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Arthur James Cumnock (February 12, 1868 – June 8, 1930) was an
American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
player. He and
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 ...
were selected as the
end End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: ** End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron footbal ...
s on the first College Football All-America Team in 1889. Cumnock invented the first nose guard. He is also credited with developing the tradition of spring practice in football; in March 1889, Cumnock led the Harvard team in drills on Jarvis field, which is considered the first-ever spring football practice.https://admin.xosn.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=4030&DB_OEM_ID=9000&ATCLID=523252


Harvard University

In 1913, an article in an Eastern newspaper sought to choose the greatest Harvard football player of all time. The individual chosen was Cumnock, who "the sons of John Harvard are pretty well agreed" was "the greatest Harvard player of all time." The article continued:
"But in sizing them all up there still remains one whom Harvard graduates and students regard with the greatest veneration, not so much for his actual individual performances, although he was one of the best, but for those sterling qualities which go to make up a tactician, a Hannibal of the gridiron, one whose real object in life was to develop a team that could and did beat Yale--Arthur V. Cumnock, captain of the team of 1890."
After being selected as an All-American in 1889, Cumnock was also named captain of the 1890 Harvard football team. Cumnock led Harvard to an upset against the heavily favored Yale team that year. In describing Cumock's determination as a team leader, the author of the 1913 article wrote: "He permitted no one to interfere with his plans. For ten weeks he spent his time trying to convince his more or less skeptical team mates that Yale could be beaten." As for his individual performance in the 1890 Yale game, the writer noted: "Such tackling as Cumnock did that day probably has never been equaled. He played a star offensive game, but on the defensive he was a terror.
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 ...
would come around the end with the giant Heffelfinger interfering, and the records read: 'Cumnock tackles both and brings them down.'" Harvard won the game 12 to 6 in what was considered "one of the greatest games in Harvard's history."


Cotton mills

Cumnock graduated from Harvard in 1891 and went into the cotton mill business. He became the treasurer of one of the largest corporations in New England.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cumnock, Arthur 1868 births 1930 deaths 19th-century players of American football American football ends All-American college football players Harvard Crimson football players People from Killingly, Connecticut Players of American football from Connecticut Sportspeople from Windham County, Connecticut