The Football Legend Who Traded the Ivy League for the Front Lines: The Story of Johnnie Poe

In the middle of a major winter storm, with classes canceled and the wind howling outside, it’s easy to find your mind wandering toward the macabre—perhaps to a certain Edgar Allan Poe story like The Cask of Amontillado. But while most of us associate the name Poe with gothic poetry and raven-themed football teams, there is a far more "rough and tumble" legacy attached to the family name.

On a recent episode of the Pig Pen podcast, Darin Hayes sat down with Timothy Brown of Football Archaeology to discuss a man who was a second cousin twice removed from the famous poet: the legendary Johnny Poe.

A Princeton Dynasty

Johnnie Poe was the third of six brothers who played for Princeton University between 1882 and 1901. In an era where the Ivy League was the epicenter of the sport, the Poes were football royalty. Johnny himself was a standout during the 1891 and 1892 seasons, consistently ranking as one of the team's top scorers.

However, Johnnie Poe wasn't your typical Ivy League student. He wasn't destined for the quiet life of a district attorney or a businessman like his brothers. He was a man who marched to the beat of a much louder, more dangerous drum.

The Wanderer and the Warrior

After dropping out of Princeton following his sophomore year, Johnnie’s life read like an adventure novel. He spent time:

1. Coaching: Leading the teams at the University of Virginia and Navy.
2. Laboring: Mining for gold in the Yukon and working as a cowboy in New Mexico.
3. Soldiering: Seeking action wherever he could find it.

Johnnie’s thirst for combat was legendary. He joined the Maryland militia for the Spanish-American War (but saw no action), joined the Army to fight in the Philippines (still no action), and even joined the Marines during the Panamanian Revolution. He finally "found his calling" fighting in the Honduran Army, where he finally saw the direct combat he craved.

A Hero’s End in the "Black Watch"

When World War I broke out, Johnnie didn't wait for the United States to enter the fray. He traveled to Europe and joined the British Army. Unsatisfied with being an artilleryman behind the lines, he transferred to the Black Watch, the famous Scottish Highlander regiment.

In 1915, during a fierce battle near Ypres in Flanders, Johnnie Poe was killed in action. He was shot in the stomach, and due to the chaotic nature of the conflict, his body was never recovered. He remains "out there" somewhere in the fields of France or Belgium—a fittingly mysterious end for a relative of Edgar Allan Poe.

A Lasting Legacy

Johnnie Poe’s impact on Princeton football didn’t end with his death. Even before the U.S. officially joined WWI, Princeton established the John Poe Award for the team's top player. Today, after being combined with another legend’s name, it is known as the Poe-Kazmaier Trophy.

It’s a remarkable testament to a man who was respected by everyone from common soldiers to future presidents (he once spent an hour talking football on the practice field with then-Princeton President Woodrow Wilson).

Whether you find him brave, reckless, or a bit of both, Johnny Poe remains one of the most fascinating figures in the intersection of sports and military history.

For more deep dives into the forgotten stories of the gridiron, visit FootballArchaeology.com or find Timothy Brown’s books on Amazon.

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So we've had a major winter storm across most of the country here this past weekend. And like all school children and many adults too, hoping that the storm was enough to maybe miss school or miss work and at home.

Here we have, our youngest is in a junior in college and she was hoping that her classes for Monday would be canceled because of the weather and the extreme cold. And they. Eventually they were.

She told us that she was getting ready because she wanted to finish reading up on a story by Edgar Allan Poe called the Cask of Monteido. Probably butchered the name of that, you know, famous story.

Can't say it very well, but a famous story that we probably most of us have read in our college or high school days.

Well, it got me thinking about a recent conversation I had with Timothy P. Brown about some relatives of Edgar Allan Poe, that very poet that wrote the. The cask.

Of the word I can't pronounce. And he's up right now to tell us about this famous family at Princeton.

Timothy Brown of FootballArchaeology.com joins us today to tell us about this famous family in Princeton football. Tim, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hey, Darin, good to see you again. And I want you to name my favorite Linda. Linda Ronstadt song. It's related to this. To this tidbit.

I'm drawing a blank kind of Linda Ronstadt songs right at the moment.

It'd be Po Po. Pitiful me. Okay.

Yeah, I think pitiful is the key word in that statement.

Yeah.

Very befitting.

Yeah, sorry, I apologize to anybody listening out there.

All right, well, I. Tim is pitifully segueing into his story today that he wants to talk about, and it's titled Veterans Day and Johnny Po. What can you tell us about this, Tim?

The poet and the guy for whom the Baltimore Ravens, you know, are effectively named after because he wrote the.

For whom the bell told.

No, that was Hemingway.

Oh, okay.

And World War I. And you know, anyways, sorry. So the. Or maybe it was a Spanish Civil War, one or two. Anyways, the.

So the pose were, you know, came from a, you know, somewhat prominent, well to do family. A couple of the brothers ended up being like district attorney for the state of Maryland or, you know, they became business Figures. Etc.

Johnny went the, you know, march to the beat of a different drummer. So his older brother, you know, Samuel and Edgar, Edgar Allan Poe preceded him. Then Nielsen, Ernette, Arthur and Gresham were the remaining brothers.

But. So Johnny shows up at Princeton and played in the seasons of 81 and 82 and was the second or third top scorer for the team, you know, those years.

So obviously, you know, spent a lot of time on the field, was a prominent player, but he apparently wasn't much of a student. So he dropped out of school shortly after his sophomore season and never, you know, return.

Now he returned to, as guys did back then, return to coach in the fall. You know, they'd kind of show up and hang out for a couple weeks and coach and whatever.

But he also, when he first left school, he coached for two years. He was a head coach at Virginia and then he was the coach at Navy for a year.

But, you know, he just, he wasn't looking for that, the kind of, you know, business sort of life, you know, and I, I can't explain why. I don't, you know, wasn't able to really get into that.

But so instead what he ended up doing, like, for him, he ends up like, doing stuff like going out and, you know, mining in New Mexico and he'd, you know, work as a cowboy. You know, he did all kinds of, like, kind of rough and tumble kind of lifestyle things. I think he was in the Yukon, you know, mining for a while.

But then, you know, he kind of found his, his calling. I guess at the start of Spanish American War, he enlists in the Maryland militia, thinking he's going to go see action.

And then, you know, they never end up leaving Florida. So he, you know, he never saw action. So then he, he joins the army because then we're, you know, fighting some rebels or whatever in the Philippines.

He goes there, still no action. He was some kind of adjutant to some general. Then he joins the Marines because they're fighting in the Panamanian Revolution. Still no action.

Then he joins the Honduran army and he finally sees action. So he's like, now he's a happy boy. So then he's doing, you know, whatever living life. And then World War I starts.

So then the guy joins the British military, British army. And he's like an artillery, artilleryman. So he's back further behind the lines. He's not seeing direct action.

He's like, you know, I need to go, you know, I, I want to be in, in the middle of it.

So he joins the Black Watch, which is, you know, famous Scottish Highlander, you know, regiment or, you know, grouping within the British army, and he's with them and you know, during a particular battle in near IPRA, you know, famous World War I site in, you know, Flanders, he ends up being killed in action, you know, and you shot in the stomach and. And died. And then just the nature of the conflict, you know, they couldn't. They couldn't find his body afterwards.

You know, so he's still out there somewhere. But so, you know, he's just kind of a guy who it. He's. It's funny because on the one hand he ran so counter to what most people in his situation did.

So I mean, it wasn't unusual for people to join the military, but they just, you know, if you were a Princeton guy, you didn't join as a private, you know, you didn't join the Honduran army, you know. You know, and if you went to Britain a lot, you know, a lot of those guys did were like medical or ambulance cars or something like that.

So anyways, obviously he was a different kind of fella and. But when he was killed, and this IS before the U.S. joined in, you know, entered World War I, they decided to name their.

Princeton's Top Football Player Award after him. So it's, you know, the John Po. It was a John Po Award or whatever. And then later, after Dick Kasmire won the. The Heisman, they've.

They've made it the Po. Kasmire Award. So his name's still out there.

You know, whoever the best football player is for Princeton each year, you know, still gets an award named in Johnny Po's honor. So, you know, just kind of a. You know, obviously this was a story for that I published on Veterans Day. So it's a. It's a.

You know, he had an unusual life and so it results in an unusual story. And especially as a member of, you know, such prominent family, I suppose.

Yeah. I mean, what. What a great honor to, you know, 125 some years after you play for a team, you're still remembered on a team with a memorial award.

That's pretty cool. And I mean, to sit there and fight for the armies of what I think you mentioned three. Three different countries and. And different continents. He's.

And you know, different oceans, everything that he's fighting it just. Or trying to fight. Yeah, just. Just. What a testament to a truly brave person. That's. That's remarkable.

Yeah. I mean, you guess you could use some other adjectives as well.

You know, just depending on your perspective, whether he's brave or just nuts or, you know, whatever. But, you know, obviously he was, you know, I mean, people. It wasn't like he was some kind of lunatic, right? I mean, people respected him.

And he, you know, like I said, you know, he'd come back and coach and, you know, the story of him being on the practice field at Princeton one day, and the guy who was the president of Princeton at the time was this guy named Woodrow Wilson. You know, he comes out on the practice field because he had had a football background, and he spent like an hour talking to Johnny Poe.

You know, so he was obviously, you know, still a respected individual. And, you know, kind of there's this romantic side to him, but, you know, not a life that I led, that's for sure.

Yeah. Well, it's you.

I'm glad that you talk about people like this and you preserve the history of, you know, different players as well as, you know, the equipment and the game itself. But you do this a lot in your tidbits and there's, you know, preserving the history of these people is. Was great testament to you and to. To them.

Maybe you could tell us how we can join in and. And read some of these.

Yeah, just go to footballarchaeology.com and you'll, you know, just Google it. You'll find my site. You can subscribe or you can follow me on. On Substack, whichever works for you. You can also just look me up on.

On Amazon, you know, if you're interested in one of my books. And if you just put in Football Archaeology to Amazon, you'll find me that way, too, so.

Because two of my two latest books are part of the football Archaeology series, so the name pops up.

All right. Well, Tim, we sure appreciate your joining us today, and we'd love to talk to you again next week about some more great football history.

Very good. Look forward to it. Thank you.

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