Here is one of the oldest college football photos in existence. It is Yale’s “first eleven” who ended up playing Eton in 1873. This was the first game of this nature that included these 11 Yale students playing a picked team of old Eton players. Yale went on to win the contest 2-1. William Halstead was the captain for Yale this year in only their second year in existence.
Here is a nice photo from Charlie Gilbert’s estate. He was one of the best football players in the 19th century. He was a part of University of Pennsylvania’s undefeated championship teams of 1894 and 95. He was selected an All- American 1894, 1895, and 1896. He was later inducted into the College Football HOF.
After graduation he was a practicing veterinarian. What is most interesting is his part in some of the first early pro football teams. He was on Duquesne Country and AC for their championship teams in 1898 and 1899 and also Homestead Library and AC championship team of 1900. He was also on the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York team in the World Series of Football.
Here is one of my favorite images, a cabinet photo of William J. Leggett. He was captain for Rutgers in the first college football game in history when they played Princeton on November 6th 1869. They ended up winning this game 6-4.
Here is a great imperial sized photo of the 1887 Lafayette football team. They went 7-2 this season led by Captain Frederick Paye.
Here is a c.1894 Pach Bros cabinet photo of Yale football and track star “Wild” Bill Hickock. He played during the dominant years of 1892-1894. He played guard and was twice selected All American. After graduation he coached in 1896 at Carlisle Indian School. He was later inducted into the College Football HOF.
Here is a beautiful Pach Brothers cabinet photo of the 1895 Army football team. This team went 5-2 under Captain Edward King and head coach Harmon Graves.
The captain of the 4-0-1 Yale Bulldogs in 1880 was R.G. Watson. This would be Walter Camp’s 5th year with the program as he was attending medical school.
The annual Yale vs Princeton game was played for the first time this year at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan New York due to the increased popularity in the game. It was a snowy freezing game and Princeton held onto the ball most of the game without trying to advance the ball. The poor product of this game prompted Walter Camp to eventually come up with downs in football that would change possession to other team if the football wasn’t advanced.
This is an imperial sized Pach Brothers photo of the team. I have never seen another football image with Walter Camp in an imperial sized format like this.
