1870s Large “W” Football Team Cabinet Photo

This is one of the oldest football images I have, and dates back to the beginnings of football.  Notice the very primitive bulbous football.  These were often difficult to acquire in America and often contained a pig bladder.  They would usually have to be blown up multiple times during a single game.  I believe that it may have been a prep school such as Worcester Academy, Williston seminary, or Wesleyan Academy.  There would have been very few colleges playing the game during this time.

1892 Phillips Exeter Imperial Football Cabinet

This is a very clear imperial cabinet photo of the 1892 Phillips Exeter football team.  PE was an important feeder prep school for many of the Ivy League colleges.  Their schedule consisted of playing many college teams including Harvard.

1888 Yale Eating Club photo with Charlie Gill

Eating clubs were popular in the 19th century in Ivy League schools like Princeton and Yale.  They were a combination of eating hall and fraternity.  This photo contains Charles Otis Gill.  Gill was Captain of the Yale football team in 1889 and also on the very first all-American team that year.  He was a member of many great Yale football teams including arguably the best team of the decade the 1888 Yale football squad.  After graduation he briefly coached the University of California in 1894.  He was a minister for most of his life and ended up authoring various books.

1882 Dartmouth Sports and Activities Cabinet

This is a Pach Bros Cabinet depicting Dartmouth sports and activities in 1882. It also came with this antique frame that appears to be similar period.  It really shows the unique equipment and uniforms from the day.  

The football player holding the ball is Clarence “Cap” Howland who is considered the Walter Camp of Dartmouth.  He came to Dartmouth from Williston Seminary who had been playing a similar style football to Harvard and Yale.  In 1880 he organized the first football team.  

It wasn’t until 1881 that they played and won their first game against Amherst.  H.A. “Holy” Drew was one of  the players instrumental in their first win due to his plunging of the line.  He is the other player pictured and also filled in as the captain in 1882 when Howland suffered a broken nose which sidelined him. 

Charles Frederick Mathewson in addition to being on the baseball team was also on the first football team.

In 1882 Dartmouth wanted to test their skills against a big dog such as Harvard.  They fell flat on their face losing 53-0.  This causes the Dartmouth school newspaper to print “Rugby is dead. If there is any other game Dartmouth can play better than football, it would be better to encourage it.”  Later in 1882 Dartmouth played McGill in a very unique game.  The captains compromised on playing 13 vs 13.  This was 2 more than Dartmouth was accustomed to and 2 less than Mcgill’s usual number.  Dartmouth ended up winning this game.  Cap Howland was also captain of the 1883 and 1884 squad before continuing his football career at Columbia during law school.  One final note that may interest you guys is that Dartmouth ended up playing Yale in 1884.  They lost 113-0 and is the first time a football team had lost by 100 points.

1887 Harvard Football Game photos

This is an incredibly rare find.  19th century original game photographs are nearly non existent even for the 1890s, but even more so in the 1880s.  This is from a group of photos that came from the Harvard Archives showing rival opponents Wesleyan University and M.I.T.  Harvard had a great team this year 652-17 and going 10-1.  Their lone loss being against Yale this year.  In these photos you will see great images of Jarvis field.  One image shows Joseph Sears making a rush who was the Harvard Captain the next year in 1888.  Also on this team was Arthur Cummock who was captain in 89 and 90 and helped them win a championship in 1890.

1897 Football Stereoview

This is an example of a stereoview photo from the 19th century.  These mounted photos were viewed using a stereo viewer and really popped out of the image.  While this is a somewhat common example, the number of football related stereoviews are few and far between.  I have not been able to identify the team portrayed in this image.