1902 Yale Bulldogs football team

1902 Yale Bulldogs football
Co-national champion (Davis)
Conference	Independent
Record	11–0–1
Head coach	Joseph R. Swan (1st season)
Captain	George B. Chadwick
Home stadium	Yale Field
Seasons ←  1901 1903  →

1902 Eastern college football independents records

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Ursinus			–					9	–	0	–	0
Yale			–					11	–	0	–	1
Geneva			–					7	–	0	–	0
Harvard			–					11	–	1	–	0
Princeton			–					8	–	1	–	0
Army			–					6	–	1	–	1
Frankin & Marshall			–					7	–	2	–	0
Dartmouth			–					6	–	2	–	1
Holy Cross			–					6	–	2	–	1
Syracuse			–					6	–	2	–	1
Carlisle			–					8	–	3	–	0
Cornell			–					8	–	3	–	0
Lafayette			–					8	–	3	–	0
Amherst			–					7	–	3	–	0
Penn State			–					7	–	3	–	0
Penn			–					9	–	4	–	0
Lehigh			–					7	–	3	–	1
Vermont			–					5	–	3	–	2
Colgate			–					5	–	3	–	1
NYU			–					5	–	3	–	0
Bucknell			–					6	–	4	–	0
Washington & Jefferson			–					6	–	4	–	0
Columbia			–					6	–	4	–	1
Springfield Training School			–					3	–	2	–	1
Villanova			–					4	–	3	–	0
Brown			–					5	–	4	–	1
Swarthmore			–					6	–	6	–	0
Western U. of Penn.			–					5	–	6	–	1
New Hampshire			–					2	–	3	–	1
Buffalo			–					3	–	5	–	1
Tufts			–					4	–	6	–	1
Dickinson			–					4	–	6	–	0
Fordham			–					2	–	4	–	1
Wesleyan			–					3	–	6	–	1
Rutgers			–					3	–	7	–	0
Navy			–					2	–	7	–	1
Drexel			–					1	–	4	–	1
Temple			–					1	–	4	–	1
Pittsburgh College			–					1	–	6	–	0
Boston College			–					0	–	8	–	0

The 1902 Yale Bulldogs football team was an American football team that represented Yale University as an independent during the 1902 college football season. The team finished with an 11–0–1 record, shut out eight of twelve opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 286 to 22. ^[1] Joseph R. Swan was the head coach, and George B. Chadwick was the team captain.

Yale was selected as the 1902 champion in the 1903 edition of the World Almanac. ^[2]

In the absence of any recognized Intercollegiate Football Association the championship cannot always be unerringly fixed; but in 1902 there is no difficulty in allotting the honor to Yale, inasmuch as she won every one of her games.

— The World Almanac and Encyclopedia (1903)

In 1933 Yale was retroactively named as the national co-champion, along with Michigan, by NCAA-designated "major selector" Parke H. Davis. ^[3]

Seven Yale players were selected as consensus first-team players on the 1902 All-America team. The team's consensus All-Americans were: quarterback Foster Rockwell; halfback George B. Chadwick; end Tom Shevlin; center Henry Holt; guard Edward Glass; and tackles Ralph Kinney and James Hogan. ^[4]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 27	Trinity (CT)	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 40–0		[5]
October 1	Tufts	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 34–6		[6]
October 4	Amherst	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 23–0		[7]
October 8	Wesleyan	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 35–0		[8]
October 11	at Brown	Andrews Field Providence, RI	W 10–0		[9]
October 15	Vermont	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 32–0		[10]
October 18	Penn State	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 11–0		[11]
October 25	Syracuse	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 24–0		[12]
November 1	at Army	The Plain West Point, NY	T 6–6		[13]
November 8	Bucknell	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 36–5	6,000	[14]
November 15	at Princeton	University Field Princeton, NJ (rivalry)	W 12–5	20,000	[15]
November 22	Harvard	Yale Field New Haven, CT (rivalry)	W 23–0	30,000	[16]

^[1]

Roster

• Arthur W. Allen, HB
• Harold S. Batchelder, G
• Harry E. Benham
• Martin H. Bergen
• Lebbeus F. Bissell, T
• Morgan H. Bowman, FB
• George B. Chadwick, HB
• Ralston R. Coffin, E
• Malcolm Farmer, HB
• Edgar Glass, G
• George A. Goss, G
• Chauncey J. Hamlin, T
• Morin S. Hare, E
• Hinkle, HB
• James Hogan, T
• Henry Holt, C
• Ralph Kinney, G
• McClintock, FB
• Harold G. Metcalf, QB
• John A. Moorhead, E
• Chester T. Neal, E
• James C. Preston, HB
• Charles D. Rafferty, E
• Foster Rockwell, QB
• Carleton Shaw, HB
• Tom Shevlin, T
• Willard B. Soper, HB
• S. Oakley Van der Poel, FB
• S. Dwight Ward, HB
• Frederick W. Wilhelmi, E
• Burnside Winslow, QB

^[17]

References

1. "1902 Yale Bulldogs Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
2. "Football. Intercollegiate Games of 1914.". The World Almanac and Encyclopedia (1903). 1903. pp. 261–262. In the absence of any recognized Intercollegiate Football Association the championship cannot always be unerringly fixed; but in 1902 there is no difficulty in allotting the honor to Yale, inasmuch as she won every one of her games.
3. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2015). "National Poll Rankings" (PDF). NCAA Division I Football Records. NCAA. p. 108. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
4. "Football Award Winners" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. p. 6. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
5. "Yale Easily Beats Trinity". New York Tribune. September 28, 1902. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Yale, 34; Tufts, 6". New York Tribune. October 2, 1902. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Yale, 23; Amherst, 0". The New York Times. October 5, 1902. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Yale, 35; Wesleyan, 0". The New York Times. October 9, 1902. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Yale, 10; Brown, 0". The New York Times. October 12, 1902. p. 16 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "Yale easily defeats Vermont in a well played game". New York Tribune. October 16, 1903. Retrieved June 20, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
11. "Yale, 11; Penn. State, 0". The New York Times. October 19, 1932. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "Yale, 24; Syracuse, 0". The New York Times. October 26, 1902. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
13. "Yale and West Point Tie: Six to Six Is the Score After Hard Battle -- Weight of New-Haven Team Balked By Soldiers' Line". New York Tribune. November 2, 1902. p. 28 – via Newspapers.com.
14. "Rough Work at Yale Field: Bucknell Men Scored By Referee -- The Blue Eleven Won by 34 to 5". New York Tribune. November 9, 1902. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
15. "Yale Football Team Defeats Princeton: New Haven Eleven Wins After a Fiercely Fought Game". The New York Times. November 16, 1902. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
16. "Yale 23, Harvard 0: Crimson Outclassed at Every Stage; 30,000 Saw Game". Boston Post. November 23, 1902. p. 1 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
17. "All-Time Lettermen (DOC)". Yale University Athletics. Retrieved January 29, 2025.