Pre-WW2 Football autographs
 

Hey guys,

Thought I would start a thread on pre-WW2 football autographs. Definitely not as popular as early baseball but I know there are a few collectors out there who would enjoy bragging…I mean ‘sharing’ ….their stuff with others. Here is one to get started.

Found this signed banquet program tucked in a 1920s Penn scrapbook a couple months back. John Heisman was the guest speaker that night.

Man, that is a beauty!

Thanks Rhys. You’ve had some killer stuff over the years too.

Here is a signed original photo of 1914-16 Michigan All-American and College Football Hall of Famer John Maulbetsch, the German Bullet.

Here’s one of my favorites. It was a gift from the Little family to my father while I was deployed overseas. This is a signed dinner program by the Big Ten coaches in honor of Grantland Rice on November 26, 1926. Key signatures include Knute Rockne, Amos Stagg, Robert Zuppke, Fielding Yost, Dan McGugin, George Little and John Wilce.

The signature that jumps out at me is Harlon O. "Pat" Page member of the Basketball Hall of Fame class of 1962.

John Schommer is also a super tough signature!

Thanks guys. Pat Page was also the Indiana football coach in 1926. Some consider Schommer the first great basketball player. Those who collect football coaching legends will also find Clarence Spears (Minnesota) and Jim Phelan (Purdue).

I have looked for a newspaper article or reference to this event for years without success. Would be fun to see all who attended.

On the subject of pre-WW2 Chicago immortals - here’s another who finally received his long overdue selection into the Pro Hall of Fame. Iowa (1918-21) and Chicago Cardinals (1926-31) legendary tackle Duke Slater.

This is a signed ‘Thorpe of Carlisle’ luncheon book from 1955. These were football luncheons put on by Hinckley & Schmitt, a Chicago water bottling company. Fellow collector Rev Moran wrote up a fantastic article on these annual football luncheons several years ago. They are a great source for early football autographs.

Along with Duke Slater this book was also signed by Joe Guyon and Gus Welch.

The 1896 Princeton football team, captained by Garrett Cochran, went 10-0-1 with a tie against Lafayette. They outscored their opponents 266-5 and were retroactively named as National Champions.

This is a signed banquet program by that entire team. The event was held at the Princeton Inn on December 4, 1896. Below is an original cabinet photo of the team, a ticket (sold to students) and a different invitation (to All-American William Church) for the same event, and the signed program.

Key players were All-Americans Addison Kelly, William Church, Robert Gailey, John Baird, Garrett Cochran and Arthur Hillebrand.

Pete Calac is rare too, that is a great item.

That sheet with Slater, Calac, and Guyon is really cool. The Heisman is pretty sweet too.

Thanks guys. Here is an inside picture of the banquet program, listing Heisman as the guest speaker that night.

There are some really neat letters to autograph collectors by various athletes, especially during the pre-WW2 era. This one is pretty cool. Lynn Bomar was an All-American End for Vanderbilt from 1921-24 and played professionally for the New York Giants from 1925-26. He was the first Vanderbilt player inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Interestingly, he later had a career in law enforcement and was warden of Tennessee State Prison from 1955 until his death in 1964.

I did not think I could contribute to this thread, but here we go:

Attachment 525767

Dick Hyland - Enrolled at Stanford, he went to Paris and won a gold medal in Rugby at the Olympics. He stayed to manage the rugby team there until his father ordered him back to go to school. A halfback known as "Tricky Dick". In his first ever play from scrimmage he ran 48 yards for a touchdown against UCal in an upset 41-6 in 1926. Played in the 1927 and 1928 Rose Bowl. He led a quite interesting life. Went into the movie business after college. Technical director on "Drop Kick" one of John Wayne's first movies. Met his first wife there, an actress. One of four short marriages for him including one other actress. Chased out of Hawai'i after being suspected of spying on Filipino workers for the Hawai'in Sugar Planters Association. Later had a long career as a sports writer though he had problems with alcohol.

Attachment 525768

Norman Cleaveland - Played on the Stanford football team for 3 years. He won a gold medal in rugby at the 1924 Olympics. His mother played basketball at Columbia and participated in the first ever women's intercollegiate sporting event, being a game against Berkeley. Her brother, his uncle is College Football HOFer Bill Morley of Columbia.

Attachment 525769

Photo of the U.S. rugby team prior to the gold medal match at the Paris Olympics. Besides the above mentioned Hyland and Cleaveland this photo also includes:
Linn Farish - Stanford football
Jack Patrick - fullback at Stanford, team captain 1921 and class president 1921
Dudley DeGroot - College Football Hall of Famer, coach Washington Redskins

A number of the others in the photo did not play football, but played basketball at Stanford, Santa Clara and Berkeley.

A lot of early college football stars also competed in the Olympics:

Marquis "Bill" Horr - First All American at Syracuse - 1908. Two medals 1908 Olympics.

Truxtun Hare - 4 time All American guard at Penn. Medals in the 1900 and 1904 Olympics. He also wrote 8 children's books.

Johnny Garrels - member of the 1904 and 1905 point-a-minute Michigan football teams. He also played in 1906. He scored the very first touchdown at Ferry Field. Two medals at the 1908 Olympics.

Harold 'Brick' Muller - College Football Hall of Fame. Won a silver medal in the high jump at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp. He was also a colonel in the Army during WWII.

Alexander "Babe" Weyand - College Football Hall of Fame. Competed in wrestling at the 1920 Olympics.

Not just players, but also coaches:

Oscar Osthoff - football coach Washington State 1910-1911. Won gold and silver medals in weightlifting at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis.

I have photos of Hare, Garrels and Hyland as football players and Osthoff as coach. I have a few other photos of early Olympians as football players.

Michael,

Fantastic stuff! Thanks for sharing. My favorite Olympian piece is a signed cabinet photo of George Orton while at Penn. You mentioned a few College Football Hall of Fame legends - William R. Morley (Columbia) and Truxtun Hare (Penn). Below are handwritten signed letters by both of them. The Morley letter was written in 1902 to his wife.

I have a photo of Hare, but looking for a better one. I have been looking for signatures of both Hare and Orton. A friend/customer in Switzerland is looking for an Orton signature for his collection. I have no photos of Orton as he was a Canadian and does not fit into my archives. Orton wrote 3 'Bob Hunt' books along with "Athletic Training for School Boys". Hare wrote 8 books. I have been looking for signed copies of them to fill the wants.

Signed books by either of them are really tough. I have Hare’s scrapbook while at St. Marks, which has numerous athletic photos and signatures of him. There was a great book on Orton written a few years ago called ‘The Greatest Athlete’ by Mark Hebscher. I have a few photos of Orton on my Penn website, to include his signature. Take a look when time permits www.vintagepenna.com

Good looking website.

I would not expect to find many books signed by either of them. The books were for adolescents and you don't find those signed that early. They were not like R.L. Stine is today.

Here are a couple of photos of Penn folks:

Attachment 526019

Josiah McCracken - '99, MD-'01. Silver and bronze medals 1900 Olympics in Paris. Served as a medical missionary in China for 50 years. There is a nice portrait of him in the Penn Photo collection.

Attachment 526021

Lawson Robertson as an athlete ca. 1906 Olympics. Signed photo to his coach. This is an odd photo as they mounted it on linen so the adhesive affected the photo, making it very dark and difficult to tell it is a real signature. I had to scan in grayscale and play with the exposure to make it viewable.

Attachment 526022

Lawson Robertson as a coach. Long time track coach at Penn.

Here is an RPPC of one of the other early football players / Olympians I mentioned earlier - Oscar Osthoff.

Attachment 526023

Here’s a signed report card (3 times) by Hector W. Cowan, Princeton All-American tackle from 1885-89 and inaugural member of the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.

Here’s a fun piece. This is a signed banquet program by William “Pa” Corbin, captain of the legendary 1888 Yale football which outscored their opponents 698-0. He was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1969. The first page acknowledges ‘The Head Coaches” - Mr. and Mrs. Walter Camp.

SLATER!!

Wow just Wow11

Wilce - The above space is not for designing plays. HAHA!

I dunno if this counts, but my father's brother's father-in-law got this for my father when he was a boy, and he passed it on to me:

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