Karl Brill

Last updated

Karl Brill
Playing career
1904-1905 Harvard
Position(s) Tackle
Accomplishments and honors
Awards

Karl Friedrich Brill was an American football player. He played at the tackle position for the Harvard Crimson football team in 1904 and 1905 and was selected as a first-team All-American in 1905. As a sophomore in December 1905, Brill announced that he would not continue playing football. He said, "I came to Harvard to get a degree as a mining engineer. For the last two years 'Varsity football has played havoc with my studies. Already I have been forced to drop work in my freshman and sophomore years. If I play football again it means that I shall fail to get my degree in four years, and I cannot afford a fifth. It's either play football and fail to get a degree or abandon the gridiron and get a degree." [1] [2] In addition to the toll the game had taken on his studies, Bill denounced football on moral grounds, stating that the human body was not meant to withstand the strain that football demands and adding, "I don't believe the game is right. I dislike it on moral grounds. It is a mere gladiatorial combat. It is brutal throughout." [3]

Brill's family lost its wealth in a financial collapse, and Brill thereafter worked his way through school as a waiter, janitor, and steel mill worker. [4] After receiving an A.B. from Harvard in 1908, Brill returned in 1910 to pursue a Bachelor of Science, also developing a system of minimalist dieting that he believed would allow him to live 125 years. [5] The 1918 Harvard Alumni Bulletin reported that Brill was a captain of engineering stationed at Camp Humphreys in Virginia. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Camp</span> American football player and coach (1859–1925)

Walter Chauncey Camp was an American college football player and coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system of downs. With John Heisman, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Pop Warner, Fielding H. Yost, and George Halas, Camp was one of the most accomplished persons in the early history of American football. He attended Yale College, where he played and coached college football. Camp's Yale teams of 1888, 1891, and 1892 have been recognized as national champions. Camp was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach during 1951.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Grant (baseball)</span> American baseball player (1883-1918)

Edward Leslie Grant, was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman between 1905 and 1915. Grant became one of the few major league players who were killed in World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan McGugin</span> American football player, coach, and lawyer (1879–1936)

Daniel Earle McGugin was an American college football player and coach, as well as a lawyer. He served as the head football coach at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee from 1904 to 1917 and again from 1919 to 1934, compiling a record of 197–55–19. He is the winningest head coach in the history of the university. McGugin was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1951 as part of its inaugural class. He was the brother-in-law of University of Michigan coach Fielding H. Yost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Catlin Sr.</span> American politician

Mark Seavey Catlin Sr. was an American football player, track athlete, coach, lawyer, and politician. He served as the head football coach at the University of Iowa from 1906 to 1908, and at Lawrence University from 1909 to 1918 and again from 1924 to 1927, compiling a career college football record of 63–40–7. Catlin played football at the University of Chicago and also participated in track and field competitions held adjunct to the 1904 Olympic Games. He later worked as an attorney and also served in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1921 to 1923.

<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">William Ward (American football)</span> American football player, coach, physician, and surgeon (1874–1936)

William Douglas Ward was an American college football player and coach, physician and surgeon. He played football at Princeton University from 1893 to 1894 and was the coach of the University of Michigan football team in 1896. He later became a physician and surgeon in Rochester, New York. He was a pioneer in early surgical procedures to construct artificial vaginas and published an article on the subject in 1915.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John A. Hartwell</span> American physician

John Augustus "Josh" Hartwell was an American college football player and coach, military officer, and physician. Hartwell attended Yale University, where he played end for Walter Camp's Bulldogs football team from 1888 to 1891. In 1891, Hartwell was named an All-American for a season in which Yale was unbeaten, untied, unscored against, and later recognized as a national champion by a number of selectors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvard Crimson football</span> Football team of Harvard University

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1898 Michigan Wolverines football team</span> American college football season

The 1898 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1898 Western Conference football season. With Gustave Ferbert in his second year as head coach, the team compiled an undefeated 10–0 record, outscored its opponents 205–26, and won the Western Conference championship for the first time in the school's history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bert Waters</span> American football player and coach (1871–1930)

Bertram Gordon Waters was an American football player and coach. He played college football for Harvard University from 1892 to 1894 and was selected as an All-American in 1892 and again in 1894. Waters served as the head football coach for Harvard in 1896.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Curtis</span> American football player and coach (1882–1972)

John Spencer "Big Joe" Curtis was an American football player and coach. While playing for the University of Michigan, he was selected as a first-team All-Western tackle three consecutive years from 1904 to 1906 and as an All-American in 1904 and 1905. In his four seasons as the starting left tackle for the Michigan Wolverines, the team compiled a record of 37–2–1, won two national championships and outscored opponents by a combined total of 1,699 to 60. Curtis later served as the head football coach at Tulane University from 1907 to 1908 and at the Colorado School of Mines in 1909.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League</span>

The Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League was an athletic conference for men's college basketball, beginning with the 1901–02 season and ending with the 1954–55 season. Its membership ranged from four to eight members; all of these teams now compete in the Ivy League, which began play in 1955–56. The Ivy League's men's basketball league claims the EIBL's history as its own. Through the EIBL, the Ivy League is the oldest basketball conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association; the next oldest, the Big Ten Conference, began play in 1905–06.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A. J. Sturzenegger</span> American athlete and coach (1888–1949)

Alfonzo John Sturzenegger, sometimes also referred to as Jack Sturzenegger, was an American football and baseball player and coach. He played college football and baseball at the University of Nebraska. He later served as an assistant football coach at the University of Michigan (1920–1923), University of Southern California (1924), and UCLA (1925–1948). He was also the head coach of the UCLA Bruins baseball team from 1927 to 1931, in 1933, and again from 1943 to 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry S. Hammond</span> American football player and businessman (1884–1960)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Clarence Matthews</span> American baseball player and lawyer

William Clarence Matthews was an early 20th-century African-American pioneer in athletics, politics and law. Born in Selma, Alabama, Matthews was enrolled at the Tuskegee Institute and, with the help of Booker T. Washington, enrolled at the Phillips Academy in 1900 and Harvard University in 1901. At Harvard, he became one of the standout baseball players, leading the team in batting average for the 1903, 1904, and 1905 seasons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Hallowell</span> American football player and businessman (1878–1927)

John White Hallowell was a prominent American businessman and football player. He played college football at Harvard University and was a consensus All-American at the end position in both 1898 and 1900. Hallowell served in the U.S. Food Administration, and was chairman of the New England Committee for Supplementary Rations for Belgian Children during World War I. After the War, Hallowell served as assistant to the Secretary of the Interior, Franklin K. Lane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1905 Harvard Crimson football team</span> American college football season

The 1905 Harvard Crimson football team represented Harvard University in the 1905 college football season. The Crimson finished with an 8–2–1 record under head coach Bill Reid, who had coached Harvard in 1901. Walter Camp selected two Harvard players as first-team players on his 1905 College Football All-America Team. Caspar Whitney selected three Harvard players as first-team members of his All-America team: Burr, tackle Karl Brill and halfback Daniel Hurley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago–Michigan football rivalry</span> Sports rivalry

The Chicago–Michigan football rivalry was an American college football rivalry game played by the Wolverines of the University of Michigan and Maroons of the University of Chicago. From 1892 to 1905, it was the most important game of the season for the two schools, which were the first major football powers in what was then considered the western United States. The rivalry ended after the 1939 season when the University of Chicago dropped out of the Big Ten Conference. The roots of the rivalry date back to 1879 when Michigan played its first intercollegiate football game in Chicago and to a series of matches played between Michigan and the "Chicago University Club" between 1888 and 1891.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lionel de Jersey Harvard</span> Descendant of John Harvard (1893–1918)

Lionel de Jersey Harvard was a young Englishman who, discovered to be collaterally descended from Harvard College founder John Harvard, was consequently offered the opportunity to attend that university, from which he graduated in 1915. The first Harvard to attend Harvard, he died in the First World War less than three years later, leaving a wife and infant son.

The 1903 Western University of Pennsylvania football team was an American football team that represented Western University of Pennsylvania, as an independent during the 1903 college football season.

References

  1. "Harvard's Tackle Give Up Football" (PDF). The New York Times. December 5, 1905.
  2. "BRILL ASSAILS FOOTBALL; Harvard's Retiring Tackle Attacks the Game in a Surprising Statement" (PDF). The New York Times. December 20, 1905.
  3. "Why Karl Brill Renounces Football". The Friend: A Religious and Literary Journal. December 30, 1905. p. 200.
  4. "Harvard Football Hero Won His Own Way While Student", Evansville Journal-News (January 7, 1906), p. 3.
  5. "Harvard Athlete Evolves New System of Dieting", Buffalo Courier (June 3, 1910), p. 1.
  6. Harvard Alumni Bulletin (1918), p. 136.