Research Reveals Earliest Reference Yet to Football Played in Pelham

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The Town of Pelham long has been a sports-crazy town.  From its hockey and baseball, to its football, soccer, basketball, tennis, rowing, swimming and, yes, even diving (among many other sports), Pelham residents long have devoted amazing amounts of time, money, and effort to sports of every type.  Chief among the crown jewels of Pelham sports have been the many world-class athletes of the New York Athletic Club who have trained and competed on the club's grounds on Travers Island in Pelham Manor during the last 125 years.

No history of Pelham would be complete without considering the evolution of sports and recreation in our region and its impact on the development of our town.  Among such notable sports is football.  As with baseball, I have tried to document early instances of football games played in Pelham.  Until now, the earliest game I have been able to document was played on Thanksgiving afternoon in 1894.  To learn more about early football in Pelham, see:

Wed., Dec. 02, 2015:  Earliest Football Games Played in Pelham.

Thu., May 08, 2014:  Thanksgiving Day Football Game in 1895 Between Pelham Manor and Mount Vernon Teams.

Today's evidence of football played in Pelham admittedly is based on a brief, passing reference.  Yet, it provides evidence that football was being played recreationally in our Town as early as 1877, albeit merely at the equivalent of a company picnic on City Island!

On Wednesday, September 26, 1877, about one hundred people associated with the "Wm. Cook Association" of the Eleventh Ward in New York City traveled to the Minnieford Shore House on City Island for a large social gathering.  Research has not yet revealed the nature of the organization referenced as "Wm. Cook Association," although the reference to its being from the "Eleventh Ward" suggests it may have been a political organization.  (The Eleventh Ward was a 19th century Manhattan political district covering much of today's Lower East Side.)  A man named William Cook was involved in New York City politics and was paid by the city for "fitting up" polling booths in the Eleventh Ward at about this time.

I have written before about the Minnieford Shore House run by Charles McClennon where the football games were played.  It was located at the steam boat landing on City Island before.  See:

Fri., Mar. 21, 2014:  Examples of Very Early Merchant Advertisements in the Town of Pelham.  

 Thu., Feb. 11, 2016:  Was a City Island Hotel Keeper Among the First to Learn of the Great Oyster Bed Discovered in 1859?

During the gathering on Wednesday, September 26, 1877, according to a brief newspaper reference quoted in full below,  "[a]mong the diversions employed to while away the time" were "baseball, football matches, boat races, foot races, etc."  (See below.)

Thus, it seems, football was being played on City Island in the Town of Pelham as early as 1877.  Of course, the rules of football were still developing in 1877.  The year before, the American Intercollegiate Football Association had been created in Springfield, Massachusetts.  The Association adopted rules that were a modified version of Rugby Union Rules.  In 1877, when the "football matches" were played near the Minnieford Shore House on City Island, teams consisted of fifteen players with nine on the so-called "rush line," a quarterback, two halfbacks, a "1 three-quarter back" and two fullbacks.  Games where ninety minutes long.  Players wore no helmets and uniforms were archaic by today's standards.    

The sport of football, in short, was developing.  There were only eight college football teams in 1877.  According to the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book, there was no clear national collegiate champion team that year with both Yale and Princeton selected as national champions.  That year there was a major dispute over whether the Intercollegiate Football Association rules should be amended to reduce the number of players per team on the field from fifteen to eleven.  Only a couple of years before the rules had been changed to reduce the number of players on the field per team from twenty five to fifteen.

One thing is certain, however.  By 1877 enough excitement regarding the young sport of football had developed in the New York City region so that young men from New York City gathered on City Island in the Town of Pelham to play football matches.

Engraving Depicting a Late 19th Century Football

Game. NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

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Below is the text of the brief newspaper references to football matches played on City Island in the Town of Pelham on September 26, 1877.  It is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"City Island.

The Wm. Cook Association from the Eleventh Ward, New York City, about 100 strong, visited McClennon's Minneford Shore House [sic; the business was named "Minnieford Shore House"], last Wednesday, and had a jolly good time.  Among the diversions employed to while away the time were baseball, football matches, boat races, foot races, etc.

Messrs. Liming & Co. of the City Island Hotel, have just fitted up a very neat and tasty ladies' and gents' oyster and dining room adjoining the barroom of the hotel.

The yacht Ambassadress, which was so successively [sic] launched on Saturday last, was towed from Carll's ship yard to New York on Wednesday last.

Get your rods and reels ready, bass are beginning to bite and Flynn can furnish you with bait."

Source:  City Island, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Sep. 28, 1877, Vol. IX, No. 419, p. 1, col. 6.  

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Football and Tennis Star George Adee Lived In Pelham

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During the final decades of the 19th century, there was an area in the Town of Pelham known as Bartow (also known as Bartow-on-the-Sound, Bartow Village, and Bartow Station).  Bartow was a quaint and tiny settlement located on the mainland near City Island.  The settlement sprang up around the railroad station serving City Island that was built on the Branch Line that opened in late December, 1873.  The entire area -- as well as City Island -- was annexed by New York City in 1895, effective in 1896. Before then, however, Bartow became an important part of Pelham and its history.

One notable Bartow resident during the 1890s was George Adee.  At the time, Adee was a college All-American quarterback at Yale who attracted national attention as a celebrity athlete.  He later became a champion tennis star and tennis administrator who was named to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

1894 Mayo's Cut Plug Tobacco Trading Card No. 2 Featuring

College Football Player George Adee of Yale.  Source:

Wikipedia.  NOTE:  Click on Link to Enlarge.

George Townsend Adee was born January 4, 1874 in Stonington, Connecticut.  He was a son of George Augustus Adee (b. Apr. 11, 1847; d. Aug. 12, 1908) and Adelaide Palmer Stanton (b. Aug. 18, 1844; d. 1931).  By the age of six, George Townsend Adee had moved with his family to the town of Westchester (now part of the Bronx, but then in lower Westchester County, New York).  

He attended the Harrington School in Westchester.  At about this time, his family moved to Bartow in the Town of Pelham.  Adee's father, George Augustus Adee, long had been involved with the Country Club at Pelham located at Bartow.  He was a notable real estate lawyer and yachtsman.   When the Country Club at Pelham moved to Throgg's Neck in the late 1880s, George Augustus Adee (who was described as the "boating expert of the club"), supervised the construction of a "very substantial dock and float" to assure at least seven feet of water at low tide at the new club location on Throgg's Neck.  

Members of the So-Called "Fleeing Club" Who Fled The City

Whenever Possible to Enjoy Themselves.  Photograph Taken

in 1898.  Left to Right:  George Augustus Adee, Father of

George Townsend Adee, Julian Curtis, Otto Bannard (President

of New York Trust), Henry James, William Milo Barnum (Founder

of Simpson, Thacher & Barnum, Now Known as Simpson Thacher

& Bartlett LLP), and Thomas Thacher (Name Partner of Simpson

Thacher & Bartlett).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

George Townsend Adee attended Yale University during the mid-1890s.  Quite an athlete, Adee became a star quarterback for the Yale Football Team (1892-1894) and made the Whitney-Camp All-America team in 1894.  That honor earned Adee a card (Card No. 2) in the 1894 Mayo's Cut Plug Tobacco Card trading set (see image above).  While at Yale, Adee was also a celebrated oarsman on the Crew team and served as Team Manager as well.  From 1895 to 1911 (excepting his service service in the Spanish American War), Adee coached quarterbacks part-time for Yale and became an active member of the Yale Football Association and various Yale alumni associations for much of his life.

George Townsend Adee served as a private in the New York Volunteer Cavalry during the Puerto Rico Expedition of the Spanish American War in 1898.  He continued his military service during World War I, attending Officer Training Camp in Plattsburg, New York and serving as a commissioned infantry Major in the United States Army.  He served in the American Expeditionary Forces under Blackjack Pershing in France in 1917 and fought in the Battle of Saint Miheil and the Meuse-Argone Offensive.

Major George Townsend Adee in an Undated Photograph Taken

in About 1917 or 1918.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.  

After his graduation from college, George Townsend Adee joined the investment banking and brokerage firm of Culyer, Morgan & Co.  In 1899 he left the firm and formed the partnership Batcheller & Adee (1899-1905) operating on the New York Curb Exchange (a predecessor to AMEX).  He reformed the partnership as Batcheller, Adee & Rawlins operating on the New York Stock Exchange and continued working as an investment banker for the remainder of his life.

In the early years of the Twentieth Century, Adee became an outstanding tennis player.  He played in the United States Championships six times (1903-1909).  Thereafter, he became passionately involved with the sport and rose through administrative ranks to serve as President of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association from 1916 until 1919.  He became Chairman of the United States Davis Cup Committee, the United States National Lawn Tennis Association Amateur Rules Committee, and held other notable administrative positions in the sport of tennis.  Adee was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum for such endeavors.  

Even after Bartow was annexed from Pelham to become part of the Bronx, George Townsend Adee and his family remained for a time and are even reflected as residing in the Bronx in the 1900 United States Census.  The 1910 United States Census reflects George Townsend Adee living with his mother, an older sister, and two "servants" in The Knickerbocker Apartments at 247 Fifth Avenue at 28th Street in New York City.  The 1930 United States Census shows Adee living with his 85-year-old mother in an apartment in the building located at 50 East 58th Street in New York City.  

George Townsend Adee received an honorary degree from Yale in 1931.  Throughout his life he was an active sportsman who enjoyed sailing, shooting, tennis, and golf.  He was fond of opera and was a Republican and an Episcopalian.  Adee died in New York City on July 31, 1948.  

To read more about George Adee, see:

"George Adee" in Wikipedia:  The Free Encyclopedia (visited Jul. 17, 2016).  

"George Adee" in International Tennis Hall of Fame (visited Jul. 17, 2016).


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"NEWS FROM OUR ENVIRONS.
-----
(From Our Correspondent.)
PELHAM MANOR. . . . 

BARTOW.
-----

-- Mr. Henry Castrop, the hotel keeper, and wife of this place have gone to Germany for the winter.

-- Mrs. Hogan a widow who has lived in this place for more than fifteen years, has moved to New York City.

-- The schooner Clara Waples which ran into Pelham Bridge some weeks ago has been newly fitted out and she looks as good as new.

-- An unknown man from New Rochelle went on the ice in Turtle Cove, on Saturday last, spearing eels and fell through the ice and was drowned.

-- Louis Ritter of Pelham Bridge has got the contract from the Riverside Steamboat Company to light the red light on Buck rock for the winter.

-- The Tallappoise Fishing Club has closed its summer home at Pelham Bridge, and opened their winter house at 150th street and Third avenue.

-- Mr. Barker of New York, a stockholder in the New York Central, has hired Goose Island from the Park Department and stocked it with water fowl.

-- Jos. Schock who found the body of the drowned man in East Chester Creek has received a reward of fifty dollars from the family of the deceased.

-- George Adee, champion quarterback football player on the Yale team arrived at his home in Bartow Wednesday night, for the first time since the season began.

-- The Westchester County Electric Light Company have got permission from the Park Department to put the electric light through the park.  It will not make driving very pleasant in the park in the evening.

-- At the last meeting of the Pelham Park Board it was decided to discharge the sixty men who have been employed in the park all summer and fifteen teams.  There are but one team and five men in service now. . . ."

Source:  NEWS FROM OUR ENVIRONS . . . BARTOW, New Rochelle Pioneer, Jan. 12, 1895, p. 8, col. 4.  

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Earliest Evidence Yet of 19th Century Football Played in the Town of Pelham

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Last night the nation watched the national title football game between top-ranked, undefeated Clemson and no. 2 Alabama.  With Alabama's 45 to 40 victory and its crowning as the new National Champion, today seems the perfect time to explore a little more about early football in the Town of Pelham.  

As I have written before, for years I have pursued the Quixotic quest of documenting the earliest years of the sport of baseball in the Town of Pelham.  See, e.g., Mon., Dec. 22, 2014:  Rare 1889 Photograph of Baseball Players Playing on Pelham Field (and links therein to 36 additional articles on the topic).  The earliest documented reference to baseball being played in Pelham, so far, involves a game between the Uniteds of Westchester and the Nonpareils of City Island that was played in October, 1865.  See Fri., Mar. 28, 2014: Earliest Evidence Yet! Baseball Was Played in Pelham Only Months After the Civil War Ended.

It has been far more difficult to assemble evidence that football was played in the Town of Pelham during the 19th century.  To date, the earliest evidence I have been able to assemble involves football games played in Pelham during the mid-1890s.  See:

Wed., Dec. 02, 2015:  Earliest Football Games Played in Pelham.  

Thu., May 08, 2014:  Thanksgiving Day Football Game in 1895 Between Pelham Manor and Mount Vernon Teams.

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog moves the dial back by nearly a decade and demonstrates that the sport of "foot-ball" was played in Pelham as early as 1884.

Although the sport we know today as American football has a long, complex history, suffice it to say that at least by shortly after the Civil War, students at various eastern colleges were combining elements from the sports of rugby and soccer to play a new sport they called "foot-ball" or "football."  The first intercollegiate football game was played between Princeton and Rutgers in 1869.  By 1873, various colleges subscribed to an agreed-upon set of rules.  The man known as the "Father of American Football," Walter Camp, played halfback at Yale until 1882.  Thereafter he coached football teams at Yale and Stanford and was inducted into the College Football Hall of fame in 1951, long after his death.

The Town of Pelham enjoyed the sport of foot-ball while the new sport was still in its infancy.  The January 25, 1884 issue of The Chronicle published in Mount Vernon, New York contains a brief report of the news of Pelham and City Island.  The report indicates that two Pelham teams played an "interesting contest at foot-ball" on Friday, January 18, 1884.  According to the report James Prout and Thomas Collins each formed a team and played the game with the final score:  Collins' Team, 22 vs. Prout's Team, 19.  

Tom Collins was a City Island oysterman, described in an article later the same year as "a red-faced good-natured Irishman."  See City Island's Oysters, The Chronicle Supplement [Mount Vernon, NY], Nov. 28, 1884, p. 1, col. 4.  In 1884, James B. Prout served as Commissioner of Excise of the Town of Pelham.  See ABSTRACT OF TOWN ACCOUNTS, Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], pr. 17, 1885, Supplement to Eastern State Journal, p. Supp. 2, col. 4.

The account of the January 18, 1884 game is, so far, the earliest account yet of football played in the Town of Pelham.

Harvard Football Team in 1884, the Same Year Tom Collins'

Foot-Ball Team Beat James B. Prout's Team in a Game Played

In Pelham.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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Below is the text of the account that forms the basis for today's article posted to the Historic Pelham Blog.  It is followed by a citation and source to its link.

"PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND.

An interesting contest at foot-ball, between two teams, chosen respectively by Mr. James Prout and Mr. Thos. Collins, took place on Friday last, and resulted in a victory for the Collins team, by a score of 22 to 19.

It is reported that a number of residents of Bartow complain bitterly of the careless manner in which the postmaster of that place discharges his duty; that letters have been opened by unknown parties, and mail matter has been presented to the owners, in a dilapidated condition.  If these charges can be substantiated, it is about time there was a change made in the postmastership."

Source:  PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Jan. 25, 1884, Vol. XV, No. 749, p. 3, col. 3.  

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Earliest Football Games Played in Pelham

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For years I have pursued the Quixotic quest of documenting the earliest years of the sport of baseball in the Town of Pelham.  See, e.g., Mon., Dec. 22, 2014:  Rare 1889 Photograph of Baseball Players Playing on Pelham Field (and links therein to 36 additional articles on the topic).  The earliest documented reference to baseball being played in Pelham, so far, involves a game between the Uniteds of Westchester and the Nonpareils of City Island that was played in October, 1865.  See Fri., Mar. 28, 2014:  Earliest Evidence Yet! Baseball Was Played in Pelham Only Months After the Civil War Ended.  

Football, in contrast, was not as popular in Pelham during the 19th century.  It most certainly was not played in Pelham as early as was baseball.  Nevertheless, research reveals that by the mid-1890s, the young men of Pelham and the surrounding region were playing an early version of football.  I have written about a pair of 1895 football games, one played Thanksgiving Day,  between the Pelham Manor Athletic Club and the Mount Vernon Football Club played on Travers Island.  See Thu., May 08, 2014:  Thanksgiving Day Football Game in 1895 Between Pelham Manor and Mount Vernon Teams.

Nineteenth century football was a particularly brutal sport played by competitors with virtually no padding or safety equipment.  Moreover, the sport became even more violent during the 1890s.  According to one account published in 1894, in 1893:

"a new style of game was developed, known as the 'momentum' play, where a number of players -- perhaps five or six -- bunch together some distance behind where the ball is down, and start on the dead run before the ball is put in play.  They run toward the rush line and as they near it the ball is put in play and passed to some one who follows in the wake of the group of running interferers."

Source:  NEW FOOTBALL RULES, The Chicago Tribune, Sep. 3, 1894, p. 11, col. 7.  

As one might expect, these "Flying Wedge" or "Flying V" formations involved large masses of young men running at one another and colliding at full speed resulting in monumental injuries.  Indeed, the violence of the sport attracted a great deal of national attention in 1893 and 1894.  In 1894, the Harvard-Yale game -- a game that became known as the "Hampden Park Blood Bath" -- involved "crippling injuries for four players."  Due to similar violence in 1893, the annual Army-Navy football game was suspended from 1894 to 1898.  

Despite the violence, by late 1894, the young men of the Town of Pelham were playing football.  Brief accounts of matches played in Pelham, however, made clear that the sport was no less violent even if only played locally.  One account describing a game between two City Island football teams, the Invincibles and the Pliables, on Thanksgiving afternoon in 1894 noted that although neither team played in "colors," once the game was "well under way" the color of both had become "blood red."  

Clearly in 1894 football was a sport in its infancy in the Town of Pelham.  For example, one account of a game played between a City Island football club named "The Pelhams" and the Mount Vernon High School football team on December 15, 1894 stated that about two hundred spectators watched the match.  It further noted that many of the spectators "had never seen a game before."  

Engraving Depicting a Late 19th Century Football Game.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

The game played on Thanksgiving afternoon, 1894, seemed to be more of an exhibition than a true competition.  The Invincibles and the Pliables were described as "two impromptu local football clubs."  The same account noted that "no score was kept" and, thus, the two teams would still be "at odds until one year hence."

The football game played on Saturday, December 15, 1894 was a much more formal affair.  The Mount Vernon High School football team played the City Island football club named "The Pelhams."  According to one account, the game was played "on the grounds in Pelham Park" with about two hundred spectators present.  (It is not clear where "the grounds" were located, but Pelham Bay Park at the time was located within the Town of Pelham.

The Mount Vernon High School football team was the visiting team and, consequently, was allowed to choose its end of the field.  Of course, it chose "the down grade" -- i.e., it began the game facing downhill on the sloping field so The Pelhams would have to battle up the hill.  In the first half of the game (referenced as the "first half inning"), Mount Vernon scored three "goals" for a total of 18 points and maintained possession of the ball for the entire half.

In the "second half inning" of the game, Mount Vernon picked up where it had left off and marched the ball to the opposing goal where The Pelhams stopped the scoring drive.  The Pelhams then drove the ball to the center of the field when time expired with Mount Vernon on top, 18 to 0.  

Only a few weeks later, The Pelhams played a New Rochelle football club on Christmas day.  The brief account of the game is rather confused.  It states in its entirety as follows:

"The Pelhams were disappointed in their game of football with the New Rochelle boys on Christmas day, but, being full of fight, they succeeded in raising a scrub team, which, to the average observer, seem to have given them a pretty close rub.  The correct score shows a victory of four to nothing, which means the Pelhams secured a touchdown but not a goal."

Detail from Box Top of 1894 Parker Bros. Football Board

Game:  "THE YALE-HARVARD GAME"  NOTE:  Click

on Image to Enlarge.

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Hopefully further research will reveal even earlier football games played in the Town of Pelham or played by Pelham football teams.  For now, the earliest football game yet identified in Pelham seems to be a game played on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 1894.

Immediately below is the text of a number of articles on which today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog is based.  Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.  

"THANKSGIVING FOOTBALL.

The Invincibles, and the Pliables, two impromptu local football clubs met in earnest combat Thanksgiving afternoon, to determine which was the superior.  Throughout the game, an earnestness equaling that of the Yale or Princeton teams was quite manifest, and so mixed up were the teams at times that it was impossible to tell which was getting worsted.

Neither team had selected its colors until well under way, when it became firmly established that both had adopted blood red as their emblem.  So furious was the onslaught at times that a high mound of human beings graced the field.  And, when it was not considered high enough outsiders added to its volume.

No score was kept, and the teams are still at odds until one year hence."

Source:  THANKSGIVING FOOTBALL, The City Island Drift, Dec. 1, 1894, p. 4, col. 1. 

"The Pelhams expect to play the Mt. Vernon High School at a game of football today at Mt. Vernon.  The team will probably line up as follows. [Paragraph Ends Here Wiith No Further Information.]

On Christmas, they expect to play a team from New Rochelle High School on these grounds.

Smith Center.
Ross Right Guard
Boule Right Tackle
Bell Right End
Hogan Right Tackle
Anderson Left Guard
Lemascue Q Back
Booth Left End
Rohlf R Half Back
Carey L Half Back
Stratton Full Back"

Source:  [Untitled], The City Island Drift, Dec. 22, 1894, p. 2, col. 1.  

"FOOTBALL LAST SATURDAY

The interested centered in the football game last Saturday [December 15, 1894], was quite manifest by the attendance on the grounds in Pelham Park.  About two hundred were assembled, many of whom had never seen a game before.  The teams lined up as follows:

Mt. Vernon High School.		Pelhams.
Burton	Center	Smith
Lomas	Right Guard	Ross
White	Right Tackle	Boule
Griffith	Right End	Lemascue
Powell	Left Guard	Banta
Campbell	Left Tackle	Hogan
Adams	Left End	Bell
Sloate	Q Back	Stratton
Bourne	R Half Back	Rohlf
Hunt	L Half Back	Booth
White	Full Back	Carey

The visitors had the choice and took advantage of the down grade.  In the first half inning the visitors made three goals, scoring 18 points.  The Pelhams fought bravely, but were beaten well, not having the ball in their possession after it had been put in play.

The second half inning showed that the boys were warming up.

The visitors nearly reached their goal but the Pelhams being favored by having the ball in their possession more were able to regain the lost ground, earning every inch of it.  Time was called and the Pelhams were left in the center of the field with a score of 18 to 0 against them."

Source:  FOOTBALL LAST SATURDAY, The City Island Drift, Dec. 22, 1894, p. 3, col. 2.  

"The Pelhams were disappointed in their game of football with the New Rochelle boys on Christmas day, but, being full of fight, they succeeded in raising a scrub team, which, to the average observer, seem to have given them a pretty close rub.  The correct score shows a victory of four to nothing, which means the Pelhams secured a touchdown but not a goal."

Source:  [Untitled], The City Island Drift, Dec. 29, 1894, p. 3, col. 1.  

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Thanksgiving Day Football Game in 1895 Between Pelham Manor and Mount Vernon Teams

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Unlike the sport of baseball, there seems to be very little evidence of football being played in Pelham during the 19th century.  It seems, however, that as early as 1895 there already was a football rivalry between Pelham and Mount Vernon.  

Football was very different nearly 120 years ago.  Indeed, some claim that the forward pass was only "invented" that year in a football game between the University of North Carolina Tar Heels and the University of Georgia Bulldogs.  See Quincy, Bob, They Made the Bell Tower Chime (Chapel Hill, NC:  Chapel Hill Newspaper, 1973).  The equipment was simplistic and the concept of "professional" football was in its infancy with modest payments occasionally made to journeyman players to participate in particular games.  

Football Player in Uniform, 1895.

Source:  Many Football Games, Mount Vernon Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], 

Nov. 29, 1895, Vol. XV, No. 1118, p. 4, col. 1.  

Although the record is sparse, there is evidence that some believed the members of the Mount Vernon team were a group of "toughs" as one newspaper article put it.  In mid-November, the football team of the Pelham Manor Athletic Club played the Mount Vernon Football Club on the grounds of the New York Athletic Club on Travers Island.  The two teams seemed evenly matched.  Mount Vernon beat Pelham Manor 9 to 0.

Shortly afterward, the manager of the Pelham Manor team, W.C. Beecroft, wrote a letter to the manager of the Mount Vernon Football Club, Harry L. Lovell.  The letter thanked the Mount Vernon team for playing such a "gentlemanly" game and said the game was the "whitest" [i.e., cleanest] ever played on Travers Island.  

The two teams promptly decided to hold a rematch on Thanksgiving morning, November 28, 1895.  Both teams seem to have prepared vigorously for the contest.  Several newspaper reports in advance of the game mention that the Mount Vernon team was "practicing hard to win" and that the game was expected to be "close" and "interesting."  The Pelham Manor Athletic Club, in the meantime, apparently decided to add a few ringers.  According to a report in the Mount Vernon Daily Argus, the Pelham Manor Athletic Club strengthened its team by adding some players from the New York Athletic Club and some "college players."  

On Thanksgiving morning a "great crowd" gathered on the Athletic Grounds maintained by the Mount Vernon Y.M.C.A.  As might be expected, the game was marked by "considerable rough playing" and was a "very fast" game.  Only one touchdown was scored and the Pelham Manor Athletic Club won the contest 12 to 4.  The following day the local newspaper in Mount Vernon reported that the Mount Vernon team groused that the "Pelham Manor club had two professionals on their team."  The newspaper further noted that "from the work behind the line, the charge was pretty well sustained."

With one win under the belt of each team, the manager of the Mount Vernon team challenged the Pelham Manor A.C. to a third rubber match.  The captain of the Pelham Manor team declined, apparently deciding discretion was the better part of valor.  

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Transcribed below are a few of the articles about the 1895 matches, followed by citations to their sources.

"OUR TEAM BEATEN AT FOOTBALL.
-----
Exciting Game -- Score, 12 to 4.
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There was a great crowd on the Athletic Grounds Thursday morning [November 28, 1895] to witness the game of football between the Mount Vernon and Pelham Manor Clubs.  The home eleven had once before defeated the visitors by a score of 9 to 0.  The two teams were looked upon as evenly matched, and an exciting game was looked for, so the friends of the home team were not disappointed.  The game was very fast, and considerable rough playing was indulged in.  The Mount Vernon team claimed that Pelham Manor club had two professionals on their team and from the work behind the line, the charge was pretty well sustained.  The game was very interesting as the score 12 to 4 in favor of the visitors indicates.  Griffiths made the only touch down.  After the game Manager Lovell challenged the visitors to another game, but the Pelham Manor captain declined."

Source:  OUR TEAM BEATEN AT FOOTBALL, Mount Vernon Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Nov. 29, 1895, Vol. XV, No. 1118, p. 1, col. 3.

"Football Thanksgiving Day.
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The Mount Vernon foot ball team will play the Pelham Manor team, strengthened by N.Y.A.C. men, and college players, in the morning of Thanksgiving Day at the Y.M.C.A. grounds.  Mount Vernon is practicing hard to win.  A close interesting game is looked for."

Source:  Football Thanksgiving Day, Mount Vernon Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Nov. 25, 1895, Vol. XV, No. 1115, p. 1, col. 6.  

"It Was A Gentlemanly Foot Ball Game.
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COMMUNICATED.

It gives us pleasure to publish the following letter.  A report in the Sentinel of the 16th., would give the impression that our foot ball team was a gang of toughs.  The Sentinel should make the 'Amende Honorable'.

Pelham Manor, Nov. 18, 1895.

Mr. HARRY L. LOVELL, 

Manager Mount Vernon F.B.C.

Dear Sir.--On behalf of the Pelham Manor A.C., I desire to thank you and through you your team, for the gentlemanly game played by them Saturday [November 16, 1895].  Although I thanked you verbally after the game, the fellows insisted that I write you and express their feelings more fully.

It was claimed by those who witnessed the game to be the 'whitest' ever played on Travers Island.

Your very truly,

W.C. BECROFT [sic],

Manager."

Source:  It Was A Gentlemanly Football Game, Mount Vernon Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Nov. 23, 1895, Vol. XV, No. 1114, p. 1, col. 5.  

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