Knowlton Lyman "Snake" Ames (May 27, 1868 – December 23, 1931) 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. He played for

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

from 1886 to 1889, and the Chicago Athletic Association, in 1892. Playing for the

Princeton Tigers The Princeton Tigers are the athletic teams of Princeton University. The school sponsors 35 varsity teams in 20 sports. The school has won several NCAA national championships, including one in men's fencing, three in women's lacrosse, six in me ...

, Ames was selected to the

1889 College Football All-America Team The 1889 College Football All-America team was the first College Football All-America Team. The team was selected by Caspar Whitney and published in ''This Week's Sports''. The team selected by Whitney in 1889 marked the origin of the "All-Am ...

as a fullback. In 1891 and 1892, he was the head football coach at

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

. He is also credited as the first head football coach at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Biography

College career

At Princeton, Ames scored 730 points for the Tigers from 1886 to 1889, including 62

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s. The achievement of scoring 730 points is an unofficial college football career record, although only records set since the NCAA began keeping records in 1937 are considered official. He was named to the first-ever All-America team in 1889.

Coaching career

After graduation, Ames became the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

for Purdue University, where he led the Boilermakers to a 12–0 record over two years. Ames was hired as the first ever coach of the

Northwestern Wildcats The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and one of two private universities in the conference, the other ...

in 1891, and coached three games before taking leave to become the coach at Purdue. Northwestern credits Ames as the head coach for the 1891 and 1892 seasons with a total record of 7–5–5.

Chicago Athletic Association

Ames returned to playing football with the Chicago Athletic Association in 1892. During an October 22 game in

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 ...

, Ames and fellow player

Pudge Heffelfinger William Walter "Pudge" Heffelfinger (December 20, 1867 – April 2, 1954), also spelled Hafelfinger, was an American football player and coach. He is considered the greatest lineman of his time, and the first athlete to play American football p ...

were observed by the manager of the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. A week later the ''

Pittsburgh Press ''The Pittsburgh Press'', formerly ''The Pittsburg Press'' and originally ''The Evening Penny Press'', was a major afternoon daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for over a century, from 1884 to 1992. At the height of its popul ...

'' printed a rumor that the Pittsburgh Athletic Club was offering Heffelfinger and Ames $250 to play for the team on Saturday, November 12, against their rivals, the

Allegheny Athletic Association The Allegheny Athletic Association was an athletic club that fielded the first ever professional American football player and later the first fully professional football team. The organization was founded in 1890 as a regional athletic club in ...

. Meanwhile, another version of the story had Ames being offered only $100. However, the rumor either turned out to be false or Heffelfinger and Ames turned down Pittsburgh's offer. During an 1892 Chicago game against the Brooklyn Crescents, the Crescents refused to take field unless Chicago's Sport Donnelly was barred from the Chicago lineup because of some alleged rough tactics he used while playing for the Manhattan Athletic Club, in 1891. Chicago benched Donnelly, and his absence resulted in a tied game. Donnelly then became enraged and refused to rejoin the team in Chicago. Heffelfinger and Ames joined Donnelly in the walkout. Afterward Donnelly and Heffelfinger signed an agreement with the Allegheny Athletic Association, becoming the first known professional football players. Meanwhile, Ames had decided to forgo the game rather than risk his amateur status. He returned to coaching at Princeton.

Late life and death

After retiring from football, Ames had a career in finance and publishing. He founded the ''Chicago Journal of Commerce'' and served as its publisher until shortly before his death. Ames also served as chairman of the board of the Booth Fisheries Company and had other business interests as well. In 1931, Ames committed suicide, shooting himself with a .38 caliber

revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

as he sat is his car. Ames was age 63 at the time of his death and had recently suffered business losses.

Personal life

Ames's father, Miner Thomas Ames, was a

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

coal magnate. Ames's son, Knowlton Lyman Ames Jr., also played for Princeton.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ames, Knowlton 1868 births 1931 suicides 1931 deaths 19th-century players of American football American football drop kickers American football fullbacks Chicago Athletic Association players Princeton Tigers football players Purdue Boilermakers football coaches Lawrenceville School alumni All-American college football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees Coaches of American football from Illinois Players of American football from Chicago Suicides by firearm in Illinois