NOTES ON SOME EARLY FOOTBALL PROGRAMS…PART 1

I’ve done a lot of research on a lot of schools and here are some interesting facts on early Wisconsin high school football.  So, let’s start at the beginning.  These are notes on various programs.

1884

In 1884 Delafield St. John’s Military Academy opened.  It’s founder, Rev. Sydney. Smyth had played football while studying at Racine College.  Of course, the game was really more of a rugby style sport but the locals there called it “foot-ball”.  The next year, 1895, using a book he obtained from somewhere, he taught his students the newest rules of the game.  The team went 2-1-0 in 1885 against local “Town teams”.  Smythe made sure ahead of time that their opponents knew what the new rules were all about. They were the first high school team in Wisconsin to play the sport and are accredited as the first school west of the Allegany Mountains to play by the newest rules.

1989-1893

The second high school to play football was Wayland University (Now known as Wayland Academy).  Granted that Wayland and St. John’s were not formal public schools but the earliest Academies to play school sponsored sports, in particular foot-ball. Wayland had both a university and a high school.   In 1889 some men, who had played at the University of Michigan, came to Wayland in Beaver Dam and taught the students of both the high school part of the school and those part of the university the game.  There were two dorms at the school…The Cottage Boy’s and the College Hall Boy’s. The two dorms played several intermural scrimmages that year.  The first formal high school game was played in 1891 against Ripon College a frequent opponent of Wayland, St. John’s and Oshkosh High School, Oshkosh Normal and Lawrence University.  The Wayland team may have had some university players on its team.  Their star player was Fred Hulbert, the “father of Green Bay football” who started the Green Bay Team (Town team), a forerunner of the Packers in 1894.  When Fred, born in Chicago but considered a Racine native, arrived in Green Bay at age 25 he brought with him the first football the town had ever seen.  Besides taking a job as a clerk for the Union Laundry he joined the West Side Athletic Association first as a trainer and then as captain of the fledgling foot-ball team (Football was often spelled foot-ball in newspapers and other stories of the day).  As captain he really was the coach and he instructed others on the tactics of the sport and was the driving force behind the sport there.

1893

Milwaukee’s first high school opened in 1857, nine years after Wisconsin became a state but closed its doors in 1860 as the Civil War was approaching.  A school housing with an enrollment of 100 boys and girls in a primary setting finally reopened in 1868 and a year later Milwaukee High School formally opened.  The location was on the corner of N. Van Buren and E. Juneau Ave. but the school was moved to N. Cass and E. Knapp Streets where it would become East Side High School, sometimes called “Old Eastside” and is now Riverside.  A gym was built in 1890 and the school club sports of baseball and football were played.  A newly formed Athletic Society was formed to regulate the sports for the school.

On February 22, 1893, the school leaders of Milwaukee High, Delafield St. John’s Military Academy, and Fond du Lac High School formed an alliance and the first WIAA was formed.  Soon, Wayland Academy of Beaver Dam, Lawrence University of Appleton and Ripon College joined the group and the seeds of the future WIAA was formed.  The Milwaukee City Conference was also formed that year as well with South Side (South Division) joining in 1893 and West Side (West Division, which closed and would later become The Milwaukee Academy of the Arts) joining in 1895 to become part of the conference.

The school’s name was changed to Milwaukee East Side in 1893 and they played their first football game against athletes of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance, a game East lost (No score known).

Teacher, coach and later long-term principal of East Side High School is George A. Chamberlin is in the top right of the team photo…from the 1915 Commencement Annual.

Against NW Mutual coach/teacher George A. Chamberlin played left end and according to the Milwaukee Journal made a key tackle to prevent a score.  The commencement annual noted that their “coach and faculty member” was quite a promising youngster.

The two teams again played in several games during 1894 and it seems that, although the scores aren’t known, East was 2-1-0 against the Mutuals.  In 1895 East Side played South Side for the first time and in two games tied 12-12 and won 14-6.  For some reason East didn’t play football in 1899, the only year they had no team.  Against the powerful South Side teams of early high school football East posted only a 4-13-2 record over a twenty-year period (1895-1914).

More 1893

1893 appears to be the beginning for many schools.  Oshkosh high school played their first game but as a combined squad with Oshkosh Normal (UW-Oshkosh).  One score I found from that season was a 42-0 loss to Lawrence University, a game played in Appleton.  The next season the high school played without Normal players as their own team and posted a 3-0-0 record.

Again, in 1893 Madison high school (Closed in 1968, playing their last game in the 1967) played its first game.  This would be a school that posted one of the best early records from 1893-1929 (181-44-16) and its name would be changed to Madison Central.  In 1897 Madison would play North Tonawanda (NY) for the first mythical high school national championship in Detroit on Christmas Day, winning 14-4.

This was also the year, 1893, that a football team was formed at Darlington and began to train.  They would play their first games in 1894 going 2-3-0, beating Dodgeville twice and losing twice to Mineral Point and once to Platteville Normal.

1894

In 1894 the students at Eau Claire high school formed an athletic association.  The group was made up of numerous students’ activities beyond athletics.  At the time the school had the second largest enrollment of any high school in the state, 337, with Madison High’s 354 being the biggest.  In 1894 the city population of Eau Claire was 17,000+ while Madison’s population was 15,000+.  That’s only about 2% of the city’s populations.  Today, about 6.5 % of the population in these two cities attend high school.  In the 1890’s-10940’s many school age children dropped out of school early, many around the sixth grade so they could work and help their family.   The EC Athletic Association also created the school yearbook, financed through gaining a large amount of local business advertising support.  They published 3-6 a year seasonal edition that were usually a 40+ page editions each.  The yearbook covered poetry, stories, history, music and more besides sports.  The yearbook was titled “The Kodak”, named after the first personal camera that was developed around 1892.  The books were a snapshot of student lives.  The name Kodak remains the title of Eau Claire Memorial’s yearbook.  Eau Claire would go 3-2-1 in their first football season, 1895, and become a powerful program in the northeast part of the state.

1895-1896

The Fox Lake Representative newspaper printed an article on how the game of football is played on October 25, 1895.

Fox Lake had played a game earlier the week before, having beaten Mayville 14-8, when they met Waupun on November 9th for what was Waupun’s first game.  Fox Lake won 12-6 even though Waupun scored the first touchdown of the game.

From an earlier story in the Representative, I’m including the first names of the Fox Lake team:

Baker was one of the stars but unfortunately his first name is unknown as there is no yearbook from that time and his first name wasn’t mentioned anywhere else in the paper.

More early football stories next time in Part 2.

EARLY LANCASTER FOOTBALL

NOTE: This blog has been revised. Asa of Saturday, January 27 I have just found an earlier picture than the one for 1898 so it has been added to the blog. More about this in a later story.

1898 team picture from the Grant County Historical Society

I am working on several blogs, one dealing with some notes on early football games that wouldn’t have made for a blog of their own but combined I think they are very informative.  However, sometimes a story jumps out at me and demands a wider scope.  This is one such story.  I’ve expanded to include some non-Wisconsin high school football to put, in my mind, some perspective.

1915

Football in Lancaster goes back to the late 1890’s but economics, like for a lot of schools, held the program back for a few years.  It weas back on in 1905 as some newspapers touted the squad as a possible title contender when they won their first and only for games by shutting out Platteville 16-0, Cassville 15-0, Prairie du Chien 49-0 and Dodgeville 5-0 as several schools cancelled in fear of the Arrows (Later named the Flying Arrows).  But finances would cut deep into the school’s efforts to put up a team in future seasons.

Lancaster didn’t have a football team from 1908-14 but the sport resumed in 1915 thanks to a ringer/coach.  Oak Park High School (IL) was declared the mythical national champion from 1910-13.  A player who stared on the 1912-14 squads was Everett Royal, the starting right end on the 1914 Oak Park squad and team captain. 

Note from the November 28, 1914, edition of the Boston Globe

While visiting Dr. J.H. Fowler, a Family friend in Lancaster, Royal offered his services to assist in coaching the team.  He helped Coach H. F. Gay as an assistant. Besides being a coach, Royal actually played in several games during a 3-3-1 season.  Coach Gay may have also played although the yearbook and newspapers don’t mention it but he had previously played at Lawrence University.  Like the early Port Washington teams (Part of that forementioned blog on early teams that is coming soon) and many like them, there were few players to choose from, but Lancaster appeared to only play with high school students, except for Royal and no grade schoolers (As you will read about the Port Washington snippet).  The 1916 yearbook showed only 119 students with three male seniors and a total of 44 males in the school.  The yearbook, then known as "The Storm Center" , had a picture that showed the starting eleven, four substitutes, a young male mascot and two coaches.  The names of the players are listed below the picture, but the names of the coaches and the mascot aren’t included.  I suspect that Mr. Gay is the man in the coat and tie on the upper left and Royal is on the upper right. 

Photo of Everett Royal from the Oak Park team picture as posted in the November 28, 1914, edition of the Boston Globe

1915 Lancaster football team...photo from the yearbook the "Storm Chaser"

 When you look at the player’s names below you will note that Orton is listed as the right halfback.  All the other players list what grade they are in, but Orton is listed as “Special”.  Looking through the yearbook I couldn’t find his picture anyplace with any of the classes, so I don’t know what “Special” signifies.  The newspapers listed him as “Skip” Orton and he was a pretty good player, according to the papers.  By my tally he scored at least six touchdowns and kicked at least three extra points.

However, like many old yearbooks there were recaps of each game instead of a scoreboard of the team's schedule and the recaps showed Coach Royals name all over the place as a great tackler and runner.  No opponent seemed to not have a problem with Royal playing even though it violated the rules of the WIAA, long after the rule for high school eligibility and outlawing adults playing in games. Before you write me that in the 1915 newspapers of the Grant County Herald or the Lancaster Teller Royal is only mentioned as a coach, I would say you are correct.  However, the yearbook told me a different story as against Platteville Mining School (UW-Platteville), Royal had a 75-yard touchdown run (Orton scored from 45-yards out as well).  The team also faced the Keewatin Academy, an Indian college preparatory school in Prairie du Chien and lost 74-0 but the Lancaster yearbook said that Royal was the only Lancaster player who could tackle Guyon.

That player for Keewatin was a halfback named Joe Guyon who had played with the great Jim Thorpe at the Carlisle (PA) Industrial School in 1912-13.  He then attended Keewatin to become college eligible from 1914-15 and then went to Georgia Tech.  He had a great career there and went on to play pro football.  He was also a very good baseball player and after pro football became the head football coach at different times at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee.  Later he coached baseball at Clemson University as well as several minor league teams.  In 1969 he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The name Everett is known to national high school football historians.  Both Everett Massachusetts and Everett Washington can claim the title of Mythical National Champions.  Everett (MA) is considered the 1914 and 1915 title holder while the 1919 and 1920 squads from Washington are listed as champs.  The 1914 Everett (MA) team is often considered to be the best high school football team EVER…HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL'S BEST TEAM MAY HAVE BEEN EVERETT, MASS., 1914 - Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com 

 In 1912 Oak Park (IL) played Everett (MA) for the “National Title” in a game played in Boston at Fenway Park.  Sophomore right halfback Everett Royal was listed by The Chicago Tribune in a story the before but for some reason he was left off of the starting roster the day of the gams as noted in the Tribune and the Boston Globe.  Oak Park won 32-14 before, what the Chicago Tribune called a “monster sized crowd”.  The two teams again matched up in 1914 and Everett destroyed Oak Park 80-0.  Oak Park is considered to be the 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913 and 1920 (Tied with Everett, WA) national champs. 

After the 1915 season Everett Royal left Lancaster, returning home to Oak Park. I'm sorry to say that I can’t find additional information on him after going back to Illinois.

I hope you liked a little of national perspective. I hate to keep teasing on future blogs but I'm waiting on some information to finish several stories, but I'll post them soon. Thanks.

A BRIEF 2023 STATISTICAL RECAP AND RECORD BOOK ADDITIONS

The record book has been updated with, of course, some new additions as well as a few new categories. 

11-Player Stats

Leading the way is Colton Brunell of Columbus, the new state all-time leading rusher with 7,416 yards.  His 106 career rushing touchdowns places him in second place, behind Random Lake’s Luke Hagel (1995-99) who scored 112 times (All rushing).  Colton had 109 overall touchdowns in his career and places in the fourth spot on the career list with 656 points. Burnell fits into multiple spots on the records lists among them was his becoming only the second player to ever gain 2,000-yards in each of his sophomore, junior and senior seasons.  He ties the effort of Mike Firkus of Hilbert (2000-02). 

To me, one of the quietist careers was that of Two Rivers star Chase Matthis who didn’t get as much attention as Burnell but put up some terrific numbers.  Chase gained 5,991 career yards (7th all-time) and scored 90 touchdowns on the ground and 103 overall and 631 overall career points (5th place).

Senior Demetrius Bergmann of Pepin/Alma put up some great numbers in 2022 and 2023 as he gained 3,171 yards out of his 3,862 career yards as well as 72 of his career 83 touchdowns.  In 2023 he ran for 20 of his career 26 two-point conversions to place 4th in single season conversions.  He tied with two others for the single game record of five two-pointers.  The other two, Ezra Hitz of Milwaukee Ronald Reagan and Trenton Owens of Mount Horeb/Barneveld each had five conversions this year. 

Two-point conversions were “the thing” this year.  In the records category of “Most 2-Point Conversions in a Single Game”, out of the now 24 mentions, 14 occurred this season.   10 teams converted 25+ conversion runs and five passed for two points.

Passing seemed to be down as well as receptions and yardage.  Onalaska’s Adam Skifton was the only quarterback to make the single season passing list and his top receiver, Brodie Mickschl, led the state with receptions )86).  Skifton passed for 39 touchdowns and 2,944 yards.  Besides Skifton, Duke Shovald of West DePere were also the only passers to make the career passing yardage list with 5,635 yards as well as tossing for 69 touchdowns for Skifton and 6,128 yards for Shovald.

Sean West of Homestead tied for second on the “Most Field Goals In A Season” with a kicking performance of 15 field goals made out of 19 attempts.  Racine Lutheran freshman Max Contreras kicked 10 extra points out of 12 attempts in an 82-22 win over Dominican.  He’s one of nine players to kick 10 or more extra points ever in a game.  Max was 28-35 on the season and he has three more seasons to go.

Keagen Jirschele of Mosinee put together a fabulous 2023 season and career.  Keagan was a top receiver as well as a defensive back.  Check here for a recap:

If the last name Jirschele sounds familiar his father is the Jeremy Jirschele, the head baseball coach at UW-Stevens Point and his grandfather is Mike Jirschele who was profiled in my blogs on Clintonville…A MULTI-SPORT FAMILY OF STARS…PART 1 (wihifootball.com) and A MULTI-SPORT FAMILY OF STARS…PART 2 (wihifootball.com).  And like his father, grandfather and great-grandfather his favorite sport is baseball and is a college and MLB prospect.

There are several additions to some of the lists of yearly leaders, mainly the older years so check those out. One new category is “Longest Run from Scrimmage”.  Reed Shepard of De Pere ran 100 yards for a score in 1899 (The field at that time was 110-yards long).  Among the newly created categories is the season leaders by class…the most yards by a freshman, sophomore, etc.  This is only in the 11-player record book for now, but I’ll be working on it for the 8-player for next time.

8-Player Stats

Several quarterbacks made some noise this past season.  Jared Kaufman of Three Lakes/Phelps tossed for 5,071 career yards and ran for 1,879 more for a career total of 6,950 and 103 total scores, both career totals are all-time 8-player records.  Another one was Denzel Sutton of Thorp who passed for 1,823 yards and 18 touchdowns while rushing for 1,178 yards and 18 more scores.  3,001 total yards.

Among some of the top quarterbacks are four additional to note.  Moving up the career passing charts is junior Grant Smiskey of Chippewa Falls McDonell who in three seasons has 4,697 yards and 54 touchdowns and he has one more season to go.  He has only run for 305 career yards but has crossed the goal line 14 times.  Jesse DeBauch of Gillett also has one more season to go and has 4,025 career yards. Jared Schultz of Northwood/Solon Springs has piled up a lot of yards.  In 2023 he passed for 1,323 yards and ran for 1,695.  He led the state in rushing this past year.  So far, after two seasons and one more to go Jared has 2,730 yards passing and 2,947 yards on the ground for 5,677.  He has thrown for 36 td’s and run for 43 with more coming next year.   Junior Braden Kita of Gibraltar had a big game against Wausaukee where he threw for 461 yards and seven touchdowns.  He also was a junior and has 2,452 career passing yards and 43 touchdowns and has run for 957 yards and 14 more touchdowns.  Look for good things for these players in 2025. 

Brock Naesson of Shell Lake had a great season as the junior carried the ball only 118 times for 1,559 yards, a 13.2 average (#6 on the single season rushing average list).  He scored 30 rushing touchdowns.  Against Northwoods/Solon Springs in the season opener he carried the ball 24 times for 366 yards, 14th best in single game rushing and eight touchdowns plus 2 2-pt. conversions for 52 points, tied for #4 on the single game scoring list.  Naesson led the state with his 30 touchdowns and 11 2-pt conversions for 204 points.

Tryg Mollman of Phillips only carried the ball 59 times in eight games, but he made the most of it.  He gained 1,308 yards, scored 23 times for a 22.2 average, a state record for a season with a back gaining 1,000+ in a season.  In the season finale he ran for 298 yards on 13 carries for seven touchdowns, caught two 2-pt. conversions for 46 points. The #2 scoring game of the season which places him #6 on the 8-player single game scoring list.

Hunter Sabel of Oakfield scored 18 2-pt. conversions and Andrew Frederick of Bruce scored 17 conversions for 5th and 6th place on the single season 2-pt conversion list.  Frederick finished with 31 career conversions for 2nd place on the all-time list and Sabel ended with 30 career conversions tied for 3rd place. Jared Kaufman of Three Lakes/Phelps also ended with 31 career 2-pt. conversions and ties Frederick for 2nd place.  Junior Wyatt Fay of Algoma didn’t put up huge reception numbers or yards, but he was very efficient when it came to hauling in 2-pt conversions.  Wyatt only caught 17 passes for 126 yards and no touchdowns, but he hauled in a 8-player season high of 12 conversions.  Speaking of receiving Braden Sitte of Gibraltar caught 63 passes (9th all-time) for 1,241 yards (4th all-time) and 21 touchdowns.  Ayden Phillips of Almond-Bancroft led the state in receptions with 73, good for 3rd (Tied) all-time.

One of WisSports top 100 2024 seniors is an 8-player star, Tyler Janikowski of Three Lakes/Phelps who only played ball briefly in 2020 and then a full season in 2023.   But what a season he had in 2023 and he is now in the record book more than any other individual in either the 11-player or the 8-playerrecord book.  19 total notations. 

Receiving:

Single Game receiving Yards: vs. White Lake/Echo he caught 5 passes for 219 yards (27th) and 5 scores

Single Game: Touchdowns Caught:  5 (Tied for 3rd)

Single Season Receptions:  60 (Tied for 9th)

Single Season Receiving Yards: 1,419 (2nd)

Most TD’S receiving in a Season:  26 (1st)

Receiving: Career Receptions:  60 (21st)

Career Receiving Yards:  1,419 (15th)

Career Receiving Touchdowns:  26 (Tied for 8th)

Individual Receiving Yardage Leader by Season: 2023 leader with 1,419 yards.

Interceptions:

Most Interceptions in a Game:  3 (Tied for 2nd)

Moist Interception Yards in a Game: 164 yards (1st)

Moist Interceptions returned for a Touchdown in a Game: 2 (1st)

Most Interceptions in a Season: 12 (1st)

Most Interception Yards in a Season:  419 yards (1st)

Most Interceptions returned for a Touchdown in a Season:  4 (Tied for 2nd)

Most Interceptions in a Career:  14 (2nd)

Most Interception Yards in a Career:  501 yards (1st)

Most Interceptions returned for a Touchdown in a Career: 5 (1st) (1 in 2020 and 4 in 2023)

Longest Return of an Interception:  103-yards (Vs. Wild Rose)

 Luke Lawton of Flambeau had a great season as he set the single game tackles record with 34 against Siren.  He also had games of 21 and 20 and now has three of the top single game efforts.   

There are lots of new listings and the records will be posted soon so check them out… State Records (wifca.org).  Thanks.