Football History

William Herbert "Pa" Corbin, born July 20, 1864, wasn't just a football player; he was a leader who embodied the spirit of the sport in its nascent years. Playing for Yale University from 1886 to 1888, Corbin captained the legendary 1888 team, etching his name in the annals of college football history.

Standing tall at 6-foot-2, Corbin wasn't just physically imposing; he commanded respect on and off the field. His nickname, "Pa," wasn't simply bestowed upon him – it reflected the leadership qualities he possessed. He believed a captain should be a strategist, a motivator who inspired with a firm but fair approach. "The captain should be the real leader," he said, appraising his position among his peers. "He should be able to say 'come on' instead of 'go on.' He should be a strategist, always checking the signals and often changing them. Quarterbacks may come and go, but the captain should always be largely responsible for the tactics and the success of the plays." This resonated with his teammates, propelling Yale to a dominant run.

Corbin's era was one of unbridled offense. Yale, under his leadership, perfected the flying wedge, a powerful but dangerous formation. Despite the inherent risks, Corbin led his team to an astounding 31-0-1 record during his three-year career. The pinnacle came in 1888, where Yale, under Corbin's captaincy, achieved the unthinkable: an undefeated season, outscoring their opponents by a staggering margin (698 points to 0) while showcasing a dominant defense.

Corbin's legacy extends beyond statistics. He was a pioneer who helped shape the sport. His leadership and strategic mind were instrumental in Yale's dominance, laying the groundwork for the evolution of football into the sport we know today. His dedication continued even after graduation, returning to coach and inspire future generations of Yale players.

Pa Corbin's story isn't just about individual achievements; it's about the birth of a footballing legend. He embodied the grit, determination, and strategic brilliance that defined the early days of the game. His leadership and passion for the sport cemented his place as a true pioneer, forever etched in the history of college football.

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Step back to the roaring twenties, a golden age of college football. Imagine two titans of the gridiron, the Yale Bulldogs and the Georgia Bulldogs, locked in a legendary rivalry that captivated the nation. In this podcast, we delve into the untold stories of this epic clash, exploring the athletes, the games, and the cultural impact of this historic matchup. From the smoky stadiums to the passionate fanbases, we'll uncover the drama, triumphs, and heartbreaks that define this unforgettable era of college football.

Are you ready to relive the glory days? Timothy Brown of Football Archaeology takes us back a century when these two programs were on par on the gridiron, and it was a Bulldog v. Bulldog matchup. This information comes from his original post titled:

Battle of the Bulldogs: Yale vs. Georgia

-Transcription of When Georgia played Yale with Timothy Brown


Hello, my football friends. This is Darin Hayes of pigskindispatch.com. Welcome once again to The Pig Pen, your portal to positive football history.

And welcome to another Tuesday. It's footballarchaeology.com day. Timothy P. Brown of that great website joins us each Tuesday to talk about another antiquity of football.

And we really have a great episode for you today because we're going to go back in time and talk about some of the structures of football. And Tim, welcome back to The Pig Pen.

Hey, thanks, Darin.

Yeah, looking forward to this one. This should be a pretty fun one to talk about. Yeah, I think it should be.

This is really interesting, because it's got multifaceted, you got some, some mascots in there, you've got some, some, you know, good old programs that were, you know, at some of them at their height back in the day, and some of them we look at today, they're the top of the game. So really old meets new, and a lot of stuff in between. So we're interested in hearing about the history.

Yeah. Yeah. So this, this comes from a tidbit that I did back in May, May of the year ago.

And it was called the Battle of the Bulldogs. And, you know, so it basically is concerning, you know, two teams that had the Bulldog nickname. And, but back in, you know, back in, say, the teens and the 20s, there were very, there were really pretty few intersectional games, you know, transportation was just more difficult than, you know, it took longer to get, you know, by train from one section of the country to the, to the other.

And so teams just didn't, you know, I mean, they definitely didn't go out to the Pacific coast very much. But even like the North-South games and Midwest to East games were just few and far between. And so, interestingly, you know, we tend to think of the Notre Dame USC series as like this ancient, you know, ongoing annual game.

And it started in 1926. And, you know, they've played, you know, nearly every year since then, and maybe even every year, I don't know, but, you know, they've played a lot, right. And, or, you know, it's an intersectional, they're not the same conference, though, you know, nowadays, you can be intersectional and be in the same conference, but they aren't.

But so that started in 26. And so the interesting thing is that there was a series that we now would think of as kind of strange bedfellows. But a series, an intersectional series started three years earlier.

And it was the Battle of the Bulldogs. And it was between Georgia, who we all, you know, that's the team that's pretty good these days. And the other was Yale, the team that was pretty good back in those days.

And so they seem like kind of a strange combination of play one another. Um, but my understanding is there, there was a connection, I think there were some Yale graduates who helped either found Georgia or helped design the campus, you know, there were, there were just Yale folks who were involved in UGA early on. So turns out the two teams scheduled a little series and starting 1923.

So not too long after, you know, World War One ended. And they played every year until 1934. Other than 1932, they didn't play that year.

But, you know, it may have been really the first kind of long standing intersectional series. You know, I know that Pitt and Georgia Tech played, you know, a handful of games in the 1910s. And they were both like, nationally prominent teams, Heisman at Georgia Tech and Warner at Pitt.

So I mean, they had some really good teams back then. And, you know, I know Pitt won a couple of national championships in that in that era. But then they, you know, then that kind of ended.

So this one was really something else, you know, so you got this classic Eastern school that is, you know, now we look back and we know that they were kind of on the downswing of their power, you know, but they had dominated early football, them and Princeton really. So anyways, they set up a, you know, set up game and or a series and, as was normally the case, Georgia went to Yale each year. You know, back then Yale had the biggest stadium in the country.

You know, they could draw a big crowd. And so if you were looking to make some money by playing a game, you're, you know, like most teams, you're going to be better off going to Yale and playing there. Plus, Yale and Harvard both had some like faculty policies, you can only leave campus once a year.

So you'd either, those two would either play at Princeton or at Harvard, you know, and then switch it, you know, switch it, you know, each year. But anyways, so the first four games, they play in at Yale and Yale wins, you know, they were the better team back then. And, but then in 1927, Georgia upsets Yale, you know, at Yale.

And, you know, so, you know, that was kind of a big deal. And in 28, Yale, you know, ends up winning again at home. So they're, you know, they're standing like five and one in Yale's favor.

And then in 1929, Georgia was opening up Sanford Stadium. Until then they had played at Sanford Field, which was like a dual, you know, one of those old wooden dual purpose, baseball and football fields. So Sanford, which is where they still play now, but it's been remodeled, you know, 57 times.

You know, that, you know, 29 was the first game there. And, you know, Yale goes down there and wearing their heavy wool jerseys on a hot day in Georgia, and they lost 15 to nothing. So, you know, it's just, that's just kind of a funny little sidelight.

I wouldn't want to be the equipment manager carrying the laundry that day. No. And you would think that they would have thought ahead, but, you know, maybe they just figured out we're going to beat them anyways, you know.

But so then, then they played four more times, you know, they played in 30, 31, 33, and 34, all again, back at Yale and Georgia won all four of them. So, you know, it's just one of those games or a series where you just, you look at that and the sequence of losses, and then Georgia, you know, sneaks in there and wins one. And then, you know, then they end up winning, you know, five in a row in terms of games played.

That was also the first time anybody had beaten Yale five games in a row. So, you know, it's just, it kind of, it's kind of emblematic of turning the tide, you know, it's the shift of power from. I don't think you're allowed to use the word tide in Georgia in the same sentence.

I think that's a football law. I think they're against that. Well, you know, I wasn't aware of that law, but I will write that one down right here.

I think they probably find a fence to that somehow. But yeah, I mean, so it's just, it's just one of those great examples of the times they are a changing and, you know, Columbia went to the Rose Bowl in 34. That was a little bit of a fluke, but, you know, and Harvard had been in the Rose Bowl in 20, but, you know, it was pretty much, you know, that those classic Eastern teams were starting to fall on hard times and, you know, de-emphasizing and all that kind of stuff.

And, you know, now, you know, they play as the Ivy League today, but so clearly gone in a different direction than Georgia, but still, you know, cool, cool series, intersectional series, one of the first, and, you know, the relative strengths of the program switched during the course of the series. So, yeah. Sort of right at that tipping point where Yale is sort of starting to decline and Georgia's starting to incline.

So it's kind of interesting. It was a pretty balanced games. It sounds like a series.

Actually, even, you know, when Georgia won, I think one of the years they won by 14, but otherwise it was like, you know, they won by six or three years, you know, they were close games, but they just, they still won, you know. Right. Playing at Yale.

I wonder, I mean, there's probably no way to know, but, you know, it would be kind of a cool thing. You have Handsome Dan is the, traditionally the mascot name of Yale's Bulldog, and Ugga is the traditionally the name of the Georgia's Bulldog, you know, live animals, Bulldogs. And I wonder if they were ever at the same game during those years.

I wonder if they traveled. That'd be kind of cool, but an iconic picture if there would have been one. Yeah, I will.

I'll look into that, the Ugga and Handsome Dan. Yeah, that'd be, that'd be kind of interesting. That'd really bring the Bulldog versus Bulldog.

Yeah. I mean, you know, there's old pictures of, you know, the army mule and the Navy goat, you know, back in that time period, whether the, whether the dogs got together or not, I'm not sure. Yeah.

But yeah, so anyway, it's just kind of interesting story, you know, kind of a fun, yeah, fun deal. Yeah, definitely. It brings two traditional, you know, powerhouses of different eras together in one story.

And it's always fascinating to look at that. And you have a lot of different stories like this, Tim, where you go back in time and football and grab some of these things that we would never even imagine happening or who would think of Yale and Georgia playing today. Our modern brains can't even fathom that, but you have some great things like that, that people can enjoy on your website.

But maybe you could share with how people can enjoy this on a regular basis. Yeah. Best thing to do is just go to the footballarchaeology.com, subscribe, and then you'll get an email every time that I release a story, which, you know, nowadays I'm, you know, three, sometimes four a week, sometimes two, if I'm feeling lazy or just busy.

So that's the best way. You can also follow me on Twitter, on threads or on the app within Substack, which is, you know, where football archaeology is based. All right.

Well, that's a great, great investment of time to learn about football on a regular basis and see some of these things from antiquity. And we would love to talk to you again next Tuesday about another aspect of football history.

Very good.

We'll find something to talk about. That's all the football history we have today, folks. Join us back tomorrow for more of your football history.

Herbert Sturhahn, a pivotal figure in early American football, carved out a remarkable career marked by innovation and leadership. Born in the late July 29,1902, Sturhahn emerged as a standout player during football's formative years. Known for his strategic prowess and athletic versatility, he played a crucial role in shaping the game's development in the early 1900s. On the field his teammates and opponents knew him as Cobbles.

Sturhahn's career unfolded primarily in collegiate football, where he distinguished himself as a standout player at Yale University. In his last game for the Bulldogs, against their fiercest rival Harvard, Sturhahn recovered a blocked punt for a Yale touchdown, which led in a 12–7 victory for the Eli.

His all round athleticism showed up in other sports such as track and field as well. Cobble's accolades include twice being selected as a First-team All-American (1925, 1926)and First-team All-Eastern (1925)

In summary, Herbert Sturhahn's football career exemplifies the transformative period of American football's early years. His legacy lives on through his contributions to the sport's strategic evolution and his lasting impact on the collegiate and coaching communities.

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In the annals of college football history, Larry Kelley stands as a unique figure. As the first player primarily recognized for his pass-catching prowess to win the Heisman Trophy in 1936, he broke new ground and cemented his place as a Yale legend. This essay explores Kelley's remarkable career, his Heisman-winning season, and his lasting impact on the game.

Kelley arrived at Yale in 1933, a multi-sport athlete excelling in baseball, basketball, and football. He quickly established himself as a two-way threat on the gridiron, playing both offense and defense with relentless intensity. His exceptional athleticism and intelligence were evident on the field. While Kelley wasn't the biggest player, his leaping ability and precise route-running made him a nightmare for opposing defensive backs.

Kelley's defining year came in 1936. Prior to this, Heisman winners were primarily running backs. Kelley, however, revolutionized the award by showcasing the dominance of a skilled receiver. He led Yale to a 7-1 record, catching 17 passes for 372 yards and four touchdowns. One play, however, solidified his legacy. In a crucial game against Navy, with Yale trailing, Kelley, in a seemingly impossible feat, kicked a fumbled punt 40 yards downfield and recovered it himself, setting up the winning score. This improvisation and clutch performance epitomized his on-field brilliance.

Kelley's Heisman win was a watershed moment. It highlighted the increasing importance of the passing game in football and paved the way for future generations of star receivers. However, his impact transcended statistics. He was a charismatic leader, known for his wit and intellectual pursuits. This combination of athletic prowess and academic achievement made him a true embodiment of the "student-athlete" ideal.

While Kelley declined lucrative offers to play professional football, basketball, and baseball, his love for competition remained. He served in World War II and later became a high school teacher and coach, inspiring young athletes with his knowledge and passion for the game.

Larry Kelley's legacy extends beyond his Heisman Trophy. He was a pioneer for pass-catching excellence, a role model for student-athletes, and a testament to Yale's rich football tradition. His story reminds us that greatness can come in many forms, and that sometimes, the most innovative players rewrite the rules of the game.

The 1936 Heisman-winning player from Yale and his bio on the Heisman's official website