Albert James "Albie" Booth (February 1, 1908 – March 1, 1959) was an American football player. He was a star at Yale University from 1929 to 1931, and was elected to the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 1966. Booth, at only tall and , was known as "Little Boy Blue" "Albie 'Little Boy Blue' Booth"biography at

website (retrieved February 7, 2009). and the "Mighty Atom",Mark F. Bernstein, ''Football: The Ivy League Origins of an American Obsession'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), , pp.140-41
excerpt
available at Google Books). and sportswriters compared him to the fictional Yale sports hero Frank Merriwell. A New Haven, Connecticut, native, he attended

Hillhouse High School James Hillhouse High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school in New Haven, Connecticut. It serves grades 9–12. James Hillhouse High School is the oldest public high school in New Haven, and is part of the New Haven Public Scho ...

(as well as Milford Academy) before coming to Yale, where he was a hometown favorite. In the

single wing offense In American and Canadian football, a single-wing formation was a precursor to the modern spread or shotgun formation. The term usually connotes formations in which the snap is tossed rather than handed—formations with one wingback and a hand ...

of Yale coach Mal Stevens, Booth played the tailback position and was also the team's kicker. Booth became famous in 1929, his sophomore year, after a spectacular performance against

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. Booth, not yet a regular starter, entered the game with Yale losing 13–0, and proceeded to

rush Rush(es) may refer to: Places United States * Rush, Colorado * Rush, Kentucky * Rush, New York * Rush City, Minnesota * Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois * Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream * Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...

for 233 yards and score all of Yale's points (2 rushing touchdowns, a 65-yard

punt return In gridiron football, a punt is a kick performed by dropping the ball from the hands and then kicking the ball before it hits the ground. The most common use of this tactic is to punt the ball downfield to the opposing team, usually on the final d ...

touchdown, and 3 extra point kicks), leading Yale to a 21–13 upset win. Newsreels reported the game with the caption, "Booth 21, Army 13". Against Army the following year, while playing defense early in the game, Booth

intercepted In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

an Army pass, but was then swarmed by Army tacklers and injured so severely he had to be carried off on a stretcher, and the teams played to a tie. (Yale architecture professor Vincent Scully, a devoted football fan since his childhood, has claimed that Army intentionally threw the interception to Booth so that the Army players could then injure him and put him out of the game.Richard Conniff
"The Patriarch"
''

Yale Alumni Magazine The ''Yale Alumni Magazine'' is an alumni magazine about Yale University. It was founded in 1891. The ''Magazine''s statement of purpose approved on June 16, 2003 says:''Yale Alumni Magazine''"Statement of purpose" Retrieved April 7, 2007. Y ...

'', March/April 2008.) Hampered by injuries during his junior year, Booth returned to form as a senior. He scored 3 touchdowns against

Dartmouth Dartmouth may refer to: Places * Dartmouth, Devon, England ** Dartmouth Harbour * Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States * Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada * Dartmouth, Victoria, Australia Institutions * Dartmouth College, Ivy League university i ...

in a 33–33 tie (the highest scoring tie in college football history at that time). His last game was against

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, with both teams entering "

The Game The Game or The Games may refer to: Sports and games * The Game (dice game) (German: ''Das Spiel''), a dice game designed by Reinhold Wittig * The Game (mind game), a mind game, the objective of which is to avoid thinking about The Game itself * ...

" undefeated for the first time since 1913.Bernstein, ''Football: The Ivy League Origins'', p.150
excerpt
available at Google Books). Neither team scored until Booth kicked a late-game

drop kick A drop kick is a type of kick in various codes of football. It involves a player dropping the ball and then kicking it as it touches the ground. Drop kicks are used as a method of restarting play and scoring points in rugby union and rugby league ...

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

to win 3–0, finally prevailing in his third attempt to beat Harvard's

varsity Varsity may refer to: *University, an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in various academic disciplines Places *Varsity, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta, Canada * Varsity Lakes ...

team and its star quarterback Barry Wood."Best of the Bulldogs"
'' Harvard Crimson'', March 3, 1959. Exhausted from the season, Booth was in a hospital with pleurisy while his teammates routed Princeton 51–14 in the final game, inspired in part by a telegram from Booth that was delivered to the Yale bench shortly before halftime. Booth was also a basketball and baseball star at Yale. After recovering from pleurisy, in spring 1932, he hit a two-out

grand slam home run In baseball, a grand slam is a home run hit with bases loaded, all three bases occupied by baserunners ("bases loaded"), thereby scoring four run (baseball), runs—the most possible in one play. According to ''The Dickson Baseball Dictionary'', t ...

to beat the Harvard baseball team 4–3. In 1932, Booth married Marion Noble, his childhood sweetheart. After college Booth coached football, played

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a consid ...

baseball and basketball, worked as a football referee, and worked for an ice-cream manufacturer in New Haven."Events and Discoveries: The Mighty Atom"
''Sports Illustrated'', March 9, 1959. He died of a heart attack in 1959 at the age of 51.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Albie 1908 births 1959 deaths Baseball players from Connecticut Basketball players from Connecticut College Football Hall of Fame inductees Milford Academy alumni Players of American football from New Haven, Connecticut Semi-professional baseball players Yale Bulldogs baseball players Yale Bulldogs football players Yale Bulldogs men's basketball players American men's basketball players