The conversation centers on perhaps the most accomplished roster of talent ever assembled on one football team. Could Yale's 1901 Bicentennial Team be deemed the most accomplished ensemble ever? I am joined by Timothy Brown of FootballArchaeology.com, who elucidates the remarkable achievements of this team during Yale's 200th anniversary. The conversation delves into the extraordinary caliber of players associated with this team, noting the presence of numerous All-Americans and Hall of Famers, which underscores their significant legacy in the annals of football history. As we unravel the narrative of this historical team, we invite listeners to contemplate the criteria by which greatness is assessed in the realm of sports, particularly in the context of evolving standards over time. I encourage our audience to engage with us by sharing their thoughts on this compelling subject matter.

This comes from Tim Brown's recent Tibit titled: Yale's 1901 Bicentennial Team, The Most Accomplished Team Ever? - https://www.footballarchaeology.com/p/yales-1901-bicentennial-team-the .

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One of the common things in football talk is who's the greatest team ever to play football? Well, we might have that answer for you tonight as we are joined by.

Timothy Brown of FootballArchaeology.com Tim, welcome back.

To the Pig Pen.

Hey Darin, good to see you again. Once again. And this is definitely a story about the oldies but goodies.

Well, if somebody knows of a more accomplished team, please let us know. Comment below. And well, and you know, I specifically used the term accomplished. So meaning, okay, were they the best team ever?

That one is becomes much harder to even begin to argue given the difference in football teams from one period to the next. But in terms of whether or not they were the most accomplished, I just, I'm not aware of any other team that that comes close.

They varsity played Bates in the afternoon and they won 21 nothing. Then, then there was a second game. It was the alums versus the varsity second team and they played two 10 minute half.

So it wasn't, it wasn't a full game.

But the, the alums had 22 players on the team and of those players, eight were former Yale captains, seven are currently college Football hall of Fame members. There were 15 consensus all Americans. So not just, they were named on 115 consensus all Americans.

Of the 22, including two guys who are four time all Americans and there's only been four of those guys. So they had, they had half of them.

You know, Walter Camp played a few, you know, came out and, you know, played a few plays. You had Pudge, he had, you had Frank Hinky, you know, God, you just go on and on.

Pa Corbin, Bill Hickok, Burt Chamberlain, Josh Hartwell, you know who else is on my little thing here? Bum McClung, Harmon Graves, not picture, you know, anyways, you know, Vance McCormick, Frank Butterworth. I mean, just on and on. You just keep going.

Yeah, it was that kind of a. Just the amount of talent was just absolutely incredible. So. And then they ended up. They won. Thought I wrote it down here somewhere. Anyways, the. The.

The. The Alums beat the, you know, the varsity second team.

But, you know, some of those guys were, you know, at the time, there really wasn't pro football much at all. You know, here and there, some guys were getting paid, but, you know, most of the guys really hadn't played much.

You know, they might play for an Athletic club when they first got out, but that kind of petered out after a couple of years. So some of these guys, you know, weren't in great shape, you know. You know, and I don't know, it's just. It's kind of amazing. You know, the.

But it also tells you how simple football was in many respects. You know, that. That you could get out there and play a game. You know, all you're.

All you're doing is run the ball up the gut, you know, pretty much no forward passing yet.

So.

So it's either pitch it wide to the fast guy or run it up the gut and, you know, kind of pound it out. So anyway, it's just a.

Just an amazing group of guys that played in that game and, you know, kind of unlike, you know, even you think about a Pro bowl team, you know, like, none of them have, you know, eight or, you know, 15 consensus all Americans. No, you know, I mean, that's just not the way it works.

So anyways, I don't even think you could take one of the. The, like, Chicago College all Star teams and they would do that many. You know, they wouldn't even be close to that. That's amazing.

At least one Yale player was named first team All American every year. Now they were the dominant program, and there just weren't.

There were only, you know, four or five programs that really could even match up with them at all until that point, you know, so they. They had a lot of all Americans, but You know, the fact is, they were the best players out there, you know? Know. Yeah.

Was there some guy at Kansas or at, you know, Michigan who was better? Yeah, probably. But, you know, these were definitely among the best players in the country at the time, though the population of players was smaller.

Yeah.

So they. They were the most accomplished in my mind. So.

Yeah, I. I don't think there's any doubt about it. I mean, it sure. It sure helped that one of their former coaches and alums were. Was picking the All American team for many years, but he often was.

Yeah, it's 42.

Yeah. Okay.

Yeah.

And, you know, Pudge Hufflefinger, that's nine years removed from him playing, being the first paid professional player, which was years after he played for Yale. So he's got to be in his mid-30s or so, you know.

Yeah, he's. Well, Heffelfinger. He still. He showed up in some game. I forget exactly what it was like. He was like 54 and he.

He was out there, you know, playing, and, you know, I mean, the game had obviously passed him by. But, you know, he had. He was a guy who. A lot of times he would help out at Minnesota, you know, he. Just.

Because he lived there, and so, you know, he'd help out local college teams up there. And I think I. Well, there are two helpful fingers that played for Yale in the. Somewhere in the teens or 20s, and I think they were his sons.

I'm not positive about that, but. So anyways, he was still connected with the game.

You know, I. I saw a image recently. I forget where I even saw it, but it was of Pudge Heffelfinger at Minnesota.

And he's like, sort of standing there, like, in between plays, and he's, like, talking with some teammates, and they're like. Their heads are like, to his chest. I didn't realize know. I knew he had to be a big guy to be as popular, but I didn't realize he was that big.

He's, you know, he's a head taller than anybody else around him. That's amazing.

Yeah, I think he was. Even then, he was only like 6:3. He was like 6:3. You know, in his athletic prime, he was probably 225, something like that.

Like, as a freshman, he was much lighter than that, but.

Yes, but I mean he was just one of those, you know, he wasn't lifting weights, he was just naturally a big fella, but still nothing compared to the size of the guys that are out there today, you know.

Yeah.

So it just tells you how, you know, how many, you know, there were lots of really top notch players who were, you know, especially running backs who were five, five, I think Poe, who we talked about last week, I think he was only five, five.

You know, so there's, there were a lot of guys like that still that, you know, ends and tackles who were five, eight, you know, they just were good all around athletes and you know, tough kids and so.

Yeah, wow. Great storied programs of college football and in that era, especially those, you know, 20 some years prior to that.

And yeah, they definitely had some, some guys to pick from. Probably the team that the guys that weren't able to play with, with those 22, they were probably pretty good too.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean there actually there were a few guys who were at the game and didn't participate who were. Had been stars themselves. So you know it.

But that had to be a heck of a fun reunion to actually get out on the field with those guys and mix it up a little bit.

Yeah, too bad Edison didn't get his movie camera just a couple years earlier and go to a game like that and film it. That would have been something.

Yeah.

Yeah, that would have been fun to, fun to see it, you know, give you at least a little bit of a sense of what these guys were like as athletes on the field.

Yeah, Amazing, amazing stuff. Probably the most famous alumni game ever.

Tim, you do this, you preserve the history of football and bring up these things that have been long forgotten by most of the general public. And I didn't even know this existed until I read this when she wrote it. But how can others take in some of your tidbits?

Yeah, just, you know, go to footballarchaeology.com subscribe if you do, you'll get an email every time that I with the contents of the story every time I publish a new story. If you don't want to get hit by emails, you can just follow me on the Substack app or just go out and check out the site anytime you want.

You can also, if you're looking for something more book length, you know, go find me on, on Amazon or Walmart or you know, kind of all the normal retailers.

All right, well, Tim, we really appreciate you joining us today, talking about some great football history and we'd love to talk to you again next Tuesday.

Very good. Thank you, sir.

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