John Baird ( American football ) John Baird ( born c . 1877 ) was an All - American football player . He played at the fullback and quarterback positions for Princeton University from 1895 to 1898 and was selected as a member of the 1896 College Football All - America Team . Biography . A native of Haverford , Pennsylvania ( located about 10 miles west of Philadelphia ) , Baird was the son of Thomas E . Baird . Baird attended the Haverford Grammar School followed by preparatory school at St . Paul ' s School in Concord , New Hampshire . Baird played fullback for the St . Paul ' s football team before enrolling at Princeton in 1895 . He was 5 feet , 9½ inches tall , and weighed 155 pounds in 1895 , making him a light player even by the standards of the 1890s . As freshman , he played on Princeton ' s varsity football team . A newspaper account in 1895 described the 18 - year - old Baird as " a good bucker and an accurate drop kicker " . As a sophomore in 1896 , Baird became a star at the fullback position . He was " considered by Princeton men the best full - back in the country , both for long punts and drop tackling . " A profile of Baird under a headline calling him " the Star Player of Princeton ' s Football Team " was published in newspapers across the country . The profile described Baird ' s accomplishments : John Baird , the full back who has been accorded large credit for many of the victories won by the Princeton team this year , took his place in the eleven last year . His home is Haverford , Pa . He prepared for college at St . Paul ' s School , Concord , N . H . , where he played full back with the school eleven . When he entered Princeton , he was given a trial at the same post . Here he showed what was in him and played the position for all there was in it . His work was brilliant , and when the end of he season came he was acknowledged to be one of the best full backs that the Tigers ever had . This year his performances have been even more notable , and he has been pronounced by competent critics the best full back on any American gridiron . Young Baird is 5 feet , 10 inches in height . He weighs 163 pounds and is 19 years old . Baird ' s greatest skill was as a kicker , and by late in the season , newspapers were comparing Baird to Snake Ames , Frank Hinkey , and the greatest fullbacks to play the game : Baird will be the mainstay of the eleven and on his work at full back are based the hopes for victory over Yale . Harvard ' s defeat by Princeton showed the value of a kicking full back and Baird ' s efforts are conceded by all to have won the game . Football history for the past four years goes to show that teams with kicking full backs , are dangerous and most generally victorious elven to encounter . . . Now Princeton appears on the gridiron with a full back superior to any claimed by college or university . How much better is Baird than [ Frank ] Hinkey , time alone will tell , but that he is better no one can doubt . Baird has more than fulfilled his freshman promises as a full back and is today the equal of Aleck Moffat , " Snake " Ames and other full backs well known to the Princeton enthusiasts . At the end of the season , Baird was selected by both Walter Camp and Casper Whitney as the fullback on their 1896 All - America teams . In 1897 , Baird was moved to the quarterback position . Initially , some questioned the decision to move the country ' s best fullback to a new position . One New Jersey newspaper wrote : " John Baird , who has played full back for the past two years , is very light , and , although he worked all spring under experienced coachers , does not seem to take kindly to his new position . " However , Baird was injured and did not finish the 1897 season . At the end of the 1897 season , Baird ' s teammates voted him to be the captain of the 1898 Princeton football team . After his election as captain , Baird gave a banquet to the members of the Princeton team . Despite being elected captain of the 1898 team , Baird was unable to serve . In early 1898 , Baird was forced both from the football team and from the university due to illness . An 1898 newspaper account describes the circumstances of his withdrawal : [ I ] t was whispered some time ago that Baird had not recovered his former hardiness . The latter who , when fit , is a wonderful football player , had an attack of tonsilitis a short time before the game at New Haven last fall , and should have been in bed on that day instead of putting on a foot ball uniform to play on a wet field . It will be recalled that his appearance created comment from the Princeton contingent , because he seemed hardly able to crawl . It was early in the first half when he was practically exhausted , and later on was carried off the field . Baird ultimately recovered from his illness , but enrolled in the U . S . Army during the Spanish - American War and was still serving in the military when the football season began . Upon the declaration of war , Baird helped organize Battery A of the Pennsylvania Volunteers . According to the book " Princeton in the Spanish - American War " , twenty men from Princeton were recruited for Battery A " through the influence of John Baird , who had been made a recruiting Corporal . " The 1901 coaching staff was made up of five former Princeton All - Americans — head coach Langdon Lea and assistants Baird , Jesse Riggs , Garrett Cochran and Addison Kelly . After graduating from Princeton in 1899 , Baird served for a time as one of the assistant coaches to the Princeton football team . Baird was married to Edith Wain . In 1929 , following the fame accorded to the Notre Dame backfield known as the " Four Horsemen , " sports writer and football coach Don Miller opined that several backfields were greater . Miller pointed to Princeton ' s 1896 backfield as perhaps the best of all time . He asked , " Who can say what fame a backfield such as that at Princeton in 1896 can be made up of Harry Smith , Billy Bannard , Ad Kelly and John Baird would have gained had it had the forward pass asset ? "