1891 Michigan Wolverines football team The 1891 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1891 college football season . The Wolverines played their home games at Ann Arbor Fairgrounds . After opening the season with a record of 4 - 1 , the team lost its final four games for an overall record of 4 - 5 . Michigan ' s first football coach . The 1891 season was the first in which the Michigan football team had a coach . In his history of the University of Michigan , Wilfred Byron Shaw cites the hiring of Frank Crawford as a watershed moment in the history of the school ' s football program : " A new era in the history of football at Michigan began in 1891 , when with a fair schedule and an experienced coach , Frank Crawford . . . , the systematic development of a team began . . . " Crawford was an 1891 graduate of Yale University who was enrolled at the University of Michigan School of Law . As a first - year law student , Crawford was both the unpaid coach and a substitute player for the 1891 team . On October 19 , 1891 , the " Detroit Free Press " reported on Crawford ' s hiring as follows : " At a meeting of the directors of the Athletic Association last evening Frank Crawford was chosen as coach for the foot ball eleven . Crawford is a graduate of Yale and an old player . He will be assisted in coaching and training by M . C . Murphy , of the D . A . C . " There is some inconsistency in how coaching responsibilities for the 1891 team have been recorded . While Crawford has been identified by several sources as Michigan ' s first football coach , others indicate that Crawford and Mike Murphy were the joint head coaches in 1891 . Still others indicate that Murphy was the one directing the team , or that Murphy relinquished the coaching duties to Crawford midway through the season to focus on his duties as trainer . Murphy was the leading athletic trainer in the United States . He gained his reputation as a trainer at Yale and was hired in 1889 by the Detroit Athletic Club where he trained John Owen and Harry M . Jewett , who became the fastest sprinters in the country . The " Chicago Daily Tribune " reported in November 1891 that the Michigan team was " coached systematically " by Murphy , Crawford , Horace Greely Prettyman and James Duffy . Pre - season expectations . The 1891 season began with complaints that the student body had become apathetic toward football . On October 3 , 1891 , " The Chronicle - Argonaut " reported that the university ' s Athletic Association was having difficulty securing memberships . Students asked to subscribe had responded , " I guess I ' ll wait till I see what the foot - ball prospects are . " The newspaper urged , " No policy is more fatal to athletic interest than this . . . . You must subscribe " now " and encourage the management if you desire to see good games and see our Eleven go to the front . How can our manager arrange for games if there are no funds backing him ? How can he hire a trainer ? " Elsewhere in the same issue , interested students were encouraged to submit their names to the team ' s captain , James Van Inwagen , to fill open place on the line . On October 24 , 1891 , " The Yellow and Blue " , a weekly publication of the university ' s fraternities , wrote : " Although it is not our desire to find fault with the football management , we would like to ask one or two pertinent questions in regard to the present situation . Why has no training table been provided ? Is an earnest effort being made to secure a coach who is thoroughly acquainted with eastern tactics ? No eastern captain would consider his team in condition without several weeks of physical training , including the training table . We have never taken the trouble here to give the system of physical training a fair trial , neither have we won a great game of football . . . . The expense of a training table would not be very great , and money could not e expended to better advantage . " The article noted that , with 2 , 600 students , there should be an ability to raise funds for football , but that there " seems to be a general apathy in regard to foot ball . " Game summaries . Loss to Albion . After opening the 1891 season with a 62 - 0 victory over Ann Arbor High School , the team lost for the first time to Albion College . Michigan had played Albion seven times from 1886 to 1890 and had won all seven of the previous matches by a combined score of 287 - 22 . In a game played at Michigan ' s home field , the 1891 team lost to Albion by a score of 10 - 4 . Following the loss , " The Yellow and Blue " noted that the team ' s daily practice appeared " painfully lifeless , " but opined that " the defeat by Albion has produced a most salutary effect . " A University of Minnesota student publication , " The Ariel " , wrote : " Michigan vs . Albion , at football , turns out 10 to 4 in favor of Albion . So the Michigan team is not invincible . The U . of M . Daily makes a cry of unfair playing , but that does not save the score . " Victories over Olivet , Oberlin and Butler . After the loss to Albion , Michigan won three straight games against Olivet College ( 18 - 6 ) , Oberlin College ( 26 - 6 ) , and Butler University ( 42 - 6 ) , improving the team ' s record to 4 - 1 . Chicago . After a 4 - 1 start , the team lost the final four games of the season for a record of 4 - 5 . The team ' s losing streak began with a 20 - 0 defeat to the University of Chicago . Although University of Michigan records reflect the score as 10 - 0 , contemporaneous press accounts report the score as 20 - 0 . The " Detroit Free Press " reported : " After a hard fight , during which neither side scored until the second innings , the Chicago University team won the great foot ball match against the University of Michigan by 20 points to nothing . It was a gallant battle , the Michigan men contesting every inch gained by their opponents . " Michigan ' s lineup against Chicago was as follows : Hayes , right end ; Mowrey , right tackle ; Wickes , right guard ; Jeffries , center ; Tupper , left guard ; Pearson , left tackle ; Powers , left end ; Sherman , quarterback ; Rittenger , left halfback ; Dygert , fullback . Cornell game at Detroit . The 1891 season included two games against Cornell , played in Detroit on November 21 , 1891 , and in Chicago on November 28 , 1891 . In the first game , played at D . A . C . Park , Cornell won by a lopsided score of 58 - 12 . The " Detroit Free Press " reported that the game was played in the rain and , while the crowd of 2 , 300 persons was " made up of the best class of people including many ladies , the rain doubtless kept fully as many away who would have been on hand but for the thought that the game would be be played in the mist and mud . " Michigan ' s scoring came on touchdowns by Van Inwagen and Rittinger , and two successful goal kicks by Dygert . Despite the lopsided score of the first Cornell game , the " Chicago Daily Tribune " reported : " The Cornell - University of Michigan football at D . A . C . Park this afternoon was undoubtedly the finest exhibition of sport ever seen in Detroit . The game was one - sided , but was by no means a walkaway for the victors . " Michigan coach , Mike Murphy , also saw some positive signs in Michigan ' s performance , as the " Free Press " reported : " Michigan has the greater weight on the rush line and with practice will be far stronger than at present . In fact Murphy is jubilant and thinks that next year he can hustle them all . " Michigan ' s lineup in the first Cornell game was as follows : Southworth , left end ; Pearson , left tackle ; Tupper , left guard ; Jeffries , center ; Wickes , right guard ; Mowrey , right tackle ; Hayes , right end ; Sherman , quarterback ; Rittinger , left halfback ; Van Inwagen , right halfback ; Dygert , fullback . Cleveland Athletic Club . In between the Cornell matches , the team traveled to Cleveland for a mid - week game against the Cleveland Athletic Club . The Michigan team arrived in Cleveland at 8 : 30 a . m . , and the game was played at 11 : 00 a . m . n front of a crowd estimated at 3 , 000 persons . The game was played on a slippery field described by the " Detroit Free Press " as follows : " A part of the field was covered by turf , but the greater part had been recently broken and rolled , and was in miserable condition . Besides , there was about an inch or two of soft mud on top of frozen ground , making it very slippery . " Cleveland took an 8 - 0 lead before Michigan ' s fullback , George Dygert , broke through for a touchdown in the second half . Cleveland won by a final score of 8 - 4 . The " Detroit Free Press " attributed the loss to a strategic mistake by Michigan ' s captain : " A fatal mistake was made when Capt . Van Inwagen consented to play thirty - minute halves , instead of forty - five , for the Cleveland team was ' beefy ' and did not have good wind . One of the Buckeye players , in particular , was stretched out on the ground nearly half of the time , merely to give his men time to recover their wind . " Michigan ' s lineup against Cleveland was as follows : Depont , left end ; Mowrey , left tackle ; Tupper , left guard ; Jeffris , center ; Thomas , right guard ; Griffin , right tackle ; Hayes , right end ; Sherman , quarterback ; Rittenger , right halfback ; Van Inwagen , left halfback ; Dygert , fullback . Cornell game at Chicago . The final game was played on November 28 , 1891 , at the South Side Baseball Grounds in Chicago , with Cornell winning 10 - 0 . The " New York Times " called it " one of the prettiest foot - ball games ever played in the West " and described the wintry conditions of the game : " The field was covered with a six - inch blanket of snow , the air was icy , and frosted feet and hands were among the thousands of spectators . . . Three minutes after the game began the ball was covered with ice , but the dazzling white ground soon began to look as though a herd of elephants had been tramping on it . " The " Detroit Free Press " reported that Michigan gave Cornell " a sharp tussle " and that six of Cornell ' s points " were scored on a fluke , the ball being fumbled on a pass back . " Michigan ' s lineup in the game was as follows : Powers , left end ; Mowrey , left tackle ; Thomas , left guard ; Jeffries , center ; Tupper , right guard ; Griffin , right tackle ; Hayes , right end , Sherman , quarterback ; Van Inwagen , left half ; Riitenger , right half ; Dygert , fullback . Formation of the Western Intercollegiate Athletic Association . In April 1892 , an athletic league , to include football , baseball , and track , was formed at Chicago between Michigan , the University of Wisconsin , the University of Minnesota , and Northwestern University . " The plans of the league are to have a series of base ball games in the spring , an inter - collegiate field day to be held in Chicago in June and a series of foot - ball games in the fall . " The new athletic league , named the Western Intercollegiate Athletic Association , was later renamed the Big Ten Conference . Players . Varsity letter winners . The following players were awarded varsity letters in football for the 1891 season , according to University of Michigan records . Substitutes . The following players are recorded as substitutes for the 1891 football team , according to University of Michigan records .