Neil Snow Neil Worthington Snow ( November 10 , 1879 – January 22 , 1914 ) gained renown as an all - around athlete at the University of Michigan from 1898 – 1902 , where he competed in American football , baseball , track and field , and tennis . He was an All - American player in 1901 , and was the Most Valuable player in the 1902 Rose Bowl , where he scored five touchdowns . He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1960 . Biography . Snow was born into a wealthy family in Detroit . At the University of Michigan , Snow was the captain of the football , baseball and track teams , and had the distinction of winning more varsity letters than any other man — four in baseball , four in football and three in track . At least one 1905 newspaper account reported that he also lettered in tennis . Various reports differ as to whether he received 10 , 11 , or 12 varsity letters at Michigan . Football . Snow played four seasons for the Michigan Wolverines football team ( 1898 – 1901 ) at the end and fullback positions . As a freshman , he started all ten games at the end position . The 1898 team went 10 – 0 and won Michigan ' s first Western Conference football championship , finishing the season with a 12 – 11 win over the University of Chicago that inspired Louis Elbel to write The Victors , Michigan ' s fight song . Elbel ' s lyric , " Champions of the West , " refers to Michigan ' s having won the Western Conference championship for the first time in the school ' s history . Snow was also the captain of the 1900 team , but his fame grew as a result of his role on the 1901 team , considered by some the greatest Michigan football team of all time . In Fielding H . Yost ' s first year as coach , Michigan finished 11 – 0 , did not allow a single point to be scored by an opposing team , and outscored its opponents 550 – 0 . The 1901 Wolverines became known as the " point - a - minute " team , as their offensive production resulted in an average of one point being scored every minute . The 1901 team was invited to play in the first Rose Bowl game on January 1 , 1902 , a 49 – 0 win over Stanford . Snow scored five touchdowns in the 1902 Rose Bowl , as follows : Snow ' s five touchdowns and 25 points ( touchdowns counted for five points ) in the 1902 Rose Bowl is still the all - time Rose Bowl record . Snow was named the Most Valuable Player of the game when the award was created in 1953 and selections were made retroactively . Snow was also named an All - American by Caspar Whitney in the December 1901 issue of Collier ' s magazine — the only Western player named to the All - American team for 1901 and only the second player in Michigan history ( William Cunningham was the first ) to receive the honor . Whitney wrote : " To be fast , to break interference , and to be wise about the time of going in , make up the requisites of an end rusher , and all of these Snow possessed in a marked degree . " Baseball . As a baseball player , Snow was an outfielder and a major contributor to two Western Conference championship teams . He batted over . 390 in 1899 and over . 320 in 1900 . Snow was described as " a man of splendid physique and an especially good batter . " His final game as a Wolverine baseball player was a 7 – 4 win over Cornell , in which Snow was responsible for six runs , including three RBI s on a bases - loaded triple . At the conclusion of his collegiate athletic career , Snow reportedly " had all the makings of a great player " and was " besieged with offers " from professional baseball clubs , but had other plans , and " thus a star was lost from baseball . " Horace Fogel of the New York Giants tried to entice Snow to play baseball for the National League team , asking Snow to name his price . Fogel ' s wire to Snow reportedly read , " What are your terms to play with New York , " to which Snow replied tersely , " Am not on the market . " Snow ' s father , Frank E . Snow , told a reporter at the time that , while his son had received " many fine offers " to play professional baseball , he would prefer his son " adopt something else as a means of making a livelihood . " Track and field . Snow also excelled in track and field . In 1902 , he won the Western Conference high jump championship . Snow ' s commitments to multiple sports placed a strain on his time . As a senior in 1902 , Snow excelled in the shot put . Seeking to focus on the shot put , Snow resigned the captaincy of the baseball team in February 1902 . At the time , Snow told a reporter : " A captain ought to be on the field during all practice hours , and if I filled the position I would not feel at liberty to leave the diamond to go over and take coaching for a field event . Besides , I have college work that keeps me busy until 5 o ' clock three times a week . I will do all I can for the baseball team , however , and there is nothing but good feelings between all the candidates . " Later years . In June 1905 , Snow ' s younger brother broke his neck in an accident in switching sand cars at Hammond , Indiana . Newspaper accounts indicate that Neil Snow hurried to his brother ' s bedside at St . Margaret ' s hospital in Hammond . Snow ' s principal career after college was with the Detroit Drill Twist Company , where he became the company ' s treasurer , general manager , and eventually its president . Snow continued to remain involved in sports and was a popular choice as an official for football games for the Eastern and Western schools . One writer noted : " The larger colleges in the East had come to realize with what great efficiency Neil Snow acted as an official and his services were eagerly sought . " Death . Snow died suddenly in January 1914 at age 34 . He became ill after a vigorous game of squash at the Detroit Racquet Club and was taken to the doctor ' s office , where he collapsed . At the time of Snow ' s death , noted American poet , Edgar A . Guest published the following poem as a tribute to Snow : " The whistle sounds : The game is o ' er ! We pay tribute now with tears . Instead of smiling eyes and cheers . < br > Neil Snow has crossed the line once more < br > Life ' s scrimmage ends ! A manly soul Now passes bravely through the night Undaunted still and Spotless White < br > Neil Snow has made another goal < br > The crowds depart . The setting sun Blazes his pathway to the west . The stamp of valor ' s on his breast . < br > Neil Snow the Master ' s M has won . " Snow ' s sudden death at age 34 was seen as a cautionary tale of " the great over - do it age . " He was cited as proof that endless competition puts undue strain on the heart and nerves , with one article noting : " Snow was big and powerful and always in fine condition . Yet after a hard squash game he died in less than five minutes , where 20 minutes before he had seemed to be in perfect health . " Honors and accolades . In the popular 1916 book " Football Days : Memories of the Game and of the Men Behind the Ball " , William Hanford Edwards wrote the following about Snow : " The University of Michigan never graduated a man who was more universally loved than Neil Snow . What he did and the way he did it has become a tradition at Michigan . He was idolized by every one who knew him . As a player and captain he set a wonderful example for his men to pattern after . He was a powerful player , possessing such determination and fortitude that he would go through a stone wall if he had to . He was their great all - around athlete ; good in football , baseball and track . . . . [ W ] hen I grew to know him , I soon realized how his great , quiet , modest , though wonderful personality , made everybody idolize him . Modesty was his most noticeable characteristic . He was always the last to talk of his own athletic achievements . " The noted football expert Walter Camp said of Snow : " No college ever developed a better all - around athlete . " He has been called " the greatest all - round athlete ever graduated from the University of Michigan " and was named a member of Fielding H . Yost ' s " all - time " Michigan team at the right end position . In 1907 , " The Washington Post " named Snow one of the three greatest football players to have played in the West , along with Walter Eckersall and Willie Heston . The Post opined that Snow was an end quite worthy to rank with the great ends of the East and that he " was just the kind of man who would have been suited to the advanced requirements of the new game and its additional demand for alertness , in an end . " In 1916 , the " Oakland Tribune " published an article ranking Snow as one of North America ' s greatest all - around athletes , naming Snow , Elmer Oliphant and Christy Mathewson as the runners - up to Jim Thorpe . The " Tribune " wrote of Snow : " Undoubtedly one of the greatest was the late Neil Snow of Michigan . Snow stood as one of the great football players of the game . He was an all - American end and a great plunging full back . As a ball player he batted over . 390 for Michigan his last two years and received at least three good offers from big league clubs . He was one of the best college first basemen that ever lived . On the track Snow could high jump around six feet ; he could put the shot 45 feet ; he was a fine hurdler . Taking both quality and quantity , we should say that Snow was the equal at least of any man that has been mentioned . " Sports writer Grantland Rice often wrote about Snow , ranking him as one of the three greatest all - around athletes ever turned out in college sport along with Jim Thorpe and Elmer Oliphant . Rice called Snow " a football marvel , hurdler , jumper and shot putter and one of the best ball players Michigan ever knew . " In 1960 , he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame .