October Legends
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/2/2013
First taking the field in 1869, the Princeton Tigers (and their
competition that day, Rutgers) are the oldest college football team.
With such a distinctive lineage, it’s fitting that the oldest known
college football jersey, this circa 1900 game used sweater, originates
from Princeton University. Besides its obvious rarity, words can not
come close to describing how incredible looking this Spalding sweater
is. Princeton’s traditional black and orange simply jump out at you with
their vibrancy, even after 113 years. A perusal of Princeton football
photographs show this style worn in the 1892 to 1900 range. The Spalding
label stitched inside the back tail can be traced to the 1900-1905
period which lets us conservatively put this in the 1900 range. The
rugged roll neck sweater is constructed of high quality black knitted
wool. Nine Princeton Orange tiger stripes ring each full-length sleeve
and the universities “P” is woven on the front in the same Princeton
Orange thread. The cuffs, jersey bottom and turtle neck are of a fine
ribbed hem. As Spalding was the king of turn-of-the-century sports
outfitters, this sweater’s construction and quality is top-notch. The
sheer brutality of the early game is instantly apparent when you see how
many period repairs have been made to the body and sleeves. Each piece
of battle-damage has been carefully restitched in either black or orange
thread. Turn-of-the-century teams did not issue player numbers and there
is no name tag stitched to this sweater, so its original owner can not
be determined. The size can be estimated from the 18” chest measurement
which would put it at a size 36 or 38.
Just looking at this jersey evokes those turn-of-the-century Princeton
legends: Art Hillebrand (Navy’s great head coach), “Big Bill” Edwards
(president of the first American Football League), “Bosey” Reiter (who
invented the overhand spiral forward pass) and the Five Poe Brothers -
all those long-ago legends we see in faded, sepia-toned photographs.
There’s that famous 1892 photo of Princeton legend Johnny Poe - he’s
wearing this exact style jersey (also offered in this auction
separately). That’s what’s so magical about this sweater; it’s a direct
window to a lost era, as it brings all those hard-fought grid-iron
struggles back to life again, and in vibrant Technicolor. Of historical
significance on so many levels, this is by far the most important
vintage college football jersey to ever come to auction. Letter of
Authenticity from MEARS who have thoroughly reviewed this jersey and
awarded it their AUTHENTIC grade. Comes with two additional LOA's.