Ryan Christiansen, lecturer in the NDSU English Department, has written a book about NDSU football players who impacted football in Canada.
In “Border Boys,” Christiansen examines the tensions in Canada surrounding football in the early 1930s. Teams in the East had dominated the sport while teams in the West struggled to succeed and gain fan acceptance. The West sought to change the game and to play it like the Americans did, and so they started hiring Americans. A key factor in the transition from Canadian "rugby" to football was the sport's adoption of the forward pass in 1931.
The book follows the evolution of the rules in both America and Canada and how the games influenced one another. The book highlights four of the key players who helped Winnipeg and the West to win its first Grey Cup championship, including future Canadian Football Hall of Famer and former NDSU player Fritz Hanson, who is on the cover.
Christiansen, who is a member of the Professional Football Researchers Association, also includes local and regional football history on the Minnesota State University Moorhead Dragons and Concordia College Cobbers.
Christiansen earned his Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Minnesota State University Moorhead, where he also earned a Certificate in Publishing.
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