Coach John Hall / Carlisle Indian Football Team, 1898

John Arthur Hall, pictured at center, coached the Carlisle Indian Varsity in 1898, the year before Glenn Warner was to take the reins. An excerpt from  ”The Indian Helper: A Weekly Letter from the Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, Pa.” dated Friday, October 14, 1898, reads:  “Mr. John Hall, ’98 Yale, whose home is New Haven, Conn., is here to coach the football team.  Mr. Hall has played on the Yale team for several years, and was member of the team of ’97 which finished their season by defeating Princeton. Our boys will have the best of fields on which to do their practicing this year, and with the good training they are to have, it is hoped they will make even a better record than last year, when they did well enough to bring them into worldwide reputation as skillful and gentlemanly players.” Hall also played for the Princeton University Hockey team in 1896 and 1897.

It is of interest to note that A.W.Ransome, formerly of Yale and later Captain of the University of California football team followed Hall to Carlisle as an assistant coach.  The October 7, 1898 issue of “The Indian Helper: A Weekly Letter from the Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, Pa.” cites “Mr. A. W. Ransome, ex-Yale, is assisting coach Hall in training the football”. Arthur Wilfred Ransome also played for a number of Pennsylvania teams in 1898, including the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club, as well as the Orange Athletic Club. Some referred to Ransome as a “professional” as he received pay for playing at Orange and in Pittsburg.

This is a great and a most unusual photo, with Hall posed with one of the Carlisle Indian football teams. It may be a second eleven or a shop team. We also considered, as the ball is marked “ 1898 Champions “, it may be the “juvenile “ football team, that trained under the captain of the varsity, Frank  Hudson. That team played and beat the Carlisle High School football team, Thanksgiving of 1898, 40 to 0. The roster of that team was listed as Edwin Moore, LE, Lewis Webster, LT, James Johnson, LG, Edgar Rickard, C, Joel Cornelius, RG, John Lemieux, RT, Edward Peters, RE, Robert Emmett, QB, Caleb Sickles, LHB, Louis McDonald, FB, Frank Beaver, RHB, and Frank Thomas, Richard Hendricks, Peter Alexander and Vincent Nahtailish, substitutes. As we have identified several of the players in the photo, not listed on the team that beat CHS, such as Edward Rogers, back row, third from the right, that also played on the varsity team, we are left questioning which Carlisle team the photo represents. We would love to hear from readers of this blog with any further information.
Photo is framed/matted, sight measures 12 3/4" x 9 3/4/".