1889 College Football All-America Team
Encyclopedia
The 1889 College Football All-America team was the first College Football All-America Team
. The team was selected by Casper Whitney and published in This Week's Sports.
The team selected by Whitney in 1889 marked the origin of the "All-America
" teams that have since appeared in every collegiate sport from men's ice hockey to women's gymnastics. All eleven members of the 1889 All-America team played for three teams—Harvard, Princeton or Yale, then known as the "Big Three" of college football. Some sources indicate that Walter Camp
assisted Whitney with the selection of the 1889 All-American team, while others indicate that Camp did not become involved in the selection process until some time in the 1890s.
The first ever All-America team included the legendary football coach Amos Alonzo Stagg
(then a player for Yale), Pudge Heffelfinger
(the first professional football player), "Snake" Ames
(who set a college scoring record with 730 points), Edgar Allan Poe
(second cousin, twice removed of the writer of the same name), Arthur Cumnock
(described as the greatest Harvard football player of all-time in 1913), and Roscoe Channing
(who later served with Teddy Roosevelt
in the Rough Riders
).
Tackles
Guards
Center
Quarterback
Halfbacks
Fullback
College Football All-America Team
The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best American college football players at their respective positions. The original usage of the term All-America seems to have been to the 1889 College Football All-America Team selected by Casper Whitney and published in This...
. The team was selected by Casper Whitney and published in This Week's Sports.
The team selected by Whitney in 1889 marked the origin of the "All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
" teams that have since appeared in every collegiate sport from men's ice hockey to women's gymnastics. All eleven members of the 1889 All-America team played for three teams—Harvard, Princeton or Yale, then known as the "Big Three" of college football. Some sources indicate that Walter Camp
Walter Camp
Walter Chauncey Camp was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". With John Heisman, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Pop Warner, Fielding H. Yost, and George Halas, Camp was one of the most accomplished persons in the early history of American football...
assisted Whitney with the selection of the 1889 All-American team, while others indicate that Camp did not become involved in the selection process until some time in the 1890s.
The first ever All-America team included the legendary football coach Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg was an American athlete and pioneering college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football...
(then a player for Yale), Pudge Heffelfinger
William Heffelfinger
-External links:...
(the first professional football player), "Snake" Ames
Knowlton Ames
Knowlton Lyman "Snake" Ames was an American football player and coach. He scored 730 points for Princeton from 1886 to 1889, including 62 touchdowns. The achievement of scoring 730 points is an unofficial college football career record, although only records set since the NCAA began keeping...
(who set a college scoring record with 730 points), Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (Maryland Attorney General)
Edgar Allan Poe was Attorney General of the State of Maryland from 1911 to 1915. He was born in Baltimore, the son of former Maryland Attorney General John Prentiss Poe. He was named for his second cousin, twice removed, the celebrated author Edgar Allan Poe, who died in 1849.Poe attended...
(second cousin, twice removed of the writer of the same name), Arthur Cumnock
Arthur Cumnock
Arthur James Cumnock was an American football player. He and Amos Alonzo Stagg were selected as the ends on the first College Football All-America Team in 1889. He is also credited with having been the person who developed the tradition of spring practice in football...
(described as the greatest Harvard football player of all-time in 1913), and Roscoe Channing
Roscoe Channing
Roscoe H. Channing, Jr. was an All-American football player, member of the Rough Riders and mining executive. Channing was an All-American halfback for Princeton University. He was one of eleven players selected by Casper Whitney for the first ever College Football All-America Team in 1889...
(who later served with Teddy Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
in the Rough Riders
Rough Riders
The Rough Riders is the name bestowed on the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish-American War and the only one of the three to see action. The United States Army was weakened and left with little manpower after the American Civil War...
).
Profiles of the 1889 All-America Eleven
- Amos Alonzo StaggAmos Alonzo StaggAmos Alonzo Stagg was an American athlete and pioneering college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football...
(1862–1965): Yale's All-American end, Stagg became a legendary football coach at the University of ChicagoUniversity of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
from 1892 to 1932 and the University of the Pacific from 1933-1946. Stagg's teams won seven national championships and seven Big Ten ConferenceBig Ten ConferenceThe Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
championships.
- William HeffelfingerWilliam Heffelfinger-External links:...
(1867–1954): Yale's guardGuard (American football)In American and Canadian football, a guard is a player that lines up between the center and the tackles on the offensive line of a football team....
, "Pudge" Heffelfinger was a native of Minnesota who was considered the greatest lineman of his time. Heffelfinger was paid $500 in 1892 to play for the Allegheny Athletic Association, making him the first professional football player. He was the head football coach at the University of CaliforniaUniversity of CaliforniaThe University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
(1893), Lehigh UniversityLehigh UniversityLehigh University is a private, co-educational university located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States. It was established in 1865 by Asa Packer as a four-year technical school, but has grown to include studies in a wide variety of disciplines...
(1894), and the University of MinnesotaUniversity of MinnesotaThe University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
(1895). He later published an annual booklet called "Heffelfinger's Football Facts" and was one of the charter inductees into the College Football Hall of FameCollege Football Hall of FameThe College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
.
- Knowlton AmesKnowlton AmesKnowlton Lyman "Snake" Ames was an American football player and coach. He scored 730 points for Princeton from 1886 to 1889, including 62 touchdowns. The achievement of scoring 730 points is an unofficial college football career record, although only records set since the NCAA began keeping...
(1868–1931): A native of Chicago, Princeton's All-America fullbackFullback (American football)A fullback is a position in the offensive backfield in American and Canadian football, and is one of the two running back positions along with the halfback...
"Snake" Ames set an unofficial collegiate scoring record in his time with 730 points, including 62 touchdowns and 176 points after touchdown. Ames is credited with being the first player to execute a fake punt and part of the first team to fully develop the "power sweepSweep (American football)A sweep is a running play in American football where the running back takes a pitch or handoff from the quarterback and starts running parallel to the line of scrimmage, allowing for the offensive linemen and fullback to get in front of him to block defenders before he turns upfield.- QB sweep :A...
." Ames moved west to coach Purdue UniversityPurdue UniversityPurdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
from 1891-1892.
- Hector "Hec" CowanHector Cowan-External links:...
(1863–1941): Princeton's tackle, "Hec" Cowan helped lead the 1889 Princeton team to a perfect 10-0 record. Pudge Heffelfinger later said of Cowan, "He had the strongest shoulders and arms I've ever been up against and his stubby legs drove like pistons when he carried the ball. Hector could carry a couple of tacklers on his back, yet he was plenty fast in the open." He later served as the coach at the University of KansasUniversity of KansasThe University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
from 1894-1896.
- Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe (Maryland Attorney General)Edgar Allan Poe was Attorney General of the State of Maryland from 1911 to 1915. He was born in Baltimore, the son of former Maryland Attorney General John Prentiss Poe. He was named for his second cousin, twice removed, the celebrated author Edgar Allan Poe, who died in 1849.Poe attended...
(1871–1961): Princeton's quarterback, Poe was named after his relative and celebrated poet Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
. After Princeton beat Harvard 41-15, a Harvard man reportedly asked a Princeton alumnus whether Poe was related to the great Edgar Allan Poe. According to the story, "the alumnus looked at him in astonishment and replied, 'He is the great Edgar Allan Poe.'" Poe graduated Phi Beta Kappa and later served as the Attorney General of the State of MarylandAttorney General of MarylandThe Attorney General of Maryland is the chief legal officer of the State of Maryland in the United States and is elected by the people every four years with no term limits...
from 1911 to 1915.
- Arthur CumnockArthur CumnockArthur James Cumnock was an American football player. He and Amos Alonzo Stagg were selected as the ends on the first College Football All-America Team in 1889. He is also credited with having been the person who developed the tradition of spring practice in football...
(1868-1930): Harvard's Cumnock was known as a fierce tackler and has been ranked by one author as perhaps the greatest player in that school's long football tradition. Cumnock later went into the cotton mill business and was the treasurer of one of the largest corporations in New England.
- Roscoe ChanningRoscoe ChanningRoscoe H. Channing, Jr. was an All-American football player, member of the Rough Riders and mining executive. Channing was an All-American halfback for Princeton University. He was one of eleven players selected by Casper Whitney for the first ever College Football All-America Team in 1889...
(1868-1961): Princeton's halfback Channing later served with Theodore RooseveltTheodore RooseveltTheodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
's Rough RidersRough RidersThe Rough Riders is the name bestowed on the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish-American War and the only one of the three to see action. The United States Army was weakened and left with little manpower after the American Civil War...
in the Spanish American War. For many years, he was the President of Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Company, a copper mining company in Flin FlonFlin FlonFlin Flon is a Canadian mining city located on the border of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with the majority of the city located within Manitoba.- Founding :...
, Saskatchewan, Canada.
- Charles O. GillCharles O. GillCharles Otis Gill was an American Congregationalist clergyman and author, with Gifford Pinchot, of two influential books on the state of rural churches in the US....
(1868-1959): Yale's Gill later coached at the University of California in 1894.
Team lineup by position
Ends- Amos Alonzo StaggAmos Alonzo StaggAmos Alonzo Stagg was an American athlete and pioneering college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football...
, Yale (College Football Hall of Fame) - Arthur CumnockArthur CumnockArthur James Cumnock was an American football player. He and Amos Alonzo Stagg were selected as the ends on the first College Football All-America Team in 1889. He is also credited with having been the person who developed the tradition of spring practice in football...
, Harvard
Tackles
- Hector CowanHector Cowan-External links:...
, Princeton (College Football Hall of Fame) - Charles O. GillCharles O. GillCharles Otis Gill was an American Congregationalist clergyman and author, with Gifford Pinchot, of two influential books on the state of rural churches in the US....
, Yale
Guards
- Pudge Heffelfinger, Yale (College Football Hall of Fame)
- John CranstonJohn Cranston (American football)John S. Cranston was an American football player and coach. He played for Harvard University from 1888-1890. He was selected as an All-American in 1889 and 1890—the first years in which College Football All-America Teams were selected...
, Harvard
Center
- William GeorgeWilliam George (American football)William George was an All-American football player at Princeton University. He was selected by Casper Whitney as the center for the 1889 College Football All-America Team, the first All-America team chosen in the history of college football. George played on Princeton teams with Snake Ames, Edgar...
, Princeton
Quarterback
- Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe (Maryland Attorney General)Edgar Allan Poe was Attorney General of the State of Maryland from 1911 to 1915. He was born in Baltimore, the son of former Maryland Attorney General John Prentiss Poe. He was named for his second cousin, twice removed, the celebrated author Edgar Allan Poe, who died in 1849.Poe attended...
, Princeton
Halfbacks
- Roscoe ChanningRoscoe ChanningRoscoe H. Channing, Jr. was an All-American football player, member of the Rough Riders and mining executive. Channing was an All-American halfback for Princeton University. He was one of eleven players selected by Casper Whitney for the first ever College Football All-America Team in 1889...
, Princeton - James Lee, Harvard
Fullback
- Knowlton AmesKnowlton AmesKnowlton Lyman "Snake" Ames was an American football player and coach. He scored 730 points for Princeton from 1886 to 1889, including 62 touchdowns. The achievement of scoring 730 points is an unofficial college football career record, although only records set since the NCAA began keeping...
, Princeton (College Football Hall of Fame)