REVISITING THE FIRST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AND MORE…PART 3…THE COACHES

Harry Cochems…Born ion Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin on January 11, 1875.  He was the older brother of Eddie Cochems, “The Father of the Forward Pass”.  Harry played football for the first time upon entering UW and played only two years, first as a backup in 1894.  He didn’t play in 1895 and 1896 but then started at halfback 1897.  Harry was an outstanding debater, student and in track he was the Intercollegiate shot up and hammer throw champion.  Cochems stood 6’ tall and weighed a robust 185 pounds.  He was an advocate for ending “mass” plays and changing some of the kicking and scoring rules.

Harry Cochems at UW 1896  Harry in about 1917

The above pictures were found at Frank Hinkey on a web site dedicated to the life of North Tonawanda coach Frank Hinkey.  This is the only photo collage of the four team pictures taken of the 1897 Madison team that I have located.

After graduating UW, he attended Harvard Law School earning his law degree in two years instead of the usual three., the first to ever do so.  While at Harvard he participated on the school’s strength team (Weightlifting) and his score of 1,766 points (Not sure how they were computed) earned him the title of the “world’s strongest man”.   He also played on the Harvard reserves football team but as a tackle, a position he had never played, rather than as a halfback. 

At age 23 Harry went into politics, first with Robert La Follette, a Republican who in 1924 ran for President under the Progressive Party that he founded. Harry stumped for La Follette who ran for governor in 1898.  At the state Republican convention, he presented to the organization the nominating speech for La Follette who was running for governor for a third time. “Fighting Bob” won the nomination and with Cochems help won the election.  In 1901 La Follette suggested that Harry run for the state senate in the Wisconsin Fifth District.  Over time he would run for the office three times but lost in all three races by a close margin each time to a Socialist opponent. 

Harry found himself, a few years later, working for President Teddy Roosevelt as an advisor and a bodyguard.  Following Roosevelt’s second term Cochems moved around various political contests making speeches for his fellow Republicans.  In early 1912 Harry and several other influential Republicans approached Roosevelt about running again for president as a third-party candidate.  Teddy had been unhappy with the way his former VP and current President William Howard Taft was running the country.  Roosevelt ran under the Progressive Bull Moose Party name.

Visiting Milwaukee on October 14, 1912, in an attempt to regain the presidency, Harry was waiting by the car outside the Hotel Gilpatrick, and he held the door for the former President. Roosevelt got into the car and stood to wave to the crowd.  John Schrank of New Youk stepped out of the crowd as Cochems was about to get in the car to take Roosevelt to his speaking engagement before 9,000 supporters at the Milwaukee Auditorium.  Schrank pulled a pistol and shot the former president in the chest.  The bullet hit Roosevelt’s glass case and his 50-page speech.  Cochems and another man grabbed the shooter, wrestled him to the ground and then turned him over to the police. The former president was bleeding, but he insisted on going to his speech which he did, speaking for 80-minutes.  Following the speech Teddy went to the Johnston Emergency Hospital (Located on 3rd and Michigan) after the speech and was x-rayed.  A special train was arraigned and Cochems and Roosevelt went to Chicago the next morning for a stay at Mercy Hospital.  The shooting may have helped lead to Roosevelt’s defeat in November.  The split in the Republican Party didn’t help as Roosevelt garnered 27.4% and Taft received 23.2% to Democrat Woodrow Wilson’s 41.8%.

Harry stepped away from active politics and practiced law in Milwaukee.  He was well respected throughout the community.  But, in 1921 he developed cancer and went to Colorado to his brother’s hospital in Salida for a second opinion and surgery.  A noted Chicago surgeon and brother-in-law, Dr. A.E. Halstead, went out to Colorado and assisted by Dr. Frank Cochems, performed the surgery. The surgery was performed on September 11 but it was a matter of the surgery being successful, but the patient was too weak, and he passed.  Harry died on September 23, 1921.  Seven siblings attended the funeral. A brother received the news of Harry’s death late and did not attend.   60+ lawyers, judges, business associates and politicians from the Milwaukee area plus a large group of mourners from around the state attended. A blanket composed of 4,000 red roses. Created by a florist in Chicago and brought north by three of Harry’s friends from the Windy City to the funeral in Sturgeon Bay.  Christian Doerfler, the chief justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court gave the oration at the funeral. A delegation of representatives from Buffalo, New York attended the services.  One of the Buffalo delegation attendees was Frank Hinkey who was living in Springfield (IL) and met the group in Chicago before they took the train to Sturgeon Bay. 

In 1930 George F. Downer, of the Wisconsin News Service, wrote a series of stories about famous University of Wisconsin athletes.  The second of his series featured Harry Cochems and it offered even more Insite into the man. Some of those incites have been posted above.   I found the story in the February 22, 1930, edition of the Green Bay Press Gazette.  If you have my book, the next story after the one on the 1897 Madison team was about Milwaukee South Side (Division), coached by Downer who directed the team to an undefeated, untied and unscored upon season.

Frank Hinkey…Born on December 23, 1870 (Or 1871), third of nine children in Tonawanda, New York.

Tonawanda is located in an area between Buffalo on the south and Niagara Falls on the north.  It was on the south side of the Erie Canal.  On the north side of the canal were the villages of Wheatfield and Martinsville.  In 1896 and early 1897 the three, Tonawanda, Wheatfield, and Martinsville wanted to merge into one city, but the New York legislature would not agree to the three merging as the canal was the border of Erie County and Niagara County.  In early 1897 the area villages merged and the new town became known as Nort Tonawanda. 

There had been bridges over the canal and Frank Hinkey’s father was a prosperous owner of several hardware stores located on both sides of the canal.  The real reason for wanting the merger was to help eliminate what had been “price wars” between the merchants, one side of the canal having lower prices than the other in an effort to lure customers.  The area on the north side of the canal contained a large of forest land.  In the 1870’s on his way from Canada to eventually settle in Menomonee, Michigan, Samual Stephenson (See THE PESHTIGO FIRE AND THE FIRST MARINETTE VS. MENOMONEE GAME FOOTBALL (wihifootball.com) purchased a large number of acres for his vast lumber cutting business.

Frank Hinkey lived at various times on both sides of the canal as he grew up and attended the Tonawanda elementary school.  Because his father was able to earn a good living Frank was sent to several private schools before he entered Yale in New Haven, Connececticut.  While attending Phillips Andover Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Frank learned to play football.  When he enrolled at Yale, he stood 5’8 and weighed 130 pounds.  He would “grow” to 140 pounds when he graduated.  Yale had a tradition that the senior team captain from the precious season would be the head coach.  Sometimes the “captain” would coach for several years but for the first 40-years of Yale football, the coaching position was unpaid. The coach only received room and board for their duties.  In 1872 Walter Camp, “The Father of American Football” began playing the sport at Yale and after 1882 he worked in his family clock business before taking over as the unpaid coach in 1888.  His last two teams at Yale, 1891 and 1892, were undefeated squads and the first two seasons that Frank Hinkey played at Yale.

Camp was greatly involved in the rules of the sport and began to write numerous articles on the game as well as coming up with the first All-America teams.  While a writer named Casper Whitney printed the first team in 1889, Camps teams in the 1890’s became the “official” mentions.  The first four-time All-American was Marshall Newall, a tackle from Harvard who earned honors from 1890 to 1893.  Frank Hinkey, all of his 5’8, 130 pounds made the team as a freshman in 1891 as an end, and defensive specialist (They played both ways in those days but passing on offense was not an option.  Ends on offense blocked, of course, and ran reverses.) On defense, even with his slight stature he was a demon.  He was known as a clean tackler, but Harvard spread the word that he was dirty.  The reason came about in the 1891 game when a 200-pound (Huge for this era) fullback named Corbett tried to run around Harvard’s left end when he met Hinkey.  The ball had been marked close to the Harvard goal.  Frank went low and then picked Corbett off his feet, tossed him over his shoulder.  Corbett fumbled after Hinkey threw him on the ground. Harvard’s Bliss picked the ball up and Yale tackle William Walter “Punge” Heffelfinger (6’3, 210 pounds) picked Bliss up by the collar and rode him back into the endzone for a touchdown. Harvard thought that Hinkey had been too rough. By the way, “Pudge”, besides being a three-time All-American he is credited as being the first professional football player (Pudge Heffelfinger - Wikipedia).

Boston Globe December 31, 1925 

American Football Database    

After the 1891 season Hinkey would be named All-American in 1892, 1893 and 1894.  There have only been five four-time All-Americans, and all played between 1890 and 1900 and Frank was second one. Yale went 52-1 over the four seasons and the team only allowed 25 points in that time span.  Walter Camp coached the first two seasons before moving on to a paying coaching position at Stanford.  While this was going on Franks father suffered great financial losses due to the various recessions in the 1890’s and poor health. After coaching Yale in 1895 he returned to Tonawanda to help with the hardware business after his father’s death.  He was elected as a trustee of Tonawanda and coached the North Tonawanda high school football team.

Following the championship game in Detroit Frank went into various business’s…coaching, hardware, stock/investment broker, mining and farming. Some worked and others did not so well.  He continued to coach the local high school as well as a semi-professional All-Tonawanda team.  His brother Louis assisted him after he graduated from Yale.  In 1899 Frank became the head coach at the University of Buffalo only to turn it down because of financial differences.  Subsequent Yale coaches asked for his assistance and despite there be no monitory reward he felt he owed his time in New Haven.  Despite Frank and Louis’s best efforts the hardware business failed in 1903.  At the request of a fellow Yale alum he travelled to Iola, Kansas to work at a zinc smelting business.  Respiratory complications for his employees ensued as the workers hours were expanded to meet product demand. Frank would came up with up with a patented process to help the employees with the fumes in the smelting after he moved to the companies Springfield plant in 1908.  While in Springfield he met Anna Elizabeth Thomas in 1911 and they married in 1912.  They lived on the Thomas farm until the 1914 football season rolled around.

 In 1913 Yale, after 40 years, decided to pay for a coach.  Former them captains and Walter Camp lobbied for Frank Hinkey, but the administration decided to go with future College Hall of Fame inductee, Howard Jones, a 1908 Yale graduate. He coached unpaid in 1909 but was paid $6,000 in 1913.  Yale came calling the next year and Hinkey took the job but at a $5,000 salary.  He lasted two years.  Frank was out of touch with the “modern” game.  The forward pass was allowed beginning in 1906 but, as Yale had used the lateral in Franks playing days, he continued to use plays like that and stayed away from the passing game.  He posted a two season record of 11-7-0.  While coaching as he roamed the side lines, he often seemed to be in a state of experiencing a nervous breakdown.  He later admitted he was always troubled when he watched his team. 

His exposure to the zinc process and his coaching experience was taking a toll on his health.  He took several jobs in various cities for friends selling stocks as well as working for a tin smelter near Cony Island.  His mother died in 1908, his two sisters never married and lived in Tonawanda and his brother Louis had mental problems and was in and out of mental sanatoriums.  Anna’s parents still lived on the farm in Thomasville, IL. Frank had to work harder to support everyone besides his wife.  He was paying the hospital bills for his brother plus paying the farm mortgage for his in-laws and supported his sisters.  He found time to meet up with the Syracuse contingent of businessmen and lawyers who ventured to Door County for the funeral of Harry Cochems in 1921.    

Newspaper report in the January 19, 1925, Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The above headline and story made it seem like Frank was having mental problems, but he had developed tuberculous and was at the Pine Crest Manor in Southern Pines, North Carolina, a hospice for those people with tuberculous.

The news stories began to pour off the news presses.  He was considered the greatest end of all-time as the headline states.  Stories of his football prowess flowed throughout the nation.  Anna stayed back in Tonawanda or on the Illinois farm as Frank didn’t want her to see how bad he was.  He died on December 29, 1925.  Frank was inducted into the College Football Hall of fame in 1951.  His wife Anna never remarried and they never had any children. 15 years younger than Frank, Anna lived on the Thomasville farm until her death in 1975.

REVISITING THE FIRST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AND MORE…PART 2…THE GAME AND THE MADISON PLAYERS

MINOR UPDATES MADE ON APRIL 17

THE GAME:

Woodward Avenue in Detroit is one of the most famous thoroughfares in America.  Woodward runs from the Detroit River north to Pontiac (MI) 30-miles away.  North Tonawanda left on foot early for the D.A.C. field and arrived about 12:30pm for the scheduled 2:30pm start.  Madison took virtually the same route and arrived at 2:15. The field had been mapped out by officials with a rope that outlined noting where the fans and player substitutes could stand.  The Tigers quickly warmed up.  They had waited for the air temperature to rise from 20 degrees at 9:00am to the day’s high of 30 degrees.  There was a slight wind but no snow as some stories in national stories reported.  The walk to the field, three miles from their hotel, helped warm them up.   I note that most news stories have the game starting at 2:30pm but another had it at 3:30…typo?

1897 Madison High School Football Team

NT's fullback Billinger kicked off to Madison as 200-700 fans (Estimates by different news reports varied) looked on and soon the ball was on the five-yard line.  Because the players jerseys had no names or numbers on them and not watching from an elevated position the scoring is a bit muddled.  Newspaper reports has end Bob Rathburn carrying on what must have been an end-around to score.  Madison led 4-0,

The two exchanged the ball and the Tigers drove to the Lumberjacks three when NT dropped a Madison runner for a five-yard loss which brought out a loud round of applause from their fans.  The ball was exchanged, and North Tonawanda gained 25-yards but then the size of Madison took over and the Lumberjacks could not gain further.  The first half ended, 4-0 with Madison in the lead but NT was getting worn down after playing 30-minutes.  The two teams took a 15-minute break and then resumed.  During the break coach Frank Hinkey firmly attempted to fire up his Lumberjacks. But they could not make any headway.  Here’s where the scoring gets mixed up.  One report had tackle Art Curtiss scoring once and another story had him scoring twice.  Not knowing how the early offenses really worked beyond line plunges and end arounds but I don’t know how a tackle would get involved in scoring.  The first story had Paul Newman running about 15-yards for a score.  Both reports agreed having fullback Duffy Rowell kick an extra point goal.  After 15-minutes into the second half and Madison leading 14-0, Hinkey and the NT team captain Gray, told Madison captain Lucius Donkle that they were calling it quits.  They knew they were beat, and no comeback was possible.  Madison was now the first high school national champion.

Following the game the reporter for the Detroit News spent time talking first to Frank Hinkey and then to Harry Cochems.  It had been agreed that both Hinkey and Cochems act as umpire and referee and now they wanted to talk.  However, another story had Hinkey's brother. Larry listed as the umpire. The papers neede the get their facts straight.

Hinkey was a famed Yale end and he talked more about Yale than his Lumberjack team.  Hinkey heaped praise on his former Yale teammates, his brother Larry who was also an end for Yale and he spent talking up Eastern football, especially Yale vs. Harvard.  He conceded that the performance of the “Westerners” was surprising, and the Madison team was very good and disciplined but then switched back tom talking about Yale and Harvard.  In the same vein, Cochems stated that the East wasn’t the only area of the country that could play football.  He pointed out a few of the Tonawanda players notably fullback Bellinger, quarterback Gray, both starters and substitutes Ferris and Wallace.  Harry talked up "western" football.

Before the game, A.K. Brown, representing Ann Arbor (MI) High School offered a challenge to the Madison boys to play anytime and anyplace that the two teams could agree for honors of the "real" west.  Following the win Joe Jackson turned Ann Arbor down saying that the team was tired.  It was a long season and they just wished to end the year.  The Michigan squad left the invitation open should Madison reconsider. I couldn't find a record for the Ann Arbor team ro compare efforts.

Were you expecting more details/stats about the game?  Come on.  This was the 1890’s.  Newspaper details were usually wanting ands as this game shows the papers got things mixed up.  The above game report is the best I can do. But look at the Madison scores.  The team was undefeated, untied and unscored upon against high school opponents.  The Detroit News seemed to downplay the Madison team’s record.  However, Waukesha went 5-2-0, Minneapolis South weas the top team in the metro area of St. Paul-Minneapolis going 6-1-0.  Delafield St. John’s had a 9-1-0 record with their only loss was to Madison. There’s more info on St. John's.  The Lancers beat both Whitewater Normal and Lawrence University and allowed only 28 points, 22 to Madison.  Elgin was the Chicago suburban champions.  So, as you can see, Madison played a tough overall schedule.  Though they didn’t play each other, Eau Claire went 5-1-0.  The known record for Milwaukee East, if this is the Milwaukee team Madison played, had a 3-2-0 record.

THE MADISON TIGERS ROSTER

I do not have any individual scoring stats on the season other than the championship game but the players “after high school” is overall very impressive.  On Friday, October 31, 1947, a “golden jubilee” celebration banquet was held at 3:45pm to honor the 1897 national high school championship team as well as teams from 1907,1917, 1927 and 1937.  However, the reason was to really honor the champions.  From the story in the Wisconsin State Journal, I got some info on the starters and the bench players.

Left End Bob Rathbun…Living in Milwaukee…Retired from business.

Left Tackle Dr. Lucius Donkle…Team captain…still seeing patients.

Left Guard Dr. Earl Schreiber…Played two years at UW but was kicked off the team for being a “professional” (no details) …Professor of Medicine at the University of Montana.

Center Ed Haight…Deceased. Former Madison businessman

Right Guard Dr. Harry Keenan…Living in Stoughton

Right Tackle Dr. Arthur Curtis…While at UW Curtis earned All-America honors at the guard position.  After college Curtis was the 1902 head coach at Kansas leading the team to a 6-4-0 record before taking over at UW in the 1903-04 seasons and directing the Badgers to a 11-6-1 record.  He went into business before going back to school and earning a medical degree.  He moved to Evanston (IL) and became a famed gynecologist with the Northwestern University Medical School…He passed in 1956 at age 74.  The papers in 1897 misspelled his last name a Curtiss.

Right End Matt Conlin…Former Madison businessman   

Quarterback Billy Roys…Current Madison businessman.

Left halfback Dave Wheeler…Deceased…Former Madison businessman.

Right halfback Paul Newman…Deceased

Fullback Duffy Rowell…Deceased

That’s the starters but there’s more:

Team mascot Dr. James Jackson…Age 10 or 11 in 1897…Graduated from UW with a medical degree and operated a clinic for many year's

Manager Col. Joseph W.  Jackson…Attended UW earning a business degree then worked for various times for the city of Madison and Dane County while managing his brother James’ medical practice.  Joe earned the rank of Colonel for his service in World War I.

Coach Dr. Joe Dean…Member of the 1896 Madison team and a member of the UW football team…Opened the Dean Medical Group in 1904 and it is still going strong 120 years later.

The newspaper story mentioned multiple people connected with the championship team that I was not aware of.  Phil King, deceased, was listed as the coach of the team and H.H. Jacobs of Verona was listed as an assistant coach. King and Jacobs may have been teachers at Madison who helped out occasionally but to my records, the team manager, Joe Jackson was considered the coach until Joe Dean and Harry Cochems stepped in to get the team ready for the Detroit game.  All further records list Cochems as the coach.  Other players mentioned, all deceased, were Dr. Stanley Welch, Max Couse, Tom Donovan, Jack Hayes and Roy Watrous.  With the event starting at 3:45pm, those special guests would then be escorted to Breese Stevens Field by taxis arraigned ahead of time to watch the Madison Central Racine Horlick high school football game.  When Madison East High School opened in 1922 Madison’s name was changed to Central.

Wisconsin State Journal, November 1, 1947.  Shown from left to right are Robert Rathbun, George Smith, Joseph Jackson, Elmer Pierce, Dr. Arthur Curtis and Dr. Harry Keenan.

The previous Sunday, October 28, the Wisconsin State Journal gave its first preview of the event.  The story listed Harry Cochems as the coach. The late Henry L. Doherty, manager of the Madison Gas and Electric Company was credited as the financial backer of the team’s trip to Detroit.  Each attendee received a miniature gold football with a black “M” imprinted on it.  When they watched the football game in the evening, they were along the sidelines sitting on a special gold painted bench.  Unfortunately, Central lost to Horlick 20-19 on a touchdown scored with 90-seconds left in the game.  The committee that set the celebration was headed by Joe Jackson.  Has there ever been a team with so many successful post-high school individuals?  Seven doctors, not including Joe Dean who assisted in coaching the boy’s prior to leaving for Detroit. And this is just the start.

Sorry, no recap on the North Tonawanda players can be found by me. Tough to research without first names.

Hope you are still with me.  Up next, the interesting stories of the two coaches…Harry Cochems and Frank Hinkey.

REVISITING THE FIRST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AND MORE…PART 1

I had planned on doing just one blog on the first high school national championship team. I've used the analogy before...to paraphrase Forest Gump, when you do research, you never know what you're going to get. I got a lot more than what you will see in the three, but I condensed the information, and the one blog has turned into three. It's all history. I hope you like them.

One of the first stories that was in my book and the very first story blog was a reprint of the book-story on the 1897 Madison High School championship team…1897 Madison (8-2-1) - National Champions (wihifootball.com).

I was looking at some old national football records and here it is, three and a half years later from that above first post and I’ve decided to expand on the Madison High School story.  Madison High was opened in 1853 in the basement of a Methodist church with 90 students and one teacher.  It grew out of that location and eventually was finally located near Johnson Street and Wisconsin Avenue, not far from the state capitol.  Over the years the school expanded as did the student population.  In 1893 the school played its first football game, as noted in my blog on early football teams…NOTES ON SOME EARLY FOOTBALL PROGRAMS…PART 1 (wihifootball.com).  In 1894 the school had 354 young people attending classes.  Madison may have been a town/city of about 15,000 people but it could still be considered a large farming community despite it being the Wisconsin capitol.  Kids from all over attended school there.  Also noted in the above blogs the school had a powerhouse football and other sports program.  After posting a series of successful seasons (1893 3-0-0, 1894 7-1-0, 1895 5-0-0 and 1896 going 5-2-0), things for the Tigers looked bright for the upcoming 1897 season.  Their only two losses in 1896 were to the University of Wisconsin. The team had sent off to the local university several very good players, but they still had a solid core.  The team manager, Joseph Jackson got bold and worked three games against college teams as well as seven high school squads into the schedule.  Remember, the early games in a season were often set up and then the rest of the year was on a week-to-week basis.  Most games were on Saturday but there could be two games during a week.  Most seasons started in October, so it wasn’t unusual to play a December game now and then.  After “Tigers “mauled Oregon HS 32-0 in the season opener the Madison boys destroyed Evansville 50-0.  Now came a game against the University of Wisconsin at Camp Randall.  Though the team lost to the Badgers, against some of their old classmates, they only gave up two touchdowns (Four points each) in an 8-0 loss.  The Badgers were led by 25-year-old All-American fullback/kicker, Pat O'Dea. Next up was a battle with Whitewater Normal that resulted in a 10-10 tie.   The next week they beat a very good Waukesha team 30-0 but suffered several key injuries.

Again, manager Jackson worked a match against the University of Wisconsin, again at Camp Randall, but things turned disastrous as Madison took it on the chin 29-0.  The game was before a remarkable crowd of about 3,000 fans, huge for a high school game at that time but most were probably there to cheer on the University.  Those previous injuries kept several stars out of the game.  The school would have lost but maybe by a lessor margin.  Madison took a week off (Only because Eau Claire High backed out of a scheduled meet which Madison took as a forfeit but later dropped that from their official record) and then they played the top team in Minnesota, Minneapolis South and came away a 14-0 winner.  Things were now back on track. 

They followed up the Minneapolis victory with a victory over a Milwaukee high school, possibly East Side as South Side had cancelled the matchup of the two schools over eligibility issues.  No official record exists in any of the two school s records or newspaper accounts but the game was reported in a December Madison newspaper season account as a win.  Or, maybe, because South cancelled at the last-minute Madison may have called it a win by forfeit but the story is unclear.  As I mentioned above, the Eau Claire game was cancelled but maybe it was with enough notice and not the day of the game.  A possible three other games that season were also cancelled against Watertown, Janesville and Fort Atkinson when those schools voided their initial agreements.  Jackson also tried to get games with Beloit and Rockford (IL) but was unable to secure a suitable play date   Where all these games would have fit in but I’m sure there might have been several two games in a weeks' time.  A solid 22-0 victory against powerhouse Delafield St. John’s Military Academy followed the Milwaukee game and then a game against Elgin (IL) high school that resulted in a 28-0 win. 

The season seemed to be over to the players but not to the ingenious Joe Jackson.  Somehow, he learned of a team back east in New York that claimed to be the top team in the East if not the nation.  So, Jackson made contact with the North Tonawanda school and after multiple telegrams and phone calls he was able to get that school to agree to play Madison. 

NOTE: Moving forward I may occasionally use the initials NT to refer to North Tonawanda.

Now, they needed a place to play and formally set a date.  Jackson’s players were very agreeable to playing one more game for a “National Title”.  Remember, the team had no formal coach.  Jackson, a senior at Madison High School, drew up some plays as did the team captain, left tackle Lucius Donkle, and a few of the other players.  Jackson’s main job was to get games scheduled, get the players to and from the game and settle the game receipts. He was an ingenious young man who later became a manager of his brother, Dr. James Jackson’s medical clinic and a civic leader.

So, here we are, early December 1897.  The game was set up through a third party from the Detroit Athletic Club who offered to host the game on Christmas Day.  North Tonawanda had been proclaimed by the upper New York press as the “Champion of the East”.  Football west of Pittsburgh and the Allegany Mountains was considered to be “backwater, not capable of standing up to the “superior” eastern powers.   

Chicago Tribune, December 9, 1897

With the game set up, all the two teams needed to do was get ready and get to the train station for the trip to Detroit.  On Madison’s side they got help from several UW football players…Harry F. Cochems (An assistant athletic director, student and a back-up member of the Badger football team) and UW freshman Joe Dean (A member of Madison Highs 1894-96 teams) Cochems and Dean worked the team for three hours a day, for the three weeks in the sun, the rain and snow to get the Madison boy’s ready.  Much more about those UW helpers later but first, how did North Tonawanda become known as the best team in the East?  That’s a good question.

 Some of the other early Eastern high school powerhouses:  William Penn Charter (Philadelphia, PA), Germantown Academy (Fort Washington, PA), Haverhill (MA), Salem (MA) and New Briton (Conn) were all some of the top teams in the period 1892-1899 but none were undefeated in 1897.  They all had at least one loss, several with two defeats they weren’t in the mix to be called one of the East’s top team that year.  NT was a regularly powerful team in the upper New York area and they ended the regular season with a 5-0-0 record with multiple games cancelled.  Maybe the press from Erie, Buffalo, Erie and Rochester just pumped the team up and the rest of the region bought in.  Anyway, the game was on schedule.

The matchups of seasonal schedules were:

Today’s players average over 210 pounds but in the 1890’s size mattered a great deal as athletes were smaller in both weight and height.  If you look at the last line of the “Off to Detroit” story you will see that it says the two teams will average 147 pounds.  In reality, North Tonawanda’s squad averaged only 138 pounds while the Madison team was a “heavy” 165.  That size would be a big difference in the game along with the coaching from Dean and Cochems.  Publicity and fans from New York showed their teams red and blue colors around NT’s headquarters, the St. Claire Hotel in downtown Detroit.  Even football fans living in the Detroit area seemed to favor the Eastern squad.  The Lumberjacks seemed to be at ease and freely mingled with their fans. Meanwhile, at the Wayne Hotel, about a mile away the Madison Tigers were keeping things low key and stayed behind closed doors until just before game time.  Their quiet and restrained manner worked well for the pre-game meetings.

The Detroit Athletic Club was formed in 1887 to encourage armature athletics.  They built a large bicycle track and a clubhouse nearby.  The football game would be played on the inner grass area of the quarter-mile track.  There were no grandstands at the time of the championship game.  Located between Woodward Ave., Forest Ave. East, Cass Ave. and Canfield Ave.  The Club would later relocate about two and a half miles closer to the Detroit River and it now is only about two blocks from Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers baseball team.

Christmas morning the sky was clear with temperatures in the low 20’s but it would get to about 30 with no snow in the forecast.  The game was scheduled to start at 2:30pm.  North Tonawanda decided to leave the hotel early by walking and arrived at the Detroit Athletic Club about three miles north at about 11:45am followed by about 30 rooters.  Madison stayed at the St. Claire until close to game time and they didn’t spend a lot of time warming up.  It would be an interesting battle.

Next up, the game and afterwards.