1901 Michigan Wolverines football team

The 1901 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1901 college football season. In their first year under new head coach Fielding H. Yost, Michigan finished the season undefeated with an 11–0 record, outscored their opponents by the unprecedented total of 550 to 0, and became known as the first of Yost's famed "Point-a-Minute" teams. With a conference record of 4–0, Michigan shared the Big Ten title with Wisconsin, a team they did not face in 1901. The Wolverines concluded their season on January 1, 1902 by defeating Stanford, 49–0, in the 1902 Rose Bowl, the first college football bowl game ever played. The 1901 Michigan Wolverines have been recognized as national champions by the Helms Athletic Foundation, the Houlgate System, and the National Championship Foundation.

The 1901 Michigan team featured two future College Football Hall of Fame inductees, Neil Snow and Willie Heston. Snow was selected as an All-American by Caspar Whitney for Outing magazine, and four Wolverines were selected for the All-Western team: Snow (fullback/end), Heston (halfback), Boss Weeks (quarterback), and Bruce Shorts (right tackle). The team's captain was left tackle, Hugh White.

Overview
The 1901 season was the first in which the Michigan football team won a national championship. The team finished the season undefeated, untied, and unscored upon, having prevailed in all eleven of their games by a combined score of 550 to 0. The 1901 squad was the first of five consecutive high-scoring teams that came to be known as Coach Yost's "Point-a-Minute" teams. From 1901 to 1905, Yost's teams compiled a record of 55–1–1 and outscored their opponents by a combined score of 2,821 to 42.

At the end of the 1901 season, team captain Hugh White wrote: "The fall of 1901 will go down in the history of Michigan athletics, not only as the most successful football season the University has ever had, but also as establishing the most wonderful and unique record in the history of the game." A summary of the accomplishments of the 1901 Michigan team was published in the 1902 University of Michigan yearbook under the title "Yost's Soliloquy." The accomplishments of the 1901 team included the following:
 * Highest number of points ever scored in a single season by a recognized team.
 * Ten men, all but the center, carried the ball in turns.
 * Speed of play. Michigan ran 219 plays in the Iowa game, compared to 149 run by Harvard in the Harvard–Yale game of 1901. The fast pace of Michigan's play on offense earned Yost the nickname "Hurry Up." Yost described the 1901 team as a speedy group "composed of muscular, wiry men who had no superfluous weight."
 * Punting. The punting of Everett Sweeley was an important element in Michigan's success in 1901. Sweeley was regarded as "the best punter in the country."
 * The strength of Michigan's line on defense. Michigan's fullback was called upon to make a tackle only once in the entire season. In the final three games of the season, Michigan's defense allowed only seven first downs. Four of Michigan's opponents (Albion, Case, Beloit, and Indiana) never had possession of the ball in Michigan's territory. Only Northwestern and Buffalo moved the ball inside Michigan's 30-yard line, and those two instances came on penalties against Michigan for forward passes.
 * Lack of injuries. Only one player was taken out of a game for injury, and he returned to practice the Monday after the Saturday game. The injury was to Curtis Redden during the Carlisle game, and, according to Yost, Redden "was ready and anxious to play ten minutes after the injury."

Whitmore Lake
Fielding Yost was hired as the new coach at Michigan in the spring of 1901. He traveled to Ann Arbor in the spring to evaluate the talent pool with which he would be working. After sizing up the players, Yost asked for early practice in the fall. On September 9, 1901, Yost and 1901 team captain Hugh White gathered a small squad of men at Whitmore Lake; the squad grew over the next two weeks to nearly 20 players. Training continued for nearly two weeks, and "cold baths in the lake soon toughened the men." Yost worked with the players on the rudiments of the game and later recalled that, by the time they returned to Ann Arbor, "we had worked the men down into fairly good training for football work."

In addition to training, Yost spent time at Whitmore Lake evaluating his talent to fit particular positions. He soon shifted players around. He moved the team's only All-American, Neil Snow, from end to fullback on offense, keeping him at right end on defense. Yost moved Arthur Redner from center to right guard and George W. Gregory to center. He also brought Willie Heston with him from California at the halfback position. In a 1952 letter, Heston later recalled: "He brought to Michigan an entirely new brand of football, not known in the Big Ten nor to the Middle West. Particularly, that was true of his offense. Speed and more speed was continually emphasized. Boss Weeks was instructed to call his signal for the next play while the team was getting up from the last play."

Team captain White recalled the time at Whitmore Lake as follows:"'The work at the Lake was a review in the first principles of the game, a thorough study and quiz upon the rules – something which had been sadly neglected in former years. It was also the first step in the conditioning of the team."

A new freshman, David Banks, wrote a letter to his mother about his experience in trying out for the football team in the fall of 1901:"'I am not sure whether I ought to play football or not. ... I put on Tom's suit one night and went down to the field to meet Yost and a few other men. They made me run around the track a couple times to try my wind. Then they rolled me around the ground and sat on me a while. I did not understand the necessity of all they did to me, but the boys say every great player must begin that way.'" On September 24, 1901, the Michigan Daily-News predicted that "Hurry up" would become the future title of Michigan's new coach, Fielding Yost.

Michigan 55, Albion 0
Michigan opened the 1901 season with a 55–0 win against Albion College. The game was played in 20-minute halves at Regents Field in Ann Arbor on September 28. Willie Heston appeared in his first game for the Wolverines as a substitute for Shaw at left halfback. In its account of the game, the Michigan Alumnus described Heston as a "stocky Californian" who "proved a whirlwind in bucking the line." Heston's first touchdown as a Wolverine came on a defensive take-away described as follows: "Once when Albion had the ball on her 25-yard line, Heston broke through between guard and center, got possession of the ball before it left the quarter back's hands, and made a touchdown."

Michigan 57, Case 0
On October 5, Michigan played its second game of the season against Case Scientific School from Cleveland, Ohio. In a short game of 20-minute halves, Michigan won by a score of 57–0. Heston scored four touchdowns in the game, and he and Sweeley were singled out for praise in the account of the game published in the Michigan Alumnus:"'Two men, Sweeley and Heston, constantly won the plaudits of the rooters by their long gains around the ends. Sweeley is fleet, and he kept his feet in a way that reminded the wise ones of McLean's remarkable performances. Heston proved himself the ground gainer that he has given evidence of being during the daily practices.'" In its coverage of the game, the Alumnus also noted that Michigan's new coach Yost "refuses to have a man on the field who [is] 'yellow' or who is not willing to work and to take his fair share of knocks." The Alumnus concluded: "If Michigan has a winning team, it will be because some of the enthusiasm of her coach has been transferred to the men."

Michigan 33, Indiana 0
On October 12, Michigan defeated Indiana, 33–0, at Regents Field. The game was played in a light rain on a "wet, heavy" playing field. Michigan scored its points "by straight line bucking." A newspaper account reported that, "From the first there was no doubt of the result, as Michigan scored a touchdown within four minutes." Indiana managed to gain five yards for a first down only once in the game, and Michigan turned to a kicking game in the second half. The longest gain of the game was a 70-yard kickoff return by Boss Weeks.

Following the win over Indiana, the student newspaper, The Wolverine noted: "The 'Varsity showing was most satisfactory. Against a heavier team, on a slippery field which was all in favor of the visitors and directly opposed to our style of play, the 'Varsity was not found wanting and turned victory into a fight for big scores. Even the most optimistic did not look for such a large score, with the elements against us. The smiling, yet earnest face of Coach Yost has become a favorite feature at the games. His success as a coach has already been demonstrated, and every Michigan man is proud of him as an athlete, as a coach and as a man."

Michigan 29, Northwestern 0
On October 19, Michigan defeated Northwestern by a score of 29–0 at Regents Field. In a game of two 25-minute halves, Heston scored three touchdowns and had runs of 55 and 45 yards. Northwestern's longest gain was six yards. The only threat to Michigan's goal came in the second half when Heston threw and incomplete pass to Sweeley. Northwestern took over at the ten-yard line and moved it by the "tandem play" to the two-yard line. Yost later recalled the impressive play of his team in preventing Northwestern to score: "The defense at this point was as good as I have ever seen. Northwestern could not advance a foot. When the ball was held for downs and Michigan had again obtained possession, our goal line had passed its only danger of the season." The Pittsburgh Press described the game as follows: "Just to show her superiority during the last few minutes of play, Michigan put in an all substitute line. The Michigan defence was impregnable and her offensive work grand."

Michigan's starters in the game were Curtis Redden (left end), Hugh White (left tackle), Dan McGugin (left guard), George Gregory (center), Ebin Wilson (right guard), Bruce Shorts (right tackle), Albert Herrnstein (right end), Boss Weeks (quarterback), Willie Heston (left halfback), Everett Sweeley (right halfback), and Neil Snow (fullback).

Michigan 128, Buffalo 0
On October 26, Michigan defeated the University of Buffalo by a score of 128–0 at Ann Arbor. Albert Herrnstein led the scoring with six touchdowns, and additional touchdowns were added by Neil Snow (4 touchdowns), Willie Heston (3), Arthur Redner (3), Curtis Redden (2) and Bruce Shorts (1). Shorts was also successful on 18 of 22 extra point kicks in the game. A newspaper account reported that "the most spectacular" play of the game came on a 90-yard touchdown run by Herrnstein. The victory was so dominant that the Buffalo team quit fifteen minutes before the game should have ended. The New York Times reported that the Wolverines' margin of victory was the third largest in the history of the sport:"'[T]he score of to-day's game was one of the most remarkable ever made in the history of football in the important colleges. Only two scores are recorded in American where a victory was won in more decided style. These occasions were when Stevens Institute beat the College of the City of New York by 162 to 0 at Hoboken, N.J., in 1885, and when Harvard beat Exeter by 158 to 0 at Exeter, Mass., in 1886.'"

After the game, Buffalo's Coach Brown said Michigan was "one of the most wonderful teams he ever saw," and added, "Michigan can defeat any team in the East." Buffalo had defeated the team from Columbia University, one of the stronger teams in the east, by a score of 5–0 earlier in the season. The 1901 Columbia team defeated Eastern "Big Four" power Penn, 11–0, and narrowly lost a game to Yale, 10–5. Several newspapers used the Buffalo game as a point of reference in assessing the strength of Michigan's 1901 team. The Pittsburgh Press reported that Michigan's big victory over a "fairly strong" Buffalo team "shows that Michigan has a remarkable team." The Daily Review from Decatur, Illinois observed: "Considering the fact that Buffalo trimmed Columbia rather easily, making a larger score against the college than did Harvard or Yale, there seems some justice in" Coach Brown's comments that Michigan could defeat Harvard, Yale or Princeton. The Adrian Daily Telegram opined: "Michigan defeated Buffalo 128 to 0, which clearly demonstrates that she can bump the big eastern four without much fear of disaster."

In 1916, Coach Yost shared his recollections of the Buffalo game with Big Bill Edwards: "Buffalo University came to Michigan with a much-heralded team. They were coached by a Dartmouth man and had not been scored upon. Buffalo papers referred to Michigan as the Woolly Westerners, and the Buffalo enthusiasts placed bets that Michigan would not score." The score at the end of the first half was 65 to 0. About fifteen minutes after the second half had started, Yost discovered a Buffalo player, Simpson, "on Michigan's side of the field, covered up in a blanket." Yost was curious and asked, "Simpson, what are you doing over here? You are on the wrong side." To which, Simpson replied, "Don't say anything. I know where I am at. The coach has put me in three times already and I'm not going in there again. Enough is enough for any one. I've had mine."

Michigan 22, Carlisle 0
The Wolverines defeated the Carlisle Indian School, 22–0, in a game played at Bennett Park in Detroit on November 2. The game was watched by a crowd of 8,000 spectators that included China's Minister to the United States, Wu Ting-Fan, occupying a box with former United States Secretary of War, Russell A. Alger. Michigan's 22 points came on three touchdowns (worth five points each), a field goal from Bruce Shorts (worth five points) and two extra points kicked by Shorts. At the end of the game, former Secretary of War Alger addressed the crowd and congratulated the Wolverines on their victory.

The New York Times pointed to the Carlisle game as evidence that Michigan's remarkable season was not limited to small institutions. Harvard and Cornell beat Carlisle in 1901 by scores of 29–0 and 17–0, and Penn narrowly beat Carlisle by a score of 16–14. Coach Yost later wrote that he believed Michigan would have won by an even larger score if Curtis Redden had not been injured. Michigan's convincing win over Carlisle, and its wins over Buffalo and Chicago, led the Times to conclude that a game between Michigan and one of the "Big Four" teams of the East "would be a conflict well worth seeing and productive of interesting and possibly startling results."

Michigan's starters in the game were Curtis Redden (left end), Hugh White (left tackle), Dan McGugin (left guard), George Gregory (center), Ebin Wilson (right guard), Bruce Shorts (right tackle), Albert Herrnstein (right end), Boss Weeks (quarterback), Willie Heston (left halfback), Everett Seeley (right halfback), and Neil Snow (fullback).

Michigan 21, Ohio State 0
Michigan defeated Ohio State, 21–0, in Columbus, Ohio on November 9. Ohio State held the Wolverines scoreless for 20 minutes and limited them to their lowest point total of the 1901 season. Fullback Neil Snow and left halfback Willie Heston scored two touchdowns each for Michigan (worth five points each), and Bruce Shorts added one extra point kick. At the end of the season, Coach Yost wrote of the Ohio State game: "The Ohio State game proved to be a hard one. We could score but 21 points against them, although there was no doubt in the minds of all who saw the game that Michigan's team was vastly superior in all departments of the game. Costly fumbles and short halves combined to make this score the lowest of the season."

Michigan's starters in the game were Curtis Redden (left end), Hugh White (left tackle), Dan McGugin (left guard), George Gregory (center), Ebin Wilson (right guard), Bruce Shorts (right tackle), Albert Herrnstein (right end), Boss Weeks (quarterback), Willie Heston (left halfback), Everett Seeley (right halfback), and Neil Snow (fullback).

Michigan 22, Chicago 0
On November 16, Michigan faced its traditional rival in Amos Alonzo Stagg's University of Chicago Maroons football team. Coach Yost noted, "I knew long before I came to Michigan of the great rivalry existing between this University and the University of Chicago. It was my desire to win this game above all others." The game was played at Regents Field in front of one of the largest crowds that ever attended a game up to that time in Ann Arbor. Michigan won the game 22–0 on two touchdowns by left tackle Hugh White and one touchdown each by fullback Neil Snow and right tackle Bruce Shorts. Michigan's defense held the Chicago offense to two first downs, and Chicago only once had possession of the ball in Michigan territory. Despite the win, Coach Yost was disappointed with the low point total accumulated by his team and publicly stated that "we would have scored many more points on Chicago if the field had been dry." Yost described the impact of the weather on his team as follows: "Much to our disappointment the game was played on a muddy field in a snowstorm, and the work of our backs was seriously handicapped. The Chicago team was not to the same extent handicapped by reason of the fact that it did not rely upon speed to advance the ball. ... End-running was impossible, and we were compelled to make our gains by line-bucking which is a slow process ..."

Michigan's starters in the game were Curtis Redden (left end), Hugh White (left tackle), Dan McGugin (left guard), George Gregory (center), Ebin Wilson (right guard), Bruce Shorts (right tackle), Albert Herrnstein (right end), Boss Weeks (quarterback), Willie Heston (left halfback), Everett Seeley (right halfback), and Neil Snow (fullback).

Michigan 89, Beloit 0
Michigan played its final home game on November 23 and won, 89–0, over Beloit College. The game was played on a wet field that was "practically a pond in the centre, filled in with sawdust before the game started." Because of the field conditions, Michigan was not able to execute its end runs and relied principally on "line bucking." Right end Albert Herrnstein scored six touchdowns for 30 points, including two kickoff returns for touchdowns in the second half. Coach Yost later recalled the scene on the field after one of Herrnstein's runs: "Once when Herrnstein made a long run for a touchdown I remember of seeing four Beloit players stretched on the ground in a line where they had made useless efforts to stop him." Right tackle Bruce Shorts scored a touchdown and kicked 14 extra points for 19 points. Fullback Neil Snow added three touchdowns for 15 points, and single touchdowns were scored by Heston, White, Graver, Sweeley and Redden. The Beloit team managed to gain the five yards required for a first down on only one drive late in the game. Beloit's one first down came on a fake kick followed by a run of 15 yards—the largest gain made by any team against Michigan in 1901. The New York Times reported: "The strong team from Beloit was unable to do anything against the Ann Arbor men."

Michigan's starters in the game were Curtis Redden (left end), Hugh White (left tackle), Dan McGugin (left guard), George Gregory (center), Ebin Wilson (right guard), Bruce Shorts (right tackle), Albert Herrnstein (right end), Boss Weeks (quarterback), Willie Heston (left halfback), Everett Seeley (right halfback), and Neil Snow (fullback).

Michigan 50, Iowa 0
Michigan closed its regular season schedule on November 28 with a 50–0 win over the University of Iowa at the National League Baseball Park in Chicago. The New York Times reported that "Michigan scored almost at will" and "outclassed" a "sturdy, plucky" Iowa team. Willie Heston and Bruce Shorts scored four touchdowns each for Michigan and "played a spectacular part for the Wolverines." Shorts added five successful extra point kicks giving him 25 points in the game.

Michigan's starters in the game were Curtis Redden (left end), Hugh White (left tackle), Dan McGugin (left guard), George Gregory (center), Ebin Wilson (right guard), Bruce Shorts (right tackle), Albert Herrnstein (right end), Boss Weeks (quarterback), Willie Heston (left halfback), Everett Seeley (right halfback), and Neil Snow (fullback).

Rose Bowl: Michigan 49, Stanford 0


After the conclusion of the 1901 football season, Michigan was invited to play against Stanford in the first Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, California. Michigan won the game on New Year's Day 1902 by the score of 49–0.

The players that traveled to California were starters, Hugh White, Curtis Redden, Dan McGugin, George Gregory, Bruce Shorts, Albert Herrnstein, Boss Weeks, Everett Sweeley, Willie Heston, and Neil Snow, and substitutes Arthur Redner (back), Benjamin Harrison Southworth (guard), James E. Forrest (tackle), and Paul J. Jones (back).

Accolades
At the conclusion of the 1901 season, team captain Hugh White gave head coach Fielding Yost and trainer Keene Fitzpatrick substantial credit for the performance of the 1901 team. He credited the coach with "inoculating into the men some of Mr. Yost's own spirit, impulsiveness and optimism," and with having the "faculty of adapting his plays to the material at hand so that he got the best there was out of every one of the eleven men." With respect to the trainer, White noted:"'An equally strong element, and one many are apt to overlook, was the work of Keene Fitzpatrick. Consider a team training nearly four months, without a man going stale, and but one injured so that he had to be taken out of the game! Then in addition a trip of nearly 3000 miles, from a climate where the thermometer registered 10 degrees below zero, into one of summer weather, and eleven men playing through an entire game and finishing it with faster and stronger play than at the beginning! Such were the results achieved by our trainer. ... Too much praise cannot be given him.'"

For its impressive average of 50 points per game on offense and eleven games of scoreless defense, the 1901 team has been recognized as one of the greatest college football teams of all time.

Varsity letter winners
The following 13 players received varsity "M" letters for their participation on the 1901 football team:

Varsity substitutes

 * Edward W. "John" Dickey, Weiser, Idaho, Law '02. "He has been a candidate for the center position. His work has been consistent. He is a hard fighter and a valuable man."
 * James E. Forest, 6 feet, 4 inches, 200 pounds, Ann Arbor, Michigan (started 1 game at left guard): "He is very heavy and has displayed good form at tackle."
 * Benjamin H. Southworth, 5 feet, 9 inches, 187 pounds, Reading, Michigan, Med '03. He appeared as a substitute in three games—at center in the Albion game, left tackle in the Buffalo game, and left guard in the Beloit game. "Southworth, the big guard, is a junior medic. He has the weight, and with an increase of speed will develop into a 'Varsity player."
 * Walter W. Shaw, 5 feet, 9 inches, 156 pounds, Kansas City, Missouri, Law '02. Shaw was a starting halfback in the first two games of the 1901 season, with Willie Heston as his backup. In the third and fourth games of the season against Indiana and Northwestern, Heston got the start at left halfback, and Shaw substituted for Heston late in the games. Shaw did not appear in any games for Michigan after the Northwestern game. According to a newspaper account at the end of the 1901 season, he was "kept out of the game most of the year by an injured knee."
 * Paul J. Jones, Youngstown, Ohio: "His work at fullback has been exceptionally good, and he is regarded as the most available man for that position next year."
 * James C. Knight - Norway, Michigan, 5 feet 11, inches, 165 pounds, Law '03. Knight played for Princeton as an undergraduate and subsequently appeared in five games for the 1901 Michigan team while studying law there. He was Michigan's starting right end in the first two games of 1901 season. He was a substitute in the Indiana game, but returned to the starting lineup against Northwestern. He appeared as a substitute in the Carlisle game, but did not appear in any further games during the 1901 season.
 * Norman Sterry
 * Daniel Wallace Woodward - Clinton, Wisconsin (started 1 game at right tackle)

Reserves

 * Albert Preussman, 158	pounds, Chicago, IL: "Preussman, the quarterback, has been the whole life of the reserve team. He runs the plays off fast and handles the ball well."
 * Arthur G. Urquhart, 167 pounds, Ironwood, Michigan: "His work at halfback has shown great improvement this year. He is aggressive and fearless and has been a faithful worker."
 * John F. Hincks, 167 pounds, Manistee, Michigan: "Hincks has been on the reserves two years. He is a halfback and has done some good end running this year. He is also a fine punter."
 * Andrew G. Reid, 158 pounds, Indianola, Iowa (Simpson College): "Reid is a first year student in the law department. He has developed rapidly in the fullback position."
 * David L. Dunlap, Hopkinton, Iowa: "Dunlap, '05 medic, has played a good game at end. He is fast and with more experience will develop into a valuable man."
 * Norman Sterry, Los Angeles, California: "Sterry, '03 law, is a good man in any of the line positions. He knows the game thoroughly and is a hard, earnest player."
 * Cecil Gooding, 192 pounds, Ann Arbor, Michigan: "Gooding, '05 engineer, played on the Ann Arbor High School team last year. He played center on the all-fresh team this year and has shown up well on the reserves."
 * David E. Beardsley, Kalamazoo, Michigan: "Beardsley, '02 lit, formerly played tackle on his class team. He has been used at the end on the reserves where he played a good, consistent game."
 * William Edward Snushall, Traverse City, Michigan: "Snushall, the guard, is a sophomore engineer. He is a hard worker and has shown good form."
 * George Mark Davidson, Wichita, Kansas: "Davidson, '03 engineer, has shown up well at halfback. He runs well and fights hard on the defensive."
 * Joseph C. Horgan, 175	pounds, Victor, Colorado: "Horgan, '03 law, has been used at tackle and guard. He plays a good defensive game and has been a reliable reserve."
 * Moses Johnson, Wichita, Kansas: "Johnson, '05 lit, has shown fine form at tackle. He is well built for a line position and is undoubtedly good 'varsity material."
 * Samuel J. Sackett, Ann Arbor, MI: "Sackett, '03 law, has played halfback on the reserves. He played quarterback last year on the reserves, and the same position on the '03 lit team in 1899."
 * Harold Baker, Rochester, New York, 185 pounds (N.Y. Military Academy): "Baker, '05 homeop., formerly played on the University of Rochester team. He is heavy and active and should make a good guard or center."
 * Claude C. Frazer, Flint, Michigan: "Frazier, '02 law, although light, has done good work at end."

Coaching staff

 * Head coach: Fielding H. Yost
 * Assistant coach: Bennie Owen
 * Trainer: Keene Fitzpatrick
 * Manager: Harry K. Crafts, Class of 1902 (Law)
 * Manager elect: Joseph H. Ferguson, Class of 1903 (Lit.)

Awards and honors

 * Captain: Hugh White
 * All-Americans: Neil Snow
 * All-Western: Willie Heston (Outing, Collier's), Boss Weeks (Outing, Collier's), Bruce Shorts (Outing, Collier's), Neil Snow (Outing, Collier's)