| 1890 College Football All-America Team |
|---|
| College Football All-America Team |
| 1890 college football season |
| 1889 ← → 1891 1892 |
The 1890 College Football All-America team was the second College Football All-America Team. The team was selected by Caspar Whitney and published in This Week's Sports. [1]
All eleven members of the 1890 All-America team played for three teams—Harvard, Princeton or Yale, then known as the "Big Three" of college football. Some sources indicate that Walter Camp assisted Whitney with the selection of the 1890 All-American team, while others indicate that Camp did not become involved in the selection process until some time in the early 1890s.
The 1890 All-America team included three players who were later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame: Harvard's great tackle Marshall "Ma" Newell, Yale's guard Pudge Heffelfinger, and Yale's halfback Thomas "Bum" McClung.
The strength of the 1890 team is demonstrated by the fact that a majority of the players selected (seven of eleven) were selected as All-Americans in multiple years. They are: Pudge Heffelfinger (1889, 1890 and 1891), John Corbett (1889 and 1890), Marshall Newell (1890 and 1891), Frank Hallowell (1890 and 1892), Jesse Riggs (1890 and 1891), "Bum" McClung (1890 and 1891), and Sheppard Homans (1890 and 1891).
The team included men who went on to great success in their careers. McClung went on to become the Treasurer of the United States under U.S. President William Howard Taft, and his signature appears on U.S. currency issued during the years 1909 through 1912. Heffelfinger became the first "professional" football player in 1892 when he was paid $25 for his expenses and a bonus of $500 by the Allegheny Athletic Association to play in a game against the rival Pittsburgh Athletic Club. Harvard's quarterback Dudley Dean enlisted in Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders and was decorated for his role in the Battle of San Juan Hill.
The team also included players who met with tragic endings. Newell was killed on Christmas Eve 1897 when a railroad engine accidentally backed up over him. Princeton's end Ralph Warren suffered a severely twisted neck in the 1891 Princeton-Yale game and wandered off several weeks later, having reportedly suffered a mental breakdown as a combined result of the injury and despondency over the loss to Yale.
Football in 1890 was a brutal sport, played before the introduction of helmets and other protective gear. Serious injuries and even deaths were common occurrences in the game. Harvard's All-American center, John Cranston, was the first player to wear equipment to protect his face during an American football game. In order to protect Cranston's "weak nose," Harvard captain and 1889 All-American Arthur Cumnock invented a device that he called "nose armor." [2] [3] [4] Cumnock's invention gained popularity, and in 1892, a newspaper article described the growing popularity of the device:
"By the invention of nose armor football players who have been hitherto barred from the field because of broken or weak noses are now able to thrust an armor protected nose (even though it be broken) into the center of the roughest scrimmage without danger to the sensitive nasal organ. The armor is made of fine rubber and protects both the nose and teeth." [2]
In 1952, Grantland Rice paid tribute to Princeton's fullback Sheppard Homans as the embodiment of the rough and tumble days of iron man football. Rice wrote: "Just as Ty Cobb represents the ball game of many years ago, this man represented the football that used to be."
William Walter "Pudge" Heffelfinger, also spelled Hafelfinger, was an American football player and coach. He is considered the first athlete to play American football professionally, having been paid to play in 1892 for the Allegheny Athletic Association.
The Yale Bulldogs football program represents Yale University in college football in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. Yale's football program, founded in 1872, is one of the oldest in the world. Since their founding, the Bulldogs have won 27 national championships, two of the first three Heisman Trophy winners, 100 consensus All-Americans, 28 College Football Hall of Fame inductees, including the "Father of American Football" Walter Camp, the first professional football player Pudge Heffelfinger, and coaching giants Amos Alonzo Stagg, Howard Jones, Tad Jones and Carmen Cozza. With over 900 wins, Yale ranks in the top ten for most wins in college football history.
The Harvard Crimson football program represents Harvard University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. Harvard's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun competing in the sport in 1873. The Crimson has a legacy that includes 13 national championships and 20 College Football Hall of Fame inductees, including the first African-American college football player William H. Lewis, Huntington "Tack" Hardwick, Barry Wood, Percy Haughton, and Eddie Mahan. Harvard is the tenth winningest team in NCAA Division I football history.
The Pittsburgh Athletic Club football team, established in 1890, was based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1892 the intense competition between two Pittsburgh-area clubs, the Allegheny Athletic Association and the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, led to William (Pudge) Heffelfinger becoming the first known professional football player. Heffelfinger was paid $500 by Allegheny to play in a game against Pittsburgh on November 12, 1892. As a result, Heffelfinger became the first person to be paid to play football. Allegheny would go on to win the game, 4–0, when Heffelfinger picked up a Pittsburgh fumble and ran it 35 yards for a touchdown. In 1893, Pittsburgh again made history when it signed one of its players, probably halfback Grant Dibert, to the first known pro football contract, which covered all of the team's games for the year.
The 1889 College Football All-America team was the first College Football All-America Team. The team was selected by Caspar Whitney and published in This Week's Sports.
The 1892 College Football All-America team was composed of college football players who were selected as the best players at their respective positions for the 1892 college football season, as selected by Caspar Whitney for Harper's Weekly and the Walter Camp Football Foundation. Whitney began publishing his All-America Team in 1889, and his list, which was considered the official All-America Team, was published in Harper's Weekly from 1891 to 1896. Harvard Law School student and football center William H. Lewis became the first African-American to be selected as an All-American in 1892, an honor he would receive again in 1893.
The 1891 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected by Caspar Whitney as the best players at their positions for the 1891 college football season. Whitney began publishing his All-America Team in 1889, and 1891 was the first year Whitney's list was published in Harper's Weekly.
Arthur James Cumnock was an American football player. He and Amos Alonzo Stagg were selected as the ends on the first College Football All-America Team in 1889. Cumnock invented the first nose guard. He is also credited with developing the tradition of spring practice in football; in March 1889, Cumnock led the Harvard team in drills on Jarvis field, which is considered the first-ever spring football practice.
Ralph Herbert Warren was an All-American football player. He played end for Princeton University from 1889 to 1891 and was selected to the 1890 College Football All-America Team. Warren was the subject of intense press coverage in January 1892 when he disappeared for several days, showing up at his parents' home days later. Warren was said to have been "temporarily out of his mind" following an injury sustained in a football game.
William Castle Rhodes was American football player and coach. Rhodes played tackle at Yale University from 1887 to 1890 and was selected for the 1890 College Football All-America Team. After playing for the Cleveland Athletic Club and coaching at Western Reserve in 1891, Rhodes return to his alma mater to serve as head coach for the Yale Bulldogs football team in 1893 and 1894, compiling a record of 26–1. Rhodes' 1894 team won all 16 of its games and was later recognized as a national champion by a number of selectors.
John Samuel Cranston was an American football player and coach. He played for Harvard University from 1888 to 1890. He was selected as an All-American in 1889 and 1890—the first years in which College Football All-America Teams were selected. He was also the first football player to wear protective "nose armor", which was invented by a Harvard teammate to protect his "weak nose". He later served as a football coach at Harvard from 1893 to 1903. During the 1905 football reform movement, Cranston was part of the reformist camp and proposed the abolition of professional coaches.
The Chicago Athletic Association was an American football team, based in Chicago, Illinois. The club itself had been organized in 1890, and in 1892 it formed a football team. The team was built around veterans of Chicago's University Club football team.
Oliver David Thompson 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.
The 1889 college football season was the season of American football played among colleges and universities in the United States during the 1889–90 academic year.
The 1891 college football season was the season of American football played among colleges and universities in the United States during the 1891–92 academic year.
The 1890 college football season was the season of American football played among colleges and universities in the United States during the 1890–91 academic year.
The 1890 Harvard Crimson football team was an American football team that represented Harvard University in the 1890 college football season. The team finished with an 11–0 record, shut out nine of eleven opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 555 to 12.
The 1888 Yale Bulldogs football team represented Yale University in the 1888 college football season. In its first season under head coach Walter Camp, the team compiled a 13–0 record, did not allow a single point, and outscored opponents by a total of 694 to 0. The team has been retrospectively named as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, National Championship Foundation, and Parke H. Davis.
The 1891 Yale Bulldogs football team represented Yale University in the 1891 college football season. The team finished with a 13–0 record and a 488-0 season score. It was retroactively named as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, National Championship Foundation, and Parke H. Davis. Yale's 1891 season was part of a 37-game winning streak that began with the final game of the 1890 season and stopped at the end of the 1893 season.
The 1890 Yale Bulldogs football team represented Yale University in the 1890 college football season. In its third year under head coach Walter Camp, the team compiled a 13–1 record, recorded 12 shutouts, and outscored all opponents by a total of 486 to 18. Its only loss was to rival Harvard by a 12–6 score.