Stanfield Wells Stanfield McNeill Wells ( July 25 , 1889 – August 17 , 1967 ) was an All - American football player for the University of Michigan Wolverines football team from 1909 - 1911 . He was the first in a long line of All - Americans to come out of Massillon Washington High School , and was one of the pioneers of the forward pass . Though known principally as an end , Wells was Michigan ' s first forward passer of note . He threw two passes to help Michigan win the Western Conference championship against Minnesota in 1910 . He played professional football after college and wrote a chapter of a book on playing the end position . He later became the manager of an insurance company in Nashville , Tennessee . Massillon Washington High School . Wells attended Washington High School in Massillon , Ohio . He played left halfback in high school and graduated in 1907 . His high school coach Fritz Merwin was a volunteer who helped the players get organized . Massillon ' s Washington High School has produced more than ten All - Americans , with Wells being the first and others including Harry Stuhldreher , Ed Molinski , Lin Houston , Chris Spielman , and Coach Paul Brown . In 1964 , the school honored its first ten All - Americans by creating an All - American Hall of Fame at the school . At the time of the induction ceremony , Wells ( who was in his 70s ) was unable to attend but wrote a letter that was published in the Massillon newspaper . In the letter , Wells recalled the early days of football in Massillon : “ The old days . After all the fall of 1906 is a far piece back , and high school football then was a mighty casual and simple thing . That was my senior year and I was a ‘ new boy ’ , having just moved to Massillon that summer from the wide open spaces of South Dakota , Wyoming and Nebraska . The first day at school several of my classmates came around to suggest that of course I was coming out for football ; and although I protested that I had never had a ball in my hands , they countered with the argument that I was a good sized lump of a boy and would make a fine prospect . So I promised . Well the only preparation necessary was to take an old pair of shoes down to the town cobbler and have some cleats nailed on them . I think the athletic association must have had some football pants , but I do remember distinctly that you had to furnish your own stockings ( any color ) and an old sweater . Put these on and you were in business . I can ’ t believe that there were more than 11 candidates out because I made the team the first afternoon . Nor did we have a regular coach . A boy named Fritz Merwin , who I think had played the year before was our coach . If you ask me , he ’ s the one whose picture ought to be hanging up around there someplace . He didn ’ t get paid anything , and if a coach ever had an awkward squad of 11 nit - wits , he did . But he was out there every afternoon , early and late teaching us fundamentals instead of fancy razzle - dazzle plays , and in the end it paid off because we won a few games . I can ’ t remember who we beat , but I do recall , painfully even after this lapse of time , that our friends over at the county seat ( Canton , Ohio ) took us to the cleaners twice . ” University of Michigan . 1909 season . After graduating from high school in Massillon , Wells went north to play for Coach Fielding H . Yost at the University of Michigan . In 1909 , he started seven games at right tackle on at team that was 6 - 1 , outscored opponents 115 - 34 , and lost its only game to Notre Dame , 11 - 3 . 1910 season . In 1910 , Michigan went 3 - 0 - 3 and Wells started the first three games at right tackle and the final three at right end . According to the 1911 Michiganensian yearbook , Wells “ started out as a tackle but was shifted to end , and here he so distinguished himself in the last three games , that he was Camp ’ s other selection for the honorary team . ” In December 1910 , two Wolverines , Wells and Albert Benbrook , were named first - team All - Americans by Walter Camp . Penn was the only other school with two players on Camp ’ s 1910 All - American team . In the second to last game of the 1910 season , a scoreless tie with the University of Pennsylvania , Wells made his second start as an end . It appeared Wells had scored the winning touchdown , but the play was called back . The 1911 Michiganensian described the play this way : " ' Shorty ' McMillan sent ' Stan ' Wells down the side lines . Then the Michigan team opened up and Bill Edmunds was given the ball . Bill stepped back and sent a beautiful long pass to ' Stan ' Wells . The pigskin came sailing through the air on a perfect line , Wells grabbed it and ran for a touchdown . Instantly the small Michigan rooting contingent rose as one man and cheered until their voices failed . Then Umpire Crowell asked for the ball . It was handed him , and he walked back to where it had been put in play and told the Michiganders to start anew . Wells had stepped out of bounds for an instant , just as he received the ball . " The 1910 Little Brown Jug game . Wells drew national attention for his performance in Michigan ' s final game of the season , a 6 - 0 win over Minnesota . That game secured the Western Conference championship for Michigan , and Wells was credited with the win after he led a fourth quarter drive and scored the winning touchdown with three minutes remaining . In selecting Wells to his All - American team , Camp credited Wells with Michigan ' s win over Minnesota , saying that “ had it not been for Wells , Michigan would have failed of its victory . ” He said that Wells “ practically alone and unaided ” won the championship game against Minnesota . According to newspaper accounts , and a lengthy account of the game in the 1911 Michiganensian yearbook , the game was a scoreless tie late in the fourth quarter . Michigan took possession at the forty - yard line with 60 yards to go for a touchdown . The Michiganensian described the game - winning drive this way : " With the sun already far down in the West , . . . and the ball in Michigan ' s possession , sixty yards from Minnesota ’ s goal , the unexpected did take place . ' Shorty ' McMillan signaled for a forward pass . . . . ' Stan ' ( Wells ) ran backwards and threw far and true to Borleske , who was thirty yards down the field before a Swede tackled him . Minnesota was slightly worried . Thirty yards on one play , and it seemed certain that Michigan would now try some old football . Instead , ' Shorty ' called for the same play and again Wells threw true to Borleske , who was tackled on the Gopher two yard line . Minnesota , desperate , tried to check the onslaught , but it was like trying to turn a freshet from its course . Wells hit the line but was thrown back . Again the auburned lad struck the line . Minnesota blocked his path . ' Stan ' twisted slightly and slipped between two men . When the officials separated the men , the ball was on the far side of the Gopher goal line . " A wire service account picked up in newspapers across the country described the events this way : " Wells , whose name is written large tonight , ran out and sent the ball straight to Borleske . The crowd cheered itself hoarse , for this was one of the few successful forward passes of the game and it had netted twenty - six yards . Michigan lined up quickly . The same play was hardly to be expected so soon , and in exactly the same way . Yet , that was the strategy . Wells ran to the sideline as before and threw diagonally down the field as before to Borleske . Michigan now had four yards to go . Every spectator on his feet , the Minnesota crowd crying , ' hold , ' ' hold . ' It was a serious moment for both sides , and they took time to breathe and collect themselves for the supreme effort . Wells was hurled against center , but the whole Minnesota team got into the defense and stopped the play about where it had started . The next attack was deceptive . Wells found a hole at left tackle , and although the enemy fell upon him furiously , they were too late , for he twisted across the line and emerged a hero . Ann Arbor is his private property tonight , as well as the rest of collegiate Michigan . " Harold Titus of the Detroit News wrote that " the forward pass and terrible determination " won the Minnesota game for Michigan . Of Wells ' touchdown , Titus wrote : “ Stanfield Wells was Michigan ’ s last hope . Once he tried the line and the Gopher , snarling , checked him . Again he tried it and this time his thudding feet sounded the death of Minnesota ’ s hopes and carried to the ears of his fellow team players the clang of victory . ” 1911 season . In 1911 , Michigan was 5 - 1 - 2 and Wells started four games at right end and three games at right halfback . Speaking in 1964 , Wells recalled the words of his old coach : " I have heard my old coach at Ann Arbor , Fielding H . Yost say it a dozen times . Give him 11 men , big or little , short or tall , thin or fat , and if every last one of them could and would block and tackle , he would guarantee to go out and beat any time in the country , every Saturday afternoon for an entire season . " Later years . In 1914 , Wells published a chapter in " The Book of Athletics " providing details and advice on playing the end position in football . A 1964 article in the Massillon , Ohio newspaper reported that Wells played professional football in the years after graduating from Michigan , but records of professional football in the 1910s are hard to verify . Wells later became a successful executive with a life and casualty insurance company in Nashville , Tennessee . In 1964 , Wells was retired with homes in Sun City , Arizona and a summer home in Cedarville , Michigan .