INTRODUCTION from The Sports Time Traveler™
If you would prefer to listen to the podcast version of the article you can access all my podcasts at this link: PODCASTS of The Sports Time Traveler™
I’m a little late getting this article out to you as I had a busy weekend of sports time traveling.
First, the sports time travel machine took me back to December 15, 1963 to see the Giants and the Steelers battle for the NFL’s Eastern Division crown. I received great feedback on that story which you can access at this link:
The Oddity and the Ecstasy
Then I immediately jumped into the machine and dialed it ahead 10 years to December 15, 1973, to see UCLA take on NC State in the “national championship” of college basketball.
It was a game between 2 undefeated teams that should have met 9 months earlier in the NCAA Final. Many readers told me they really enjoyed this article which you can find here:
Big Red vs. The SKYwalker
Without a break, I then took off farther back in time than I’ve been since I started The Sports Time Traveler™ last year.
I went all the way back to New York City on December 17, 1903.
I was encouraged to make this trip by football historian, Darin Hayes, who is the host of the Pigskin Dispatch podcast.
Darin informed me about a professional football team of “all-stars” that had been assembled in 1903 to play for a small oil town in western Pennsylvania called Franklin. He’s even written a book about the game, which I highly recommend, titled, “The World's Greatest Pro Gridiron Team: The 1903 Franklin All-Stars.”
Wealthy oil barons in Franklin didn’t like losing to nearby Oil City’s football team in 1902 and were determined to build an unbeatable team for the 1903 season.
Bringing in players from around the country they put together a formidable squad.
These Franklin All-Stars had a remarkable run through their season. They were so dominant that Oil City wouldn’t even field a team to play them.
Here were the scores of all of Franklin’s “regular season” games:
Notice that Franklin not only won every game, but they were unscored upon through the entire season.
Following the November 26 game, the All-Star players began to leave western Pennsylvania and return home.
But in short order they were contacted to return.
Franklin had been invited to play in a football tournament in Madison Square Garden as one of four teams vying for the championship of the world.
Not every Franklin player was available for the tournament. In fact, player-coach Teck Matthews was already in Texas where he was reportedly ill. In his place Franklin recruited Doc Roller, a stand out player of that time who had played in the 1902 version of the tournament. And Blondy Wallace, another player on the team, took over as player-coach.
In the tournament semi-final game, Franklin played the Orange Athletic Club of New Jersey on December, 15th. Franklin won that game 12 - 0 to preserve their undefeated, unscored upon record.
Now Franklin was set to play Watertown, a team that was so determined to be crowned champions of the world that their owner had organized and funded the entire tournament.
Naturally, there was no other place I wanted to be on December 17, 1903 than Madison Square Garden.
Here’s my story of the championship game.
1903 - Final Game of The Greatest Gridiron Team
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NY - December 18, 1903
I’m here in New York City, precisely 120 years ago, where last night, inside Madison Square Garden, was the football championship of the world, or so the promoters fashioned it to be.
The combatants were the football teams from Franklin and Watertown.
I have to start out by telling you that football in 1903 was barely recognizable to me.
Punting on first downs was a common strategy when you were deep in your own territory.
The forward pass had not yet been invented.
On goal line stands, it was perfectly acceptable for the linemen to hoist the man with the ball up and over the opposing line for a touchdown.
And touchdowns were only worth 5 points.
Also in 1903, pro football was not the rage it is now. In fact Ivy League college football was at the zenith of all sports in America.
I found that out when I saw a film of the Princeton - Yale football game that had been taken a month earlier.
NOTE from The Sports Time Traveler™
I interrupt this article to inform you that the video below is actually believed to be the first ever film of a football game. It was taken at Yale Field on November 14, 1903 by Thomas Edison. An estimated 50,000 fans were in attendance. Princeton won 11 - 6.
Now back to 1903.
One more thing that stunned me about football in 1903 was that in the professional game, betting was taking place all around, out in the open, even among the players.
And of course there was nothing quite as interesting as experiencing a football game played inside in an arena.
Old Madison Square Garden was not large enough to have a full sized field and of course did not have a playing surface for football. As a result hundreds of truck loads of dirt were brought in and spread across the Garden floor and an 80 yard field was created for the football tournament games.
The Franklin “All-Stars” have not let up a single point all season.
The most intriguing thing about the championship game to me was that Franklin had not allowed a single point to be scored against them all season. Not only was a championship on the line, but also the chance at a perfect season.
The Championship Game
The game started at about 10:30pm and consisted of two 25 minute halves.
2,500 fans were in the stands.
Watertown received the opening kickoff. On their first possession they fumbled and Franklin took the ball at the Watertown 15.
Franklin couldn’t move the ball very far and Watertown took possession on downs deep in their own territory.
Watertown then chose to punt the ball rather than risk fumbling near their own goal line.
Franklin’s Kirkhoff, rushed to the Watertown 15 yard line. It was one of many runs by the big man. The New York Times wrote about him the next day, “Kirkhoff, who is a giant in stature, hurdled over the heads of the other players several times.”
Next it was Doc Roller driving the ball down to the Watertown 5.
Finally, Bull Davidson of Franklin rushed the final 5 yards for a touchdown. Davidson also kicked the extra point and Franklin took a 6 - 0 lead.
After Watertown got the ball back they turned it over on downs at midfield. Franklin was then penalized 20 yards for holding so that they took possession on their own 20 yard line.
Franklin then drove into Watertown territory.
Doc Roller attempted a free kick and had it blocked.
The momentum then turned and Watertown began driving the ball with what the New York Sun called, “a fast, aggressive attack.”
Franklin aided their opponent by drawing 2 penalties, one for 5 yards and then another for 10 yards. Then runs by Watertown’s Draper, Bottger, Kruse and Mann moved the ball all the way to the Franklin 25.
At this point Draper attempted a drop kick and missed.
Franklin fans could breathe a sigh of relief, the unscored upon season was still alive after the missed kick.
As the first half came to a close there was the biggest scare of the season for Franklin as reported by the New York Tribune, “Just as the whistle blew to end the half the Watertown men freed the ball on their opponent’s three yard line.”
Franklin had been saved by the whistle from a possible Watertown score.
FRANKLIN 6 WATERTOWN 0 - Halftime
There was some comic relief in the game which was reported to be fiercely fought with many injuries on the field.
Read this excerpt from the New York Tribune about the lighter side of the contest:
“Please Go Way and Let Me Sleep,” was a popular song written the year before in 1902. You can listen to it here:
Please Go Way and Let Me Sleep
In the 2nd half Franklin came out playing aggressive and “had the ball in their rival’s territory most of the time,” according to the New York Tribune.
On the 3rd possession of the 2nd half Franklin drove down to the Watertown 8. But Watertown held Franklin there and took over the ball on downs.
Watertown promptly fumbled and Franklin recovered on the Watertown 2.
On the 2nd play, the giant Kirkhoff scored a touchdown for Franklin.
Bull Davidson had left the game injured so Hayden kicked the extra point.
Franklin was now ahead 12 - 0 with 15 minutes to play in the game.
Late in the game Franklin was driving again and got the ball down to the Watertown 3 yard line when time ran out at just about midnight. The game was over.
Franklin had won the championship 12 - 0.
SPECIAL NOTE from The Sports Time Traveler™
As you probably have guessed, The Sports Time Traveler™ doesn’t actually go back in time. I simulate time travel by systematically reading the newspaper archives each day. I’m usually focused on following the sports each day precisely 50 and 60 years ago.
To prepare for the 1903 football championship I started my “trip” in early December and read the newspapers each day 120 years ago.
When it came to the December 18, 1903 newspapers that had the accounts of the championship game, I read at least 10 different stories on the game. The startling thing was that unlike reading sports from 1963 or 1973, every account of the key events of this game were a bit different.
Each reporter agreed on a few facts, that Franklin kicked off to Watertown to start the game, that Davidson and Kerkhoff scored the 2 touchdowns and that the final score was 12 - 0. Much of what happened in between was not the same across the various newspaper stories. As a result, I have tried to piece together a version of the game that might have actually happened.
Now, once again let’s go back to 1903.
UNDEFEATED AND UNSCORED UPON
By winning the championship game 12 - 0, Franklin had completed the undefeated, unscored upon season.
Across the 12 games Franklin played in 1903 they had outscored their opponents 468 - 0.
It is perhaps the greatest season in the history of pro football.
The December 18, 1903 Meadville, PA Evening Republican framed the accomplishment the best in this excerpt:
The Franklin Evening News celebrated their team with this paragraph that appeared on page 1 of the December 18, 1903 paper:
BETTING ON THE GAME
Along with all the other oddities of an indoor football game in 1903, I was stunned to learn that there was heavy betting on the championship game.
This betting was widely known about.
And even the players in the game took part and bet large sums!
Read this account in the December 18, 1903 New York Sun:
And here’s an account from the Meadville Evening Republican. The $1,250 cash prize mentioned in the first line was the official purse for the winner of the tournament from the promoters.
But look at the next sentence about the betting on the game.
BONUS MATERIAL
A Great Book on the 1903 Franklin All-Stars
For a much more detailed and very entertaining account of the 1903 Franklin All-Stars undefeated and unscored upon season, I highly recommend a new book that just came out by Darin Hayes.
The book is titled, “The World’s Greatest Pro Gridiron Team - The 1903 Franklin All-Stars.
You can learn more about the book at this link:
https://pigskindispatch.com/home/Football-History/Worlds-Greatest-Pro-Gridiron-Team
You can also find the book on Amazon by searching on “1903 franklin All-Stars.”
THE WRIGHT BROTHERS
The morning after the championship football game, I realized that the date of the game, December 17, 1903, was a truly historic date.
It marked the first airplane flight by the Wright Brothers in Kitty Hawk, NC.
I went looking through the newspapers in New York city, but the New York Times, The Sun and Tribune all didn’t have the story about the Wright Brothers.
Then I got a copy of the Brooklyn Citizen newspaper and there it was on page 1:
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