What could an over one hundred year old photo of a Rutgers basketball team possibly have in common with a January 17, 2022 New York Times article about a supposed 74 year curse on the Arizona Cardinals football team? Both, in fact, are links to the same story, that of Walter French, perhaps New Jersey's greatest all-around athlete. French was not just and excellent athlete in multiple sports, he was, at least on the field, a member of professional championship teams in two different sports while narrowly missing a third title in college basketball. The New York Times article tells the how the Pottsville Maroons, then an NFL team, thanks primarily to French, defeated the Chicago Cardinals in what was effectively the league's 1925 championship game, only to see their title taken away on a technicality. Not only did the Cardinals later claim that championship, they rebuffed at least two subsequent attempts to right the wrong, leading to the idea their "illicit" championship is somehow the explanation for their failure to win an NFL title ever since. Considering the Cardinals quick elimination from this year's playoffs, if the curse does exist, it's still in full force.
Although French's name wasn't mentioned in the Times article, I was aware of his important part in the Pottsville victory because I had been "introduced" to him about five years ago while looking through some photos in the Rutgers University archives. The oldest photo was the below picture of a Rutgers basketball team containing little more than the players names on the back and the score written on the basketball - Rutgers 31 - Princeton 30. There was obviously a story here so I hustled over to the microfilm room and learned that on February 11, 1920, Rutgers defeated Princeton in a dramatic overtime contest. There was, however, a lot more to the story of the 1920 Rutgers basketball team. Later in the season, they were invited to the National AAU tournament in Atlanta (there was no NCAA tournament at the time). Using only five players and playing without their coach, the legendary Frank Hill, who couldn't leave his day job, Rutgers won three games in three nights before falling to NYU in the championship game. One of the five players was the aforementioned Walter French whose defense played a key part in the team's semi-final win.
Who was this young man who played in championship games in professional football and college basketball? According to Lenny Wagner's excellent SABR biography of French, he was born in Moorestown, New Jersey in 1899. French was a star athlete first at the local high school and then at the Pennington Seminary, now the Pennington School. After graduation from high school, he enrolled at Rutgers College, then a small private school with an all-male student body numbering in the hundreds. French played on the 1918 Rutgers football team with Paul Robeson and then joined the basketball team. Unfortunately he didn't finish the season because, as the Home News put it, he became "stranded along the way on the scholastic shoals." Eligible again for the 1919 football season, French starred even though he missed several games due to injuries. All told he scored seven of the team's 17 touchdowns highlighted by a 75 yard run in a 28-0 shutout of Northwestern. Howard O'Neil of the Home News described French as "weirdly fast" with a running style "which makes him almost untackable."
French's early success in football and basketball gave him a chance to become one of Rutgers' greatest athletes. However after his sophomore year, French transferred to West Point, apparently part of Superintendent Douglas MacArthur's efforts to recruit good athletes to the academy. MacArthur's recruiting efforts were aided by a quirk in eligibility rules whereby all cadets had four years of eligibility regardless of how many years they had played elsewhere. Just a few years earlier Army's Edgar Garbisch, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, finished his eighth season of college football. French's performance on the gridiron at West Point proved his early success at Rutgers was no fluke as he made Walter Camp's All-American teams in both 1920 and 1921. He also played baseball at West Point where Coach Hans Lobert, a former major leaguer, taught him to take full advantage of his extraordinary speed.
Unfortunately French's athletic career at West Point was cut short by the "scholastic shoals" and he left the academy after the 1921 football season. French then enlisted in the army, but his baseball ability had caught the eye of Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics who wanted to sign him to a minor league contract. Happily the army agreed to discharge French and after two years in the minors, he became a member of the 1925 Athletics, hitting .370 in slightly less than half a season. French was set to be the Athletics right fielder for the 1926 season, but with a wife and child, he was short of money. Approached by the Pottsville Maroons, a team in the fledgling NFL, he got Mack's reluctant permission to try his hand at professional football. On December 6, 1925 at Comiskey Park in front of a "shivering crowd of 6,000" fans, French and his teammates took on the Chicago Cardinals in what was effectively a championship game.
1925 Pottsville Maroons - French is second from the right.
French was a reserve on the Maroons squad, but Tony Latone, the team's star running back was limited due to an injury. Even so Pottsville took an early 7-0 lead only to see Latone's replacement limp off the field. In came French, who on his first play raced for 30 yards, followed a few plays later by another 30 yard gallop, this time for a touchdown that put Pottsville up 14-0. After the Cardinals cut the lead to 14-7 at halftime, French led a long fourth quarter drive that set up the clinching score in the Maroons 21-7 win. Frank Schreiber of the Chicago Tribune had no doubt why Pottsville prevailed, claiming "it was Mr. French more than anyone else on the Pottsville team who wrecked the Chicago title hopes." The Chicago writer paid French the ultimate compliment when he said French's play was enough to make "Red Grange sit up" and take notice. A week after their Chicago triumph, Pottsville played and won an exhibition game against a college all-star team. Unfortunately, the game also violated another team's territorial rights and, as a result, cost the Maroons their championship. Much more about this remarkable team and season can be found in Dan Fleming's book - Breaker Boys."
Returning to the Athletics the following spring, French focused on his baseball career. After hitting over .300 in 1926 and 1927, he became a reserve outfielder and pinch hitter on Connie Mack's great 1929 team that won the World Series against the Cubs. French made just one plate appearance in the Fall Classic as a pinch hitter in the fifth and final game. Supposedly Connie Mack later claimed French's comments after striking out in the ninth, inspired the following batters to rally from a 2-0 deficit and close out the series. True or not, French didn't have to make any apologies for his Athletics career where he hit .303 over six seasons. After a few years in the minors, French returned to West Point as the baseball coach where he remained until he enlisted in the army in 1943. At war's end, he was invited back to West Point, but chose to stay in the army, retiring in 1960. In recognition of his service to the academy, French was made an honorary member of the Class of 1924. The old soldier and multi-sport athlete, died on March 13, 1984.
By any standard, Walter French had a remarkable athletic career. Not only did he star in three sports at the collegiate level, he played both baseball and football at the highest professional level on teams that won championships on the field. Technically, French's Pottsville team didn't win the 1925 NFL championship and as a result Hinkey Haines, who played for the Yankees and the New York Football Giants, is the only player to win championships in two different professional sports. Perhaps some day the "better angels" of the Arizona Cardinal's nature will convince them to do the right thing which will both give the Pottsville Maroons their day in the sun and allow French to join Haines in that small, elite group of two sport champions. French also has the distinction of coming as close as is humanly possible to an even more unique achievement. Had his 1920 Rutgers team won the final game of the AAU tournament, French would have been on championship teams at the highest level of three different sports. Even without that trifecta, however, French's story is well worth remembering.
The French career probably had as many rebounds as he did in his best basketball game. Can there be a more obscure trivia question than "who played eight years of college football?
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