John A . Bloomingston John Albert Bloomingston ( April 28 , 1874 – January 8 , 1942 ) was an American attorney and football and baseball player and coach . He played at the fullback position for the University of Michigan football teams in 1894 and 1895 . He was the leading scorer on the 1895 Michigan Wolverines football team that outscored opponents 266 to 14 and won the school ' s first Western football championship . He scored as many as 32 points in a single game . The Wolverines compiled a record of 17 – 2 – 1 in Bloomingston ' s two years as the starting fullback and never lost a game against a Western team . After graduating from Michigan , he became one of the best known trial lawyers in Chicago , Illinois , where he practiced for more than 40 years . Early years . Bloomingston was born in Chicago in 1874 . He was the son of John S . Bloomingston ( 1843 – 1901 ) and Frances E . Drake Bloomingston . His father was an immigrant from Switzerland and the editor and proprietor of the " Investigator " , one of the oldest insurance papers in the west . His mother was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and a descendant of Col . Samuel Drake and William Hooker . Education and athletics . Bloomingston attended the Pennsylvania Military College in Chester , Pennsylvania , and subsequently enrolled at the University of Michigan . While attending Michigan , Bloomingston was one of the university ' s best athletes . He played fullback for the Michigan Wolverines football team and second base for the Michigan Wolverines baseball team . He received a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Michigan in 1896 . 1894 football team . In 1894 , Bloomingston was the starting fullback for the 1894 Michigan Wolverines football team that finished the season with a record of 9 – 1 – 1 and outscored opponents 244 to 84 . On November 24 , 1894 , he helped Michigan defeat Cornell , 12 – 4 , marking the first time Michigan had beaten one of the elite Eastern football teams . Five days later , Bloomingston kicked the goal from touchdown which proved to be the winning points in a 6 – 4 win over Chicago . 1895 baseball team . In the spring of 1895 , Bloomingston played second base for the Michigan baseball team . On May 30 , 1895 , he led Michigan to an 11 – 0 win over Cornell at the Detroit Athletic Club field in Detroit . A crowd of 4 , 000 watched , the " Detroit Free Press " wrote that " Bloomingston carried off the batting honors with two homers and a single . " Bloomingston ' s first home run came in the fifth inning and was described by the " Free Press " as follows : " Bloomingston came to bat with blood in his eye . He caught one of [ Cornell pitcher ] Smith ' s twisters on the nose and the ball landed in the crowd in the stand in left field . . . . In a second the stands and the field were a mass of yellow and blue and ' Bloomy , ' as the crowd called him , got a ' football ovation . ' " His second home run came in the seventh inning : " The crowd yelled for another home run , and he didn ' t do a thing but plant the ball over the carriages lined up along the fence in left field . " 1895 football team . In the fall of 1895 , Bloomingston was the leading scorer for the 1895 Michigan Wolverines football team that outscored opponents 266 to 14 and won the school ' s first western football championship . Although scoring records are incomplete , a newspaper account of an October 1895 game against Adelbert indicates that Bloomingston scored 32 points , as he ran for three touchdowns ( four points each ) and kicked 10 goals from touchdown ( worth two points each ) . the following week , Bloomingston added 20 points ( two touchdowns and seven goals from touchdown ) against Lake Forest . One week later , Bloomingston added 18 points ( one touchdown and seven goals from touchdown ) in a 42 – 0 victory over Oberlin . Bloomingston ' s talent as a kick returner were also on display against Oberlin , as he returned a kickoff 45 yards in the second half for the longest play of the game . Bloomingston gained 50 yards in one run against Oberlin , and his field goal attempt from the 50 - yard line went wide by only five feet . The sole loss of the 1895 season was a 4 – 0 setback against Harvard in Cambridge , Massachusetts . One week after the Harvard game , Bloomingston kicked two goals from touchdown to give Michigan the winning margin in a 12 – 10 victory over Purdue . Bloomingston finished his Michigan football career by scoring eight points ( a touchdown and two goals from touchdown ) in Michigan ' s 12 – 0 victory over Chicago on Thanksgiving Day . Bloomingston ' s running was reportedly the high point of the game . A Chicago newspaper described one run by Bloomingston as follows : " Chicago could not gain , and Neel was forced to punt again . Bloomingston received the ball , and , dodging the tacklers , who sought to bring him to the ground , ran back the entire length of the kick . It was a splendid performance , and no small part of the applause the hero received came from Chicago throats . " The " Detroit Free Press " wrote : " Bloomingston played the star game of the day , easily out - punting Neel and bucking the line like a battering ram . One of his kicks was seventy yards in the air and went the whole length of the field . " Following the game " The World " of New York wrote that the Michigan players had " clinched their claim to the Western championship . " In December 1895 , the Chicago " Daily Inter Ocean " picked Bloomingston as the fullback on its All - Western team . The newspaper wrote , " Every one in the West , with the possible exception of the Wisconsin men , unites in the selection of Bloomington as full back . Those who saw the sensational runs made in the game with Chicago last Thanksgiving day can possibly have no other opinion . Sure at goals , a strong punter , and a wonderful runner , he has but few rivals . " Disbarment . In June 1896 , Bloomingston was disbarred from participation in University of Michigan college athletics . The action followed an investigation of student athletes participating in professional baseball conducted by the university ' s board of control of athletics . Bloomingston appeared before the board and admitted that he had played professional baseball for compensation under an assumed name for " the Flint picked - up nine . " Another member of the Michigan baseball team were also disbarred , an action which " stirred up quite a hornet ' s nest in athletic circles . " Minor league baseball records indicate that Bloomingston also played professional baseball in 1895 for the Owosso Colts in the Michigan State League . Minor league baseball and other athletic competition . During the fall of 1896 , Bloomingston served as coach and quarterback for the football team of the Michigan Military Academy at Orchard Lake , Michigan . In the spring of 1897 , Bloomingston returned to Chicago and was appointed the player - coach of the Bankers ' Athletic Club baseball team . He also appeared in eight games for the New England Whalers of the New England League in 1897 . Legal career . Bloomingston returned to Chicago in 1897 and was admitted that year to the Illinois bar . He was , according to the " Chicago Daily Tribune " , " for 40 years one of Chicago ' s best known trial lawyers . " He also served as a director of the Yellow Cab Company . He maintained his office at 160 North La Salle Street . Family and death . Bloomingston married Edna Fowler Bloomingston , and they had a daughter , Caryl . Their daughter married E . Cummings " Ted " Parker in 1937 , and they had twin sons . Bloomingston ' s wife died in October 1940 . In January 1942 , Bloomingston died of an apparent heart attack at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel in Philadelphia , while on a business trip . At the time of his death , Bloomingston was a resident of Chicago , having his home at 210 East Pearson Street .