1897 Harvard Crimson football team

The 1897 Harvard Crimson football team represented Harvard University in the 1897 college football season. The Crimson finished with a 10–1–1 record and shut out 10 of 12 opponents under first-year head coach William Cameron Forbes, who later served as Governor-General of the Philippines (1908–13) and Ambassador of the United States to Japan (1930–32). The 1897 team won its first ten games by a combined 227-5 score. It then closed the season playing to a scoreless tie with Yale and losing by a 15-6 score against Penn.[1][2]

1897 Harvard Crimson football
Conference	Independent
1897 record	10–1–1
Head coach	William Cameron Forbes (1st season)
Captain	Norman Cabot
Home stadium	Soldiers' Field

1897 Eastern college football independents records
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Penn			–					15	–	0	–	0
Yale			–					9	–	0	–	2
Buffalo			–					7	–	0	–	0
Princeton			–					10	–	1	–	0
Harvard			–					10	–	1	–	1
Drexel			–					7	–	1	–	1
Army			–					6	–	1	–	1
Lafayette			–					9	–	2	–	1
Colgate			–					5	–	2	–	1
Fordham			–					2	–	1	–	1
Cornell			–					5	–	3	–	1
Syracuse			–					5	–	3	–	1
Brown			–					7	–	4	–	0
Carlisle			–					6	–	4	–	0
Boston College			–					4	–	3	–	0
Temple			–					3	–	3	–	0
Trinity (CT)			–					4	–	4	–	1
Wesleyan			–					6	–	6	–	0
Tufts			–					6	–	7	–	0
Geneva			–					3	–	4	–	1
Pittsburgh College			–					2	–	3	–	1
Villanova			–					3	–	5	–	1
Penn State			–					3	–	6	–	0
Amherst			–					2	–	6	–	2
Frankin & Marshall			–					2	–	6	–	2
Lehigh			–					3	–	7	–	0
New Hampshire			–					2	–	5	–	0
Western Univ. Penn.			–					1	–	3	–	0
Rutgers			–					2	–	7	–	0

Two Harvard players received consensus honors on the 1897 College Football All-America Team: center Allan Doucette and halfback Benjamin Dibblee. Other notable players on Harvard's 1897 team included end Norman Cabot and tackle Malcolm Donald.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
October 2	Williams	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA	W 20–0	2,000	[3]
October 6	Bowdoin	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA	W 24–0		[4]
October 9	Dartmouth	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA (rivalry)	W 13–0	5,000	[5]
October 13	Amherst	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA	W 38–0		[6]
October 16	at Army	The Plain West Point, NY	W 10–0	2,000	[7]
October 20	Newton Athletic Association	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA	W 24–0		[8]
October 23	Brown	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA	W 18–0	8,000	[9][10]
October 26	Newtowne Athletic Club	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA	W 22–0	1,500	[11]
October 30	Cornell	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA	W 24–5	6,000	[12]
November 3	Wesleyan	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA	W 34–0	1,200	[13][14]
November 13	Yale	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA (rivalry)	T 0–0	25,000	[15]
November 20	at Penn	Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA (rivalry)	L 6–15	25,000	[16]

References

1. "1897 Harvard Crimson Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
2. "Harvard Football Yearly Records". GoCrimson.com. Harvard University. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
3. "Harvard 20, Williams 0: Regular Football Season Opened on Soldiers Field". The Boston Globe. October 3, 1897. p. 1 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
4. "Harvard Wins Easily: Play Against Bowdoin Hardly Up to Expected Standard". The Boston Globe. October 7, 1897. p. 9 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
5. "Harvard Wins Easily: Dartmouth Is Outgeneraled and Beaten By Score of 13 to 0". The Boston Globe. October 10, 1897. p. 1 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
6. "Harvard Scores Well: Amherst Gets Near Crimson's Line Only Once in the Game". The Boston Globe. October 15, 1897. pp. 1, 4 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
7. "Hot Work on the Gridiron: Harvard Defeats West Point 10-0 After a Stubborn Contest". The Boston Globe. October 17, 1897. p. 1 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
8. "Surpasses Yale: Harvard Team Piles Up 24 Points Against Newton". Boston Post. October 21, 1897. p. 3 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
9. "Fierce Onslaughts: Brown's Line Was Unable to Withstand Harvard's Determined Rushes". The Boston Globe. October 24, 1897. p. 1 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.(attendance 8,000 at Soldiers Field)
10. "Harvard's Football Giants Keep Brown From Scoring: Crimson's Men Piled Up 18 Points, and Their Line Was Impenetrable". Boston Post. October 24, 1897. pp. 1, 3 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
11. "Weak Showing: Harvard's Play Against Newtowne a Discouraging Exhibition; Final Score Was 22 to 0". Boston Post. October 27, 1897. p. 3 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
12. "Harvard Wins: Crimson Football Team Defeats Cornell's Brave Warriors, 24 to 5". Boston Post. October 31, 1897. pp. 1, 3 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
13. "Easy Victory: Harvard Eleven Defeats Wesleyan 34 to 0". Boston Post. October 4, 1897. p. 3 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.(1,200 attendance)
14. "Harvard Plays Well: Some Encouragement From The Game With Wesleyan Which Ends 34-0". The Boston Globe. November 4, 1897. p. 1 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
15. Langdon Smith (November 14, 1897). "Harvard and Yale Tie: Neither Side Able to Score a Point During 70 Minutes of Fierce Play". The Boston Globe. p. 1 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
16. "Pennsylvania Lowered Fair Harvard's Colors: In a Pretty Contest Witnessed by a Crowd of Twenty-Five Thousand People". The Times (Philadelphia). November 21, 1897. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.