1889 Princeton Tigers football team

The 1889 Princeton Tigers football team was an American football team that represented Princeton University as an independent during the 1889 college football season. The team compiled a perfect 10–0 record, shut out six of ten opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 484 to 29.[1] The team captain and quarterback was Edgar Allan Poe, the second cousin of his namesake, the writer Edgar Allan Poe.[2]

1889 Princeton Tigers football
National champion
ConferenceIndependent
Record10–0
Head coach
  • None
CaptainEdgar Allan Poe
Seasons
← 1888
1890 →
1889 Eastern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Princeton     10 0 0
Massachusetts     2 0 0
Yale     15 1 0
Harvard     9 2 0
Franklin & Marshall     5 1 1
Dickinson     4 1 1
Navy     4 1 1
Tufts     3 1 0
Lehigh     8 3 2
Cornell     8 4 0
Penn     7 6 0
Brown     2 2 0
Penn State     2 2 0
Delaware     1 1 1
Wesleyan     5 7 1
Bucknell     2 3 1
Lafayette     3 4 2
Columbia     2 7 2
Fordham     1 3 0
Rutgers     1 4 0
NYU     0 2 0

There was no contemporaneous system in 1889 for determining a national champion. However, Princeton was retroactively named as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, National Championship Foundation, and Parke H. Davis.[3] It was Princeton's 15th national championship.[4]

Five players from the 1889 Princeton team were selected by Caspar Whitney for the first All-America college football team: quarterback Edgar Allan Poe; halfback Roscoe Channing; fullback Knowlton "Snake" Ames; tackle Hector Cowan; and center William George.[5] Ames and Cowan were later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.[6][7]

Schedule edit

DateTimeOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
October 5LehighPrinceton, NJW 16–0[8][9]
October 12at LehighBethlehem, PAW 16–4
October 192:40 p.m.StevensPrinceton, NJW 49–01,000[10]
October 263:05 p.m.at PennPhiladelphia, PA (rivalry)W 72–4[11]
November 23:00 p.m.vs. Wesleyan
W 98–0Several hundred[12]
November 53:00 p.m.at Columbia
W 71–0[13][14]
November 162:45 p.m.at HarvardW 41–15[15][16][17]
November 23Orange Athletic ClubPrinceton, NJW 54–6[18]
November 282:30 p.m.vs. Yale
W 10–0>25,000[19][20]
November 30vs. Columbia Athletic ClubWashington, DCW 57–0

References edit

  1. ^ "1889 Princeton Tigers Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  2. ^ "All-Time Princeton Results" (PDF). goprincetontigers.com. Princeton University. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  3. ^ "National Poll Champions" (PDF). NCAA Division I Football Records. National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2017. p. 110. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  4. ^ "Championships - Tigers Football". princetontigersfootball.com. Princeton University. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  5. ^ "Football Award Winners" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. p. 6. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  6. ^ "Knowlton Ames". National Football Foundation. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  7. ^ "Hector Cowan". National Football Foundation. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  8. ^ "Princeton's Opening Day". The Philadelphia Times. October 6, 1889. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "All on Princeton's Side". The Boston Globe. October 6, 1889. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Princeton's Big Score: Carless Playing Allows Them to Run It Up Rapidly". The Philadelphia Times. October 20, 1889. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Princeton's Victory: They Have an Easy Time with the Pennsylvania Lads". The Philadelphia Times. October 27, 1889. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Football in the Rain: Wesleyan Beaten by Princeton, 93 to Nothing". The Sun. New York, N.Y. November 3, 1889. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "A Goose Egg for Columbia: The Princeton Team Has some Fun with the New Yorkers". The Sun. New York, N.Y. November 6, 1889. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Advertisement for Election Day Football". The Sun. New York, N.Y. November 5, 1889. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Jersey Sand". The Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. November 17, 1889. p. 1. Retrieved March 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com  .
  16. ^ "Jersey Sand (continued)". The Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. November 17, 1889. p. 4. Retrieved March 25, 2022 – via Newspapers.com  .
  17. ^ "Harvard Went To Pieces". The New York Times. November 17, 1889. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Princeton Easily Defeats Orange". The Sun. November 24, 1889. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Princeton Wins Gloriously". The Sun (New York). November 29, 1889. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Princeton Is Champion: How She Won the Great Foot-Ball Game at New York". The Hartford Courant. November 29, 1889. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.