Frank Crawford was an American college football coach, lawyer, and law professor. He served as the first full-time head football coach at both Michigan and Nebraska, and also coached Wisconsin, Baker, and Texas for single seasons. Crawford attended Yale University and served as a lawyer in Nebraska and France following his retirement from football. He was a professor of law at Creighton College of Law from 1906 to 1913.
The 1886 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1886 college football season. The team played only two games, both against Albion College. Michigan won both games by a combined score of 74 to 0. Charles D. Wright, a senior from Minneapolis, Minnesota, scored six touchdowns in the first game. The manager and goalkeeper was John L. Duffy, a senior from Ann Arbor.
Horace Greely Prettyman was an American football player in the early years of the sport. Prettyman won a record eight varsity letters at the University of Michigan, playing for the school's football team from 1882 to 1886 and 1888 to 1890. He was the team's captain in 1884, 1885, and 1886, and scored the first touchdown in the first game played at Michigan's first home football field in Ann Arbor. Prettyman later became a successful businessman and civic leader, operating a boarding house, a laundry service, a power company and the Ann Arbor Press, and holding office as an Ann Arbor city councilman, postmaster and Washtenaw County, Michigan supervisor.
The 1881 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1881 college football season. While the University of Michigan had fielded "football" teams in 1879 and 1880, those teams played a game that was more in line with traditional rugby, and many consider the 1881 team to be the first at Michigan to play American football. The team finished with a record of 0–3 after playing the top teams in the country – Harvard, Yale and Princeton.
The 1930 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1930 college football season. The head coach was former Michigan star, 31-year-old Harry Kipke, in his second year in the position.
The 1890 Michigan Wolverines football team was an American football team that represented the University of Michigan in the 1890 college football season. The team compiled a 4–1 record and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 129 to 36. The team's sole loss was to Cornell in the final game of the season.
The 1885 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1885 college football season. The team compiled a 3–0 record and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 82 to 2. The team captain was Horace Greely Prettyman.
The 1884 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1884 college football season. The team compiled a 2–0 record and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 36 to 10. The team captain was Horace Greely Prettyman. Prettyman played a record eight years on the Michigan Wolverines football team between 1882 and 1890. The team's manager and starting center was Henry Killilea. Killilea was one of the five men who founded baseball's American League as a major league in 1899. He also owned the Boston Red Sox from 1903 until 1904. Quarterback Thomas H. McNeil went on to become the 30th Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias.
The 1888 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1888 college football season. The team compiled a 2–1 record and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 94 to 36. The team scored 76 points against Albion College, a single-game Michigan record that stood until Fielding H. Yost's 1901 "Point-a-Minute" team scored 128 points against Buffalo. The team closed its season with a Thanksgiving Day game against a "picked team" from the Chicago University Club that The New York Times called "undoubtedly the greatest football event that ever took place in the West." The captain of the 1888 team was halfback James E. Duffy who had set the world's record for dropkick distance in 1886.
The 1882 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1882 college football season. The team played no outside games. The captain of the 1882 team was William J. Olcott.
The 1920 Michigan Wolverines football team was an American football team that represented the University of Michigan in the Big Ten Conference during the 1920 college football season. In its 20th season under head coach Fielding H. Yost, the team compiled a 5–2 record, finished sixth in the Big Ten, and outscored opponents by a total of 121 to 21.
The 1889 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1889 college football season. The Wolverines played their home games at Ann Arbor Fairgrounds.
James Eugene Duffy was an American football player and lawyer. He played halfback for the University of Michigan football team for seven years from 1885 to 1891 and was captain of the 1888 team. In 1886, he set the world record by drop kicking a football 168 feet, 7½ inches. After graduating from Michigan, he was an attorney in Bay City, Michigan and a long-time member of the University of Michigan Board in Control of Athletics.
Alan J. Bovard was an American football player and coach. He was an All-Big Ten Conference center at the University of Michigan in 1929. He later served as the athletic director at Michigan Technological University from 1947 to 1972 and the head football coach from 1947 to 1956.
William James Olcott was an American football player and mining and railroad executive in the Mesabi Range. He played college football for the University of Michigan from 1881 to 1883 and was captain of the 1882 and 1883 teams. After receiving his degree, he worked in the iron ore mining industry for more than 40 years. He was president of the Oliver Iron Mining Company from 1909 to 1928 and president of the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway from 1901 to 1909.
Elmer Ellsworth Beach was an American football player and lawyer. He played college football for the University of Michigan from 1882 to 1883. He later became a lawyer in Chicago, established the Beach & Beach law firm, and practiced law from 1887 until his retirement in the 1930s. He was also grand master of the grand lodge of Illinois Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
Harry Stevens Hammond was an American football player and businessman. He played college football at the University of Michigan from 1904 to 1907. He later had a career in business with the Pressed Steel Car Company and the National Tube Co.
Charles Sumner Mitchell was an American newspaper publisher and editor. He was the assistant editor of the St. Cloud Journal-Press from 1881 to 1894, the publisher of the Alexandria Post-News from 1894 to 1920, the editor-in-chief of the Duluth News Tribune from 1906 to 1920 and of the Washington Herald from 1920 until his death in 1922. He also served two terms as the president of the Minnesota Editorial Association. He was a graduate of the University of Michigan where he played college football as the goalkeeper for the 1879 Michigan Wolverines football team—the first football team to represent the University of Michigan.
James F. Brieske was an American football placekicker. He played college football for the University of Michigan in 1942, 1946 and 1947. He set Michigan, Rose Bowl, Big Ten Conference, and national collegiate placekicking records and was the second leading scorer on Michigan's undefeated 1947 Michigan Wolverines football team. For more than two decades, he held the Michigan records for most successful point after touchdown ("PAT") conversions in a career (107), season (52), and game (9). Brieske's college football career was interrupted by service in the United States Navy during the 1944 and 1945 football seasons. His kicking foot was amputated in 1967 due to cancer. He died the following year at age 45 following surgery to remove growths from his lungs.
The History of Michigan Wolverines football in the early years covers the history of the University of Michigan Wolverines football program from its formation in the 1870s through the hiring of Fielding H. Yost prior to the 1901 season. Michigan was independent of any conference until 1896 when it became one of the founding members of the Western Conference. The team played its home games at the Washtenaw County Fairgrounds from 1883 to 1892 and then at Regents Field starting in 1893.
