Willis Richardson was an early professional football

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

for the

Homestead Library & Athletic Club The Carnegie Library of Homestead is a public library founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1898. It is one of 2,509 Carnegie libraries worldwide; 1,689 built in the United States. It was the sixth library commissioned by Carnegie in the U.S. and the s ...

and the

Pittsburgh Stars The Pittsburgh Stars or Pittsburg Stars were a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that were only in existence for one season in 1902. The team was a member of what was referred to as the first National Football ...

of the first National Football League. He won the Western Pennsylvania State Championship with Homestead in 1900 and 1901. Then in 1902, he brought along many former Homestead players to the Stars team, which was formed by the former

Latrobe Athletic Association The Latrobe Athletic Association was a professional football team located in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, from 1895 until 1909. A member of the unofficial Western Pennsylvania Professional Football Circuit, the team is best known for being the first f ...

manager, Dave Berry, and probably funded by the

Barney Dreyfuss Bernhard "Barney" Dreyfuss (February 23, 1865 – February 5, 1932) was an executive in Major League Baseball who owned the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise from 1900 to his death. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008. Dr ...

and William Chase Temple of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team. During the Stars "championship game" against the Philadelphia Athletics, Willis scored an

extra point The conversion, try (American football, also known as a point(s) after touchdown, PAT, or (depending on the number of points) extra point/2-point conversion), or convert (Canadian football) occurs immediately after a touchdown during which the sc ...

to help lead the Stars to an 11–0 victory and the 1902 championship. Prior to playing professionally, Richardson played at the college level for Brown University. While at Brown he was a two-time All-American on

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system ...

s second team. He is best known as the player who kicked Brown’s first ever field goal in 1899. In 1898 he earned his first All-American status by running 103 yards for a touchdown against

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 ...

. In 1971 Willis was inducted into the Brown University Football Hall of Fame.

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Willis Brown Bears football players Homestead Library & Athletic Club players Pittsburgh Stars players 19th-century players of American football