Carl Sheldon Williams

College coach infobox
Name = Carl Sheldon “Cap” Williams


Caption =
DateOfBirth =
Birthplace = Wellington, Ohio
DateOfDeath =
Sport = Football
College =
Title = Head Coach
CurrentRecord =
OverallRecord = 60-10-4
Awards =
Championships = National Championship: 1904, 1907
CFbDWID = 2510
Player = Y
Years = 1891-1892
1893-1895
Team = Oberlin College
University of Pennsylvania
Position = Quarterback
Coach = Y
CoachYears = 1902-1907
CoachTeams = University of Pennsylvania
FootballHOF =

Carl Sheldon "Cap" Williams was an American football player and coach. A Wellington, Ohio native, Williams graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1894 with a bachelor of Science and a medical degree in 1897. [Nat Brandt, "When Oberlin Was King of the Gridiron – The Heisman Years," (Kent State University Press, 2001), p. 185, ISBN 0-87338-684-1.] Williams played both at Oberlin and University of Pennsylvania and coached at the University of Pennsylvania.

Playing career

Oberlin

He played at Oberlin in 1891 and 1892. The 1891 Yeoman played without a paid coach and went 2-2. The next year Williams was named captain. [Nat Brandt, p. 177] This team was coached by legendary coach John Heisman. The Yeoman finished the season undefeated including a season opening victory over Ohio State University. Williams scored the first touchdown early in the game which would become a 40-0 route of the Buckeyes. [Nat Brandt, p. 71] During that season the Yoeman also claimed a second victory over the Buckeyes and a victory over the University of Michigan but both schools dispute this. [Nat Brandt, p. 177]

University of Pennsylvania

On Heisman’s advise, he transferred to his coach’s former school, the University of Pennsylvania. [Nat Brandt, p. 93] He lettered three seasons at quarterback for the Red and Blue under renowned coach George W. Woodruff. [ [http://www.pennathletics.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=1700&KEY=&ATCLID=518504&SPID=537&SPSID=60663 2006 University of Pennsylvania Football Media Guide] , p. 145, accessed 1-18-2007 ] At the time Williams played quarterback under Woodruff, the forward pass was illegal. To advance the ball down the field, Woodruff coached his quarterback to “pass the ball with his foot.” The rules at the time were that anybody that kicked the ball or anybody behind the kicker was allowed to recover the ball and retain possession. Williams was able to place his kicks with great accuracy allow Penn to recover for a first down. [Allison Danzig, "Oh, How They Played the Game," (The Macmillan Company, 1971), p. 113, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 73-163227]

1893 Season

In his first year as quarterback, he helped the 1893 Quakers to a 12 – 3 record. The team started strong by winning the first 11 game. In those 11 games the defense only gave up 18 points while the offence scored 305 points. The season collapsed in last four games when Penn lost three out of the last four games to Harvard, Yale and Princeton. [2006 University of Pennsylvania Football Media Guide, p. 123, ] At the time Penn rarely beat these three schools. All of the games were close and in losing the game 14-6 to Yale, Penn was able to score a moral victory by scoring. Yale had been un-scored on for 35 straight games stretching from 1890, successively scoring 1,355 unanswered points. [Scott A. McQuilkin and Ronald A. Smith, [http://www.aafla.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1993/JSH2001/jsh2001f.pdf “The Rise and Fall of the Flying Wedge: Football’s Most Controversial Play”] Journal of Sport History, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Spring 1993), accessed 2-4-2007]

1894 Season

In 1894 Williams helped Penn to its first undefeated season. The 1894 team was retroactively named National Championship by Parke Davis though Yale and Princeton was also retroactively named National Championship by other organizations. The highlight of the season was a 12-0 victory over Princeton (only the second in 30 meetings) and an 18-4 victory over Harvard. [2006 University of Pennsylvania Football Media Guide, p. 137] The 1894 squad featured a very talented backfield that consisted of Williams, Author Knipe (halfback), George Brooke (fullback) and Winchester Osgood (halfback). [Allison Danzig, p. 114]

1895 Season

Williams was elected captain of the Penn’s 1895 team and was named an All American that year. [2006 University of Pennsylvania Football Media Guide, p. 15] As captain, he led Penn to another undefeated (14-0) seasons and a second-consecutive retroactive National Title. [2006 University of Pennsylvania Football Media Guide, p. 15]

Helping Heisman

Other than the two undefeated seasons, Williams may is best known for being instrumental in getting John Heisman back into coaching. Before the 1895 season, Walter Riggs a graduate manager for the Auburn football team wrote to Williams at the asking the University of Pennsylvania captain to suggest a suitable coach. He recommended his former coach at Oberlin who at the time was a tomato farmer in Texas. Auburn hired Heisman who would go on to Hall of Fame career. [ [http://clemsontigers.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/092106aab.html 2006 Clemson University Football Media Guide] , p. 170, accessed 1-18-2007]

Coaching career

In 1902 Williams succeeded his former coach George W. Woodruff at the University of Pennsylvania. When Williams first arrived he had to deal with a team and athletic department recovering from an undergraduate and dental student revolt that led to Head Coach George W. Woodruff to resign. The students were dissatisfied with the team’s performance in the 1901 season and demanded more undergraduate say in athletic department and coaching. At the time the Athletic Association's Board of Directors was controlled by graduate and professional students. [Nicholas Gutowski, [http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/sports/football/1800s/origins5.html"Penn Football in the 1800s, Varsity team history, Movement Towards Change and Authority Response: 1901, November 12th - 25th,"] (University of Pennsylvania archives)] To protest Woodruff resignation all of Penn's graduate coaches resigned. Williams introduced a coaching system in which he served as head coach while being aided by a group of other alumni who served as assistant coaches. This system reduced the damage any one coach or assistant coach had to leave the team. [Nicholas Gutowski, [http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/sports/football/1800s/origins6.html "Penn Football in the 1800s, Varsity team history, Change: 1901, November 26th - December 3rd,"] (University of Pennsylvania archives)] He quickly rebuilt the Quakers and led them to two retroactive national titles in 1904 and 1907. In just his third season as head coach, Williams and Penn posted a 12-0 record and the program’s fourth National Crown. This Quakers squad has a dominating Defense that only allowed 0.3 points a game with Swarthmore the only school to scorn on them that season. [2006 University of Pennsylvania Football Media Guide, p. 15] The next year Williams led Penn to the second-straight undefeated season posting a 12-0-1 mark. Once again defense dominated with seven shutouts. [2006 University of Pennsylvania Football Media Guide, p. 120] Penn’s fifth and Williams second (as a coach) retroactive National Title came after an 11-1 campaign in his last year at the helm of the Quakers. [2006 University of Pennsylvania Football Media Guide, p. 15] He was replaced the season by Sol Metzger for the 1908 season, He finished his coaching career 60-10-4 record.

Coaching record

CFB Coaching Record Team
team = University of Pennsylvania Quakers
conf = independent
startyear = 1902
endyear = 1907CFB Coaching Record Entry
championship =
year = 1902
team = Pennsylvania
overall = 9-4
conference =
confstanding =
bowl =
bowlgame =
bowlopp =
bowlscore =
bcsbowl =
ranking = CFB Coaching Record Entry
championship =
year = 1903
team = Pennsylvania
overall = 9-3
conference =
confstanding =
bowl =
bowlgame =
bowlopp =
bowlscore =
bcsbowl =
ranking = CFB Coaching Record Entry
championship = national
year = 1904
team = Pennsylvania
overall = 12-0
conference =
confstanding =
bowl =
bowlgame =
bowlopp =
bowlscore =
bcsbowl =
ranking = CFB Coaching Record Entry
championship =
year = 1905
team = Pennsylvania
overall = 12-0-1
conference =
confstanding =
bowl =
bowlgame =
bowlopp =
bowlscore =
bcsbowl =
ranking = CFB Coaching Record Entry
championship =
year = 1906
team = Pennsylvania
overall = 7-2-3
conference =
confstanding =
bowl =
bowlgame =
bowlopp =
bowlscore =
bcsbowl =
ranking = CFB Coaching Record Entry
championship = national
year = 1907
team = Pennsylvania
overall = 11-1
conference =
confstanding =
bowl =
bowlgame =
bowlopp =
bowlscore =
bcsbowl =
ranking = CFB Coaching Record Team End
team = Pennsylvania
overall = 60-10-4
confrecord = CFB Coaching Record End
overall = 60-10-4
bcs = no
poll = no
polltype = "Note: Before 1936, national champions were determined by historical research and retroactive ratings and polls.
1907 poll results = Penn: Billingsley and Yale: Helms, National Championship Foundation, Parke Davis Poll Results
1904 poll results = Penn: Helms, National Championship Foundation, Parke Davis and Michigan: Billingsley, National Championship Foundation"

External links

* [http://www.oberlin.edu/athletic/ Oberlin Athletics official site]
* [http://www.pennathletics.net Penn Athletics official site]
* [http://www.ncaa.org NCAA official site]

References

* [http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_year_by_year.php?coachid=2510 year by year record at College Football Data Warehouse]
* [http://www.oberlin.edu/athletic/publications/football_2006.pdf Oberlin 2006 football media guide]
* [http://www.pennathletics.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=1700&KEY=&ATCLID=518504&SPID=537&SPSID=60663 Penn 2006 media guide]