1905 Chicago Maroons football
National champion
(Billingsley, Helms, Houlgate, NCF)
Western Conference champion
ConferenceWestern Conference
Record11–0 (7–0 Western)
Head coach
Base defense7–2–2
CaptainMark Catlin Sr.
Home stadiumMarshall Field
Seasons
← 1904
1906 →
1905 Western Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Chicago $ 7 – 0 – 0 11 – 0 – 0
Michigan 2 – 1 – 0 12 – 1 – 0
Minnesota 2 – 1 – 0 10 – 1 – 0
Purdue 1 – 1 – 1 6 – 1 – 1
Wisconsin 1 – 2 – 0 8 – 2 – 0
Indiana 0 – 1 – 1 8 – 1 – 1
Iowa 0 – 2 – 0 8 – 2 – 0
Northwestern 0 – 2 – 0 8 – 2 – 1
Illinois 0 – 3 – 0 5 – 4 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion

The 1905 Chicago Maroons football team was an American football team that represented the University of Chicago during the 1905 Western Conference football season. In coach Amos Alonzo Stagg's 14th year as head coach, the Maroons finished with an 11–0 record (7–0 against Western Conference opponents), shut out 10 of 11 opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 271 to 5.[1][2] The team played its home games at Marshall Field on the school's campus.

There was no contemporaneous system in 1905 for determining a national champion. However, Chicago was retroactively named as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, the Helms Athletic Foundation, the National Championship Foundation, and the Houlgate System.[3]

End Mark Catlin Sr. was the team captain. Two Chicago players, Catlin and quarterback Walter Eckersall, were consensus first-team selections on the 1905 All-American football team.[4] Other notable players included fullback Hugo Bezdek and center Burton Pike Gale, both of whom were selected by Walter Camp as third-team players on the All-America team.[5]

Three persons associated with the team have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Stagg and Eckersall were part of the Hall's first class of inductees in 1951.[6][7] Bezdek was added, based on his coaching accomplishments, in 1954.[8]

Schedule

DateOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 16North Division High*
W 26–0[9][10]
September 23Lawrence*
  • Marshall Field
  • Chicago, IL
W 33–0[11]
September 30Wabash*
  • Marshall Field
  • Chicago, IL
W 15–0[12][13]
October 4Beloit*
  • Marshall Field
  • Chicago, IL
W 42–0[14][15]
October 7Iowa
  • Marshall Field
  • Chicago, IL
W 42–0[16][17]
October 14Indiana
  • Marshall Field
  • Chicago, IL
W 16–5[18][19]
October 21at Wisconsin
W 4–0[20][21]
October 28at Northwestern
W 32–0[22][23]
November 11Purdue
  • Marshall Field
  • Chicago, IL (rivalry)
W 19–0[24][25]
November 18Illinois
  • Marshall Field
  • Chicago, IL
W 44–010,000[26][27]
November 30Michigan
  • Marshall Field
  • Chicago, IL (rivalry)
W 2–027,000[28][29]
  • *Non-conference game

Game summaries

Chicago 2, Michigan 0

Western Championship Match

The game, dubbed "The First Greatest Game of the Century,"[30] broke Michigan's 56-game unbeaten streak. The 1905 Michigan team had outscored opponents 495-0 in its first 12 games. The game was lost in the final ten minutes of play when Denny Clark was tackled for a safety as he attempted to return a punt from behind the goal line. Newspapers described Clark's play as "the wretched blunder" and a "lapse of brain work."[30] Clark transferred to M.I.T. the following year and was haunted by the play for the rest of his life. In 1932, he shot himself, leaving a suicide note that reportedly expressed hope that his "final play" would atone for his error at Marshall Field in 1905.[30][31]

The game was played in halves of 35 minutes each.[29]

The 1905 Chicago Maroons football team

Roster

Player Position Weight
Mark Catlin Sr. (captain) right end 182
Art Badenoch right tackle 189
Hugo Bezdek fullback 179
William James Boone right halfback 186
Leo DeTray left halfback 174
Walter Eckersall quarterback 143
Burton Pike Gale center 181
Melville Archibald Hill left tackle 218
Carl Huntley Hitchcock right halfback 157
Hal Mefford end 185
Merrill C. Meigs left guard 196
Ed Parry left end 202
Clarence W. Russell right guard 188
Lewis D. Scherer right guard 184
Mysterious Walker left halfback 174
Jesse Harper substitute - quarterback 155
Lester Larson substitute - end 164
Fred William Noll substitute - guard 203
Gerry Williamson substitute - fullback 181
Hiram Conibear trainer

References

  1. ^ "1905 Chicago Maroons Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  2. ^ "University of Chicago Football Media Guide". University of Chicago. 2016. p. 22. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
  3. ^ 2020 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records (PDF). Indianapolis: The National Collegiate Athletic Association. July 2020. pp. 112–114. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  4. ^ "Football Award Winners" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. p. 6. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  5. ^ "All-American Eleven: Walter Camp Selects the Best Football Team; West Figures Prominently". The Washington Post. December 20, 1905.
  6. ^ "Amos Alonzo Stagg". National Football Foundation. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  7. ^ "Walter Eckersall". National Football Foundation. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  8. ^ "Hugo Bezdek". National Football Foundation. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  9. ^ "Midway Players Score 26 Points: Beat North Division High Eleven, Veterans Doing All the Counting". The Chicago Sunday Tribune. September 17, 1905. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Maroons Defeat North Division by 26 to 0 Score". The Inter Ocean. September 17, 1905. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Chicago Team Scores 33: Maroons Defeat Lawrence Team in Easy Game". The Chicago Sunday Tribune. September 24, 1905. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Maroons Win by 15 to 0: Stagg's Men Are Held to Small Score by Wabash". The Chicago Sunday Tribune. October 1, 1905. pp. 9, 11 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Maroons Win By Score of 15 to 0". The Inter Ocean. October 1, 1905. pp. 13–15 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Made To Work After the Game: Chicago's Showing Against Beloit So Poor Stagg Requires Practice Hour; Score Is 38 Points to 0". The Chicago Daily Tribune. October 5, 1905. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Defeat Beloit in Ragged Contest: Maroons Roll Up 38 Points on Wisconsin Men in Short Halves With Best Men Nursing Injries on the Side Line". The Inter Ocean. October 5, 1905. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Iowa Outplayed by the Maroons: Chicago Varsity Football Team Scores at Will on Hawkeyes in the First Half; Final Count Is 42 to 0". The Chicago Sunday Tribune. October 8, 1905. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Maroons Roll Up Good Score on Hawkeye Team". The Inter Ocean. October 8, 1905. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Maroons Defeat Indiana Team: Hoosier Players Make Game Fight and Lead 5 to 0 in First Half". The Chicago Sunday Tribune. October 15, 1905. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Chicago Defeats Hoosiers After First Half Scare". The Inter Ocean. October 15, 1905. pp. 9–10 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Drop Kick Wins for the Maroons: University of Chicago Football Team Defeats Wisconsin in Exciting Game". The Chicago Sunday Tribune. October 22, 1905. pp. 9–10 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Eckersall Scores Another Victory for the Maroons". The Inter Ocean. October 22, 1905. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Maroons Roll Up Score of 32 to 0: Despite Game Fight by Northwestern, Chicago Duplicates Victory of '04". The Chicago Sunday Tribune. October 29, 1905. pp. 9–10 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Chicago Runs Up 32 Points on M'Cornack's Men: Evanston Proves to be No Match for the Irresistible Work of the Maroon Back Field -- Bezdek, De Tray, and Walker Gain". The Inter Ocean. October 29, 1905. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ "Chicago Winner Over Purdue, 19-0". The Chicago Sunday Tribune. November 12, 1905. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "Purdue Fights Hard but Loses by 19 to 0 Score". The Inter Ocean. November 12, 1905. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ "Maroons Beat Illinois: Midway Men Win Victory by a Score of 44 to 0". The Chicago Sunday Tribune. November 19, 1905. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ "Maroons Have Practice Game With the Illini". The Inter Ocean. Chicago. November 19, 1905. p. 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ "Chicago Is Victor; Leads the West". The Chicago Daily Tribune. December 1, 1905. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ a b Joe S. Jackson (December 1, 1905). "Michigan Lost to Chicago: Desperate Struggle Resulted 2 to 0; Measly Safety Was the Undoing of the Gladiators From the University of Michigan; Game Fiercely Fought; Both Elevens Put Up a Grand Contest, Barring Fumbling on Part of Wolvernies---Garrels the Bright Star". Detroit Free Press. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ a b c Robin Lester (Summer 1991). "Michigan-Chicago 1905: The First Greatest Game of the Century" (PDF). Journal of Sport History, Vol. 18, No. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 12, 2012.
  31. ^ ""Denny" Clark Dead by Own Hand in Oregon". Los Angeles Times. June 2, 1932.
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