William Cunningham ( American football ) William Ralph Cunningham ( July 13 , 1872 – September 1957 ) was an All - American football center for the University of Michigan Wolverines . Cunningham was born at Volant , Pennsylvania in July 1872 . His father , Valentine Cunningham , was a native of Grove City , Pennsylvania . Cunningham was a 5 - foot , 9 - inch , 180 - pound native of Grove City , Pennsylvania who played center for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1897 - 1899 . Chosen as an All - American in 1898 , he was the first University of Michigan football player to be so honored . The 1898 Wolverines went 10 - 0 and won the Western Conference ( now known as the Big Ten Conference ) championship . The first great Michigan football team , the 1898 group outscored its opponents 205 to 26 . They shut out Michigan Agricultural College ( 39 - 0 ) and Notre Dame ( 23 - 0 ) before traveling to Chicago for a final game against Amos Alonzo Stagg ' s University of Chicago team on November 24 , 1898 . Led by Cunningham , Michigan came out on top , 12 - 11 , for its first Western Conference championship . A newspaper account described Michigan ' s victory this way : " The western football championship goes to Michigan . On a field that was simply perfect for fast football , and before a crowd of 12 , 000 the maroons of Chicago went down before the maize and blue of Michigan today by a score of 12 to 11 . . . . The Michigan line , in which big holes were torn by the light Northwestern team , was simply impregnable today , with the exception of about ten minutes in the second half , when the Chicago men pushed their opponents aside with an apparent ease . " Another article noted : " Michigan , with the exception of one or two double passes , relied almost altogether on straight football , line bucking and runs around the end . Chicago , on the contrary , used trick plays throughout but the team work was of a high order , as shown by both teams . " Based on his performance in the Chicago game , Stagg recommended Cunningham as an All - American . At that time , the All - American selections were made by Caspar Whitney , who preceded Walter Camp in that role . Michigan ' s 12 - 11 victory over Chicago in 1898 also served as the inspiration for 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 . In the 1898 Michigan team photograph , taken after the victory over Chicago , Cunningham is second from the right in the back row . Cunningham ' s selection as an All - American in 1898 " broke the unwritten tradition that All - Americans had to come from Yale , Harvard , Princeton or a few other Eastern schools . " Cunningham became a medical missionary in China . In a December 1921 passport applications , Cunningham identified himself as a physician with his permanent residence in Grove City , Pennsylvania . He stated that he had left the United States on October 1904 , and returned in October 1912 . He traveled to China again as a medical missionary in 1922 . Cunningham was the first in a long line of University of Michigan centers to be named All - American , including Germany Schulz , Ernie Vick , Jack Blott , Maynard Morrison , Chuck Bernard , and David Molk . In 1955 , Cunningham was named to the all - time Medical All - American Team , composed of former All - American football players who later became doctors . The list was compiled and published by " Spectrum , " a medical journal . At that time , Cunningham was retired and living in Grove City , Pennsylvania . He died in 1957 at the age of 84 . In 2005 , Cunningham was selected as one of the 100 greatest Michigan football players of all time by the " Motown Sports Revival , " ranking 30th on the all - time team .