The1905 Chicago Maroons football team was anAmerican football team that represented theUniversity of Chicago during the1905 Western Conference football season. In coachAmos Alonzo Stagg's 14th year as head coach, the Maroons finished with an 11–0 record (7–0 against Western Conference opponents), shut out 10 of 11 opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 271 to 5.[1][2] The team played its home games atMarshall Field on the school's campus.
Three persons associated with the team have been inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame. Stagg and Eckersall were part of the Hall's first class of inductees in 1951.[6][7] Bezdek was added, based on his coaching accomplishments, in 1954.[8]
The game, dubbed "The First Greatest Game of the Century,"[30] broke Michigan's 56-game unbeaten streak. The 1905 Michigan team had outscored opponents 495-0 in its first 12 games. The game was lost in the final ten minutes of play whenDenny Clark was tackled for a safety as he attempted to return a punt from behind the goal line. Newspapers described Clark's play as "the wretched blunder" and a "lapse of brain work."[30] Clark transferred toM.I.T. the following year and was haunted by the play for the rest of his life. In 1932, he shot himself, leaving a suicide note that reportedly expressed hope that his "final play" would atone for his error at Marshall Field in 1905.[30][31]
The game was played in halves of 35 minutes each.[29]
^2020 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records(PDF). Indianapolis: The National Collegiate Athletic Association. July 2020. pp. 112–114.Archived(PDF) from the original on November 1, 2020. RetrievedJanuary 12, 2021.
^"Football Award Winners"(PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. p. 6. RetrievedOctober 21, 2017.
^"All-American Eleven: Walter Camp Selects the Best Football Team; West Figures Prominently".The Washington Post. December 20, 1905.
