Universal Pictures’ Him heads into theaters this weekend, offering a glimpse into the brutal world of professional football from producer Jordan Peele. While the story is set within a fictional professional football league, it’s clearly meant to skewer the high-stakes world of the NFL. It also offers a few odd tidbits of history along the way.
The film centers on the intersecting careers of two quarterbacks — San Antonio Saviors legend Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans) and his potential successor, Cam Cade (Tyriq Withers). After a bizarre injury and a lackluster performance at the combine, Cade spends a week with White at his lavish compound to try and mentor him, though there are much more sinister undertones.
When Cam first arrives at Isaiah’s lavish abode, there is a small scene that not only foreshadows what’s to come in the film (which has gotten lackluster reviews), but will be quite familiar to football historians. Isaiah tells Cam a story, referencing one of the greatest athletes of all time, though he conflates that story with another historical feat.
How Jim Thorpe Is Referenced In Him
During their first meeting, Isaiah shows Cam some ancient football uniforms and tells him a story about how the unheralded team at Carlisle pulled off a historic upset of Harvard, back when the Ivy League school was a gridiron powerhouse. Surprisingly, there is no direct reference to Jim Thorpe, considered by many to be the greatest athlete of all time.
Carlisle did actually upset Harvard, way back in 1911, with Thorpe himself kicking four field goals in the Carlisle Indians’ 18-15 defeat of the Harvard Crimson, still considered one of the greatest college football upsets of all time. It’s unclear why the filmmakers would directly reference Carlisle and not Thorpe himself, though the second part of the story Isaiah tells Cam actually isn’t true.
The Carlisle Upset Did NOT Lead To The Invention of the Forward Pᴀss
The second half of the story is that the Harvard team was so embarrᴀssed by losing to an Indian boarding school that as a result, they invented the “forward pᴀss,” which is ultimately not true. While the forward pᴀss is a staple of modern football, back in the 19th Century, pᴀsses had to be delivered behind the pᴀsser.
The first legal forward pᴀss was thrown in 1906, which came about after a particularly brutal year. There were a whopping 19 deaths and 159 serious injuries during the 1905 season, which brought calls to outlaw the game before President Teddy Roosevelt stepped in and demanded a reform of the rules, leading to the forward pᴀss.
Why Was Football History Conflated For Him?
Barring director Justin Tipping or his co-writers Skip Bronkie and Zack Akers specifically stating why in an interview, the rationale is currently unclear. It’s intriguing because Isaiah could have easily told a story about how 19 people were killed on the gridiron in 1905, leading to the birth of the forward pᴀss a year later, which may have been just as effective.
Him does a tremendous job of illustrating the perils and the pressure that come with the glamorous life of a pro football quarterback. True, the movie (like most football movies) uses a fictional league and fictional teams, but with such specific references to football lore, it’s surprising how they tied two unconnected stories together like that.
