1920 University of Pittsburg Football Team / Pop Warner / Herb Stein

                          1920 Pittsburg Panthers team photo (photo without frame 19 ¼ x 10 ¾”) 

 

Glenn “Pop” Warner (back row far right in team photo) coached Pitt from 1915 – 1923 with an overall 60-12-4 record. The 1920 team went undefeated, (with two ties against Syracuse and Penn State)

 

Captaining the team was Herb Stein (center with ball), a player we may have known little or nothing about before reading “Breaker Boys: The NFL’s Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship”. It is an extraordinary tale of the Pottsville Maroons winning and losing the NFL championship, based on a territorial dispute.  Herb Stein was an integral part of this team and played alongside his brother Russ. Very interesting and entertaining stories related to Herb and his brother Russ can be found in chapter four, in particular, of the above-mentioned book.

Herb played for Pitt from 1918-1921, captaining the team in 1920.  He was All-American his junior and senior years and entered the College HOF in 1967. He played in the NFL, first joining the Buffalo All-Americans in 1921. From 1922-1923 he played for the Toledo Maroons, in 1924 for the Frankford Yellow Jackets and from 1925 through 1928 he was with the Pottsville Maroons. In 1922 he made George Halas’ 1^st team All-NFL and was selected to Joe Carr’s NFL All Star Team (as center), in 1925, along with Red Grange, Joey Sternaman, Link Lyman, Ed Healey and a handful of others.

Herb and Russ were named All-Americans in 1921 (the Steins are the only brothers named All-Americans in the same year), and Russ was a Rose Bowl MVP.


The photograph itself has an ink inscription on the bottom right identifying the team as 1922, which is incorrect. A label affixed to the glass correctly has the year as 1920.