Marshall Newell Marshall " Ma " Newell ( April 2 , 1871 – December 24 , 1897 ) was an American football player . He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1957 . Early years . Newell was the son of Samuel Newell , a prominent lawyer , and grew up on a farm near Great Barrington , Massachusetts , in the Berkshire Hills . Athlete at Harvard . He enrolled at Phillips Exeter Academy in 1887 and graduated in 1890 . He attended Harvard University where he became an All - American football player . Nicknamed " Ma " Newell , he played right tackle for the Harvard football team from 1890 - 1893 . Newell stood 5 feet , 10 inches , weighed approximately 170 pounds , and played every minute of every game for Harvard from 1890 to 1893 . During his four years on the team , Harvard had a record of 46 – 3 ( including 38 shutouts ) and outscored opponents 1 , 926 to 95 . " The New York World " wrote the following about Newell in 1892 : " Marshall Newell is one of Harvard ' s stone wall stand - bys at right tackle , where he has played for three years . He is a man of most remarkable muscular development , a phenomenally hard worker , and a man of whom Harvard men may well be proud . In breaking through the line and nipping plays in the bud he is as good as . . . Winter , with whom he will lock horns . In blocking the Harvard man is the better , but in running with the ball Winter is superior . " Newell was selected as an All - American in all four years at Harvard — one of only three players in the history of college football to be named as an All - American in all four years of collegiate play . Newell was known as " a deeply sensitive man , a compassionate fellow of heart and understanding in complete contrast to the ferocity with which he played the game of football . " On the field , Newell was known for " his tremendous leg - drive and steel - trap grip in tackling enemy runners . " Newell was also known for his love of the outdoors and became an amateur naturalist . He also competed on Harvard ' s varsity crew ( rowing team ) from 1891 – 1893 . An 1893 newspaper article described Newell ' s contribution to the crew as follows : " He is a wonderfully able athlete , having played a cyclonic tackle on three Harvard elevens and rowed bow on two university crews , ' 91 and ' 92 . His muscle is fairly a burden to him , and with his great strength he is rather a stiff and awkward oarsman . His bladework is apt to be ragged . " While at Harvard , Newell was also a member of the Institute of 1770 , Dickey , Hasty Pudding Club and Signet . Coach at Cornell . After graduating from Harvard in the spring of 1894 , Newell became the head football coach at Cornell University in 1894 and 1895 . The captain of the 1894 team was Glenn Scobey " Pop " Warner . Newell ' s coaching record at Cornell was 9 – 8 – 2 . When he left after a 22 – 0 victory over Michigan in his first year coaching at Cornell , the Syracuse Standard wrote : " Marshall Newell , the Harvard man to whose coaching Cornell owes much of her success this year , left to - night for Harvard . He will probably not return this year to Ithaca again this year . He was given a rousing send off by the students , nearly 1 , 000 surrounding him as he made his way to the station . Newell made a short speech to the students after the game , in which he . . . predicted that if the present enthusiasm in football was continued Cornell would soon be ranked with Harvard , Yale and Princeton . " Railroad career and death . In December 1896 , Newell became an assistant division superintendent of the Boston and Albany Railroad . He was killed on Christmas Eve 1897 when an engine backed over him on the tracks at Springfield , Massachusetts . He was buried in the Newell family plot in Walnut Hill . Memorials and honors . After Newell ' s death , Harvard alumni donated $ 2 , 000 to construct a new boathouse on the Charles River for use by the crew and named the Newell Boat House . The tribute was completed in 1916 . In addition , Gate No . 1 at Harvard ' s Soldier Field was renamed the Newell Gate . In 1928 , syndicated sports writer Peg Murray recalled Newell as a " Pillar of Strength " and perhaps the greatest tackle in the history of the game : " Among the great tackles of history , the name of Marshall Newell , of Harvard , stands out , not only for his fine playing , but also because of his wonderful character and the influence he exerted over those with whom he came in contact with as a player and a coach . He was a whirlwind in action , a player of phenomenal strength , and made Walter Camp ' s All - American team for four years , from 1890 to ' 93 inclusive . Newell , nicknamed ' Ma ' back in his Phillips Exeter days , could use his hands as cleverly as Jim Driscoll , and was a master of position play . . . . Newell was beloved by all those that knew him , respected by his opponents as a true sportsman , and his tragic death in 1897 was mourned by thousands of friends . No more high - principled player ever lived . . . " John Heisman , the namesake of the Heisman Trophy , selected Newell as his pick for the greatest football player of all time . Newell was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1957 . In 1967 , he was one of the first group inducted into the Harvard Varsity Club Hall of Fame .