1900 Homestead Library & Athletic Club football team
Encyclopedia
The 1900 Homestead Library & Athletic Club football team won the professional football
championship of 1900. The team was affiliated with the Homestead Library & Athletic Club in Homestead, Pennsylvania
, near Pittsburgh. The team featured a lineup of former college All-Americans paid by Pittsburgh Pirates
owner William Chase Temple
.
took over the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club
, becoming the first individual team owner in professional football. In 1900, most of the Duquesne players were hired by the Homestead Library & Athletic Club, by offering them higher salaries.
Over the next two season (1900 and 1901), Homestead fielded the best professional football team in the country and did not lose a game. The 1900 team reportedly paid its player "from $50 to $100 a game plus 'expenses.'"
After two years as captain of the Duquesne team, Dave Fultz
from Brown University
was hired by Homestead and served as the team's captain. Other players for the 1900 Homestead team included Pete Overfield
(center from Penn
), Bemus Pierce
, Art Poe
(end from Princeton
), Otto Wagenhurst (from Penn), Charlie Gelbert (end from Penn), Church (tackle from Princeton), John Hall (end from Yale
), George Young (from Cornell
), J. A. Gammons
(from Brown University
), Willis Richardson
(from Brown), Artie Miller
(from the Carlisle Indian School), Lewis (from Georgetown
), Winstein (guard from Brown), Edward (guard from Princeton), Young (quarterback from Cornell), and Kennedy (quarterback from the University of Chicago
).
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
championship of 1900. The team was affiliated with the Homestead Library & Athletic Club in Homestead, Pennsylvania
Homestead, Pennsylvania
Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the "Mon Valley," southeast of downtown Pittsburgh and directly across the river from the city limit line. The borough is known for the Homestead Strike of 1892, an important event in the history of labor relations in the United...
, near Pittsburgh. The team featured a lineup of former college All-Americans paid by Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
owner William Chase Temple
William Chase Temple
William Chase Temple was a coal, citrus, and lumber baron during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was also a part owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates from baseball's National League...
.
Organization
In 1898, William Chase TempleWilliam Chase Temple
William Chase Temple was a coal, citrus, and lumber baron during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was also a part owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates from baseball's National League...
took over the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club
Duquesne Country and Athletic Club
The Duquesne Country and Athletic Club was a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1895 until 1900. The team was considered one of the best, if not the best, professional football teams in the country from 1898 until 1900...
, becoming the first individual team owner in professional football. In 1900, most of the Duquesne players were hired by the Homestead Library & Athletic Club, by offering them higher salaries.
Over the next two season (1900 and 1901), Homestead fielded the best professional football team in the country and did not lose a game. The 1900 team reportedly paid its player "from $50 to $100 a game plus 'expenses.'"
After two years as captain of the Duquesne team, Dave Fultz
Dave Fultz
David Lewis Fultz was a center fielder in Major League Baseball who played in the National League with the Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles , and for the Philadelphia Athletics and New York Highlanders of the American League. He batted and threw right-handed...
from Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
was hired by Homestead and served as the team's captain. Other players for the 1900 Homestead team included Pete Overfield
Pete Overfield
Peter Delome "Pete" Overfield was an All-American and professional football player, federal judge and rancher. Overfield played center for the University of Pennsylvania and was a first-team All-American in 1898 and 1899. He served as a federal district judge in Alaska from 1909-1917...
(center from Penn
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
), Bemus Pierce
Bemus Pierce
Bemus Pierce was a Native American football guard in the 1890s and 1900s. He played for the great Carlisle Indian School teams from 1894-1898 and later played professional football for the championship teams from the Homestead Library & Athletic Club of 1900 and 1901. He also played for the...
, Art Poe
Art Poe
Arthur "Art" Poe was an American football player and businessman, and one of six celebrated Poe brothers - second cousins, twice removed of American author Edgar Allan Poe - to play football at Princeton in the late 19th and early 20th century...
(end from Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
), Otto Wagenhurst (from Penn), Charlie Gelbert (end from Penn), Church (tackle from Princeton), John Hall (end from Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
), George Young (from Cornell
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
), J. A. Gammons
J. A. Gammons
John Ashley "Daff" Gammons was an American baseball and football player, college football and baseball coach, amateur golfer, and insurance agent. He played professional baseball for one season, 1901, for the Boston Beaneaters...
(from Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
), Willis Richardson
Willis Richardson (American football)
Willis Richardson was an early professional football player-coach for the Homestead Library & Athletic Club and the Pittsburgh Stars of the first National Football League. He won the Pennsylvania State Championship with Homestead in 1900 and 1901...
(from Brown), Artie Miller
Artie Miller
Arthur "Artie" Miller was an early professional American football player for the Homestead Library & Athletic Club in 1900 and 1901, as well as the Pittsburgh Stars of the first National Football League. He played the position of halfback...
(from the Carlisle Indian School), Lewis (from Georgetown
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
), Winstein (guard from Brown), Edward (guard from Princeton), Young (quarterback from Cornell), and Kennedy (quarterback from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
).
Season summary
- November 3, 1900: Homestead 11, LatrobeLatrobe Athletic AssociationThe Latrobe Athletic Association was a professional football team located in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, from 1895 until 1909. The team is best known for being the first football club to play a full season while composed entirely of professional players...
0, game played at Latrobe - November 6, 1900: Homestead 10, DuquesneDuquesne Country and Athletic ClubThe Duquesne Country and Athletic Club was a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1895 until 1900. The team was considered one of the best, if not the best, professional football teams in the country from 1898 until 1900...
0, game played at Pittsburgh - November 17, 1900: Homestead __, Lehigh __, game played at Pittsburgh
- November 24, 1900: Homestead 30, East End AthleticsAkron East EndsThe Akron East Ends are a defunct amateur American Football team that played in the Ohio League, a forerunner to the National Football League. They played in Akron, Ohio, from 1894 until at least 1904. Its primary rivals were the amateur Canton Athletic Association , the Shelby Blues, and later the...
0, game played at Homestead - November 29, 1900: Homestead 12, Latrobe 0, game played at Pittsburgh
Season schedule
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | W | ||
| 2 | W | ||
| 3 | W | ||
| 4 | W | ||
| 5 | W | ||
| 6 | W | ||
| 7 | W | ||
| 8 | W |