1897 College Football All-America Team Explained

The 1897 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans for the 1897 college football season, as selected by Walter Camp for Harper's Weekly. Caspar Whitney had selected the Harper's Weekly All-American Team from 1891 to 1896, but Whitney was on a world's sports tour during the 1897 season, and Camp therefore substituted for Whitney.

All-American selections for 1897

Key

• WC = Walter Camp for Harper's Weekly^[1]
• OUT = Outing Magazine^[2]
• NYS = New York Sun^[3]
• LES = Leslie's Weekly by W. T. Bull^[4]
• Bold = Consensus All-American^[5]

Ends

• Garrett Cochran, Princeton (WC-1; OUT-1; NYS-1; LES-1)
• John A. Hall, Yale (WC-1; OUT-2; NYS-2; LES-2)
• Sam Boyle, Penn (WC-2; OUT-1; LES-1)
• William McKeever, Cornell (WC-2)
• John Babcock Moulton, Harvard (WC-3; NYS-1)
• Lyndon S. Tracy, Cornell (WC-3)
• Norman Cabot, Harvard (NYS-2; LES-2)
• Samuel G. Craig, Princeton (NYS-2)
• Josiah J. Hazen, Yale (OUT-2)

Tackles

• Burr Chamberlain, Yale (WC-1; OUT-1; NYS-1; LES-1)
• John H. Outland, Penn (Namesake of the Outland Trophy and College Football Hall of Fame) (WC-1; LES-1)
• James O. Rodgers, Yale (WC-2; OUT-1; NYS-2; LES-2)
• Wallace B. Scales, Army (WC-2; NYS-2)
• Art Hillebrand, Princeton (College Football Hall of Fame) (WC-3; OUT-2; NYS-1)
• Malcolm Donald, Harvard (WC-3)
• S. M. Goodman, Penn (OUT-2)
• Chester Odiorne Swain, Harvard (LES-2)

Guards

• Truxtun Hare, Penn (WC; HW; NYS-1; LES-2)
• Gordon Brown, Yale (College Football Hall of Fame) (WC; HW; NYS-2; LES-1)
• Charles Chadwick, Yale (WC-2; OUT-2; LES-1)
• Charles Rinehart, Lafayette (College Football Hall of Fame) (WC-2; OUT-1)
• George Winthrop Bouve, Harvard (WC-3; OUT-1; NYS-1; LES-2)
• Josiah McCracken, Penn (WC-3; OUT-2)
• Edwards, Princeton (NYS-2)

Centers

• Allan Doucette, Harvard (WC-1; OUT-2; NYS-1; LES-2)
• George Cadwalader, Yale (WC-2; OUT-1; LES-1)
• Pete Overfield, Penn (WC-3)

Quarterbacks

• Charles de Saulles, Yale^[6] (WC-1; NYS-1; LES-1)
• George Young, Cornell (WC-2; OUT-1)
• John Baird, Princeton (WC-3; OUT-2; NYS-1 [as fb]; LES-2)
• Leon Kromer, Army (NYS-2)
• David Weeks, Penn (NYS-2)

Halfbacks

• Benjamin Dibblee, Harvard (WC-1; OUT-1; NYS-1; LES-2)
• Addison Kelly, Princeton (WC-1; OUT-1; NYS-2; LES-2)
• Dave Fultz, Brown (WC-2; OUT-2; NYS-1; LES-1)
• William F. Nesbitt, Army (WC-2)
• W. H. Bannard, Princeton (WC-3; NYS-2)
• George B. Walbridge, Lafayette (WC-3)
• Charles T. Dudley, Yale (OUT-2; NYS-2)

Fullbacks

• John Minds, Penn (College Football Hall of Fame) (WC-1; OUT-1; NYS-2; LES-1)
• Malcolm McBride, Yale (WC-2; NYS-2; LES-2)
• Powell Wheeler, Princeton (WC-3; LES-1)
• Edward G. Bray, Lafayette (OUT-2)

Notes and References

1. News: Camp's Champion Eleven: Chamberlin, Brown, De Saulles and Hall of Yale All-American Leaders. New Haven Evening Register. 1897-12-08.
2. News: A Brief Review of the Football Season. The Outing Magazine. Jan 1898.
3. News: An Arduous Task: The Choosing of an All American Representative Football Team. Evening News . Lincoln, Nebraska. reprinted from New York Sun. 1897-12-15.
4. Web site: All-America Addendum. College Football Historical Society Newsletter. February 2001. 2010-03-05. 2010-06-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20100613011304/http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/CFHSN/CFHSNv14/CFHSNv14n2f.pdf. dead.
5. Web site: Football Award Winners. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. October 21, 2017. 6.
6. News: Yale Revives Early Work Preliminary Practice, Discarded Early in October, Again in Evidence. The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1898-11-08.