Dick King (American football)

Last updated

Dick King
Date of birth(1895-02-09)February 9, 1895
Place of birth Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Date of deathOctober 16, 1930(1930-10-16) (aged 35)
Place of death Bogotá, Colombia
Career information
Position(s) Halfback, fullback, wingback, tailback
Height5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Weight175 lb (79 kg)
US college Harvard
High school Boston Latin
Career history
As coach
1916 Wisconsin (backfield)
1917–1919 Pine Village
As player
1917–1919 Pine Village
1919–1921 Hammond Pros
1922 Milwaukee Badgers
1922 Rochester Jeffersons
1923 St. Louis All-Stars
Career highlights and awards

Richard Stewart Cutter King (February 9, 1895 - October 16, 1930) [1] [ full citation needed ] [2] was an American football running back. He played college football for Harvard University and was selected as an All-American at halfback) in 1915. In 1916, he signed with the Pine Village professional football team, becoming one of the first eastern football stars to play professional football. He also played professionally for the Hammond Pros, Milwaukee Badgers, Rochester Jeffersons, and St. Louis All-Stars.

Contents

Athlete and All-American at Harvard

A native of Boston, Massachusetts, King attended the Boston Latin School before enrolling at Harvard University. He was 5 feet, 8 inches in height and weighed 175 pounds. [3] At the time of his selection as an All-American in 1915, King was not the typical Harvard athlete. He was married and had two children (a two-year-old daughter and a six-month-old son), [4] and was working his way through college. [5] He first tried out for the freshman football team in 1912. At that time, he knew little or nothing about the game and "did not even threaten to 'make' the team." [5] He failed to make the varsity team as sophomore and was also rejected by the baseball team and crew. In 1914, King made the cut for Harvard's varsity football team, but saw limited playing time as a substitute. [5]

King did not start a game for Harvard until his senior year, and was selected as an All-American in his first full year playing the game. He played halfback for the 1915 Harvard team that boasted one of the best backfields in the early years of college football with King, Eddie Mahan and Hardwick. [1] With Harvard's opponents focused on stopping three-time All-American Mahan, King was able to score the only touchdown on a 30-yard run in Harvard's 1915 victory over Princeton. [6] After King's "long leap in the lair of the Princeton Tigers," one writer noted King's progression from scrub to star: "Stubborn Dick King, once the lowliest of scrubs, now stands full flush at the entrance to the Harvard gallery of big football heroes." [7]

At the end of the 1915 season, Walter Camp and Fielding H. Yost both named King to their first-team All-American squads, and Chicago football expert Walter Eckersall selected him as a second-team All-American. [8] [9]

Football coach at Wisconsin

After graduating from Harvard in 1916, King accepted a position as the backfield coach for the University of Wisconsin. He served in that capacity for only one year. The Wisconsin State Journal called him one of the school's most important coaches, noting that he had instilled his "fighting spirit" in the Wisconsin backfield. In October 1916, King announced that he had been offered a position as an engineer with a South American mining operation. He planned to leave for South America at the conclusion of the football season. [10]

Pioneer of professional football

In November 1916, while still serving as a coach at Wisconsin, King signed with "the famous Pine Village team"—one of the first professional football teams. King was hired as both a player and coach, [11] and was the highest paid player on the team. [12] In signing with Pine Village, King became "one of the first of the eastern greats to step into the pro ranks." [13] Prior to 1917, professional football had attracted only a narrow following, principally in Ohio and Indiana. Professional football was viewed as unworthy of graduates of major universities, and college stars who played in the early days of professional football frequently used assumed names to hide their identities. [13]

In 1916, the Pine Village team consisted of King and a group of former players from Indiana University. [14] [15] By signing King, Pine Village hoped to bring the sophistication of Eastern football to Indiana. [11]

In December 1916, Pine Village played a highly anticipated game against the Hammond Pros for the championship of Indiana. In the build-up to the game, one Indiana newspaper focused on Pine Village's acquisition of King:

"The Pine Village aggregation is one of the strongest in the entire country and is composed almost entirely of ex-college players who have won berths on All-American, All-Western and All-Conference elevens. Among the stars with Pine Village are Dick King, of Harvard, All-American halfback in 1915, and the greatest fullback playing today. He is the highest salaried player on the Pine Village team and his stipend per game runs well into three figures. King is a wonderful line plunger and on nearly all of his runs carries from three to five men along with him for several yards." [12]

King continued to play for Pine Village from 1917–1919, [16] and was known both for his coaching and his "line-plunging" skills. In 1919, a Fort Wayne newspaper noted:

"King acts as coach for the Pine Village outfit and local fandom can expect to see some wonderful interference displayed by the Pine Village team. King is a firm believer in interference, profiting by his experience at Harvard, where this branch of the game went a long way in making Harvard teams invincible in the four years preceding the war." [11]

The publicity for the fledgling Indiana professional circuit may have peaked in 1919 when Hammond signed another major eastern star, quarterback Eddy from Princeton. King was the star of the Indiana league, and when the teams featuring King and Eddy met in November 1919, one Indiana newspaper noted, "King hits the line like a streak and is seldom stopped before he reaches the secondary defense." [17] In another article, an Indiana paper wrote, "King needs no introduction to local fans, as he is a former All-American back with a country wide reputation and perhaps the greatest line plunger in the game today." [11]

King also played for the Hammond Pros from 1919 to 1921, [18] the Milwaukee Badgers and Rochester Jeffersons in 1922, and the St. Louis All-Stars in 1923. [3]

The 1919 Hammond Pros, featuring King (and a rookie named George Halas), had a payroll of $20,000 for eleven players, said to be one of the highest team payrolls in the history of professional football to that time. [19] Also in 1919, an Indiana newspaper called King "one of the greatest backs who ever wore moleskins" and noted: "As a line plunger, King ranks with the best in the game, while his ability to place kick from anywhere within the 50-yard mark makes a score possible for his team whenever the ball is advanced into enemy territory." [20]

Personal life and death

King's first marriage, to Hazel Hatch, ended in divorce in May 1918. On March 1, 1919, at Crown Point Indiana King married Vera I Ketrick of Chicago. The marriage of the famous football player to Ketrick drew press attention focusing on the fact that King's new bride was a two-time divorcee. One Indiana newspaper reported: "Famous Football Player, Once Divorced, Takes a Twice Divorced Wife." [21]

King died of pneumonia on October 16, 1930, at a hospital in Bogotá, Colombia, where he had been working as a South American sales representative for the Gillette Company. [22]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muncie Flyers</span> Defunct American football team

The Muncie Flyers, known as the Congerville Flyers for most of their existence, were a professional American football team from Muncie, Indiana, that played from 1905 to 1926. The Flyers were an independent squad for most of their existence, but are remembered mostly for their very brief stint in the American Professional Football Association. With only three official league games, one in 1920 and two in 1921, the Flyers are the third-shortest-lived team in league history, behind the two games of the original New York Giants and the one game of the Tonawanda Kardex Lumbermen, and the shortest by a team not from the state of New York.

The Hammond Pros were an American football team from Hammond, Indiana that played in the National Football League from 1920 to 1926 as a traveling team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bo McMillin</span> American football player and coach (1895–1952)

Alvin Nugent "Bo" McMillin was an American football player and coach at the collegiate and professional level. He played college football at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, where he was a three-time All-American at quarterback, and led the Centre Praying Colonels to an upset victory over Harvard in 1921. McMillin was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player as part of its inaugural 1951 class.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Guyon</span> American football player and coach, baseball player and coach (1892-1971)

Joseph Napoleon "Big Chief" Guyon was an American Indian from the Ojibwa tribe (Chippewa) who was an American football and baseball player and coach. He played college football at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School from 1912 to 1913 and Georgia Tech from 1917 to 1918 and with a number of professional clubs from 1919 to 1927. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paddy Driscoll</span> American football and baseball player (1895–1968)

John Leo "Paddy" Driscoll was an American football and baseball player and football coach. A triple-threat man in football, he was regarded as the best drop kicker and one of the best overall players in the early years of the National Football League (NFL). He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1965 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gus Dorais</span> American football player, coach, and administrator (1891–1954)

Charles Emile "Gus" Dorais was an American football player, coach, and athletic administrator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Maulbetsch</span> American football player and multi-sport coach (1890–1950)

John Frederick Maulbetsch was an All-American football halfback at Adrian College in 1911 and for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1914 to 1916. He is also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cub Buck</span> American football player and coach (1892–1966)

Howard Pierce "Cub" Buck was an American football player and coach. He played as a tackle at the University of Wisconsin, captaining the team and earning consensus All-American honors in 1915. Buck then played professionally for 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Canton Bulldogs (1916–1920) and Green Bay Packers (1921–1925). He served as the head football coach at Carleton College from 1917 to 1919, at Lawrence College in 1923, and as the first head coach at the University of Miami from 1926 to 1928. Buck was inducted into the Wisconsin State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1956, the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1977, and the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department Hall of Fame in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Des Jardien</span> American athlete (1893–1956)

Paul Raymond "Shorty" Des Jardien was an American football, baseball and basketball player. He played for the University of Chicago where he was selected as the first-team All-American center in both 1913 and 1914 and also pitched a no-hitter for the baseball team. He later played professional baseball for the Cleveland Indians and professional football for the Cleveland Indians (1916), Hammond Pros (1919), Chicago Tigers (1920) and Minneapolis Marines (1922). He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1955.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bart Macomber</span> American football player (1894–1971)

Franklin Bart Macomber was an American football player. He played halfback and quarterback for the University of Illinois from 1914 to 1916 and helped the school to its first national football championship and consecutive undefeated seasons in 1914 and 1915. He later played professional football for the Canton Bulldogs and Youngstown Patricians. He was also the coach and owner of the Oakland Oaks in the Pacific Coast professional football league founded in 1926. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Mahan</span> American football player (1892–1975)

Edward William Mahan was an American football player. While playing halfback for Harvard, Mahan was selected as a first-team All-American three consecutive years from 1913 to 1915. He was widely regarded as one of the greatest football players in the first 50 years of the sport and was named by Jim Thorpe as the greatest football player of all time. In 1951, he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame as part of the first group of inductees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Germany Schulz</span> American football player (1883–1951)

Adolph George "Germany" Schulz was an All-American American football center for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1904 to 1905 and from 1907 to 1908. While playing at Michigan, Schulz is credited with having invented the spiral snap and with developing the practice of standing behind the defensive line. As the first lineman to play in back of the line on defense, he is credited as football's first linebacker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaylord Stinchcomb</span> American football player and coach (1895–1973)

Gaylord Roscoe "Pete" Stinchcomb was an American football player. He played quarterback and halfback at Ohio State University where he was selected as a consensus All-American in 1920. He later played professional football as a back for the Chicago Bears (1921–1922), Columbus Tigers (1923), Cleveland Indians (1923), and Louisville Colonels (1926). He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1973.

William Henry Boedeker, Jr. was a halfback in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL) who played for the Chicago Rockets, the Cleveland Browns, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rube Ursella</span> American football player and coach (1890–1980)

Reuben John Ursella was a professional football player-coach who played during the early years of the National Football League (NFL). During his NFL career, Rube played for the Minneapolis Marines/Red Jackets, Akron Indians, Hammond Pros, and Rock Island Independents. Outside of the NFL, Ursella played for the Hibbing All-Stars in 1922 and 1923 and Tollefson's All-Stars in 1923, and in January 1926, he also played exhibition games with Jim Thorpe and his independent team, the Tampa Cardinals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Sharpe (American football)</span>

Albert Hayes Sharpe was an All-American football player, coach and athletic director and medical doctor. He played football for Yale University and was selected as a halfback for the 1899 College Football All-America Team. Sharpe was also a star basketball player in the early years of the college game. Sharpe also excelled in baseball, gymnastics, rowing and track. In 1915, Sharpe was selected by one sporting expert as the greatest living athlete in the United States. He later served as a coach and administrator at Cornell University, Yale, the Ithaca School of Physical Education and Washington University in St. Louis.

George Milton Roudebush was an American professional football player with the Canton Bulldogs, Cincinnati Celts of the "Ohio League", and the Dayton Triangles of the early National Football League (NFL). He was also a lawyer in Cleveland for 73 years.

Arnold Douglas "Pudge" Wyman was an American football player. He was an All-American fullback for the University of Minnesota from 1915–1916 and halfback for the Rock Island Independents in the first season of the National Football League (NFL) in 1920. He is credited with several NFL firsts, including the first touchdown, first kickoff return for a touchdown and first passing touchdown.

The Pitcairn Quakers were a professional American football team from Pitcairn, Pennsylvania, United States. The team played as an independent from 1904 until 1920 and featured the best players in the community as well as some famous college-level players. A few of the players were college All-Americans. At one time, the team was loaded with Native Americans from nearby Carlisle Indian School. The team played many of the Midwestern teams that would later become future members of the National Football League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moon Ducote</span> American football player and coach (1897–1937)

Richard Joseph "Moon" "Duke" DuCôté was an American baseball, football, and basketball coach, football and baseball player, football official, and businessman. He first attended Spring Hill College and was a notable athlete at Auburn University. He played minor league baseball with the Mobile Bears, Portsmouth Truckers, and Charlotte Hornets. In 1920, he played with the Cleveland Tigers of the American Professional Football Association (APFA).

References

  1. 1 2 "Obituary Project". Pro Football Archives. September 3, 2009.
  2. "Dick King Stats". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Dick King". databasefootball.com. Archived from the original on May 26, 2011.
  4. "Harvard's Grid Star Is Father of Two Children". Fort Wayne Sentinel. November 11, 1915.
  5. 1 2 3 "Nerve Earns King a Place in Football Hall of Fame". The Washington Post. December 19, 1915.
  6. Monty (November 20, 1915). "Yale Versus Harvard Is Big Game of Today". Fort Wayne News.
  7. "Dick King, Crimson Back, Now Gets Place In Harvard's Hall of Fame". Lincoln Daily Star. November 28, 1915.
  8. "Eck Puts Him On All-American". La Crosse Tribune. December 6, 1915.
  9. Fielding H. Yost (December 4, 1915). "All-American Team of 1915 Strong and Brilliant In Any Style of Offensive Play". Fort Wayne News.
  10. "Coach King Will Leave U.W. Team: Backfield Mentor and All-American Halfback Going To South America". Wisconsin State Journal. October 29, 1916.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Underhill, Northwestern Star, Added to Pine Village Lineup: Will Join King, Erehart, Davis and Milligan in Forming a Powerful Machine". Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette. November 21, 1919.
  12. 1 2 "Indiana Championship Battle at Lafayette: Purdue University City All Agog Over Pine Village-Hammond Game and Expects to Entertain Football Fans From Many Cities". The Times (Hammond, IN). December 5, 1916.
  13. 1 2 "College Gridders No Longer Hide Identity". The Zanesville Signal. October 10, 1926.
  14. "Dick King Plays With Pine Village". Wisconsin State Journal. November 6, 1916.
  15. "Badger Coaches Leave For Sunday Games In East". Wisconsin State Journal. November 29, 1916.
  16. "Pine Village and Cincy Celts in a Tie". Lake County Times. October 29, 1917. ("Dick King, Harvard, was the star for Pine Village.")
  17. "Battle for Indiana Championship Today: Vets and Pine Village Will Decide It At League Park; King, Former Harvard Star, Will Match Skill With Great Eddy, of Princeton Fame, and With Both Elevens Made Up From the Cream of Professional Grid Stars the Best Game of the Season Is Assured". Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette. November 23, 1919.
  18. "Hammond's Professional Football Team: The Hammond Pros 1920-1926" (PDF). The Hammond Historical Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 20, 2008.
  19. "Professional Eleven Will Draw Big Salary". New Castle News. October 1, 1919.
  20. "Vets and Pine Village Will Settle State Title Saturday: Game Will Decide Professional Championship of Indiana and with Eddy, Princeton Star, Working Against King, of Harvard, the Contest Should Prove to Be the Grid Classic of the Season". Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette. November 20, 1919.
  21. "Dick King Wedded at Crown Point: Famous Football Player, Once Divorced, Takes a Twice Divorced Wife". Lake County Times. March 3, 1919.
  22. Friedman, Dick (August 10, 2018). The Coach Who Strangled the Bulldog: How Harvard's Percy Haughton Beat Yale and Reinvented Football. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 226. ISBN   978-1-5381-0755-3 . Retrieved September 18, 2021.