Exceedingly Rare Ambrotype Of A Young Football Player c.1859/1860

 

An extreme sports rarity. This early ambrotype taken c.1859/1860 of a young English public or boarding school "football" player posed in his striped football jersey.  The jersey is marked on the front “B.W.”, which almost certainly identifies a house, side, or team designation within the school, a known practice at the time. This photo was taken at a time when schools played the game within their own boundaries and with their own rules. Associations were formed starting in 1863 to settle on a single sets of rules, or "laws of the game".  

The earliest photo, by about a decade, that we have come across of a "football" player.

Ninth plate ambrotype in its original hanging (rather than cased) frame.

                                      Initials on the jersey (photo reversed to view correctly)

Harvard and Yale Folding Football Pocket Schedule / 1894 / Trinity Hall

 

A very rare folding pocket schedule for both Harvard and Yale’s 1894 football seasons. This of course is the year of the ‘Bloodbath at Hampden Park’, the last game for both Harvard and Yale for the year and the reason for the cessation of the Harvard - Yale football match for the next two years.

This schedule was distributed with the compliments of the management of Trinity Hall, an independently owned dormitory on Mount Auburn street in Cambridge, just a very short stroll from Harvard Yard.

When you read through the amenities offered by Trinity Hall, this was part of a newer trend beginning in the mid 1890s where decentralization of the student body at Harvard was becoming the new norm and rooms in privately owned dormitories (built as investment properties) with such amenities were now preferred. These “Gold Coast” dorms were constructed starting 1893.

 Just a few years before this, it was considered a great privilege and socially distinctive to room in the dormitories of the old quadrangle.

Trinity Hall, a wood frame building that had fallen into disrepair was demolished around 2008 to allow for the restoration of the “Conductor’s Building’ that laid adjacent to it. The Conductor’s Building was the last surviving structure associated with the Boston Elevated Railway. For those familiar with Harvard Square, the Conductor's Building lies diagonally across the street from the Charles Hotel.

A really neat little piece from one of our favorite years to collect.

Robert Cook / 1871 / Yale / Scrub IV Crew

                                                                   Cooks' Scrub IV 

Robert Johnston “Bob” Cook (on the far left) entered Yale (prepped at Andover for two years of a three-year program and entered Yale in 1871) already drawn to rowing, and it was during his undergraduate years that he became one of the most influential figures in American collegiate crew.

In the fall of 1871 Robert Johnston Cook’s scrubs won two races at New Haven Harbor. This at a time that Yale’s own varsity and '71 class team were in disarray, had been unsuccessful, and were not racing. 

Cook made a pivotal decision in 1873 and took a semester off from Yale to travel to England and learn “how to row” from British universities. He first studied with Francis S. Gulston of the London Rowing Club, followed by time spent first at Cambridge then at Oxford.

When he returned to Yale later that same year, he brought back a modified English stroke that fundamentally changed Yale’s rowing style. Cook's stroke was a milestone in the history of college rowing and the development of the American stroke. This innovation immediately paid off as Yale won the RAAC Regatta using Cook’s new stroke.

From 1873 until his graduation in 1876 (was supposed to graduate in 1875 but dropped back to 1876), Cook served as the unofficial coach of Yale’s crews. Running practices, selecting lineups, teaching new techniques and setting training standards that would extend for decades at Yale. He was captain and stroke for four years. His influence was so strong that he effectively shaped the entire Yale rowing program before he graduated.

After graduating, Cook became Yale’s official coach, though he worked full‑time in Philadelphia and often traveled back to New Haven only on weekends. He was the official Yale coach (1876–1898).

In 1924, Yale dedicated the Bob Cook Boathouse on Lake Housatonic.

After working on the identification of the other three oarsman I have yet to come up with their names. It is likely they were freshman from c.1871. Scrub team rosters from this period were rarely listed and have proven virtually impossible to locate.  We do have a cabinet card of the other seated individual in the photo that is in our 1873 Yale album belonging to Atwood Collins. Most of the cards in the album are identified except for 28 cabinet photos placed in slots in the back pages of the album (men and women, African Americans, etc.). His card is one of those that is not identified by name. I will likely be able to identify him and the other two rowers when I locate Yale albums with identified sitters from 1875. The 1873 album also has loose rowing memorabilia in it, all dating to 1875 and the dedication of the Yale Navy boathouse.

One of our top early crew photographs, and likely the most important. This rare and historically significant photo would be the earliest known rowing photo of Cook. A larger albumin photo measuring 13 ½” in height by 10 1/8” in width, not inclusive of the outside edge. An amazing link to Yale’s past rowing history.

                                                                         Bob Cook in 1871

                                           The unframed photograph with margins

Draper & Maynard / Plymouth New Hampshire

 I was driving at dusk, after dinner in Plymouth New Hampshire, on my way up to the foothills of the White Mountains. I was cutting through the town on a deserted road when I pulled a U-turn in the middle of the road having just passed a sign that I thought said Draper & Maynard. And wouldn’t you know, it was in fact the Draper & Maynard building. As luck would have it, the only vehicle I didn’t see was a parked police car who let me be and watched intently as I took photos of the sign and building from half a dozen vantage points. For those not in the hobby, Draper & Maynard was one of the larger early sporting goods manufacturers.

Harry Newman / 1932 Chicago Tribune Silver Football Trophy (Big Ten MVP)

Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago won both the Chicago Tribune Silver Football and the first ever Heisman Trophy. He considered the Silver Football more meaningful because it was awarded based on votes from Big Ten coaches who had firsthand experience watching and competing against him. In a 2002 Chicago Tribune article he recalled “When they called to tell me, I thought it was great (winning the Heisman), but the big award then was the Silver Football” which held more prestige at the time than the Heisman, then called the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy.

Years ago, after acquiring Benny Friedman’s Silver Football Trophy (see blog post dated July 31, 2018), Jacob and I talked about the possibility of going after another Silver Football Trophy if they ever became available. Those of Red Grange, Harry Newman, Jay Berwanger, Nile Kinnick and Otto Graham topped the list.

Harry Newman followed in the footsteps of Benny Friedman in many ways, Friedman coming out of Cleveland, Newman out of Detroit, both strong runners, kickers and leaders on the field. Newman initially was not the passer Friedman was, but under Friedman’s mentoring over a summer at his football camp (Newman still in High School), Newman was to become an outstanding record setting passer as well, in college and the pros. They both played for the University of Michigan and went on to play in the NFL.

Some stats on Newman:

College Career (University of Michigan, 1930–1932)

•             National Champion (1932)

•             Unanimous All-American (1932)

•             Chicago Tribune Silver Football (1932) – Big Ten MVP

•             Douglas Fairbanks Trophy (1932) – Outstanding College Player of the Year (pre‑Heisman)

•             Helms Athletic Foundation Player of the Year (1932)

•             Two time first‑team All‑Big Ten (1930, 1932)

•             Second‑team All‑Big Ten (1931)

•             Led Michigan to a 24–1–2 record over three seasons, undefeated in 1932

•             Played 437 of 480 minutes in the 1932 season — an astounding workload

Professional Career (NFL & AFL)

•             NFL Champion (1934) – New York Giants

•             2× Second‑team All‑Pro (1933, 1934)

•             NFL Passing Yards Leader (1933) and the Giants leading rusher

•             NFL Passing Touchdowns Leader (1933)

•             Played for:

•             New York Giants (1933–1935)

•             Brooklyn/Rochester Tigers (1936–1937)

 In 1934 Newman set the NFL single game carries record, at 38, broken by OJ Simpson in 1973, with 39. Simpson was intentionally being fed the ball in order to break 1000 yards on the season in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

A large trophy with an early 1930s full sized silver football. A most significant artifact from that period.

This trophy was exhibited at the Michigan Football Centennial in 1979 (photo of the bottom of the trophy base).

               Jacob holding Friedman's Silver Football Trophy and I holding Newman's (Thanksgiving, 2025)

Rare Shaker Knit Worsted Wool Football Cap c. 1890s

We are dating this cap to the 1890s even though the provenance of the cap is suggestive of the 1880s. It's the only cap of its type we have come across. All original, showing no outward signs of use. Measures 10 1/4" in width, 7 1/4" in height.

                                                                 Inside lining.

The above advertisements from the turn of the century are from Antiquefootball.com, in the article "The Football Cap", March 4, 2020.

Historically Significant Silver Trophy Bestowed By Lord Stanley Of Preston / 1891

 Only two trophies are known to have been bestowed by Lord Stanley of Preston, the Governor General of Canada from 1888 to 1893. The first was this cup, dated September 3, 1891, presented to William Hendrie as a member of the Quebec Turf Club for his horse B.C. Bullfinch.

The second, a bowl for the 1892 -1893 amateur hockey season, initially called the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, and eventually taking on the name of its donor, the “Stanley Cup”.

The cup that is the subject of this post is representative of the close relationship between the Stanley and Hendrie families and although equestrian, in fact, has as much to do with hockey.

Reads: Presented By Lord Stanley Of Preston - GBC - Governor General Of Canada - To The Quebec Turf Club - Quebec - Sept. 3rd 1891

Reads: Won By Mr William Hendrie's B.C. Bullfinch - 3 Years - Sept. 3rd 1891

At the time that this trophy was awarded (pre "Stanley Cup"), the important hockey relationship between the Stanleys and the Hendries was already well established. The families began their relationship by the 1880s, travelling in similar social circles, sharing interests in horse breeding and racing and with strong interest in hockey and with formalizing the development and rules of the game.

William Hendrie Sr., the recipient of this trophy was best known for breeding (Valley Farm) and racing thoroughbred horses. He also was involved for many years with improving the physicality of heavy draught horses using Shire and Clydesdales that he had brought in from abroad towards that end. Hendrie was the President of the Ontario Jockey Club at the time of his passing and was the first Canadian to be elected an honorary member of the English Jockey Club. His considerable wealth was the result of vast business enterprises and investments.

It was William Hendrie Jr., who first brought then Earl Stanley to Hamilton on business; the two were known to have developed a very close personal relationship. Both men, as well as two of Stanley’s sons shared a significant interest in the relatively new game of hockey that already was gaining traction in Montreal, Ottawa and Kingston.  It was the November 27, 1890 meeting at the Queen’s Hotel that led to the formation of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA). When the OHA was formed it was the first association dealing with the administration and development of the sport of hockey. The attendees at this November 27th meeting included Arthur Stanley, William Hendrie Jr, and a number of athletes, barristers, and politicians* from across Ontario. Lord Stanley was considered its patron and his two sons were among the association’s first executives along with William Hendrie Jr., who also wrote the first rules and regulations of the game. 

*There is frequent mention in sources of an early hockey game (1890) involving Lord Stanley's sons, Algernon and Arthur, playing for the Rideau Rebels against a team of parliamentarians. 

While evidence from our research is circumstantial, it appears to be a reasonable assumption that the awarding of the 1891 trophy was the impetus behind a decision by William Hendrie Jr., Lord Stanley and one or both of his sons (Arthur and Algernon) that a second trophy could and should be awarded for their relatively newfound obsession, hockey. 

William Hendrie Jr. was a leading financier, had an exemplary military career, was an acknowledged sportsman and played an integral part in the management of his family's stables and the Ontario Jockey Club.

The significance of the Stanley and Hendrie families' hockey partnership is notable with the inclusion in the impossibly hard to find first edition "Classic Hamilton Hockey" card set, with photographs of Lord Stanley and William Hendrie Jr., featured side by side on the first card of the series (card #1 of 150).

To take a step back and put some context to the awarding of such equestrian trophies, there was a tradition of silver cups awarded by Vice-regal representatives in Quebec dating back to the early 19th century.  An article written by Ross Fox** ”Early Turf and Field Silver from Trois-Rivieres” discusses early equestrian pieces in Quebec. The Quebec Turf Club was the first such club in Canada, founded in 1789. Such silver cups were awarded by Lord Aylmer (Governor-in-Chief) to the Three Rivers Turf Club in honor of races in 1833, 1834 and 1835. The earliest record of such a trophy given to the QTC was in 1818 when the 4th Duke of Richmond as Governor-in Chief gifted a silver cup to the Quebec Turf Club appropriately called the Governor’s Cup. Vice regal representatives of the Crown, whether governors general, governors or lieutenant governors were often key patrons of horse racing. Richmond’s successor, the 9th Earl of Dalhousie, provided a silver cup for a sweepstakes run by the Quebec Turf Club in the spring of 1822. He provided a second cup the following year.  

**It is a small world. I first met Ross Fox in the early 1990s when he was a curator of the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College. At the time I was finishing up my research on likenesses of Jeffrey Amherst, including painted portraits and engravings. I like to think that I was the subject matter expert on Amherst at that time and still retain one of the more important documented portraits of him.  

As collectors of historical hockey memorabilia, we were quite excited to find this exceptionally important piece. This trophy measures 10 ¾” x 5” and descended through the Hendrie family.

Card #1 from the Classic Hamilton Hockey card set. Lord Stanley on the left, William Hendrie Jr. on the right.

               1888 Allen & Ginter "Racing Colors of the World" tobacco card for Wm. Hendrie

Note: The acronym GCB appearing on the trophy under the title Lord Stanley of Preston stands for Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, the highest class of the British order of chivalry founded by King George 1 in 1725.