| 1901 Homestead Library & Athletic Club football | |
|---|---|
 | |
Professional football champion | |
| Record | 11–0 |
| Manager | |
| Head coach |
|
| Captain |
|
| Home field | Exposition Park |
Seasons | |
The 1901 Homestead Library & Athletic Club football team won the professional football championship of 1901. The team was affiliated with the Homestead Library & Athletic Club in Homestead, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. The team featured a lineup of former college All-Americans paid by Pittsburgh Pirates' minority-owner William Chase Temple.
In 1898, William Chase Temple took over the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club, becoming the first individual team owner in professional football. In 1900, most of the Duquesne players were hired by the Homestead Library & Athletic Club, by offering them higher salaries. [2] Over the next two season (1900 and 1901), Homestead fielded the best professional football team in the country and did not lose a game.
In August 1901, former Brown University player Dave Fultz (1875–1959) was hired as the captain of the Homestead team. [3] Fultz played right halfback for Homestead and also played professional baseball from 1898 to 1905. Playing for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1902, Fultz led the American League in runs scored (109) and was third in stolen bases (44).
In late September 1901, Fultz announced the makeup of the 1901 team. [4] The payroll for the 1901 Homestead team was $25,000 a year, which was paid by William Chase Temple (owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates) and officers of the Carnegie Steel Company. [5]
When Fultz first announced the lineup in late September, it included Pete Overfield (center from Penn), Bemus Pierce (left guard from the Carlisle Indian School), Art Poe (right end from Princeton), "Hoppy" Hunt (left end from Brown University), Daff Gammons (left halfback from Brown who also played baseball for the Boston Beaneater in 1901), Fred Crolius (fullback from Dartmouth who played professional baseball and ranked fifth in the National League after being hit by a pitch 10 times in 1901), Maxson from Maryland, Frank Woodley (quarterback from Penn), [6] Arthur Mosse from the University of Kansas (later a coach at Pittsburgh), Bob Shiring from Pittsburgh, McNulty (right guard from Notre Dame), Weinstein (right tackle from Pittsburgh), Nieman from the University of Cincinnati, Shields from Pittsburgh, and Perry Hale (fullback from Yale who also coached the Exeter football team and joined Homestead in mid-November after Exeter's last game). [4] [7] [8]
Others who played for the 1901 Homestead team include Hawley Pierce (left tackle and brother of Bemus Pierce) and Willis "Little" Richardson (quarterback from Brown).
There was no organized professional football league in 1901, and most of Homestead's games were played against college football teams. Early in the season, Homestead played games against teams from Lalus, Ohio Medical College and Baltimore Medical College. Homestead won each of those games by wide margins, including a 42 to 0 margin over Baltimore Medical College on October 26, 1901. [9] [10]
On November 2, 1901, Homestead played its first game against a significant opponent, defeating the college team from Penn State by a score of 39 to 0. [11]
On November 6, 1901, Homestead defeated the Brown University football team by a score of 34 to 0. The teams met at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. Homestead's success in securing a match against one of the major college teams, from one of the Ivy League schools, was considered "the big card of the season" by Homestead management. The Brown faculty consented to allow the game in October. Homestead was a heavy favorite in the game, with one newspaper noting, "While a victory for Brown is too much to expect, the players certainly ought to have a very pleasant trip." [12] The game's biggest play was a run of 110 yards by Homestead's left halfback, Gammons, who picked up the ball at the back of the goalposts after a blocked kick and "ran the entire length of the field." [13] Brown was "outweighed and outclassed in all departments." [13]
On November 16, 1901, Homestead played its second game against a major college team, defeating Lafayette 48 to 0 at Pittsburgh. [14]
By late October 1901, Homestead and Philadelphia team was recognized as the strongest professional football teams in the United States, and a Philadelphia admirer of football offered up a cup to be awarded to the winner in a match between the two teams. [15] The championship game between Homestead and Philadelphia was the subject of "lively" betting, as reported in the following newspaper story:
"At least $10,000 has already been bet in Pittsburg on the Philadelphia-Homestead football game … Some days ago a sport in Pittsburg from Philadelphia with $3,000 to bet even that Philadelphia team would beat Homestead. He was prepared to bet even, and his money was taken so promptly that he wired Philadelphia for another trunkful of coin. About $2,500 arrived Monday and friends of the Homestead team were ready at the station to meet it. There is yet a lot of loose money to bet that Homestead beats the Quakers and there is a good amount to bet at decent odds that Philadelphia does not score." [16]
On November 23, 1901, Homestead defeated the Blondy Wallace's Philadelphia professionals for "the athletic championship of the United States." The game was played at the Philadelphia park, and Homestead won by a score of 18 to 0. Newspaper accounts indicate that Philadelphia "was completely outplayed and never menaced the Homestead goal." [17] Another account reported that the Philadelphia team appeared to be in poor physical condition and was unable to gain ground consistently." [18] Homestead gained most of its yardage through the Philadelphia line, directing most of its plays at tackle and center. [18] The New York Times reported on the game as follows:
"Against the well-trained, concerted team work of Homestead they were like so many pigmies. Their line could not hold the fast onslaught of the Western contingent, and after the first ten minutes of play a lack of good physical condition began to assert itself. … The 5,000 spectators present shivered through thirty minute halves and at no time during the game was a real opportunity offered to get enthusiastic over the work of Wallace's [Philadelphia's captain] team. It was an eleven made up of stars against well-trained team work, and the latter triumphed." [19]
While the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that at least one of Homestead's scores was the result of an error by the umpire, they agreed Homestead was the better team: "The Homestead line was like a stone wall, and only occasionally was Philadelphia able to gain around the ends. Homestead played a team of giants, all in perfect condition, and with a system of team play developed to the highest possible perfection." [20]
On November 28, 1901, Homestead played a Thanksgiving Day game against the college team from Washington & Jefferson. Homestead won the game 42 to 0 at Pittsburgh. [21]
On November 30, 1901, Homestead finished the season with a rematch against Philadelphia, in a game played two days after the Washington & Jefferson game. [22] Two of Homestead's starters, Hawley Pierce and Pete Overfield, were unable to play due to injuries, and captain Dave Fultz was knocked unconscious in the first half. Homestead gave up a touchdown in the first half, the first points scored against them in 1901. But they came back in the second half and won by a score of 6 to 5. [23]
After Homestead won the professional football championship, the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote the following editorial expressing pride in the accomplishments of Pennsylvania's professional football teams: "It is a curious fact, apropos of the constant charge that Pennsylvania is now a slow state, that the two greatest professional football teams in the country, Philadelphia and Homestead, should have found a spontaneous sort of existence within the Keystone limits, and without fuss or flurry of any kind, be ready to meet all comers." [24]
Despite their success on the field, the 1901 Homestead team was not a financial success, as "the winningest team in pro football was a financial loser again, dropping $8,000." [23]
The success of the 1901 Homestead team also spurred interest in the formation of a nationwide professional football league. [25] One writer opined that Homestead, though an "exceptionally strong organization", were actually too strong a team for the best box office results, as "its games were won too easily." [26]
Pittsburgh baseball officials Harry Pulliam and Barney Dreyfuss proposed a league with teams in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Boston and New York. In December 1901, Pulliam told a reporter:
"There were 7,000 persons out to see the Homestead and Philadelphia teams play … and I believe that strong teams evenly matched in the cities named will appeal to the average football crank. Enough graduates and men who are taking post graduate courses at colleges can be found to make strong teams. They would be men who have learned the game at the colleges, but older and stronger, and would have the advantage of playing together year after year more than college players." [26]
In 1902, Dreyfuss formed the first National Football League, consisting of three teams made up in large part of former Homestead players. [2]
| Date | Opponent | Site | Result | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 5 | Juniata A.C. (Altoona) | W 45–0 | ||
| October 12 | James F. Lalus (East End) |
| W 24–5 | |
| October 19 | Ohio Medical |
| W 28–0 | |
| October 26 | Baltimore Medical College |
| W 42–0 | |
| November 2 | Penn State |
| W 39–0 | |
| November 5 | Brown |
| W 34–0 | |
| November 9 | James F. Lalus |
| W 17–2 | |
| November 16 | Lafayette |
| W 48–0 | |
| November 23 | Philadelphia A.C. | W 18–0 | ||
| November 28 | Washington & Jefferson |
| W 12–0 | 4,200 |
| November 30 | Philadelphia A.C. |
| W 6–5 |
Recreation Park was a sporting grounds and stadium that stood from 1865 to 1905 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, which was annexed in 1907 and became the North Side region of Pittsburgh. The park was bounded by Allegheny Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, Grant Avenue, and Boquet Street.
Bernhard "Barney" Dreyfuss was an executive in Major League Baseball who owned the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise from 1900 to his death. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.
David Lewis Fultz was an American football and baseball player and coach. He played Major League Baseball as a center fielder in the National League with the Philadelphia Phillies (1898–1899) and Baltimore Orioles (1899), and for the Philadelphia Athletics (1901–1902) and New York Highlanders (1903–1905) of the American League. He batted and threw right-handed. In a seven-season career, Fultz posted a .271 batting average with 223 RBI and three home runs in 644 games played. Fultz played college football and college baseball at Brown University, from which he graduated in 1898. He served as the head football coach at the University of Missouri (1898–1899), Lafayette College (1902), Brown (1903), and New York University (1904), compiling a career college football coaching record of 26–19–2. Fultz was also the head baseball coach at the United States Naval Academy in 1907 and at Columbia University from 1910 to 1911.
Arthur Poe was an American football player and businessman, and one of six celebrated Poe brothers—second cousins, twice removed, of American author Edgar Allan Poe—to play football at Princeton in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was selected retroactively by the Helms Athletic Foundation as the national college football player of the year for 1899, and was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1969.
Harry Clay Pulliam was an American baseball executive who served as the sixth President of the National League. He served from 1903 until his death in 1909. He was president during the period in which the National League and the fledgling American League settled their hostilities and formed a National Agreement which led to the creation of the World Series.
The Greensburg Athletic Association was an early organized football team, based in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, that played in the unofficial Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit from 1890 until 1900. At times referred to as the Greensburg Athletic Club, the team began as an amateur football club in 1890 and was composed primarily of locals before several professional players were added for the 1895 season. In 1894 it was discovered that the team had secretly paid formerly Indiana Normal player, Lawson Fiscus, to play football and retained his services on salary. The team was the chief rival of another early professional football team, the Latrobe Athletic Association.
The PittsburghStars were a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1902. The team was a member of the first National Football League, which has no connection with the modern National Football League. The league was a curious mixture of baseball and football, with two of the three teams sponsored by the major league baseball teams of the same names, and the Pittsburgh team suspected of being secretly financed by baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates. The Stars were managed by Dave Berry, previously the manager of the Latrobe Athletic Association professional football team.
The first National Football League (NFL) was the first attempt at forming a national professional American football league in 1902. This league has no ties with the modern National Football League. In fact the league was only composed of teams from Pennsylvania, which meant it was actually regional, despite having locations in the two largest cities in Pennsylvania. Two of the teams were based in Philadelphia, while the third was based in Pittsburgh. This NFL was a curious mixture of football players and baseball players who adapted to playing football. Future Baseball Hall of Famer Rube Waddell was with the Philadelphia Athletics, and pitcher Christy Mathewson a fullback for Pittsburgh. Two of the three teams were owned by the Philadelphia Phillies and Philadelphia Athletics, with the third team suspected of being owned by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The league folded after the 1902 season.
The Philadelphia Phillies were a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1902. The team was a member of what was referred to as the National Football League—not to be confused with the National Football League of today. The whole league was a curious mixture of football players as well as baseball players who adapted to playing football. The Phillies were owned and financed by baseball's Philadelphia Phillies just as the owners of the Philadelphia Athletics financed their team, the Philadelphia Athletics. The Pittsburgh Stars made up the third team and was suspected of being financed by the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team.
Frederick Joseph Crolius was an American football and baseball player and coach. He was the first player from Tufts University to play Major League Baseball. He was at Tufts in 1894, and at Dartmouth College, where he also played college football, from 1896 until 1899. He spent two years in majors with the Boston Beaneaters and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Crolius also played pro football with the independent Homestead Library & Athletic Club and the Pittsburgh Stars of the first National Football League. He later served as a coach of both sports after his playing career ended.
The Franklin Athletic Club was an early professional football team based in Franklin, Pennsylvania. It was considered the top team in professional football in 1903, by becoming the US Football Champions and winning the 1903 World Series of Football, held after the 1903 season, at New York's Madison Square Garden. The team was also the rivals to the nearby Oil City Athletic Club.
Peter Delome Overfield was an All-American and professional football player, federal judge and rancher. Overfield played center for the University of Pennsylvania and was a first-team All-American in 1898 and 1899. He served as a federal district judge in Alaska from 1909 to 1917. In 1917, he moved to Casa Grande, Arizona, where he lived for the remainder of his life, owning a large ranching operation.
The 1900 Homestead Library & Athletic Club football team won the professional football championship of 1900. The team was affiliated with the Homestead Library & Athletic Club in Homestead, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. The team featured a lineup of former college All-Americans paid by Pittsburgh Pirates' minority-owner William Chase Temple.
William Chase Temple was a coal, citrus, and lumber baron during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was also a part owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from baseball's National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, established 1876. He also established the Temple Cup, a silver trophy awarded to the winner of a best-of-seven, post-season Major League Baseball championship series that was conducted for four seasons in the National League, from 1894 to 1897. He became the first sole owner of a professional American football team, in 1898.
Charles Robert Shiring was a professional football player from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He began his playing career with the Pittsburgh Athletic Club during the late 1890s and the Homestead Library & Athletic Club in 1901. In 1902, he played for the Pittsburgh Stars of the first National Football League (NFL) who ended up winning the league title. Since the Stars consisted of the best professional players from western Pennsylvania at the time, it can be said that Shiring was considered the best at his position, center, in the region. However Shring is best known for playing for the Massillon Tigers from 1903 until 1907. He finally served from 1907 to 1909 as a player-coach for the Pittsburgh Lyceum, Pittsburgh's last championship professional football team, until the 1970s.
Willis Richardson was an American professional American football player-coach for the Homestead Library & Athletic Club and the Pittsburgh Stars of the first National Football League (NFL). He won the Western Pennsylvania State Championship with Homestead in 1900 and 1901. Then in 1902, he brought along many former Homestead players to the Stars team, which was formed by the former Latrobe Athletic Association manager, Dave Berry, and probably funded by the Barney Dreyfuss and William Chase Temple of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team. During the Stars "championship game" against the Philadelphia Athletics, Willis scored an extra point to help lead the Stars to an 11–0 victory and the 1902 championship.
David J. Berry was an American football manager during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was the top promoter for the sport during that time period. He is credited with inventing the "all-star game concept" in 1898, and also helped to form one of the first organized football leagues in 1902.
The 1901 Army Cadets football team represented the United States Military Academy in the 1901 college football season. In their first and only season under head coach Leon Kromer, the Cadets compiled a 5–1–2 record, shut out four opponents, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 98 to 22. The team's only loss was by a 6 to 0 score against an undefeated Harvard team that has been recognized as a co-national champion for the 1901 season. The Cadets also tied with Yale (5–5) and Princeton (6–6). In the annual Army–Navy Game, the Cadets defeated the Midshipmen by an 11 to 5 score.
The 1901 Penn Quakers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Pennsylvania as an independent during the 1901 college football season. In its tenth season under head coach George Washington Woodruff, the team compiled a 10–5 record and outscored opponents by a total of 203 to 121. Significant games included victories over Penn State (23–6), Chicago (11–0), and Carlisle (16–14), and losses to Navy (6–5), Harvard (33–6), and Army (24–0).
The 1901 Lafayette football team was an American football team that represented Lafayette College in the 1901 college football season. In its third season under head coach Samuel B. Newton, the team compiled a 9–3 record and outscored opponents by a total of 240 to 94.