Billy Kountz
Encyclopedia
Billy Kountz was an early football
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 for the Allegheny Athletic Association
Allegheny Athletic Association
The Allegheny Athletic Association was an athletic club that fielded the first ever professional American football player and later the first fully professional football team. The organization was founded in 1890 as a regional athletic club in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which is today the North...

. Although the team's guard
Guard (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....

, Kountz also served as the team's manager in 1892, after the resignation of O. D. Thompson
O. D. Thompson
Oliver David Thompson, Esq. was an early football player at Yale, who played alongside Walter Camp. After his time at Yale, Thompson played, and served as the manager, for the Allegheny Athletic Association. However Thompson is best known for paying Pudge Heffelfinger $500 to play for Allegheny...

 which took place after the 1891 season. Kountz played for Allegheny from 1891 until 1894.

In October 1891, Kountz, along with Allegheny's 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...

 A.S. Valentine played for Shady Side Academy
Shady Side Academy
Shady Side Academy is a private, secular coeducational PK-12 preparatory school located on three campuses in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, established in 1883.- Campuses :Shady Side Academy has three campuses in Pittsburgh....

 in a 26-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Athletic Club
Pittsburgh Athletic Club (football)
The Pittsburgh Athletic Club football team, established in 1891, was based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1892 the intense competition between two Pittsburgh-area clubs, the Allegheny Athletic Association and the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, led to William Heffelfinger becoming the first known...

.

After Allegheny 6-6 tie against their rivial, the Pittsburgh Athletic Club on October 21, 1892, told the Pittsburgh media that Allegheny would not be using any "ringers" for a November rematch. However on the day of the rematch between the two clubs, Sport Donnelly, Ed Malley and William "Pudge" Heffelfinger of the Chicago Athletic Association Football team
Chicago Athletic Association Football team
The Chicago Athletic Association was an American football team, based in Chicago, Illinois. The club itself had been organized in 1890, and in 1892 it formed a football team...

appeared in the Allegheny line-up. However when a threat of a walk-out by the Pittsburgh A.C. threatened the game, Thompson, not Kountz, represented Allegheny during the negotiations.

In 1894 Allegheny and Pittsburgh played a three game series to determine the western Pennsylvania championship team. The second game of the series was scheduled for November 6th. Prior to the game, an unnamed Pittsburgh player offered the team's signals to Kountz for $20. Allegheny reported the incident to Pittsburgh and the player was dealt with properly. While both team had hired ringers but this offense was considered blatant cheating and unacceptable. Kountz was on the Allegheny team that won the 1894 championship.
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