The 1891 Yale Bulldogs football team represented
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
in the
1891 college football season
The 1891 college football season was the season of American football played among colleges and universities in the United States during the 1891–92 academic year.
The 1891 Yale Bulldogs football team, led by head coach Walter Camp, compiled ...
. The team finished with a 13–0 record and a 488-0 season score. It was retroactively named as the
national champion by the
Billingsley Report The Billingsley Report is a college football rating system developed in the late 1960s to determine a national champion. Billingsley has actively rated college football teams on a current basis since 1970. Beginning in 1999, Billingsley's ratings ...
,
Helms Athletic Foundation
The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his ownership ...
,
Houlgate System The Houlgate System, also known as the Deke Houlgate collegiate football rating system, was a mathematical rating system for determining annual college football national championships. The ratings, which rated teams according to the strength of thei ...
,
National Championship Foundation The National Championship Foundation (NCF) was established by Mike Riter of Hudson, New York. The NCF retroactively selected college football national champions for each year from 1869 to 1979, and its selections are among the historic national ch ...
, and
Parke H. Davis.
Yale's 1891 season was part of a 37-game winning streak that began with the final game of the 1890 season and stopped at the end of the 1893 season.
Five Yale players were selected by
Caspar Whitney
Caspar William Whitney (September 2, 1864 – January 18, 1929) was an American author, editor, explorer, outdoorsman and war correspondent. He originated the concept of the All-American team in college football in 1889 when he worked for ''Harper ...
to the
1891 All-America college football team: halfback and team captain
Lee McClung
Lee may refer to:
Name
Given name
* Lee (given name), a given name in English
Surname
* Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee:
** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname
** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese s ...
; ends
Frank Hinkey
Frank Augustus Hinkey (December 23, 1870 – December 30, 1925) was an American college football player and coach. He was notable for being one of only three college football players in history to be named a four-time consensus All-American. He ...
and
John A. Hartwell
John Augustus "Josh" Hartwell (September 27, 1869 – November 30, 1940) was an American football player and coach, military officer, and physician. Hartwell attended Yale University, where he played end for Walter Camp's Bulldogs football ...
; tackle
Wallace Winter
Wallace Charles Winter Sr. (August 8, 1872 – May 10, 1947) was an American college football player and coach. He played tackle at Yale University from 1890 to 1892 and was selected to the 1891 College Football All-America Team.
After graduati ...
; and guard
Pudge Heffelfinger
William Walter "Pudge" Heffelfinger (December 20, 1867 – April 2, 1954), also spelled Hafelfinger, was an American football player and coach. He is considered the first athlete to play American football professionally, having been paid to pl ...
.
Camp also selected the following Yale players to his second team: quarterback
Frank Barbour
Francis Edward Barbour (April 3, 1870 – February 4, 1948) was an American football player, coach, and businessman. He played quarterback for the Yale University football team in 1890 and 1891 and helped lead the 1891 Yale team to a perfect 13 ...
; halfback
Laurie Bliss; guard Samuel Morison; and center
George Sanford.
Schedule
[
]
Game summaries
YMCA Training School
On October 14, 1891, Yale defeated the team from the by a score of 28–0 before a crowd of 500 persons at Yale Field in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
. Yale alumnus Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg (August 16, 1862 – March 17, 1965) was an American athlete and college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football. He served as the head football coach at the International YMCA Training School (now called Springfie ...
was the coach of the YMCA team and also played at the halfback position. Pudge Heffelfinger
William Walter "Pudge" Heffelfinger (December 20, 1867 – April 2, 1954), also spelled Hafelfinger, was an American football player and coach. He is considered the first athlete to play American football professionally, having been paid to pl ...
scored three touchdowns, and Lee McClung
Lee may refer to:
Name
Given name
* Lee (given name), a given name in English
Surname
* Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee:
** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname
** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese s ...
kicked three goals after touchdown. Halfback and team captain Lee McClung
Lee may refer to:
Name
Given name
* Lee (given name), a given name in English
Surname
* Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee:
** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname
** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese s ...
suffered a broken thumb in the game.
References
{{College Football National Champion pre-AP Poll navbox
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
Yale Bulldogs football seasons
College football national champions
College football undefeated seasons
Yale Bulldogs football
The Yale Bulldogs football program represents Yale University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Yale's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun competing ...