First Athletic Trainer James “Jim” Robinson 1885 cabinet photo

 Jim Robinson is recognized as the first athletic trainer in the United States.  He was born in Manchester England in 1847.  He trained as a veterinary assistant in England.  In 1878 he immigrated to the U.S. where he started training horses.

  He eventually moved to training track and field athletes and then football players at Harvard in 1881-1882.  He then went to Columbia in 1883 and then to Princeton from 1883-1890 where he is pictured in this cabinet.  He trained at Manhattan Athletic club from 1890-93, Michigan 1896-97, Yale 1899-1900, and then back to Princeton from 1900-1906 until his death.

1890 Charles Emrich Navy Football Captain

 Charles Emrich was the captain of the Navy football team in 1890.  That year they played Army in the first battle between the two schools which began a long tradition.  In a previous thread I had posted the Army Captain Dennis Mahan Michie.  Navy went on to win this matchup 24-0.  Emrich died of typhoid fever in Hong Kong in 1900.

1896 George Walbridge Imperial Cabinet Photo

 George Walbridge was the captain of the 1896 Lafayette college football team that went 11-0-1.  They were retroactively named Co-National Champions that year with the team they tied Princeton.  On a train to Philadelphia to play UPenn Walbridge had his appendix burst and was rushed into surgery where he almost died.  His teammates ended up upsetting UPenn 6-4 and visited his hospital room to celebrate and support him.  He ended up missing the rest of the season.  

In 1898 he served in the Spanish-American war.  The following year he ended up entering Cornell where he continued his football career as a star halfback.  After graduation Walbridge started what became one of the largest construction companies in the United States.

1894 Bowdoin College Football Team

 Here is a nice mounted imperial cabinet photo of the 1894 Bowdoin College squad.  Bowdoin first started playing football in 1889.  Their main rivalry games are between Bates College played since 1889 and Colby College since 1893.  

1892 Yale Football Team Photo

 Here is a very clear image of the 1892 Yale football team.  Just like in their 1891 year they went undefeated and unscored upon with a record of 13-0.  They were retroactively named National Champions for this year.  While they did lose some stars from the 91 team, they did pick up Bill Hickok and John Greenway.  Many of the other players appeared in the 1894 Mayo Cut Plug set.

1893 Princeton University Champions Imperial Cabinet

 The 1893 Princeton Tigers football team finished the season a perfect 11-0  and being the undisputed national champions for that year.  One of the great things about this cabinet is the intricate detail taken of naming each player listed on the back.  Many of these players ended up in the 1894 Mayo set including Captain Thomas Trenchard, Langdon Lea, and Arthur Wheeler to name a few.  Another interesting feature of this cabinet is the early image of Nielson Poe wearing his Groton School jersey.

1882 Rutgers Football Team Photo

 I was excited to receive this one from a trade with a collecting friend who has an amazing early collection.  Even though Rutgers was one of the first colleges to play in a game in 1869, very few early images exist.  This is an albumen image of the 1882 Rutgers football team.  The team itself went 6-4 that season playing some of the bigger teams in the country. 

1896 Cornell Football Graduate team photo

 This is one of my favorite photos in my collection.  It is a large crystal clear image of the 1896 Cornell Graduate football team photo.  Clint Wycoff seen at the bottom of the image was the captain and selected All-American, the first not from Harvard, Princeton, Yale, or Penn.  Some other interesting things of not is the dog mascot and the individual wearing the Crescent Athletic club sweater.

1885 Henry “Tillie” Lamar Cabinet photo

Tillie Lamar was a hero on the field for Princeton College.  In the 1885 championship of Princeton vs Yale in what became known as the “Lamar Game” he returned a 90 yard punt return to win the game in the last seconds.  This play was one of the most notable of the 19th century as it was Princeton’s only win against Yale from 1879-1888.

This is one of my favorite individual player cabinets because I love the pose next to the prop Revolutionary War canon where the original is buried behind Nassau Hall.

Yale Early 1880s Hamilton Park Cabinet Photo

 Here is a very nice image of Hamilton Park at Yale University. Many of the historical first football games from the 1870s to the early 1880s were played here.  This is where Walter Camp first roamed the field.  I have seen a couple other early images of Hamilton Park but I was interested to see the lettering on the front of the entrance.  In other images that is blocked out by the large tree.

Early 1900s African American football team cabinet photo

 The first HBCU football game was played in North Carolina in 1892 between Biddle and Livingston Colleges.  There were not a whole lot of football games being played in the 19th century but started to pick up around the early 1900s until WW1.  I just don’t see a lot of images out there at all pre 1920s of African American teams.  This is the earliest I have seen in formation.  Notice the early head harnesses and melon shaped football.  On the back is notated Goldsboro, NC. 

c.1877 Livingston Cushing Harvard Football Cabinet

 Livingston Cushing played football at Harvard from 1876-1879.  He was captain of the 1877 and 1878 teams.  I like this image because it shows Harvard’s first uniform style.  This would have been one of the earliest uniforms during the transition from Association to Rugby style football.

1890s Colorado School of Mines Football Team Photo

 This is one of the largest images in my collection.  It’s around two feet wide just on the photo alone.  This is an early 1890s Colorado School of Mines Orediggers football team image.  This school was the dominant football team in Colorado during the 19th century.  In 1890 they beat the University of Colorado 105-0.  This is one of the only football team images I have where they are not posed with a football.  

1870s O.D. Thompson Yale Crew Photos

 O.D. Thompson was an early Yale athlete who alongside Walter Camp saw the transition of football from Association to Rugby.  He played on the 75-78 teams.  He was a part of the first forward pass and had a knack for scoring in the big games. After graduation he continued playing football for many years at the club level.  He was the manager who wrote the check for the first pro football player Pudge Heffelfinger for the Allegheny Athletic Club.

1880s Amos Alonzo Stagg photos

 Here are some images of Amos Alonzo Stagg during his Yale days.  If you are unfamiliar with him he is definitely worth looking up.  Unlike Harry Beecher, who I posted recently, he did not come from fame and wealth.  He had to work odd jobs to put himself through school.  He is one of the few individuals who is in the College Football HOF as both a player and coach.  He is also in the basketball HOF for early work done with James Naismith at Springfield YMCA.  He was responsible for many innovations in football throughout his lifelong coaching career.  He lived to be in his hundreds.

c.1892 Pratt brothers Amherst Football Imperial photo

 Here is an image of George DuPont Pratt on the left and Herbert Lee Pratt on the right.   G.D. Pratt was quarterback and captain of the 1892 Amherst football team.  H.L Pratt was the captain of the 1894 team under head coach Parke Davis.  

19th century Washington State Football Team Photos

 Here is a nice collection of early Washington Agricultural College (Washington State) football team photos.  Their first football team was established in 1894.  This shows a nice transition of an early west coast football team.

1895 First Team

1896 First Team

1899 First Team

Late 1870s/ Early 1880s Football Team Tintype

Football tintypes are few and far between as compared to baseball.  Here is a great example of an early football tintype.  Most likely a high school or prep school from the Northeast.  Each player is equipped with a canvas football jacket.  The common variety was white and I’m not familiar with the black jacket the one player is wearing.  Princeton first wore these in 1876 to cut down on jersey pulls and tearing during tackling.  Instead of specific moleskin football pants they are wearing what appears to be everyday slacks.  The caps are also on the rarer side with a few appearing to be wearing pillbox style caps.  This can be seen in very few late 1870s team images and isn’t as common as the traditional stocking cap.  

1890 Arthur J Cumnock Harvard Football Cabinet Photo

 Arthur Cumnock was one of the early Harvard football stars.  He was a fierce tackler and played on the varsity team all 4 years from 1887-1890.  In 1889 he would be selected captain of the team and would go on to be selected to the first All-American team as an end.

In 1890 he was once again selected captain of the team.  This team would go on to upsetting Yale in the final game on their way to an 11-0 record.   This would be Harvard’s first victory over Yale since 1875 and first recognized National Championship.

In 1891 Cumnock was given a patent on one of the first nose masks.  This was really the beginning of devices designed for player safety.  He extended his patent to John F. Morrill who went on to mass produce his version of the nose guard.

c. 1900 Thomas Truxton Hare University of Pennsylvania Cabinet Photo

 Here is an individual cabinet photo of Thomas Truxton Hare.  He was one of the best 19th century football players and was on some of the greatest UPenn teams.  He played for the University of Pennsylvania from 1897-1900 and is one of only a handful of players to be votes an All-American 4 times.  He also competed in the 1900 Olympics winning a silver medal in hammer throw and  in the 1904 Olympics winning bronze in the All-around.  

For a great website on 1890s UPenn Football visit:

http://www.vintagepenna.com/

Yale Class of 1876 Football Team

 In the early days of football many schools participated in interclass competition.  Here is an image of the class of 1876 Yale football team.  Many of the players in the image were on the varsity 1875 squad including Captain William Arnold.  Arnold would captain the first game played against Harvard in a 0-4 loss.

 

1894 Cornell Football Team with Captain “Pop” Warner

Seated with the football is Glenn Scobey “Pop” Warner.  He went on to have a historic coaching career maybe best known for coaching at Carlisle during Jim Thorpe’s time there.  The team was coached by Harvard 4 time all- American Marshall Newell and had a record of 6-4-1.

1888 Harry Beecher Yale Graduation Photo

 Here is a grad photo of my favorite football player from the 1880s, Harry Beecher of Yale.  He was the subject of the first American Football card from the 1888 Goodwin Champions set.  He was one of the greatest quarterbacks of the 1800s leading Yale in 1886 and becoming captain of the 1887 team.  Those teams were undefeated national champions.  

c. 1894 “Squash” Little Dartmouth College Football Cabinet

 Charles Sherman “Squash” Little class of 91’ was a fixture of Dartmouth football in the late 1880s into the 1890s.  He was said to be a mighty hammer thrower and started at guard his sophomore through senior years.  He was particularly disliked by the Amherst men who had to face him.  He entered medical school and continued to play in 1893 and became the captain and right hand man of Coach Moyle in 1894.  They would go on to win the Triangular Football League that year.