Homestead Stars

In this episode of the Early Pro Football, we will take a look at the Professional Football Champions of 1900 and 1901, the Homestead, Pennsylvania Stars and their battle with another PA team for the title.

The best pro team in 1900 was most definitely the Homestead Library team. We have talked before on how William Chase Temple took over the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club, becoming the first individual team owner in professional football in 1898. By 1900, most of the Duquesne C & AC players were hired by the Homestead Library & Athletic Club, by offering them higher wages than their previous employer would but that was because William Chase Temple, who also had a minority ownership stake in the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team, took over the payrole of that squad. Temple paid his players a reported $50 to $100 per game and the results of this expense were clearly rewarded with the first of two undefeated seasons. A Wikipedia poster has shared the following schedule results for the Homestead Stars in 1900. 

1. October 6 at Steel Works Park in Homestead, PA the crew defeated Pittsburgh College  by the score of 37–0. 
2. October 13 saw another home game at Steel Works Park as the Stars whitewashed the nearby Altoona Athletic Club, 58–0.    
3. October 20 saw the tightest contest of the season for Homestead as the narrowly escaped Athletic Park in Greensburg, PA with a 6-5 tilt against the Greensburg Athletic Association.    
4. October 27 had a team from the Detroit Athletic Club travel to Homestead to suffer a 54–0 shallacking at the hands of the Stars   
5. November 3  the Homestead eleven traveled across town to face another local rival Latrobe Athletic Association at Athletic Park in Latrobe, PA winning 11–0.    
6. November 6 had a grudge match against a very sour group from the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club held at nearby Exposition Park in Allegheny City, PA. Most of the Homestead squad had played for Duquense the prior year and they shut out their former club, 10–0 to stay un-tarnished.  
7. November 10 saw a second game against the Greensburg Athletic Association only this time at the friendly confines of Steel Works Park in Homestead and this time there was no doubt remaining of wom the better team was with the Stars posting a 12-0 victory.
8. November 17, Lehigh became the next victim at Steel Works Park with a 50-0 drubbing.
9. November 24 had Akron East Ends  travel to Homestead with the Stars again victorious by the score of 30–0.    
10. November 29 it was the Latrobe Athletic Association  who again tried their hands at knocking off the Stars this time at Steel Works Park and the home town touch proved to be one point better than the previos matchup of these two squads with Homestead gaining a 12–0 win to cap off the brillinat season.

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons taken by an Bain News Service photographers circa 1910 of Dave Fultz.

The Homestead roster budget of 1901 was right around $25,000 and sported a top notch group: with former Brown University star Dave Fultz, Bob Shiring from Pittsburgh, Penn's Pete Overfield, Bemus Pierce and Hawley Pierce both from the Carlisle Indian School, Art Poe from Princeton, Hoppy Hunt and Daff Gammons formerly of Brown University, Fred Crolius  from Dartmouth, Maxson from Maryland, Frank Woodley from Penn, Arthur Mosse from the University of Kansas, McNulty of Notre Dame, Weinstein and Shields also from Pittsburgh), Nieman from the University of Cincinnati, and Perry Hale the former fullback from Yale and Coach at Exeter. Many of these players including Fultz (Philadelphia Athletics), Gammons (Boston Beaneaters) and Crolius played professional baseball during the summer months.

26 Sep 1901, Thu The Philadelphia Times (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com

This Homestead team went undefeated in 1901 defeating mostly college teams like Penn State, Brown University and the Baltimore Medical College amongst others. That is until a team from Pennsylvania's largest city, Philadelphia challenged Homestead to a game to determine who the top pro team in the nation was. 

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons taken by an unknown photographer circa 1906 of Blondy Wallace.

Philadelphia had a great team too headed by former Penn Star Blondy Wallace. This City of Brotherly Love contestant were aptly named the Philadelphia Quakers by Wallace and company. It would be the first professional franchise to use the moniker, but definitely not the last to do so. The Quakers were good too. A wealthy Philly fan even offered a Championship Cup to be awarded to the winner in a match between the two teams. The title game between Homestead and Philadelphia was heavily bet upon by both sides as reported by the Newcastle News on November 20 in a story where it was said:

"At least $10,000 has already been bet in Pittsburg on the Philadelphia-Homestead football game … "

The Pittsburgh Press that very same day claimed that betting was at least $3000 to $5000 with the Coach of LaFayette, Dr. Newton who played against both teams during the season, predicted a win for the Steel City team.

20 Nov 1901, Wed The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com

The game was highly anticipated and was finally played in Philadelphia on November 23, 1901. Both sides claimed that their teams were ready. Captain Blondy Wallace had new Quaker reinforcements from top college squads arriving to his roster and Captain Fultz claimed his squad was in top shape and ready for thier toughest opponent of the season. The highly touted game finally was played and the Homestead Stars found victory by the tune of 18-0 on two Arthur Poe scores. You can read more about this game in our friend Gregg Ficery's upcoming book titled Gridiron Legacy.

24 Nov 1901, Sun Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com

Special thanks to the banner photo above from an unknown photographer and contributor to the public domain of Wikimedia Commons. This banner pic is of the 1900 Columbia-Yale game Columbia University halfback Harold Weekes dives for a touchdown during the first half of Columbia's game against Yale in 1900. In the body of the article, we first have a photo of Dave Fultz in 1910 by the Bain News Service and the second Pic is of a circa 1906 photo of Blondy Wallace.