Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in
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 ...
at the
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
Division I Football Championship Subdivision
The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was kn ...
(formerly Division I-AA). Harvard's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun competing in the sport in 1873. The Crimson has a legacy that includes 13
national championships
A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...
and 20
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...
inductees, including the first African-American college football player
William H. Lewis
William Henry Lewis (November 28, 1868 – January 1, 1949) was an African-American pioneer in athletics, law and politics. Born in Virginia to freedmen, he graduated from Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he had been one of the first Africa ...
Percy Haughton
Percy Duncan Haughton (July 11, 1876 – October 27, 1924) was an American football and baseball player and coach. He served as head football coach at Cornell University from 1899 to 1900, at Harvard University from 1908 to 1916, and at Columbia ...
, and
Eddie Mahan
Edward William Mahan (January 19, 1892 – July 22, 1975) was an American football player. While playing halfback for Harvard, Mahan was selected as a first-team All-American three consecutive years from 1913 to 1915. He was widely regarded as ...
. Harvard is the eighth winningest team in NCAA Division I football history.
The Crimson play their home games at
Harvard Stadium
Harvard Stadium is a U-shaped college football stadium in the northeast United States, located in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The stadium is owned and operated by Harvard University and is home to the Harvard Crimson footb ...
Though rugby style "carrying game" with use of hands permitted (as opposed to "kicking games" where hands were not permitted) between Freshmen and Sophomores were played in 1858 the rugby team was not founded until December 6, 1872, by former members of the
Oneida Football Club
The Oneida Football Club, founded and captained by Gerrit Smith Miller in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1862, was the first organized team to play any kind of football in the United States.''THE BOSTON GAME'' article by Michael T. Geary at academia.edu by Roger Allaway at sover.net (archived)Historical Sketch of the Oneida Football Club of Boston: 1862-1865'' by Winthrop S. Scudder - Library of the University of Wisconsin By Bob Holmes on ''The Boston Globe'', 21 Nov 2012 Oneida had developed the "Boston Rules", an early code of
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
that was also used by the recently established Harvard club.No Christian End! The Beginnings of Football in America By PFRA Research (Originally Published in The Journey to Camp: The Origins of American Football to 1889 (PFRA Books)
Harvard team is the oldest Rugby team in the United States.
Old "Football Fightum" had been resurrected at Harvard in 1872, when Harvard resumed playing football. Harvard, however, had adopted a version of football which allowed carrying, albeit only when the player carrying the ball was being pursued. As a result of this, Harvard refused to attend the rules conference organized by the other schools and continued to play under its own code.
In 1873 when the Harvard team received an invitation from the McGill University football club. The McGill team was then in a similar situation as Harvard, as they sought some team with which to play rugby football and no other club wanted to play that game. Harvard boys agreed to a rugby match with McGill under the condition the Canadians played the Boston Game. As McGill accepted, a two-game series was scheduled for May 1874 in Boston. The team captains sent letters detailing their respective game's rules and it was agreed that the first game would be played under Boston rules and the second under rugby rules. Inasmuch as rugby football had been transplanted to Canada from England, the McGill team played under a set of rules which allowed a player to pick up the ball and run with it whenever he wished. Another rule, unique to McGill, was to count tries (the act of grounding the football past the opposing team's goal line; it is important to note that there was no end zone during this time), as well as goals, in the scoring. In the Rugby rules of the time, a touchdown only provided the chance to kick a free goal from the field. If the kick was missed, the touchdown did not count.
The first game (attended by nearly 500 spectators, mostly students) showed the kicking of a round ball as the most prominent feature of the "Boston Game". The Canadians were easily defeated by a Harvard squad familiarised with the Boston rules in contrast to the lack of experience of McGill players.They Picked Up The Ball BY PETER CARFAGNA at Harvard Rugby (archived, 12 Jun 2013) During the second game under the rugby rules, the Harvard players easily adapted to the less restrictive rules of the game, such as the unlimited running and passing the ball or the more aggressive and constant tackling. Within a few years, Harvard had both adopted McGill's rules and persuaded other U.S. university teams to do the same. On June 4, 1875, Harvard played another rugby match v
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
Percy Haughton
Percy Duncan Haughton (July 11, 1876 – October 27, 1924) was an American football and baseball player and coach. He served as head football coach at Cornell University from 1899 to 1900, at Harvard University from 1908 to 1916, and at Columbia ...
, Harvard had three consecutive undefeated seasons from 1912 to 1914, including two
perfect season
A perfect season is a sports season, including any requisite playoff portion, in which a team remains and finishes undefeated and untied. The feat is extremely rare at the professional level of any team sport, and has occurred more commonly at the ...
s in 1912 and 1913.
The McGill team traveled to
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
to meet Harvard. On May 14, 1874,
the first game
''The First Game'' is a painting by Arnold Friberg, and was commissioned in 1968 by Chevrolet Motor Division as one of four paintings to commemorate the then-upcoming centennial celebration of college football in the United States. It depicts ...
, played under Harvard's rules, was won by Harvard with a score of 3–0. The next day, the two teams played under "McGill" rugby rules to a scoreless tie. The games featured a round ball instead of a rugby-style oblong ball. This series of games represents an important milestone in the development of the modern game of American football. In October 1874, the Harvard team once again traveled to Montreal to play McGill in rugby, where they won by three tries. Harvard later brought the Harvard/McGill rules to a game against another American college. On June 4, 1875, Harvard played
Tufts University
Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
under rules that included each side fielding 11 men, the ball was advanced by kicking or carrying it, and tackles of the ball carrier stopped play. This is likely the first game between two American colleges in this early era that most resembled the modern game of American football.
The Harvard Crimson was one of the dominant forces in the early days of intercollegiate football, winning 9 college football national championships between 1890 and 1919.
In both 1919 and 1920, headed by All-American brothers Arnold Horween and
Ralph Horween
Ralph Horween (born Ralph Horwitz; also known as Ralph McMahon or B. McMahon; August 3, 1896 – May 26, 1997) was an American football player and coach. He played Fullback (American football), fullback and Halfback (American football), halfback ...
(who also attended
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States.
Each class ...
), Harvard was undefeated (9–0–1, as they outscored their competition 229–19, and 8–0–1, respectively). The team won the 1920 Rose Bowl against the
University of Oregon
The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...
, 7–6. It was the only bowl appearance in Harvard history.
NCAA Division I subdivision split
The
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
decided to split Division I into two subdivisions in 1978, then called I-A for larger schools, and I-AA for the smaller ones. The NCAA had devised the split, in part, with the Ivy League in mind, but the conference did not move down for four seasons despite the fact that there were many indications that the ancient eight were on the wrong side of an increasing disparity between the big and small schools. In 1982, the NCAA created a rule that stated a program's average attendance must be at least 15,000 to qualify for I-A membership. This forced the conference's hand, as only some of the member schools met the attendance qualification. Choosing to stay together rather than stand their ground separately in the increasingly competitive I-A subdivision, the Ivy League, along with several other conferences and independent programs moved down into I-AA starting with the 1982 season (a number of these teams have since returned to I-A/FBS).
Recent history
Since the formation of the Ivy League in 1956, Harvard has won outright or shared 17 Ivy League championships (8 outright; 9 shared), 1961 (6–3), 1966 (8–1), 1968 (8–0–1), 1974 (7–2), 1975 (7–2), 1982 (7–3), 1983 (6–2–2), 1987 (8–2), 1997 (9–1), 2001 (9–0), 2004 (10–0), 2007 (8–2), 2008 (9–1), 2011 (9–1), 2013 (9–1), 2014 (10–0) and 2015 (9–1). The Crimson are behind Penn and Dartmouth's 18 Ivy League Football Championships.
In summer 2020, the Ivy League announced that the fall season would be postponed or even cancelled because of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. Play did not resume until September 2021, after a nearly two-year hiatus, with a 44-9 victory over Georgetown.
Championships
National championships
Harvard has won 12 national championships (1874, 1875, 1890, 1898, 1899, 1901, 1908, 1910, 1912, 1913, 1919, 1920) from NCAA-designated major selectors. Harvard claims seven of these college football national championships.
Bold indicates claimed championship
Conference championships
Harvard has won 17 conference championships, all of which occurring during their tenure in the
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...
, which they joined in 1956, with eight of them being outright and nine being shared. They are second in total Ivy League football titles, behind Dartmouth and Penn.
† Co-championship
Head coaches
In over a century of play, Harvard has had numerous head coaches, with varying success.
Rivalries
Yale
Harvard and Yale have been competing against each other in football since 1875. The annual rivalry game between the two schools, known as " The Game", is played in November at the end of the football season. As of 2015, Yale led the series 65–59–8. The Game is the second oldest continuing rivalry and also the third most-played
rivalry game
Pairs of schools, colleges and universities, especially when they are close to each other either geographically or in their areas of specialization, often establish a college rivalry with each other over the years. This rivalry can extend to both ...
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
–Yale game (1873). ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...
On Campus'' rated the Harvard–Yale rivalry the sixth-best in college athletics in 2003.
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...
played football for Harvard and caught a touchdown pass in the 1955 Harvard/Yale game. In 2006, Yale ended a five-game losing streak against Harvard, winning 34–13. The star of the game was freshman QB Derrick Szu-tu. Despite never playing high school football, the frosh went 27-for-35 for 359 yards and six passing touchdowns (along with 6 interceptions and 4 lost fumbles). That Harvard winning streak was third longest in the history of the series, after Yale's 1902–1907 six-game winning streak and Yale's 1880–1889 eight-game winning streak. Harvard has since beaten Yale in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. The Game is significant for historical reasons as the rules of The Game soon were adopted by other schools. Football's rules, conventions, and equipment, as well as elements of "atmosphere" such as the
mascot
A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...
and
fight song
A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...
, include many elements pioneered or nurtured at Harvard and Yale.
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
dates to 1877.
Stadiums
Early stadiums
In its early years, the football team played at several stadiums including
Jarvis Field
The Harvard Crimson baseball team is the varsity College baseball, intercollegiate baseball team of Harvard University, located in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. The program has been a member of the Ivy League since the conference officially beg ...
,
Holmes Field
The Harvard Crimson baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball team of Harvard University, located in Boston, Massachusetts. The program has been a member of the Ivy League since the conference officially began sponsoring baseball a ...
Harvard Stadium
Harvard Stadium is a U-shaped college football stadium in the northeast United States, located in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The stadium is owned and operated by Harvard University and is home to the Harvard Crimson footb ...
is a horseshoe-shaped
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
stadium
A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
in the
Allston
Allston is an officially recognized neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was named after the American painter and poet Washington Allston. It comprises the land covered by the zip code 02134. For the most part ...
neighborhood of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
, in the United States. The stadium is an important historic landmark. Built in 1903, it is the nation's oldest stadium. Penn's Franklin Field is the oldest site still in use (1895) but its current stadium was built in 1922. It was also the world's first massive reinforced-concrete structure, and considered at the time of construction to be the 'finest structure of its kind in the world'. The structure was completed in just six months, mainly by the efforts of Harvard students, and for a budget of $200,000. Thus 'the stadium represents the thought, the money, the ideas, the planning, and the manual labor of Harvard men'. As such, it is one of four athletic arenas distinguished as a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
(the
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a mem ...
Yale Bowl
The Yale Bowl Stadium is a college football stadium in the northeast United States, located in New Haven, Connecticut, on the border of West Haven, about 1½ miles (2½ km) west of the main campus of Yale University. The home of the American footb ...
are the other three). The stadium seats 30,323. Temporary steel stands were added in the stadiums to expand capacity to 57,166 until 1951. Afterward, there were smaller temporary stands until the building of the Murr Center (which is topped by the new scoreboard) in 1998. In 2006, Harvard installed both FieldTurf and lights.
College Football Hall of Fame inductees
As of 2018, 18 Harvard Crimson football players and 3 coaches have been inducted into the
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...
.
Harvard players in the NFL
Over 30 players from Harvard have gone on to play in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
.
All-Americans
Since the first All-American team was 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 '' Harp ...
in 1889, more than 100 Harvard football players have been selected as first-team All-Americans. Consensus All-Americans are noted below with bold typeface.
*
1889
Events
January–March
* January 1
** The total solar eclipse of January 1, 1889 is seen over parts of California and Nevada.
** Paiute spiritual leader Wovoka experiences a vision, leading to the start of the Ghost Dance movement in the ...
:
Arthur Cumnock
Arthur James Cumnock (February 12, 1868 – June 8, 1930) was an American football player. He and Amos Alonzo Stagg were selected as the ends on the first College Football All-America Team in 1889. Cumnock invented the first nose guard. He ...
1890
Events
January–March
* January 1
** The Kingdom of Italy establishes Eritrea as its colony, in the Horn of Africa.
** In Michigan, the wooden steamer ''Mackinaw'' burns in a fire on the Black River.
* January 2
** The steamship ...
:
Frank Hallowell
Frank Walton Hallowell (August 12, 1870 – June 1, 1933) was an All-American football player and coach. He played at the end position for the Harvard Crimson football team of Harvard University, and was twice selected as an All-American, in 1890 ...
(End),
Marshall Newell
Marshall "Ma" Newell (April 2, 1871 – December 24, 1897) was an American football player and coach, "beloved by all those who knew him" and nicknamed "Ma" for the guidance he gave younger athletes.
After his sudden and early death, Harvard Unive ...
John Corbett
John Joseph Corbett Jr. (born May 9, 1961) is an American actor and country music singer. On television, he is best known for his roles as Chris Stevens on ''Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), Aidan Shaw on ''Sex and the City'' (2000–2003), ...
1892
Events
January–March
* January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States.
* February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado.
* February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies for ...
Bert Waters
Bertram Gordon Waters (October 9, 1871 – October 9, 1930) was an American football player and coach. He played college football for Harvard University from 1892 to 1894 and was selected as an All-American in 1892 (as a guard) and again in 1894 ...
William H. Lewis
William Henry Lewis (November 28, 1868 – January 1, 1949) was an African-American pioneer in athletics, law and politics. Born in Virginia to freedmen, he graduated from Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he had been one of the first Africa ...
(center),
Charley Brewer Charley Brewer may refer to:
* Charley Brewer (fullback) (1873–1958), Harvard fullback 1892–1895
* Charles Brewer (American football), Texas quarterback 1953–1955
* Charlie Brewer, American football quarterback See also
* Charles Brewer (disam ...
1893
Events
January–March
* January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America.
* Mark Twain started writing Puddn'head Wilson.
* January 6 – Th ...
: Marshall Newell ( T), William H. Lewis ( C), Charley Brewer ( FB)
* 1894: Bert Waters ( T), Mackie ( G), Bob Wrenn ( QB)
* 1895: Norman Cabot (End), Charley Brewer ( FB)
* 1896: Norman Cabot (End),
Percy Haughton
Percy Duncan Haughton (July 11, 1876 – October 27, 1924) was an American football and baseball player and coach. He served as head football coach at Cornell University from 1899 to 1900, at Harvard University from 1908 to 1916, and at Columbia ...
Edgar Wrightington
Edgar Newcomb Wrightington (July 30, 1875 – October 31, 1945) was an American college football player and coach. He attended Harvard University, where he played as a halfback for the Harvard Crimson and was selected to the 1896 College Football ...
( HB), Dunlop (Harvard)
* 1897: Moulton (End), George W. Bouve ( G),
Allan Doucette
Allan E. Doucette (c. 1872 – January 8, 1901) was an All-American football player. He played at the center position for Harvard University and was selected for the 1897 College Football All-America Team. Doucette graduated from Harvard as ...
Benjamin Dibblee
Benjamin Harrison Dibblee (July 8, 1876 – November 11, 1945) was an American college football player and coach. He played halfback for Harvard University from 1896 to 1898, and was a consensus All-American in 1897 and 1898. Dibblee served as ...
1898
Events
January–March
* January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York as the world's second largest. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, B ...
:
John Hallowell
John White Hallowell (December 24, 1878 – January 5, 1927) was a prominent American businessman and American football, football player. He played college football at Harvard University and was a consensus All-American at the End (American footb ...
1900
As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...
: John Hallowell (End), Dave Campbell (End), Charles Dudley Daly ( QB), Sarwin ( HB)
* 1901:
Edward Bowditch
Edward "Pete" Bowditch, Jr. (October 29, 1881April 6, 1965) was an American football player, military officer, diplomat, and insurance broker.
He was a consensus All-American football player at Harvard in 1901 and 1902. He later had a distinguis ...
(End), Dave Campbell (End),
Oliver Cutts
Oliver Frost Cutts (August 6, 1873 – August 4, 1939) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Purdue University (1903–1904), the University of Washington (1905), and ...
Crawford Blagden
Crawford Blagden (March 2, 1881 – January 11, 1937) was an American football player. He played college football for the Harvard Crimson football team and was selected as a consensus All-American at the tackle position in 1901.
Crawford was bor ...
Thomas Graydon
Thomas Hetherington "Blondy" Graydon (March 30, 1881 – October 1949) was an All-American football player. While attending Harvard, he was selected as fullback on the All-American teams of 1901 and 1902.
Early years
Graydon was the son of Ann ...
Henry Schoellkopf
Henry Schoellkopf (December 14, 1879 – December 5, 1912) was an American football player and coach. He was selected as an All-American fullback while attending Harvard Law School in 1903. He was the head coach of the Cornell Big Red foot ...
1905
As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...
Francis Burr
Francis Hardon Burr (September 15, 1886 – December 5, 1910) was an American football player. He was a first-team All-American guard in 1906 and captain of the 1908 Harvard Crimson football team. After he died of typhoid fever in 1910, the ...
Hamilton Fish III
Hamilton Fish III (born Hamilton Stuyvesant Fish and also known as Hamilton Fish Jr.; December 7, 1888 – January 18, 1991) was an American soldier and politician from New York State. Born into a family long active in the state, he served in t ...
1909
Events
January–February
* January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes.
* January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama.
* Januar ...
Wayland Minot
Wayland Manning Minot (October 23, 1889November 20, 1957) was an American football player. He played college football at Harvard University and was selected as a consensus All-American at the center position in 1909.
Minot was married in 1913 ...
Percy Wendell
Percy Langdon "Bullet" Wendell (July 16, 1889 – March 13, 1932) was an American football player and coach of football and basketball. He played college football at Harvard University, where he was a three-time All-American from 1910 to 1920. W ...
1911
A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole.
Events January
* January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...
: Smith (End), Bob Fisher ( G), Percy Wendell ( HB)
*
1912
Events January
* January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established.
* January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens.
* January 6 ...
Bob Storer
Robert Treat Paine Storer (April 17, 1893 – February 5, 1962) was an American football player for Harvard University. In 1912, he scored Harvard's first touchdown against Yale since 1901 and was selected as a first-team All-American at the t ...
Stan Pennock
Stanley Bagg "Bags" Pennock (June 15, 1892 – November 27, 1916) was an American football player. He was selected as a first-team All-American at the guard position three consecutive years while leading Harvard University to three undefeated sea ...
Charles Brickley
Charles Edward Brickley (November 24, 1891 – December 28, 1949) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the Johns Hopkins University in 1915, at Boston College from 1916 to 1917, and at Fordham Univer ...
1913
Events January
* January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...
: O'Brien (End),
Harvey Rexford Hitchcock, Jr.
Harvey Rexford Hitchcock Jr. (November 9, 1891 – January 22, 1958) was on the 1913 College Football All-America Team. From an influential missionary family in the Hawaiian Islands, he was admitted to McLean Hospital during World War I, where he ...
Robert Treat Paine Storer
Robert Treat Paine Storer (April 17, 1893 – February 5, 1962) was an American football player for Harvard University. In 1912, he scored Harvard's first touchdown against Yale since 1901 and was selected as a first-team All-American at the t ...
Eddie Mahan
Edward William Mahan (January 19, 1892 – July 22, 1975) was an American football player. While playing halfback for Harvard, Mahan was selected as a first-team All-American three consecutive years from 1913 to 1915. He was widely regarded as ...
1914
This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...
: Huntington Hardwick (End), Walter Trumbull ( T), Stan Pennock ( G), Eddie Mahan ( HB),
Frederick Bradlee
Frederick Josiah Bradlee, Jr. (December 20, 1892 – April 29, 1970) was an American football player. He was a first-team All-American while attending Harvard University in 1914. He was the father of American journalist Ben Bradlee.
Biography
...
1915
Events
Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction".
*January 1 ...
Eddie Casey
Edward Lawrence Casey (May 16, 1894 – July 26, 1966) was an American football player and coach. He played college football at Harvard University and was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1968. Casey was MVP of the 1920 Rose Bow ...
1919
Events
January
* January 1
** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia.
** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...
1920
Events January
* January 1
** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20.
** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...
1921
Events
January
* January 2
** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil.
** The Spanish lin ...
: C.C. Macomber (End), John Brown ( G), George Owen ( HB)
*
1922
Events
January
* January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes.
* January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...
: Charles Hubbard ( G), Charles Buell ( QB), George Owen ( HB)
* 1923: Charles Hubbard ( G)
*
1929
This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...
:
Ben Ticknor
Benjamin Holt Ticknor (January 9, 1909 – September 12, 1979) was an American college football player. He was a prominent center for the Harvard Crimson, known especially for his play on defense. He was captain of the 1930 team. Harvard did not ...
1930
Events
January
* January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...
1931
Events
January
* January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics.
* January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa.
* January 22 – Sir I ...
1932
Events January
* January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.
* January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...
Dan Jiggetts
Danny Marcellus Jiggetts (born March 10, 1954) is a retired American football offensive lineman. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the 1976 NFL Draft.
Early life
Jiggetts was born in Brooklyn, but grew up on Long Island when his paren ...
Michael Corbat
Michael Louis "Mike" Corbat (born May 2, 1960) is an American banker who served as the chief executive officer of Citigroup from 2012 to 2021. His 2012 welcome from ''The New York Times'' described him as a "Jack-of-All-Trades".
Early life and ...
Ben Braunecker
Ben Braunecker (born February 7, 1994) is a former American football tight end. He played college football at Harvard. He was signed by the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2016, and played for the team through 2019.
Early life
Bra ...
Below are any Crimson football players that became notable for reasons other than football. Included is notability, position at Harvard, and any accomplishments while playing.
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Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor and film director. He has received four Academy Award nominations, winning Best Supporting Actor for his performance as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in the 1993 thriller film '' The ...
, actor, guard (1965–1968), 1st team All-Ivy League 1968
*
Christopher Nowinski
Christopher John Nowinski (born September 24, 1978) is an American neuroscientist and author. After extensively researching concussions in American football, Nowinski co-founded the Concussion Legacy Foundation, where he is currently the CEO, ...
, former professional wrestler with
WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
and current activist on concussions in sports; linebacker and defensive end (1996–1999); 2nd-team All-Ivy League 1999
*
Michael O'Hare
Robert Michael O'Hare Jr. (May 6, 1952 – September 28, 2012) was an American actor who performed on stage and television. He was best known for playing the lead role of space station Commander Jeffrey Sinclair in the science fiction tele ...
, actor, defensive tackle (1971–1974)
See also
*
List of NCAA football teams by wins
This is a list of the college football teams with the most wins in the history of college football as measured in both total wins and winning percentage, as of March 24, 2022. It includes teams from the NCAA Division I-Football Bowl Subdivision (F ...