Walter Camp, the only "official" All-America selector in 1909
The1909 All-America college football team is composed ofcollege football players who were selected as All-Americans for the1909 college football season. The only selector for the 1909 season who has been recognized as "official" by theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) isWalter Camp. Many other sports writers and newspapers also selected All-America teams in 1909. TheUnited Press andThe Atlanta Constitution both published their own "consensus" All-America teams based on their aggregating the first-team picks of a number of selectors (22 by the United Press and 10 byThe Atlanta Constitution).
The only individual who has been recognized as an "official" selector by theNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for the 1909 season isWalter Camp.[1] Accordingly, the NCAA's official listing of "Consensus All-America Selections" mirrors Camp's first-team picks.[1] Camp 1909 All-America team was dominated by players from the East, with nine of his eleven picks coming fromIvy League schools, including six from his own alma mater, Yale.[1]
The dominance of Ivy League and Eastern players on Camp's All-America teams led to criticism over the years that his selections were biased against players from the leading Western universities, including Chicago, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Notre Dame.[2][3] In announcing his 1909 team, Camp himself acknowledged the innovative football played in the West:
"There is not the faintest shadow of doubt that the Western organizations can exhibit to-day a far more varied form of attack than anything displayed in the East. The shift plays and special formations are almost without number, and the drill of the teams in signal practice is so constant and well carried out that they perform these manoeuvres with remarkable rapidity, and from this very feature they offer a greater scope of forward passing than any of the Eastern teams."[4]
Albert Benbrook. Benbrook played at the guard position for Michigan. He was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1971. He weighed over 200 pounds, was considered "huge for his time," and was known as a "dominating force" due to his "exceptional quickness."[6]
Carroll Cooney. Cooney played at the center position for Yale. He later ran a professional dance orchestra in the 1920s.[7]
Ted Coy. Coy played at the fullback and halfback positions for Yale. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.[8] In 2008,Sports Illustrated sought to answer the question, "Who would have won the Heisman from 1900–1934?"[9] Its selection for 1909 was Coy who led an undefeated Yale team that outscored its opponents, 209–0.[9]
Henry Hobbs. Hobbs played guard for Yale. He gained notoriety again in 1911 when he eloped with the daughter ofJohn Emory Andrus, who was reported to be the "richest man in Congress." The secret wedding resulted in extensive coverage in newspapers from Boston to Baltimore.[13][14][15][16]
By 1909, there was a proliferation of newspapers and sports writers choosing their own All-America teams. Recognizing the difficulties faced by any single person who could only watch one game per week, some organizations began to seek better methodologies for selecting a true "consensus" All-America team. TheUnited Press selected a consensus All-America team, based on aggregating the All-American picks of 22 individuals who it identified as "the best football experts."[20] TheDetroit Free Press published the vote count among the 22 experts as follows:[21]
The Atlanta Constitution also weighed in with its own effort to determine a consensus team. In December 1909, theConstitution published a consensus team by aggregating the All-America selections of ten leading daily newspapers from the East:The New York Times,New York Herald,New York World,New York Globe,New York Sun,Telegraph,Evening World, and theBoston Herald.[22] TheConstitution gave a point for each newspaper selecting a player as an All-American. The players selected as "consensus" All-Americans (with vote count for runners-up also listed) were as follows:
Right tackle:Hamilton Fish III, Harvard (8); Dan Pullen, Navy (1); Rudolph Siegling, Princeton (1)
Right end: Lawrence Dunlap Smith, Harvard (3);Adrian Regnier, Brown (2); Gilbert Goodwin Browne, Harvard (2); McCaffrey, Fordham (1);Harlan Page, Chicago (1); Walter S. Logan, Yale (1)
The efforts of the United Press andAtlanta Constitution showed that a number of Camp's picks were not truly "consensus" picks. For example, Sprackling of Brown was the consensus All-American quarterback as reflected in the lists issued by both the United Press and theConstitution.[22] Yet, Camp selected Sprackling for his third team.[4] Further differences include John McGovern, Albert Benbrook and Adrian Regnier, who were picked by Camp as a first-team All-Americans at the quarterback, guard and end positions.[4] Out of the ten selectors aggregated by theAtlanta Constitution, none chose Benbrook, only one chose McGovern and two chose Regnier.[22]
Left endJohn Kilpatrick of Yale was the only player who was a unanimous first-team All-America pick by Walter Camp, all 10 of the selectors aggregated by theAtlanta Constitution, and all 22 selectors aggregated by the United Press.[4][23][22]
TC = Tommy Clark, noted sports writer whose work appeared in several papers[28][29][30][31][32]
UP =United Press consensus All-American team, based on selections from 22 of "the best football experts." The numbers shown in parentheses reflect the number of voters (out of the total of 22) who selected the person as a first-team All-American.[23]
AC =The Atlanta Constitution based on aggregating the All-America selections of ten leading Eastern newspapers. The numbers shown in parentheses reflect the number of voters (out of the total of 10) who selected the person as a first-team All-American.[22]
^abcd"Football Award Winners"(PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. p. 6. RetrievedOctober 21, 2017.
^"All-American Teams of East Are Jokes: Critics Who Never Saw Western Teams Play to Name Best in Country -- Forget About Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois".The Mansfield News. December 8, 1910.
^Ross Tenney (December 31, 1922). "Much Dissatisfaction Over Camp's All-American Team: Football Dean Is Accused of Favoring East; Walter Camp Soundly Scored For 'Poorest Teams Ever Foisted Upon Public'".The Des Moines Capital.
^ab"Greatest Football Team Is Selected".The Des Moines News. December 26, 1909.
^"Lawrence D. Smith".The New York Times. January 29, 1958.("Mr. Smith was an honor student and a football player at Harvard University, class of '12.")
