1879 Princeton university Football cabinet photos

 Here is a G.W. Pach images of the 1879 Princeton football team.  Led by Captain Bland Ballard they went undefeated going 4-0-1 with a tie against Yale.  They were retroactively named national champions.

c. 1896 Denver Athletic Club panoramic team photo

This is the earliest panoramic photo I have seen of a football team.  The photographer signature looks like Rose from Denver with an 1896 date.  I was able to photo match some players with those from the Denver Athletic Club.

1886 Harvard University Football Imperial Cabinet Photo

 Here is a Pach Bros image of the 1886 Harvard football team.  Harvard had struggled out of the gate in the early 1880s.  In 1885 the Harvard administration shut down the team from playing that season due to the violence of the sport.  The team came back with a vengeance in 1886 with a record of 12-2 with its only losses against the powerhouses of Yale and Princeton.  

1886 University of Pennsylvania football imperial cabinet photo

 This is a very attractive large size Gilbert and Bacon team photo of U of Penn from 1886.  They went 9-6-1 playing all the big teams of the day including Princeton twice.

Imperial 1878 Harvard football freshman Notman Cabinet

 This is a very early Harvard football image.  The 82 on their uniforms is for the class of 1882.  This image was taken in 1878.  Many of these players went on to play important roles on the varsity squad from 1878-1881.  One in particular William H. Manning was a 4 year varsity letter winner and 2 year captain of the 1880-1881 team.

William H. Manning

1900 Yale Football Team Large Albumin Photo

 This was one of Yale’s best teams of all time.  After 1894 Yale started losing some of the games they had previously dominated since the 1870s.  This changed in 1900 by the Gordon Brown Captained football team that cruised to a perfect season routing their opponents.  They are often dubbed the “team of the century.”  Gordon Brown had a very successful career at Yale and became one of a handful of other college players as a 4 time All-Anerican.  Every single starting player from this team went on to earn either first, second, or third team All-American votes.

c.1894 Victor Hungerford Columbia University football cabinet

19th century Columbia University photos are very hard to come by.  One of the reasons for this is the fact that they did not play outside competition for many years in the 1890s.  This image of Victor Hungerford is during the days when they would play class vs class.  Below is his individual cabinet with a team image showing the inter scholastic trophy.