1900 Yale Tankard

Certainly unique, this amazing pottery tankard has over sixty signatures inscribed on it, predominantly from the Yale class of 1900. At 15 3/4” inches in height and over 23" in circumference at the base it’s significantly impressive. Of interest to readers of this blog are some of the signatures that are present on the tankard (signed with a “resist” such as wax so that the glaze would not adhere to the pottery during firing and leave their signature behind) representing various players on Yale’s varsity sports teams. Additionally, one would note those signing were a societal ‘Who’s Who’ for the period.

We often have sought out and acquired unusual examples of player’s autographs, whenever possible contemporaneous to the time they were playing (as are these) their respective sport (see the blog entry posted  July 8, 2013, “The Ghosts of My Friends” for another unusual collection of autographs). Autographs of those having signed the tankard are listed below and include senior societies and fraternities when known (S+B for Skull and Bones, S+K for Scroll and Key, WH for Wolf’s Head, ADP for Alpha Delta Phi, DKE for Delta Kappa Epsilon, PSI for Psi Upsilon). A handful of autographs are yet to be identified, and not every signatory has been fully researched as to sports affiliations, fraternities or senior societies.  

Signatories playing football for Yale include: 

Malcolm L McBride is a key signatory on the tankard. McBride was a three time All American, playing for the Yale varsity football team in 1897, ’98 and 1899, when he captained the team.  Coaching Yale in 1900 he had a 12-0 record and the team was named National Champions.  A New York Times article dated August 13, 1900 titled “McBride to Coach Yale” read as follows:  “It was stated today that Malcolm L. McBride, Captain of the Yale football team of 1899, would be head coach of the Yale eleven next fall. His chief advisor in the work of developing Yale’s team will be Walter Camp. McBride’s assistants in the coaching will be Frank A. Hinkey, Captain in 1894 and 1895; Frank Butterworth, the famous full back of his day and W.T.Bull, ’88. Mr. Camp does not expect to take any active part in the coaching. He will however keep in closer touch with the game than he has for the past five seasons and will resume his old rule of chief advisor to the team. This is the most formidable array of coaches that Yale has ever selected.” (ADP) 

George W. Hubbell played on the Yale varsity football team in 1898 and 1899. (WH, ADP) 

Richard J. Schweppe played on the varsity football team in 1898 and 1899 (WH, ADP) 

David R. Francis played on the varsity football team  in 1899 (S+K, ADP, Track 1899) 

Corliss E. Sullivan played on the varsity football team in 1897 and 1898 and on the varsity baseball team in 1897, ’98, ’99 and ’00 (S+B, DKE) 

References also had the following signers as earning their football Ys: 

Keyes Winter earned his football Y (Intercollegiate Football Book) (WH, DKE) 

Percy A. Rockefeller earned his football Y in 1899 (S+B,  ADP) 

Additional signatures of note that played varsity sports include: 

John P. Brock played on the varsity hockey team in 1898, ’99 and ’00 (Yale winning the Intercollegiate Hockey Championship in 1899 and 1900). This was very early for hockey and the first Harvard-Yale game was in 1900, which he played in. Brock also was a member of the varsity crew in 1898 and ’00 (WH, ADP) (Refer to our blog entry dated March 23, 2014, “Gresham Poe / Princeton Hockey 1902 / Northampton Hockey Trophy” for a summary of early American hockey). 

Stuart B. Camp played varsity baseball in 1897, ’98,’99, and ’00, captaining the team in 1900 (S+B,  ADP) 

James H. Niedecken rowed for varsity crew in 1898, ’99 and ’00 (S+K, DKE) 

Other signatories include (alphabetically): 

Frederick Baldwin Adams (ADP, S+B)

J. Pinckney H. Adams (Track 1899)

James W. Barney (DKE, S+K)

Charles E. Brinley (PSI)

Frank D. Cheney (DKE)

Thomas B. Clarke Jr.

William S. Coffin (S+B, DKE)

John W. Cross (S+B, PSI)

Malcolm Douglas (S+B)

Clare H. Draper (ADP)

Stephen B. Elkins

Henry E. Ellsworth (ADP)

John S. Ferguson (PSI)

Edward B. Greene (WH, ADP)

James C. Greenway (S+B, PSI, Crew ’97)

Harold H. Hackett

Frederick C. Havemeyer (S+K, DKE)

Lyman C. Hedge

Burns Henry (PSI)

John M. Hopkins (S+B, ADP)

Clarence P. Hulst

Bascom Johnson  (ADP, Track/Pole Vault)

Owen Johnson

Cortland F. Luce

George A. Lyon

Medill McCormick (ADP)

Robert H. McCormick (ADP)

Clarence Ordway

Charles R. Page (DKE)

Roswell M. Patterson (WH)

Robert Stevenson Jr. (S+K, DKE)

Hulbert Taft (S+B, DKE)

Charles L. Tiffany (S+K, PSI)

Robert C. Twichell (WH, ADP) 

Class members who were “Non-Graduates”: 

George N. Boyd

Arthur S. Goodwin

Harrison Gray

Henry O. Havemeyer

Davis M. Kellogg

Henry W. Lyman

Crispin Oglebay (S+K, ADP)

William Post Jr. (PSI)

David D. Tenney 

Signatories that are listed as members of the class of ’01: 

W. Woods Chandler

A.L. Gile

Julian Day

Close up of J. Camp's signature, left middle

                                           Close up of Malcolm L. McBride's signature, middle