Charles Glidden Osborne (February 9, 1884 – January 15, 1961) was an

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

player and coach. Osborne was born in the Roxbury neighborhood of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in 1884. He attended the

Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...

in England and the

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

. After studying at Oxford, Osborne returned to the United States and enrolled at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at the fullback position for

Harvard Crimson The Harvard Crimson is the nickname of the college sports teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate Varsity team, varsity sports teams for women and men at Harva ...

in 1904 to 1905. In 1906, he was moved to the tackle position. He helped lead the

1906 Harvard Crimson football team The 1906 Harvard Crimson football team represented Harvard University in the 1906 college football season. The Crimson finished with a 10–1 record under second-year head coach Bill Reid. The team won its first ten games by a combined 167–20 ...

to a 10–1, the sole loss being a close game against national champion

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

. At the end of the 1906 season, he was selected by

Caspar Whitney Caspar William Whitney (September 2, 1864 – January 18, 1929) was an American author, editor, explorer, outdoorsman, and war correspondent. He originated the concept of the All-American team in college football in 1889, when he worked for '' ...

, Charles Chadwick, and '' The New York Times'', as a first-team tackle on the 1906 All-America college football team.

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American college football player and 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 a ...

named him to his All-America second team. He was a player who reportedly "enjoyed the game himself every minute he was playing" and "played football purely for the fun he got out of it." He also played for Harvard's cricket and

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

teams and was a member of D.K.E., Hasting Pudding, Signet and Digamma clubs. After graduating in 1907, Osborne became an assistant coach to the Harvard football team. In the fall of 1907, he wrote a letter to the Harvard Crimson advocating the formation of an alumni football team that would play against Harvard's varsity team each fall. Under Osborne's proposal, the alumni players "would be enabled to keep up their football for a few weeks every fall," and they would benefit the varsity team by allowing them regularly to play "against the strongest possible kind of scrub team." Osborne died in 1961 in

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He was buried in the Garden of Remembrance at the Hastings Cemetery and Crematorium.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Charles 1884 births All-American college football players American football tackles Harvard Crimson football players Harvard Crimson football coaches 1961 deaths