George H. Capron (July 27, 1886 – October 1972) 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 ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player. Capron played football and baseball for the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

from 1907 to 1908. In 1907, the Minnesota football team scored only 55 points, and "Capron accounted for 44 of them with dropkicked field goals at four points each." He was selected as a third-team All-American by

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system ...

at the end of the 1907 season. Late in his career at the University of Minnesota, Capron became involved in a controversy over his eligibility when reports surfaced that he had played professional baseball under a false name. Capron later admitted that he played baseball under the name Robb at

Meridian, Mississippi Meridian is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, seventh largest city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, with a population of 41,148 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census and an estimated population in 2018 of 36,347. It is the count ...

in 1908 and at

Mattoon, Illinois Mattoon ( ) is a city in Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 16,870 as of the 2020 census. The city is home to Lake Land College and has close ties with its neighbor, Charleston. Both are principal cities of the Charleston� ...

in 1907. From 1909 to 1910, Capron played two years of professional baseball in the Northwestern League. In 1909, he played 155 games as the left fielder for the Seattle Turks, compiling 164 hits, 27 doubles, 8 triples, 15 home runs, and a .275 batting average. In 1910, he played 35 games for the Vancouver Beavers though his batting average dropped to .207. He also played professional football in the early days of the professional game in the 1910s.John M. Carroll, Fritz Pollard: Pioneer in Racial Advancement, p. 45 He resided in

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...

in his later years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Capron, George Minnesota Golden Gophers football players Seattle Turks players 1886 births 1972 deaths American football drop kickers American football halfbacks

See also

References