1925 College Football All-America Team Explained

The 1925 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1925.

Walter Camp died in March 1925, marking the end of his "official" All-American selections for Collier's Weekly. The wire services and others moved in to fill the void in 1925, with both the United Press and Associated Press offering their own All-American teams for the first time. The eight selectors recognized by the NCAA as "official" for the 1925 season are (1) the All-America Board (AAB), (2) the Associated Press (AP), (3) Collier's Weekly, with Grantland Rice replacing Camp as the selector, (4) Football World magazine, (5) the International News Service (INS), (6) Liberty magazine, (7) the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), and (8) the United Press (UP).

The only two unanimous All-Americans in 1925 were tackle Ed Weir of Nebraska and halfback Andy Oberlander of Dartmouth. Red Grange of Illinois and Bennie Oosterbaan of Michigan each received first-team designations from seven of the eight official selectors.

Consensus All-Americans

1925, the NC recognizes eight All-American teams as "official" designations for purposes of its consensus determinations. The following chart identifies the NCAA-recognized consensus All-Americans and displays which first-team designations they received.

NamePositionSchoolNumberOfficialOther
Ed WeirTackleNebraska8/8AAB, AP, COL, FW, INS, LIB, NEA, UPA&S, BE, HR, NB, RKN, Sun, WC, WE
Andy OberlanderHalfbackDartmouth8/8AAB, AP, COL, FW, INS, LIB, NEA, UPA&S, BE, HR, NB, RKN, Sun, SW, WC, WE
Bennie OosterbaanEndMichigan7/8AAB, AP, COL, FW, INS, NEA, UPA&S, BE, NB, RKN, Sun, WC, WE
Red GrangeHalfbackIllinois7/8AP, COL, FW, INS, LIB, NEA, UPA&S, BE, HR, NB, RKN, Sun, SW, WC, WE
Carl DiehlGuardDartmouth6/8AAB, AP, COL, FW, INS, UPBE, NB, Sun, SW, WC, WE
Ernie NeversFullbackStanford6/8AAB, AP, COL, INS, LIB, NEAA&S, BE, NB, WC, WE
George TullyEndDartmouth5/8AP, INS, LIB, NEA, UPA&S, BE, NB, Sun, SW, WE
Ed McMillanCenterPrinceton5/8AAB, AP, COL, NEA, UPHR, NB, Sun, WC, WE
Wildcat WilsonHalfback
Quarterback		Washington5/8AAB, AP, FW, COL, INSHR, RKN, WC, WE
Ralph ChaseTacklePittsburgh4/8AAB, AP, COL, FW--
Ed HessGuardOhio State4/8COL, LIB, NEA, UPA&S, BE, HR, NB
Benny FriedmanQuarterbackMichigan3/8AAB, LIB, UPRKN, Sun, SW

Death of Walter Camp and calls to end the All-Americans

For more than 25 years before 1925, the selections made by Walter Camp for Collier's Weekly were considered the "official" All-American selections. With the death of Camp in March 1925, the field was open as to which selector's choices would be recognized as the "official" All-Americans.

Some advocated putting an end to the tradition of selecting All-American teams. Edward K. Hall, chairman of the inter-collegiate rules committee, advocated that position at the New York banquet honoring the New York Sun's 1925 All-Americans. Hall said, "I say with all the earnestness that is in me that I hope this is the last dinner to an all-American team that will ever be held in America." Hall argued that such selections place an over-emphasis on the importance of individual players in a team sport. Hall also denounced as a menace the manner in which professional football promoters were luring college players to play professional football for "easy money and quick money."[1]

Proliferation of All-American teams

Despite the calls of some for the end to All-American teams, the death of Walter Camp did not bring an end to the tradition. Instead, Camp's death led to a proliferation of yet more experts naming their own All-American teams.

Even Ring Lardner jumped into the All-American mix in 1925 offering a satirical All-American team consisting of Red Grange at quarterback with Lardner, his friends and family members (men and women, elderly and children) filling out the remaining spots. Lardner wrote: "As soon as you have Grange and a center to pass him the ball you don't need or want no more football players and can take advantage of the opportunity to fill out other positions with relatives and congenial friends."[2] Frank Getty of the United News Service wrote: “Now that All-American teams, All-Eastern teams, All-Conference teams and All-Colored teams for 1925 have been picked by everyone including the janitor, the janitor’s boy and Natalia Crane it’s about time to admit that it’s a futile practice. At best. No one is qualified to select an All-American team on his own, because no one can watch more than one game each Saturday during the season, nor see more than eight or nine games at the most.”[3]

Rise of the wire service teams

One of the major developments in 1925 was the rise of All-American teams selected by wire services based on polls of sports writers and coaches across the country.

In late November 1925, University of Michigan coach Fielding H. Yost publicly advocated a new system. Yost opined that the selection was not a job to be undertaken by any individual or any group of football experts. Yost said: "As Walter Camp has stated to me more than once, during the last five years of his life, this job of selecting an All-American was growing more and more difficult because of the great number of good football men in America."[4]

Both the United Press and Associated Press named All-American teams in 1925. United Press sports editor Henry L. Farrell described the service's purpose in entering the All-American business: "The average season consists of from eight to ten Saturdays and it is a physical impossibility for any one to see more than one game and it is likewise impossible for any human with ordinary vision equipment to see in action all the good teams in the country." For that reason, Farrell announced that he had submitted questionnaires to 75 leading coaches and officials and picked a team based on those results.[5] [6]

All-American selections for 1925

Ends

Tackles

Guards

Centers

Quarterbacks

Halfbacks

Fullbacks

Key

Bold = Consensus All-Americans[7]

Selectors recognized by NCAA

Other selectors

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: All-American Team Menaces College Game: So States Chairman of Intercollegiate Rules Committee at Banquet. The Davenport Democrat and Leader. 1925-12-07.
  2. News: Lardner, Ring W.. Lardner Weekly Letter: Grange and Self on All-American Team. The Zanesville Signal. 1925-11-29.
  3. News: Getty, Frank. Picking of Honor Teams Is Futile: Coaches Would Abolish System. Cedar Rapids Republican (United News story). 1925-12-28.
  4. News: 'All America' Selection Job For Grid Expert. The Bridgeport Telegram (AP Report). 1925-11-24.
  5. News: Farrell, Henry L.. All American Teams Become Yearly Custom: Many Good Arguments to Oppose Selection of Honor Elevens. Cedar Rapids Republican. 1925-12-17.
  6. News: Farrell, Henry L.. Farrell Tells How He Picked All-Americans. The Fresno Bee. 1925-12-18.
  7. Web site: Football Award Winners. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. October 21, 2017. 6.
  8. News: Farrell, Henry L.. United Press Chooses All-American Team: Undertakes to Name Eleven Best Playes of Season. Tyrone Daily Herald (Pa.). 1925-11-28.
  9. News: Associated Press Announces All-American Teams. Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune. 1925-12-14.
  10. News: Syracuse Draws Blank as Rice Names Official All-American Eleven. Syracuse Herald. 1925-12-15.
  11. News: Tad Jones . Knute Rockne . Glenn Warner . Red Grange Placed on Second All-American Team: Coaches Keep Star Off First: Rockne, Jones and Warner Claim He Has Two Main Weak Points; Friedman Is Captain; Two Michigan Men Honored; Pacific Coast Stars in the Backfield. The Davenport Democrat. 1925-12-04.
  12. News: Tad Jones . Knute Rockne . Glenn Warner . All-American Stars Are Named . . 11 . December 5, 1925 . September 10, 2023 . newspapers.com.
  13. Book: ESPN College Football Encyclopedia. 1157. ESPN Books. 2005. 1401337031.
  14. News: Coaches To Pick All Star Eleven: Jim Thorpe Canvasses Athletic Heads. Cedar Rapids Republican. 1925-12-04.
  15. News: Here's An All-American Picked By New York Sun Favors Eastern Players. Hamilton Evening Journal. 1925-11-28.
  16. Web site: Walter Camp Football Foundation . 13 January 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071218214203/http://waltercamp.org/index.php/teams_and_awards/ . 18 December 2007 . dead .
  17. News: Westerners Lead On All-American: Chicago Critic Picks Team With Strong Aerial Attack. The Galveston Daily News. 1925-12-20.
  18. News: Seven Westerners Given Places on Eckersall's All-American Eleven: Grange Named As Leader of Mythical Team. Davenport Democrat And Leader. 1925-12-20.
  19. News: Evans, Billy. Here's Billy Evans' All-Americans. The Fitchburg Sentinel. 1925-12-05.
  20. News: Brown, Norman E.. Here Are Brown's All-American Selections: All Sections of Country On Writer's All-American. Galveston County Daily News. 1925-12-07.
  21. News: Brown, Norman E.. Here Are Brown's All-American Selections: Michigan Draws Two Positions; Pacific Coast and South Land. San Mateo Times. 1925-12-07.
  22. News: Brown, Norman E.. Norman E. Brown's All-American Eleven: Has Line Power of A Dreadnaught: Dazzling Aerial Attack of Bombing Fleet. Oil City Derrick. 1925-12-04.
  23. News: Brown, Norman E.. Norman E. Brown's All-American Eleven: Has Line Power of A Dreadnaught: Dazzling Aerial Attack of Bombing Fleet. The Morning News Review (S.C.). 1925-12-13.
  24. Web site: All-America Addendum. College Football Historical Society Newsletter. November 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20100610210755/http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/CFHSN/CFHSNv12/CFHSNv12n1j.pdf. dead. June 10, 2010. 5 March 2010 .
  25. News: Billy Evans' Honor Roll. The Anniston Star. 10. December 15, 1925. July 23, 2015. Newspapers.com.

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