1882 and 1883 Football Seasons
Prettyman attended Ann Arbor High School and subsequently enrolled in the University of Michigan in 1882 at age 24 and excelled as an athlete. In addition to football, Prettyman also won competitions in the hammer throw, boxing and wrestling. In 1882, Prettyman was a "rusher" for the Michigan football team. However, the team played no intercollegiate games.
In 1883, Michigan resumed a schedule of intercollegiate football, and Prettyman played "forward" for the team. The team played its first ever home game at the Ann Arbor Fairgrounds in March 1883, a 40-5 win over the Detroit Independents. Prettyman scored the first touchdown at the Fairgrounds at the 14-minute mark of the "first inning" and went on to score a second touchdown before the end of the inning. The team played its remaining games as part of an Eastern trip in November 1883. The trip consisted of four road games in eight days at Wesleyan and Yale in Connecticut, Harvard in Massachusetts, and Stevens Institute in Hoboken, New Jersey. The trip cost $3,000 and was arranged "to both represent and advertise the college among the Eastern cities and universities." Prettyman was placed in charge of the trip, and The Michigan Argonaut praised his management: "All the boys are most hearty in their commendation of Prettyman's excellent management of the financial interests of the trip and his success is seen by the fact that every expense of the trip has been paid to the last cent."
On the trip, the team lost to Yale 46–0, the worst defeat to that time in the history of Michigan football. The Yale game was played on a Saturday, and Michigan played Harvard the next day, losing 3–0. The second half was played largely in darkness, and the Boston Journal said of the play:
"All that could really be called a game was the first half before the intermission, the latter half being nothing more than a scramble because of the darkness. ... he pitch dark for the whole of this half prevented the teams from distinguishing friend from foe. It was one continuous scramble, and the spectators were unable to distinguish any of the actions."
Late in the game, Michigan appeared to have scored the winning touchdown on a trick play, called "the time-honored fake run." Prettyman began running with teammate (and future Boston Red Sox owner) Henry Killilea behind him. Just before being tackled, Prettyman passed the ball to Killilea, who ran for the touchdown while Prettyman ran "head-on into the Harvard full-back." The Harvard umpire called the ball was "down" where Prettyman had been tackled, and the referee ordered it back to the midfield and called the game on account of darkness. Some claimed that the Harvard umpire had not seen the play due to the darkness, and had called Prettyman down at the urging of a Harvard player. The Michigan team arranged to stay and play another game the next day. However, according to a 1920 history of the University of Michigan, Harvard refused and instead "pleaded faculty interference and paid a $100 forfeit."
After the final game of the Eastern trip against Stevens Institute, The New York Times noted that Killilea and Prettyman "did some of the best work for the Michigan men in the way of running and tackling."
Read more about this topic: Horace Greely Prettyman
Famous quotes containing the words football and/or seasons:
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)
“Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee,
Whether the summer clothe the general earth
With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing
Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch
Of mossy apple-tree,”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)