Charles H . Campbell Charles Hotchkiss Campbell ( June 18 , 1858 – November 26 , 1927 ) was an American football player , lawyer , and civic leader in Detroit , Michigan . He was a graduate of the University of Michigan where he played college football for the 1879 Michigan Wolverines football team , the first football team to represent the University of Michigan . Campbell was born in Detroit , Michigan in 1858 . His father James V . Campbell was a New York native who came to Detroit at age three in 1826 . His father was a regent and law professor at the University of Michigan and a member of the Michigan Supreme Court . His mother Cornelia ( Hotchkiss ) Campbell was also a native of New York . Campbell attended the public schools and high schools in Detroit , graduating in 1876 . He enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1876 and completed " the Latin and scientific course . " While studying at Michigan , Campbell played at the halfback position for the 1879 Michigan Wolverines football team , the first football team to represent the University of Michigan . The first football game for the University of Michigan was a May 30 , 1879 , game against Racine at White Stockings field in Chicago . Campbell took the opening kickoff in that first football game , a play described in a newspaper the next day as follows : " The University team won the choice and let the Racine team have the kick . Johnston made a fair kick which was caught by Campbell and carried forward some distance by good runs and skilled throwing to others of our team . " Campbell was also a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity while at Michigan . A notebook kept by Campbell while he was a student at Michigan from 1879 to 1880 , which includes lecture notes from James B . Angell ' s courses in political economy and international law , is maintained in the collections of the University of Michigan ' s Bentley Historical Library . Campbell received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree from the University of Michigan in 1880 . Campbell studied law at the office of Alfred Russell starting in 1880 , and was admitted to the Michigan Bar in 1882 . He went into practice with Russel at the firm of Russell & Campbell in 1886 . The firm later became known as Russell , Campbell & Bulkley ( 1905 – 1907 ) , and later as Russell , Campbell , Bulkley & Ledyard ( 1907 – 1912 ) , and eventually Campbell , Bulkley & Ledyard ( after 1912 ) . Campbell specialized in conveyancing and trusts . In his history of the City of Detroit , Clarence M . Burton wrote : " For many years Mr . Campbell has been recognized as one of the most eminent members of the Michigan bar . " Campbell was also active in Detroit ' s civic affairs . In 1920 , he was selected as the president of the Detroit Board of Commerce . He also served as the secretary of the Woodlawn Cemetery Association , trustee of Detroit ' s famed Mariners ' Church , treasurer and director of the River Rouge Improvement Co . , and a member of the board of trustees of the Protestant Episcopal diocese of Michigan . In the 1910s , Campbell lived in the Pasadena Apartments , then one of the most fashionable apartment houses in Detroit . Campbell never married . At the time of the 1910 United States Census , Campbell lived in Apartment 148 at the Pasadena Apartments with his sister , Cornelia .