Herb Treat Charles Herbert " Herb " Treat ( December 16 , 1900 – April 19 , 1947 ) was an American football player who played for Princeton University and was unanimously selected as an All - American at the tackle position in 1922 . He was also the player - coach of the first professional football team in Boston , the Boston Bulldogs of 1926 . In 1943 , Treat was badly injured when he was struck by an automobile , and he died four years later after falling nine stories from a hotel in Kansas City , Missouri . Football player . A native of Somerville , Massachusetts , Treat began his college football career at Somerville High School and then at Phillips Exeter Academy . In 1920 , he gained acclaim as a star football player for Boston College . When Treat decided to transfer to Princeton in August 1921 , " The New York Times " reported : " Boston College football prospects for the approaching gridiron season received quite a jolt today when it became known that Herbert Treat , the star varsity tackle of last season , had decided to quit Newton Heights and cast his fortunes with Princeton University . . . . Treat will enter Princeton as a sophomore and after his year ' s residence , required by the ' Big Three ' regulations , he will be eligible for the Princeton eleven . " In 1922 , Treat and Pink Baker led Princeton to an undefeated season and national championship as part of a team that became known as the " Team of Destiny . " Princeton defeated western power , the University of Chicago , by a final score of 21 - 18 , after rallying from an 18 - 7 deficit in the fourth quarter and holding Chicago four times near the goal line in the final seconds . The 1922 Princeton - Chicago match was the first football game broadcast on WOR radio . After graduating from Princeton in 1923 , Treat became an assistant football coach at Providence College in Rhode Island . In 1926 , Treat became the player - coach of Boston ' s first professional football team — the Boston Bulldogs in the first American Football League . The team lasted only six games , playing one home game in Braves Field and one in Fenway Park . Later years and death . In 1927 , Treat played a role in the rescue of four youths who broke through the ice on Boston ' s Jamaica Pond . During World War II , Treat worked at Bethlehem Steel Co . ' s Hingham Shipyard . He suffered serious head injuries in August 1943 when he was struck by an automobile while crossing the street in Weymouth , Massachusetts . He was in critical condition on arrival and spent several days in the hospital . After the war , Treat reportedly worked as an " investment broker " in Boston . In April 1947 , Treat , at age 47 , was killed in a plunge from the window of his ninth floor room at the Muehlebach Hotel in downtown Kansas City , Missouri . Treat ' s body , clad only in a topcoat , was discovered in the early morning hours by a taxi driver . The coroner reported finding a note in the room addressed to Treat ' s wife , Muriel K . Treat . The note read , " On vacation . Couldn ' t stand it . " Friends reported that he had been suffering from tuberculosis and was en route to Arizona after being told his condition was incurable . Another news account reported that he had traveled to Kansas City for " medical treatment for complications from crippling injuries " he sustained in the 1943 automobile accident . " He had spent several months in a sanitarium in Rutland , Massachusetts .