David Thompson, Esq. (September 24, 1855 - June 10, 1925) was an early football player at Yale, who played alongside Walter Camp. After his time at Yale, Thompson played, and served as the manager, for the Allegheny Athletic Association. However Thompson is best known for paying Pudge Heffelfinger $500 to play for Allegheny against their rivals, the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. Thompson's historic actions went unnoticed until the 1960s, when an 1892 account ledger prepared by Thompson – while he was manager of the Allegheny Athletic Association – included the line: "Game performance bonus to W. Heffelfinger for playing (cash) $500." The ledger is currently on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Thompson played the position of halfback alongside Walter Camp at Yale from 1876 through 1878. Before this, Camp had developed the current game of football from the sport, rugby. Since Thompson had worked with Camp for three years, this qualified him as the foremost gridiron authority in western Pennsylvania. In 1879, Thompson became the first Yale football player to score against Harvard.
While at Yale, Thompson and Camp executed the first "legal" forward pass in football history. On November 30, 1876, Yale was playing Princeton in Hoboken, New Jersey. Early in the game, Camp ran for a good gain on a play, however when he was finally tackled, he threw the ball forward to Thompson, who ran for a touchdown. The Princeton players protested the play. Since the rules of football were still unclear in 1876, a coin toss was used by the referee to decide if the play stood. Yale won the toss and the touchdown stood. However, according to one of Yale's "special rules" that were agreed upon before the game by both teams, the touchdown didn't count in the scoring, however the point after did to give Yale a 1-0 lead. Later Thompson would also successfully threw the ball forward as he was being tackled. Princeton didn't bother to protest the play this time and Yale went on to win the game 2-0. The forward pass was then banned after that game. However, when the forward pass was legalized in 1906, Walter Camp opposed the idea.
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