Curtis Redden Curtis Gerald " Cap " Redden ( February 8 , 1881 – January 16 , 1919 ) was an American football player . He was the starting left end for the University of Michigan ' s football team from 1901 – 1904 . He played for Michigan ' s " Point - a - Minute " teams and was unanimously selected as an All - Western player in 1903 . Redden died of pneumonia while serving in the U . S . Army in Germany at the end of World War I . Early years . Redden was born in Danville , Illinois . His father , William B . Redden , was an Indiana native and a lawyer . His mother , Sarah E . Redden , was also an Indiana native . Redden had two younger brothers , Forest and James , and a younger sister , Jessie . At the time of the 1900 United States Census , Redden was living in Rossville , Illinois with his parents and siblings . University of Michigan . Redden enrolled at the University of Michigan where he became one of the stars of Fielding H . Yost ' s famous " Point - a - Minute " teams of 1901 , 1902 , and 1903 . The 1901 team compiled a record of 11 – 0 and outscored its opponents 550 – 0 . In Redden ' s sophomore , junior and senior years , Michigan was 33 – 0 – 1 and outscored opponents by a total of 1 , 764 to 18 . At the end of his senior season , Redden was a unanimous first - team All - Western selection , including designations by the " Chicago Record - Herald " , " The Chicago Daily News " , and " The Inter - Ocean " . He was one of only five players upon whom the " Western football critics have been able to unanimously agree . " " The Chicago Daily News " also designated Redden as the captain of its 1903 All - Western team and explained its choice as follows : " Redden ' s cool head in a game , his speed and strong playing mark him as the most legitimate selection for captain among all the other captains . . . Redden ' s speed up the field on punts , his ability to stiff arm every interferer without slackening up that speed , and his open - field tackling mark him as the best end for the pure type of end work the west has seen in years . Offensively his skill lies in assisting his tackle in boxing an opponent and assisting the runner after he has passed the line . " Redden was also selected as a third - team All - American by Walter Camp . After he graduated , one paper noted the impact his loss would have on the 1904 team : " The loss of Captain Redden will be felt keenly . For four years he was regarded as the greatest end the west ever produced . " An all - around athlete , Redden was selected as the captain of Michigan ' s football and baseball teams in his senior year . One newspaper summed up Redden ' s athletic career at Michigan as follows : " Redden was captain not only of this year ' s Michigan football team but also of the selected All - Star Western team . He is a natural football player and is one of the best ends the Middle West has ever produced . He is also captain of the school track team , being the only man who has had the distinction of holding both stations of honor at the same time . " Football coach and lawyer . With the success of Yost ' s " Point - a - Minute " teams , his former players were in great demand as coaches . Dan McGugin went to Vanderbilt , Willie Heston to Drake , Albert E . Herrnstein to Purdue and Ohio State , Paul J . Jones to Western Reserve , Bruce Shorts to Nevada and Oregon , William Cole to Virginia , Frank Longman to Arkansas and Notre Dame , Joseph Maddock to Oregon and Utah and Fred Norcross to Oregon State . And in 1905 , Redden was hired as the football coach at Kentucky . In November 1905 , a newspaper reported on Redden ' s progress at Kentucky : " What Redden is doing at Kentucky is best shown by the record his moonshiners made in this Northwestern game . Undoubtedly , the close , hard game given the purple bv Redden ' s pupils , helped pull Northwestern down to the weakened condition in which Stagg ' s men found McCormick ' s players . " In 1906 , Redden , who had also been a star in baseball at Michigan , signed to play baseball with the Indianapolis Indians in the American Association . By 1908 , Redden had opened a law practice in his home town of Danville , Illinois , where he also became involved in politics . In October 1908 , Redden agreed to take time out from his law practice to join Coach Yost ' s staff to whip the Michigan football team into shape . Redden was given responsibility over the linemen . For a portion of the 1911 season , Yost left Redden in charge of the team while Yost traveled to the East to watch Penn play Jim Thorpe ' s Carlisle Indians . Redden remained on Yost ' s coaching staff through the 1912 season . For several years , Redden had continued his law practice in Illinois but had " been able to spare a few weeks to return to Ann Arbor and help out " as Yost ' s assistant . By 1912 , Yost concluded he needed a year - round , full - time staff of assistants , and Redden returned to Illinois . World War I . Redden enlisted in the U . S . Army during World War I . He served as a lieutenant colonel of the 149th Field Artillery with the Rainbow Division in France . His unit was among the first to leave for France . In April 1918 , newspapers published a letter from Redden to a friend back home describing the Illinois artillery unit ' s " baptism of fire . " He described the heavy shelling the unit withstood : " And so it went from day to day , but oftimes the nights were very bad . At night , when the infantry launched its raids , or the enemy his , or the infantry became nervous and called for help , the guns stamped like stallions and snorted their breaths of fire . The blackness of the night became a series of dots and dashes , until the world resembled a vast radio station , spelling hell , hell , and hell again . To this must be added the shriek of shells , the whistle of fragments , the automatic hammer effect of the machine gun , the rattle of the rifle fire , the rockets and star shells out over No Man ' s land — all combined to make the night weird , hideous , fascinating , sublime . " In November 1918 , Redden was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and assumed command of the 149th Field Artillery Regiment . Redden survived the many battles in which his unit fought only to come down with pneumonia after the army of occupation began its march into Germany . Redden died of pneumonia in January 1919 at a hospital in Koblenz , Germany . Redden had been in command of the artillery unit since October 1918 . Redden was buried in Germany on a slope near the point where the Rhine and Moselle River s meet . Newspapers described his funeral as follows : " With an escort of more than 600 enlisted men besides the officers of the 149th and 67th artillery brigade , of which the regiment was a part , the cortege passed through Coblenz with Redden ' s horse , ' Sergeant , ' taking the place of honor immediately behind the gun carriage bearing the flag - draped casket . In line with the custom of military funerals , the dead officer ' s boots were in the stirrups , with the toes pointing to the rear . At the grave three volleys were fired by an infantry squad and a bugler sounded the plantive notes of ' taps . ' " Redden has since been reburied in Spring Hill Cemetery in Danville , Vermilion County , Illinois , USA . In 1921 , one of the columns in Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois was dedicated to Redden . The funds to purchase the column were donated by friends of Redden from his days at Michigan and by the men who served with him in the 149th Field Artillery . The column was dedicated at a ceremony prior the 1921 Michigan - Illinois game . The " Michigan Alumnus " magazine in November 1921 reported : " This column will stand for all time to perpetuate the memory of Colonel Redden and as a bond of union between the two great universities . "