The 1889 college football season was the season of American football played among colleges and universities in the United States during the 1889–90 academic year.
The 1889 Princeton Tigers football team, led by team captain Edgar Allan Poe, compiled a perfect 10–0 record and was recognized as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, National Championship Foundation, and Parke H. Davis.[1]
In the South, defeated Furman in the first intercollegiate game played in the state of South Carolina. The game featured no uniforms, no positions, and the rules were formulated before the game.[2]
As the popularity of the program increased, new football programs were established in 1889 at Iowa, Syracuse,[3] and Washington.
All eleven players selected by Caspar Whitney for the first All-America college football team came from the Big Three (Princeton, Yale, and Harvard). Four of the honorees have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame: fullback Knowlton Ames (Princeton), end Amos Alonzo Stagg (Yale), tackle Hector Cowan (Princeton), and guard Pudge Heffelfinger (Yale).
| School | 1888 Conference | 1889 Conference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Program established | Independent | ||
| Program established | Independent | ||
| Program established | Independent |
See main article: 1889 College Football All-America Team. The consensus All-America team included:
| Position | Name | Height | Weight (lbs.) | Class | Hometown | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QB | Edgar Allan Poe | Jr. | Baltimore, Maryland | Princeton | ||
| HB | Roscoe Channing | 141 | Sr. | New York, New York | Princeton | |
| HB | James P. Lee | Jr. | New York, New York | Harvard | ||
| FB | Snake Ames | 5'10" | 157 | Sr. | Chicago, Illinois | Princeton |
| E | Amos Alonzo Stagg | Sr. | West Orange, New Jersey | Yale | ||
| T | Hector Cowan | Sr. | Hobart, New York | Princeton | ||
| G | Pudge Heffelfinger | 6'4" | 178 | So. | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Yale |
| C | William George | Sr. | Princeton | |||
| G | John Cranston | Jr. | Sheridan, New York | Harvard | ||
| T | Charles O. Gill | Sr. | Walpole, Massachusetts | Yale | ||
| E | Arthur Cumnock | Jr. | Danielson, Connecticut | Harvard | ||
The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings: