Ernest Marshall Sprague (October 20, 1865 – May 10, 1938) 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, public official, and engineer. He was born in 1865 on a farm at

Farmington, Michigan Farmington is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the population was 10,372. It is surrounded by Farmington ...

. He was the son of Lorenzo Sprague and Laura G. (Meade) Sprague. He enrolled at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

where he played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

as a rusher for the

1886 Michigan Wolverines football team The 1886 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1886 college football season. The team played only two games, both against . Michigan won both games by a combined score of 74 to 0. Charles D. Wright, a s ...

and as a left guard for the 1887 team. After graduating from Michigan in 1888, Sprague was an engineer with the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. He remained in that position until 1895. He next worked for the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railroad as a general inspector from approximately 1895 to 1897. His next position was with the Detroit Bridge & Iron Works. He moved to

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, as a representative of the Gillett Herzog Manufacturing Company in 1898. In 1900, he became employed with the American Bridge Company in Denver from 1900 to 1903. In 1903, he moved to

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

where he continued to work for the American Bridge Company as a contracting engineer. As of 1915, he was the construction manager of the American Bridge Co. in Cleveland, Ohio.The Michigan Technic
vol. 28, p. 227. He moved to

East Cleveland, Ohio East Cleveland is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, and is the first suburb encountered when travelling east from Cleveland. The population was 13,792 at the United States Census 2020, 2020 census. East Clevela ...

in 1905 and was a member of that city's city council and a city commissioner for several years. He served on East Cleveland's City Commission from 1918 to 1934. He married Maude L. Sill in Colorado in 1902. They had two children, Robert and Jean.Biography of Ernest M. Sprague
A History of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, by William R. Coates, 1924. At the time of the 1920 and 1930 U.S. Censuses, he lived in East Cleveland, Ohio, with his wife Maude. Sprague later worked for 18 years as a construction manager for Bethlehem Steel. He died in Cleveland at age 73 in 1938.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sprague, Ernest 1865 births 1938 deaths 19th-century players of American football Michigan Wolverines football players Ohio city council members Players of American football from Denver People from Farmington, Michigan Players of American football from Oakland County, Michigan People from East Cleveland, Ohio Players of American football from Cuyahoga County, Ohio