Carl Sheldon "Cap" Williams (May 16, 1872 – November 8, 1960) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player, coach, and ophthalmologist. He played college football at Oberlin College and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

during the 1890s. He returned to Penn and served as the head football coach there from 1902 to 1907, compiling a record of 60–10–4. His

Penn Quakers The Penn Quakers are the athletic teams of the University of Pennsylvania. The school sponsors 33 varsity sports. The school has won three NCAA national championships in men's fencing and one in women's fencing. School colors There are s ...

teams of 1904 and 1907 have been recognized as

national champions National champions are corporations which are technically private businesses but due to governmental policy are ceded a dominant position in a national economy. In this system, these large organizations are expected not only to seek profit but als ...

. Williams later practiced ophthalmology for many years in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Early life and education

William was born on May 16, 1872, in Chatham, Ohio. A

Wellington, Ohio Wellington is a village in Lorain County, Ohio. The population was 4,799 at the time of the 2020 census. History Some say the village was named after William Welling, a local resident, while others believe the name is derived from the title of ...

native, he graduated from the

in 1894 with a Bachelor of Science and a medical degree in 1897.

Playing career

Oberlin

Williams played at Oberlin College in 1891 and 1892. The 1891 Yeomen 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 John Heisman. The Yeomen finished the season undefeated including a season opening victory over

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. Williams scored the first

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

early in the game which would become a 40–0 route of the Buckeyes. During that season the Yeomen also claimed a second victory over the Buckeyes and a victory over the

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

but both schools dispute this.

Penn

On Heisman's advice, Williams transferred to his coach's former school, the

. He lettered three seasons at quarterback for the Red and Blue under renowned coach

George Washington Woodruff George Washington Woodruff (February 22, 1864 – March 24, 1934) was an American football player, rower, coach, teacher, lawyer and politician. He served as the head football coach at the University of Pennsylvania (1892–1901), the University ...

. At the time Williams played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

under Woodruff, the

forward pass In several forms of football, a forward pass is the throwing of the ball in the direction in which the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line. The forward pass is one of the main distinguishers between gridir ...

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 A down is a period in which a play transpires in gridiron football. The down is a distinguishing characteristic of the game compared to other codes of football, but is synonymous with a "tackle" in rugby league. The team in possession of the ...

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 Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

and

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

. 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.

1894 season

In 1894 Williams helped Penn to its first undefeated season. The 1894 team was retroactively named national champions by Parke H. Davis though Yale and Princeton were also retroactively named national champions 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. The 1894 squad featured a talented backfield that consisted of Williams, Alden Knipe ( halfback), George H. Brooke ( fullback) and

Winchester Osgood Winchester Dana Osgood (April 12, 1870 – October 18, 1896) was a prominent American college athlete in the late 19th century at both Cornell University and University of Pennsylvania. He played halfback on the football teams at both school ...

(halfback).

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.

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 Tigers football The Auburn Tigers football program represents Auburn University in the sport of American college football. Auburn competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division ...

team, wrote to Williams asking the Penn 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 went on to Hall of Fame career.

Athletic clubs

Williams continued playing football after college, as quarterback for the

Orange Athletic Club The Orange Tornadoes and Newark Tornadoes were two manifestations of a long-lived professional American football franchise that existed in some form from 1887 to 1941 and from 1958 to 1970, having played in the American Amateur Football Union from ...

in 1897 and the

Duquesne Country and Athletic Club The Duquesne Country and Athletic Club was a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1895 until 1900. The team was considered one of the best, if not the best, professional football teams in the country from 1898 until 1 ...

in 1898 and 1899.

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 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. 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. 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 score on them that season. 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. 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. He was replaced the season by

Sol Metzger Sol or SOL may refer to: Astronomy * The Sun Currency * SOL Project, a currency project in France * French sol, or sou * Argentine sol * Bolivian sol, the currency of Bolivia from 1827 to 1864 * Peruvian sol, introduced in 1991 * Peruvian ...

for the 1908 season. He finished his coaching career 60–10–4 record.

Medical career and death

Williams earned degrees in ophthalmology the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

and London's Royal Ophthalmic College. He practiced ophthalmology for many years in

, serving on the staff at Chesnut Hill Hospital, the

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) is the flagship hospital of Penn Medicine and is located in the University City section of West Philadelphia. It is consistently ranked as one of the top hospitals in the United States. Histor ...

, and Georgetown Hospital. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Williams served as a captain in the Air Medical Corps, and later rose to the rank of major in the Army Medical Reserve Corps. He died on November 8, 1960, at the age of 88 near

Pennsburg, Pennsylvania Pennsburg is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Its population was 3,889 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Upper Perkiomen School District. It is also part of the strip of small towns that run together along Route 29: Red Hill, P ...

Head coaching record

''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 H. Davis
1904 poll results = Penn: Helms, National Championship Foundation, Parke H. Davis and Michigan: Billingsley, National Championship Foundation''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Carl S. 1872 births 1960 deaths 19th-century players of American football American football quarterbacks American ophthalmologists Oberlin Yeomen football players Penn Quakers football coaches Penn Quakers football players Duquesne Country and Athletic Club players Heidelberg University alumni American military personnel of World War I United States Army officers People from Wellington, Ohio People from Medina County, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio Physicians from Pennsylvania