Syracuse Football Jersey c.1886

 

This jersey came with a family Syracuse provenance. Handmade rather than factory manufactured it has no label and pre-dates most other football jerseys we have seen. The script S in our experience normally dates a period jersey to 1886, plus or minus, which we believe to be the case here. This jersey was worn before Syracuse officially had a school team in 1889 and well before their official block S appeared on their jerseys. This jersey would have been worn in the rugby football intramural contests that were common at Syracuse at the time.
 

 

Truxton Hare / 1894 St. Marks Eleven

 

What we believe to be the earliest known football photos (4" x 3") of Truxton Hare while playing at St. Marks School in Southborough, Mass., identified on the back as the '94 Eleven. Hare played for the University of Pennsylvania from 1897 to 1900 and was one of the few to achieve All-American status all four years. He also took part in the 1900 and 1904 Olympics in various sporting events, and between the two Olympics came away with a gold, silver and bronze medal.

 

'94 Eleven team roster

 

You do not usually see any humor related to 19th century cabinet photos. This variation of the above team photo is identified on the back (below) as "Tommy in a puddle of water". See front center in the photo.

 

 

My apologies to followers of this blog for the lack of recent entries. We have been involved with two major football research projects that have taken up all of our free time. One of these projects may end up as a book if we do not end up putting it in this blog at some point down the road.