Harvard Class of 1886 Freshman Football Team c.1882

 

Last weekend I was just over the border in Connecticut and found this Harvard class of 1886 football team photo, presumably taken in 1882. It's a really nice early photo that draws you in. Framed in a much better than average frame, having a birdseye maple central band. The mat has been damaged and pieced together on the right side. Very early Harvard football photos are a passion of ours and are very difficult to come by.

 Kimball (Marcus Morton), far right in the middle, went on to play for the University team in 1883 and in 1884, when he was captain.  His left arm rests on Adams (George Casper), who played for the University eleven in 1882, 1883 and 1886.

Adams was named as ‘field coach’ for Harvard from 1890 -1892, sharing coaching duties with George Stewart, ’84. Before Harvard, Adams attended and played football at Adams Academy, and was a great grandson of president John Quincy Adams. I have a late 1870s photo of an Adams Academy football team that I believe has Adams in it, however players are unidentified and at present this is just conjecture. I may be able to clear this up with a trip to the Quincy Historical Society which retains many records and photos (including sports photos with identified players) from the Adams Academy, which closed in 1908

 The team roster includes Adams, Haughton, Dewey, Hartley, Vogel, Burnett, Woodbury, Clark, Phillips, Kimball, Beck, Austin, Littauer as a substitute, Guild , the manager. 

The ’86 Freshman’s teams record in 1882: 

‘86 v. Roxbury Latin, won by ‘86

’86 v. Exeter, won by ‘86

’86 v. Andover, won by Andover

’86 v. Yale, Tie game (Dec. 02) 

Another source has them playing five games, without listing the individual contests, ending with a record of 3-2-1. 

The ’86 freshman challenged Dartmouth to a game, but this was “respectfully declined”. 

This is a Pach Bro’s photo. Pach was based in New York City and travelled to college towns somewhat seasonally to take yearbook, class and sports photographs. They were generally the photographer of choice for senior classes at Yale, Harvard and Princeton, but college classes would vote on who they wanted to be their photographer. For example, Pach was chosen by Yale’s class of ’82, while the ’82 Sheffield School at Yale chose Notman as their photographer.

                                                                  Kimball and Adams