This podcast episode delves into the illustrious history of the 1904 Chicago North Division High School football team, a group that produced numerous notable athletes who would go on to achieve great success in the realm of football. We engage in an insightful conversation with Timothy P. Brown, who elucidates the remarkable achievements of this team, particularly highlighting their impressive performances against formidable opponents. The discussion encompasses the individual stories of standout players, including Walter Stefan, Joe Papa, and Leslie Pollard, whose contributions to the sport resonate even today. We explore the dual themes of triumph and tragedy that characterize their journeys, particularly in the context of the historical backdrop of early 20th-century America. Join us as we unravel the tapestry of talent and legacy that defines this significant chapter in football history.

Tim's original Tidbit titled "1904 Chicago North Division High's Stars" and images are found at the link

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This is the Pigskin Daily History Dispatch, a podcast that covers the anniversaries of American football events throughout history.

Your host, Darren Hayes is podcasting from.

America's North Shore to bring you the memories of the gridiron one day at a time.

Hello, my football friends.

This is Darren.

He's a pigskindispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portal to puzzle to football history.

And welcome to another Tuesday.

It's footballarchaeology.com day with Timothy P. Brown of that great site, visiting us once more to tell us about some great history of football.

Tim, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hey, Darren, good to see you.

And I hope the topic that we're talking about doesn't cause any division between you and I, I, I, but, but keep your head on a swivel, buddy.

I, I doubt it's going to cause division, but that's a, a great segue coming into it.

And I really didn't know what to expect going into it when I read that title not too long ago, but boy, it was a good one and talking about a real great legend of the game.

Yeah.

Well, before getting into the story itself, I did want to acknowledge the start of the college football season.

I am wearing a Wisconsin Badger shirt.

You know, probably I would say most people would acknowledge them as the finest Division 1 football team in the land.

They MD1 now.

Yeah.

Yeah, okay.

They still are.

It's been a little questionable of late, but we're coming back this year and then we will be talking about the University of Chicago.

So that's my lid there.

And like, I grew up in Milwaukee and Milwaukee had North Division and they had South Division high school.

They didn't have east or west, you know, Saint or down in Chicago.

They had North Division and they had self division.

They had boys.

I forget there's some name for it, but anyways.

But you know, some of the names of the old high schools I think are just kind of cool.

Like, boy, Milwaukee had boys.

Tech, which was like the manual arts kind of School, right, know, taught the pattern makers and whatever else, you know.

So anyways, good old industrial, you know, kind of education.

So anyways, so you know, so the, the Chicago high school put out some really talented teams.

But they went out to Brooklyn and played Brooklyn boys high school and beat them 75 nothing.

So they were probably, and they were like the champs of New York City.

So they, they were probably a pretty good team.

And then they had a couple of kids who graduated.

One of them ended up, I think it was an all American, a guy named Detray who played at Chicago and then a guy Graham who was a tackle, you know, at Michigan.

So.

And yeah, I'm sure they had some other guys.

They ended up early in the season.

You know, this is back.

It was right at the end when team on college teams stopped playing high schools.

But this year, you know, this is one of those years where they were still doing that as like the early season.

They kind of consider them practice games but they show up on you know, the team records of official records.

But just to give you a sense of, you know, sometimes there wasn't like if you had a really well coached high school team and especially like the prep schools out east where they kind of recruited guys and you know, some of those kids were.

Those teams work every bit as good as a lot of college teams and you know, just more because of their.

They were well schooled and some recruiting.

They played the University of Chicago at the start of the season and they.

Chicago is like 10, 0 and 1 that year and Chicago beat the high school team 18 to nothing.

They, the high school team then plays Purdue and loses five to nothing and then they beat Chicago's freshman six to nothing.

So you know, I mean they were pretty darn good, you know.

So anyways, and then part of the reason they were good is they had, they had some really talented players.

So number one, they had Walter Stefan who was their quarterback.

He almost didn't play for them that season because he tried to enroll.

After three years he tried to enroll in at Wisconsin and the admissions office wouldn't let him.

He was out there up there, practicing, living there.

And then the admissions people said, no, you know, you need another year of high school in order to come here.

So he went.

He goes back and then plays the season with.

With north.

The North Division, but he ended up going to Chicago.

Then he then did not go to Wisconsin, goes to Chicago and is the first team All American as a senior, you know, playing under Stag.

And then he ends up long time Carnegie Mellon coach and a judge in Chicago and blah, blah, blah.

There's a tidbit out there about him, too.

So another guy that they had is Joe Papa, who nobody's heard of, but he was, you know, he played offensive line for them and he ended up coaching area high schools, you know, Chicago area high schools.

But he also coached DePaul.

He coached both their academy or high school team and the university team.

He also, During World War I, he coached Navy Pier, which I think went undefeated.

And, you know, they tried to claim that they should have gone to the Rose bowl instead of Great Lakes, but.

So he was, you know, pretty talented coach, at least it was Navy.

Navy Pier.

The Navy Pier in Chicago.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, wow.

They had two naval academies that close to each other during the war, huh?

Because Great Lakes is not far from Chicago.

Yeah.

So Great Lakes is.

Is maybe 40 miles north of the city.

You know, it's almost to Wisconsin.

But maybe.

Yeah, the Naval Pier was, you know, I know, some kind of, you know, some training facility, you know, during the war.

But the thing that he's most known for is he holds the patent.

Patent for ropes.

You know, the little ropes that you run through.

You know, like the ladders.

Ladder.

Yeah.

Okay.

He had.

He held.

Or he's dead now, but he, he's the guy who invented those and holds a path.

No kidding.

And then, then they had a guy named Paul Dornblazer, who, again, he wasn't even like a big star on the team, but he was a lineman.

He ends up.

Somehow he ends up at Montana and he's a captain there.

Then he ends up.

Ends up being.

He's killed in France during World War I, you know, serving with the Marines.

So then Montana named their football stadium after him, and then their next football stadium they named after him.

And now it's.

Now it's their track and field facility.

But, you know, so he's kind of a famous dude off of the same.

Same one.

And then the, The.

Then the kicker is Leslie Pollard.

So he's best known as being Fritz Pollard's older brother.

And, you know, he.

I know like, you know, doing the research while he was at North Division.

There were times when he wasn't eligible.

So, you know, he made.

I don't know if he.

So it was a couple years later and he ends.

He's, I think that year he was the.

The only black guy on the team and he ended up.

They.

They had Jess Hawley was their star back and he was, you know, he was a.

He was a stud.

He was an Olympic medalist by then.

He's a shot putter.

But anyways, Pollard is.

Ends up had a great game against Harvard.

You know, the story has a picture of him, you know, running the ball against Harvard, but he only stayed one year.

You know, again, don't know if his financial academic, you know, whatever issues, but he was only there for the one year and then he ends up working for the Urban League.

He coached Lincoln University in Philadelphia for a couple years.

19, 13, 14.

And then he, you know, unfortunately he and his wife.

His wife was like a nanny and the baby that, that she was, you know, nannying or babysitting for.

All three of them were killed and they were asphyxiated in.

In that, you know, the kids apartment.

So.

So anyways, it's one of those, you know, with him in particular, it's kind of what might have been.

You know, you look at the, the path that his brother took and you know, starring at Brown and in the first.

The re.

And then he ends up, you know, he's in the NFL.

He's the.

Yeah, they could have teamed up in the NFL or something if, you know, he survives.

Wow.

Yeah.

So I mean, it's just crazy, crazy the, the amount of talent that was on that team and.

And yet like two of the most talented people that we know of, you know, one dies in the war and another, you know, died, you know, four years even before that.

So anyways, you know, there's kind of tragedy and triumph.

Yeah.

In the same story.

Yeah, Great, great stuff.

I mean, it's great to dig into these.

You know, you're talking about a high school team and who would thunk, you know, you're talking about some of these great athletes, you know, from football yesteryear.

And you do this a lot.

And your stories really, you know, take.

Spin you into some other realm that you weren't expecting to.

That's what's so much fun about them and maybe you could share with the listeners where they can take in your tidbits and enjoy some of this great football.

Yep, just go to footballarchaeology.com it's a substack site so you know, just go there whenever you want or subscribe and you'll get an email every time that I publish publish a story.

If you don't like emails, then just you can get get the substack app and you'll get notified every time that you know that a new story comes around.

So either one of those will work.

Whatever.

Tim, that's some fantastic information and stories once again as always and we appreciate you and we'd love to have you back again next week.

I'll do my best.

That's all the football history we have today, folks.

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