Pre-WW2 Football autographs

[cfhofer]

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

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by cfhofer

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:

mccracken.jpg

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.

robertson.JPG

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.

robertson-l.jpg

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.

osthoff.JPG

[cfhofer]

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.

[cfhofer]

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.