1880s Penn State Football Medallion

 One of the oldest football related jewelry items I have come across.  This gold medallion displays the old colors of Penn State from 1887-90 on an enamel melon football.  Their first colors was a combination of Pink and Black.  They changed to the blue and white colors we are accustomed to in 1890.  

I included a collotype photo I have of the 1889 team along with the color chant from an old La Vie yearbook I have.  Here is a more in depth article on the color exchange  https://www.psu.edu/news/campus-life/story/dear-old-state-pink-and-black-blue-and-white.  I also took a few snippets of the interesting parts of the article if you don’t want to read.

1888 Albert Holden Harvard Pach Bros photo

 Here is an amazing Pach brothers cabinet photo of one of the premier football players in the 1880s Bert Holden.  He was captain for Harvard in 1887 and 88.  The 1887 team went 10-1 with their only loss being a close one to Yale in which Holden starred as rusher.

1884 Dartmouth Football Team

 Here is an amazingly vivid image of the 1884 Dartmouth football team.  They only played 4 games this season going 1-2-1.  They suffered the worst loss of early football getting beat down 113-0 from the powerhouse Yale men.

1902 Army Football with Douglas MacArthur

 Here is a fabulous photo of the 1902 West Point football team with manager Douglas MacArthur.  The team went 6-1-1 that year.  They tied Yale who went on to become national champions.  They beat Navy 22-8 this year.  Notable players include 4 time All American Charles Dudley Daly and Paul Bunker.

1878 Yale Baseball team with Walter Camp

 Here is a great image with the father of football Walter Camp.  I have always liked this studio backdrop and the boater hats.

1892 Massachusetts Agricultural College

 MAC eventually would become UMass.  Here is a beautiful cabinet card of the 1892 MAC football team.

Tufts University c.1893 Football Player Cabinet

 Here is a spectacular imperial cabinet of a player from the 1893 Tufts football team.  This image shows the brutality of the game during this time with his heavily bandaged face.