Bart Macomber
Encyclopedia
Franklin Bart Macomber was an American football
player. He played halfback
and quarterback
for the University of Illinois from 1914 to 1916 and helped the school to its first national football championship and consecutive undefeated seasons in 1914 and 1915. He later played professional football for the Canton Bulldogs
and Youngstown Patricians
. He was also the coach and owner of the Oakland Oaks in the Pacific Coast professional football league founded in 1926. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame
in 1972.
. His father, Frank Macomber, had once been the mayor of Oak Park. Macomber played high school football for Hall of Fame coach Bob Zuppke at Oak Park High School. Macomber played on three consecutive undefeated teams at Oak Park and once kicked 16 extra points in a single game against Chicago Englewood in October 1911. At Oak Park, Macomber set state high school records for most extra points in a career (114 from 1910 to 1912) and a season (55 in 1912). His records were not broken for more than 70 years. In 1911, Zuppke persuaded the team from St. John's of Danvers, Massachusetts
, one of the top high school teams in the east, to travel to Chicago for what was billed as a match for the "national interscholastic football title." Oak Park won the game 17–0, and the Chicago Daily News reported: "The winners outclassed the eastern men using open style of football. The visitors played the old style football, hammering Oak Park’s line on nearly every play ... [while] Macomber used the forward pass combined with trick formations with great success." Zuppke's Oak Park team was considered one of the best in the country, and he scheduled several other intersectional games, all of which were won by Oak Park. The games scores of the intersectional games played by Zuppke and Macomber follow:
When Zuppke was hired as head coach at the University of Illinois, Macomber followed Zuppke and enrolled at Illinois.
and quarterback
at Illinois from 1914 to 1916. He helped the Illini to the school's first national championship in 1914 and consecutive undefeated seasons in 1914 and 1915. The 1914 team allowed only 22 total points during an undefeated 7–0 season. Macomber was selected as a first-team All-American in 1915. In naming Macomber to his All-American team, Walter Camp
praised Macomber's "kicking and field generalship." Macomber was elected captain of the 1916 Illinois team. He played halfback for the Illini in 1914 and 1915 before switching to quarterback in 1916. Macomber also handled kicking duties at Illinois.
At the end of the 1916 season, Macomber was selected by Walter Eckersall
as the All-Big Ten Conference quarterback. Eckersall wrote of Macomber:
Macomber was also selected in 1916 as a second-team All-American quarterback by Eckersall and sports writer, Paul Purman
, and as a first-team All-American quarterback by Michigan coach Fielding H. Yost.
, Ohio State
and Chicago
. Late in the 1916 season, Illinois was scheduled to play the west's top team, the University of Minnesota
. Minnesota had beaten Iowa 67–0, Wisconsin 54–0, and Chicago (a team that beat Illinois) 49–0. Before the game, sports writer Ring Lardner
published a letter to Zuppke urging him to stay in Chicago and see a play. Lardner joked that "the lucky players were those on crutches, since they would not have to face the northern monster." Macomber later recalled Zuppke's pre-game strategy as follows:
According to a 1964 account of the game published by Sports Illustrated, Macomber called for a spread formation against Minnesota, "employed in this game for the first time by any team." Operating out of the formation, Macomber ran for a touchdown and kicked the extra point. After taking a 14–0 lead in the first half, Zuppke told quarterback Macomber to run out the clock in the second half:
Illinois hung on to the lead and won the upset victory by a score of 14–9. The result was for many years "generally accepted as the greatest football upset of all time." After the game, one Chicago newspaper published this headline: "We Don't Believe It!" NEA sports editor Harry Grayson
noted that Macomber had been "prominent in college dramatics," and wrote that he "never acted more than during the last quarter of Illinons' astounding 14–9 victory over Minnesota in 1916." According to Grayson's account, "Macomber untied his shoes, broke the string on his shoulder pads, lost his headgear, miscalled signals —- anything to kill time. It easily was his greatest role as an actor."
promoted appearances by Kenneth Loane, Hoyt's Minstrels, and "Bart Macomber, The Famous Halfback in SONGS & STORIES."
Macomber also went on to play professional football with the Youngstown Patricians
in 1917. In 1917, he played halfback for a Youngstown team that included multiple college all-stars, including Tommy Hughitt
of Michigan, Tom Gormley of Georgetown, and Freeman Fitzgerald
, Bill Kelleher, Gil Ward and Stan Cofall of Notre Dame.
Macomber also served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War I
. In 1919, Macomber played for a team in Canton, Ohio
known as the Canton Vets, made up entirely of players who were veterans of the World War.
In 1926, Macomber was the owner, coach, and director of the Oakland Oaks in the newly-formed Pacific Coast Professional Football League
. Macomber's team, the first professional football team in Oakland, was short-lived playing only five games as follows:
. Macomber died in Oregon in 1971 and was posthumously inducted the following year into the College Football Hall of Fame
.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player. He played halfback
Halfback (American football)
A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...
and quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
for the University of Illinois from 1914 to 1916 and helped the school to its first national football championship and consecutive undefeated seasons in 1914 and 1915. He later played professional football for the Canton Bulldogs
Canton Bulldogs
The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and its successor, the National Football League, from 1920 to 1923 and again from 1925 to 1926. The Bulldogs would go on to win the 1917, 1918...
and Youngstown Patricians
Youngstown Patricians
The Youngstown Patricians were a semi-professional football team based in Youngstown, Ohio. In the 1910s, the team briefly held the professional football championship and established itself as a fierce rival of more experienced clubs around the country, some of which later formed the core of the...
. He was also the coach and owner of the Oakland Oaks in the Pacific Coast professional football league founded in 1926. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The 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...
in 1972.
Early years at Oak Park
A native of Oak Park, IllinoisOak Park, Illinois
Oak Park, Illinois is a suburb bordering the west side of the city of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is the twenty-fifth largest municipality in Illinois. Oak Park has easy access to downtown Chicago due to public transportation such as the Chicago 'L' Blue and Green lines,...
. His father, Frank Macomber, had once been the mayor of Oak Park. Macomber played high school football for Hall of Fame coach Bob Zuppke at Oak Park High School. Macomber played on three consecutive undefeated teams at Oak Park and once kicked 16 extra points in a single game against Chicago Englewood in October 1911. At Oak Park, Macomber set state high school records for most extra points in a career (114 from 1910 to 1912) and a season (55 in 1912). His records were not broken for more than 70 years. In 1911, Zuppke persuaded the team from St. John's of Danvers, Massachusetts
Danvers, Massachusetts
Danvers is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts, Danvers is most widely known for its association with the 1692 Salem witch trials, and for its famous asylum, the Danvers State Hospital.-17th century:The land...
, one of the top high school teams in the east, to travel to Chicago for what was billed as a match for the "national interscholastic football title." Oak Park won the game 17–0, and the Chicago Daily News reported: "The winners outclassed the eastern men using open style of football. The visitors played the old style football, hammering Oak Park’s line on nearly every play ... [while] Macomber used the forward pass combined with trick formations with great success." Zuppke's Oak Park team was considered one of the best in the country, and he scheduled several other intersectional games, all of which were won by Oak Park. The games scores of the intersectional games played by Zuppke and Macomber follow:
- December 26, 1910: Oak Park defeats Wenatchee (Seattle), 22 to 0
- December 31, 1910: Oak Park defeats Washington (Portland), 6 to 3
- December 2, 1911: Oak Park defeats St John's (Danvers, Mass), 17 to 0
- November 30, 1912: Oak Park defeats Everett (Mass), 32 to 14
When Zuppke was hired as head coach at the University of Illinois, Macomber followed Zuppke and enrolled at Illinois.
Football player at Illinois
Macomber played halfbackHalfback (American football)
A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...
and quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
at Illinois from 1914 to 1916. He helped the Illini to the school's first national championship in 1914 and consecutive undefeated seasons in 1914 and 1915. The 1914 team allowed only 22 total points during an undefeated 7–0 season. Macomber was selected as a first-team All-American in 1915. In naming Macomber to his All-American team, 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...
praised Macomber's "kicking and field generalship." Macomber was elected captain of the 1916 Illinois team. He played halfback for the Illini in 1914 and 1915 before switching to quarterback in 1916. Macomber also handled kicking duties at Illinois.
At the end of the 1916 season, Macomber was selected by Walter Eckersall
Walter Eckersall
Walter "Eckie" Eckersall was an American football player, official, and sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.-Early life:...
as the All-Big Ten Conference quarterback. Eckersall wrote of Macomber:
"Bart Macomber, leader of the University of Illinois eleven, is selected to play quarterback and to act as captain of the All-Conference eleven. He is one of the best players who has worn an Illinois uniform in years. It was largely through his efforts, offensively and defensively, that the Illini have held a commanding position in Conference football for the last three years. Macomber is one of the most dependable kickers who has represented a Conference eleven in years. He can punt for an average of forty-five yards, kick goals from the fleld either by placement or drop kick, and is sure on kicking goals after touchdowns. ... The Illinois captain has been a factor in all games played by the Zuppke eleven this year. In the Ohio State game, in which his eleven was beaten, 7 to 6, he kicked two goals from the fleld. In the Minnesota game, which resulted in an unexpected victory Macomber was the one player who brought victory to his team. His forward passing and stellar defensive play hardly could have been improved upon."
Macomber was also selected in 1916 as a second-team All-American quarterback by Eckersall and sports writer, Paul Purman
Paul Purman
Paul R. Purman was an American sportswriter. Purman had a lengthy career in journalism, but he is best known for his work in the years from 1916 to 1918 when his sports column was syndicated in hundreds of newspapers and he selected an annual All-America football team for the Newspaper Enterprise...
, and as a first-team All-American quarterback by Michigan coach Fielding H. Yost.
The "greatest football upset of all time"
Zuppke and Macomber combined for five undefeated seasons, three at Oak Park High School (1910–1912) and two at Illinois (1914–1915). However, in Macomber's senior year, the Illini lost three games to ColgateColgate Raiders football
The Colgate Raiders football team represents Colgate University in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Championship Subdivision college football competition as a member of the Patriot League.-History:...
, Ohio State
Ohio State Buckeyes football
The Ohio State Buckeyes football team is an intercollegiate varsity sports team of The Ohio State University. The team is a member of the Big Ten Conference of the NCAA, playing at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A, level. The team nickname is derived from the state...
and Chicago
Chicago Maroons football
The Chicago Maroons are the college football team representing the University of Chicago. The Maroons play in NCAA Division III as a member of the University Athletic Association. From 1892 to 1939, the Maroons were a major college football power...
. Late in the 1916 season, Illinois was scheduled to play the west's top team, the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The 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...
. Minnesota had beaten Iowa 67–0, Wisconsin 54–0, and Chicago (a team that beat Illinois) 49–0. Before the game, sports writer Ring Lardner
Ring Lardner
Ringgold Wilmer Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre.-Personal life:...
published a letter to Zuppke urging him to stay in Chicago and see a play. Lardner joked that "the lucky players were those on crutches, since they would not have to face the northern monster." Macomber later recalled Zuppke's pre-game strategy as follows:
"We began practicing. We were so nervous and upset we could not even hang onto the ball. Coach Bob soon saw that the whole effort was useless. He was afraid it would only demoralize us for the next day. So he called practice off. He waited a bit for full attention and said, 'If you are going to be slaughtered tomorrow, you might as well break training and have a good time tonight.' He told us to try to relax, to eat and drink whatever we liked, maybe see a show. We trooped back to our hotel, the Radison. The whole squad of 25, including coaching staff, napped and idled the afternoon away. That evening we went on the town. No one counted the drinks or the beers. We ate large dinners and moved the celebration over to a burlesque house. There was no bed check."
According to a 1964 account of the game published by Sports Illustrated, Macomber called for a spread formation against Minnesota, "employed in this game for the first time by any team." Operating out of the formation, Macomber ran for a touchdown and kicked the extra point. After taking a 14–0 lead in the first half, Zuppke told quarterback Macomber to run out the clock in the second half:
"Zup had told me to stall as much and as long as I could get away with it. ... I killed all the time I could as those angry fans screamed at me with time running out. My shoes needed tieing, one, then the other. Shoulder pads wanted adjusting, or something was wrong with the way they were laced. I miscalled signals a few times. The whistle was blown on me twice, each time for a five-yard penalty. The stalling rules then were not too strict."
Illinois hung on to the lead and won the upset victory by a score of 14–9. The result was for many years "generally accepted as the greatest football upset of all time." After the game, one Chicago newspaper published this headline: "We Don't Believe It!" NEA sports editor Harry Grayson
Harry Grayson
Harry Markey Grayson was an American sportswriter. He was the sports editor of the Newspaper Enterprise Association from 1934 to 1963.-Baseball:* , February 5, 1936*, March 18, 1938...
noted that Macomber had been "prominent in college dramatics," and wrote that he "never acted more than during the last quarter of Illinons' astounding 14–9 victory over Minnesota in 1916." According to Grayson's account, "Macomber untied his shoes, broke the string on his shoulder pads, lost his headgear, miscalled signals —- anything to kill time. It easily was his greatest role as an actor."
Professional football, vaudeville and military service
After Illinois' 1916 win over Minnesota, one book indicates that Macomber "left school for the Orpheum vaudeville circuit." A March 1917 advertisement for the Orpheum vaudeville show appearing in Madison, WisconsinMadison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
promoted appearances by Kenneth Loane, Hoyt's Minstrels, and "Bart Macomber, The Famous Halfback in SONGS & STORIES."
Macomber also went on to play professional football with the Youngstown Patricians
Youngstown Patricians
The Youngstown Patricians were a semi-professional football team based in Youngstown, Ohio. In the 1910s, the team briefly held the professional football championship and established itself as a fierce rival of more experienced clubs around the country, some of which later formed the core of the...
in 1917. In 1917, he played halfback for a Youngstown team that included multiple college all-stars, including Tommy Hughitt
Tommy Hughitt
Ernest Fredrick Hughitt , was a National Football League utility player and coach. He was also an All-American quarterback for the University of Michigan in 1913....
of Michigan, Tom Gormley of Georgetown, and Freeman Fitzgerald
Freeman Fitzgerald
Freeman Charles Fitzgerald was an All-American football player for Notre Dame. He was six feet in height and weighed 195 pounds. He played football for Notre Dame from 1913–1915 and was selected as an All-American at the guard position in 1915...
, Bill Kelleher, Gil Ward and Stan Cofall of Notre Dame.
Macomber also served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. In 1919, Macomber played for a team in Canton, Ohio
Canton, Ohio
Canton is the county seat of Stark County in northeastern Ohio, approximately south of Akron and south of Cleveland.The City of Caton is the largest incorporated area within the Canton-Massillon Metropolitan Statistical Area...
known as the Canton Vets, made up entirely of players who were veterans of the World War.
In 1926, Macomber was the owner, coach, and director of the Oakland Oaks in the newly-formed Pacific Coast Professional Football League
Pacific Coast Professional Football League
The Pacific Coast Professional Football League , also known as the Pacific Coast Football League and Pacific Coast League was a professional American football league based in California, USA, and competed from 1940 through 1948 in sports...
. Macomber's team, the first professional football team in Oakland, was short-lived playing only five games as follows:
- November 7, 1926: 0–10 loss to the Hollywood Generals, played at Oakland Baseball Park with 4,000 in attendance
- November 14, 1926: 3–0 win over the San Francisco Tigers, played at Ewing Field in San Francisco
- November 21, 1926: 10–9 win over the Los Angeles Angels, played at Oakland Baseball Park with 1,200 in attendance
- December 5, 1926: 23–7 win over the San Francisco Tigers played at Oakland Baseball Park with 3,000 in attendance
- December 12, 1926: 0–7 loss to the Hollywood Generals, played at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles
Later years
After retiring from football, Macomber moved to Portland, OregonPortland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
. Macomber died in Oregon in 1971 and was posthumously inducted the following year into the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The 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...
.