Joseph "Little Joe" Wentworth (January 29, 1877 – April 7, 1944) was an American

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 ...

player, coach, and lawyer. Wentworth was born January 29, 1877, in

Sandwich, New Hampshire Sandwich is a New England town, town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. Its population was 1,466 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Sandwich includes the villages of Center Sandwich, New Ham ...

, to Paul and Ellen Tilton (Dunklee) Wentworth. Wentworth attended the

Holderness School The Holderness School is a private, coeducational college- preparatory school in Holderness, near Plymouth, New Hampshire in the United States. The student body of 300 is drawn from 22 U.S. states and 14 foreign countries. While Holderness oper ...

from 1890 to 1896 and

Phillips Academy Andover Phillips Academy (also known as PA, Phillips Academy Andover, or simply Andover) is a Private school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational college-preparatory school for Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day students located in ...

from 1893 to 1896. For his undergraduate career, he attended

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

, graduating in 1900. He was a member of the

Sphinx A sphinx ( ; , ; or sphinges ) is a mythical creature with the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle. In Culture of Greece, Greek tradition, the sphinx is a treacherous and merciless being with the head of a woman, th ...

, a Dartmouth

secret society A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ag ...

, and

Alpha Delta Phi Alpha Delta Phi (; commonly known as Alpha Delt, AD, ADPhi, A-Delt, or ADP) is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. Alpha Delta Phi was originally founded as a literary society by Samuel Eells in 1832 at Hamilton College in ...

fraternity. Wentworth graduated from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1903, and spent most of his professional career with the law firm Choate, Hall & Stewart in

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 ...

Playing career

As a collegiate athlete, he played football at Dartmouth as a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

. He captained the freshmen team in 1896 and played varsity from 1897 to 1899. Wentworth captained the varsity team his final season in

1899 Events January * January 1 ** Spanish rule formally ends in Cuba with the cession of Spanish sovereignty to the U.S., concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas.''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (February 1899), p ...

. He was a member of the varsity baseball team during his junior and senior years playing centerfield.

Coaching career

Wentworth began his career coaching for Kenyon from 1900 to 1901. When hired in 1902 by

Case School of Applied Science The Case School of Engineering is the engineering school of Case Western Reserve University, a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It traces its roots to the 1880 founding of the Case School of Applied Science. The school was endowed ...

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, Coach Wentworth was the highest paid football coach in the nation at $3,000. Upon its formation in 1902, Wentworth won the first four titles of the

Ohio Athletic Conference The Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. All member institutions are located in Ohio. Formed in 1902, it is the third oldest athletic conference in the United States ...

with Case School of Applied Science. During this four year stretch, he achieved a dominating league record of 18–1–1, including beating archrival Western Reserve by a combined 132–0. In 1906,

's rules changed allowing for 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 legal and widespread use of the forward pass distinguishes grid ...

. After coaching one season under the new rules, Coach Wentworth decided to resign, saying he would go back to Boston and practice law rather than learn football all over again.

Professional career and later years

After graduating Harvard Law School, Wentworth became a member of the

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

bar in 1903 and was associated with the firm Choate, Hall & Stewart of Boston, before officially becoming a member of the firm in 1909.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wentworth, Joseph 1877 births 1944 deaths 19th-century players of American football Baseball players from New Hampshire Case Western Reserve Spartans football coaches Dartmouth Big Green baseball players Dartmouth Big Green football players Harvard Law School alumni Kenyon Owls football coaches People from Sandwich, New Hampshire Phillips Academy alumni Players of American football from New Hampshire Sportspeople from Carroll County, New Hampshire