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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
