George Schley Stillman (December 13, 1879 – March 15, 1907) 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 wi ...

player and coach. He played college football at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

where he was selected as a first-team All-American at the tackle position in both 1899 and 1900. Stillman coached the 1901 Yale football team to a record of 11–1–1. Stillman died at age 27 after contracting

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

Early years

Stillman was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, in December 1879. He was the son of Joseph F. Stillman, a sugar refiner, and Eliza M. (Schley) Stillman. He attended preparatory school at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and moved with his family to New York City in 1898.

Yale

Stillman subsequently enrolled at

. While attending Yale, he played for the

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 competi ...

team from 1898 to 1900. He played at the tackle position for Yale and was selected as a first-team All-American in 1899 and 1900. He received the first-team All-American honors each year from

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 ...

for ''

Collier's Weekly ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...

'' and from ''

Leslie's Weekly ''Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper'', later renamed ''Leslie's Weekly'', was an American illustrated literary and news magazine founded in 1855 and published until 1922. It was one of several magazines started by publisher and illustrator Frank ...

''. Stillman was one of the leaders of the 1900 Yale team that finished its season with a perfect 13–0 record, outscoring opponents by a combined score of 336 to 10. After Yale ended its season with a 28–0 victory over Harvard, ''The New York Times'' wrote that the 1900 Yale team "was without question the strongest team that has been on the field since the Princeton team of 1889." Stillman was also a member of Yale's track team and rowed for Yale's varsity crew. After graduating from Yale in 1901, Stillman returned in the fall of 1901 as the head coach of Yale's football team. He led the team to a record of 11–1–1 in his one season as head coach. During the period from 1899 to 1912, Yale had 14 different head football coaches in 14 years – despite compiling a combined record of 127–11–10 in those years. For that 14-year span, the Yale football team has been recognized retrospectively (except for the contemporaneous Whitney) as the national championship team by one or more of the major national championship selectors for six seasons – 1900 (Billingsley, Helms, Houlgate, National Championship Foundation, Parke Davis), 1902 (Parke Davis), 1905 (Parke Davis, Whitney), 1906 (Billingsley, Parke Davis, Whitney), 1907 (Billingsley, Helms, Houlgate, National Championship Foundation, Parke Davis, Whitney), and 1909 (Billingsley, Helms, Houlgate, National Championship Foundation, Parke Davis). An erroneous source includes 1901.

Later years

Stillman subsequently entered the banking business, first with the Ladenburg, Thalmann & Co., and then as a founding member of Rosen, Stillman & Co. in New York. In April 1906, he married Estelle Barbour of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, at New York's Fort Street Presbyterian Church. He contracted

in June 1906, which later developed into meningitis. He died in March 1907 at age 27.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stillman, George S. 1879 births 1907 deaths All-American college football players American football tackles Yale Bulldogs rowers Yale Bulldogs men's track and field athletes Sportspeople from Brookline, Massachusetts Players of American football from Norfolk County, Massachusetts Yale Bulldogs football coaches Yale Bulldogs football players Deaths from typhoid fever in the United States Deaths from meningitis