George Haydock Brooke

Education

University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Career

He played college football as a fullback at Swarthmore College from 1889 to 1892 and at the University of Pennsylvania from 1893 to 1895. Brooke served as the head football coach at Stanford University (1897), Swarthmore (1900–1912), and Penn (1913–1915), compiling a career college football coaching record of 89–46–10. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1969.

Brooke played seven years of college football at Swarthmore College and then at the University of Pennsylvania.

He was selected as an All-American in 1894 and 1895 while playing for the University of Pennsylvania. All-American selector, Caspar Whitney called Brooke a "very hard man to stop.

He strikes the line with almost irresistible force." After graduating from Pennsylvania, Brooke was the subject of an allegation of being an ineligible player in an October 24, 1896 game in New Orleans, Los Los Angeles In the game, Brooke played only one down for Tulane University before Louisiana State University protested to the game"s referee. Tulane claimed that Brooke planned on enrolling there as a graduate student.

During the debate between team captains, Brooke refused to sign an affidavit stating his intention to enroll at Tulane, and the referee ruled him ineligible to play.

The Tulane football team refused to continue playing the game without Brooke, so the referee ruled the game to be a forfeit in favor of Louisiana State University.

Following his playing career, Brooke was the head football coach at Stanford University in 1897, compiling a record of 4–1. From 1900 to 1912 he coached Swarthmore College"s football team, earning an overall record of 72–32–6. He coached three years at the University of Pennsylvania, where his record was 13–12–4.

Brooke died in 1938.

In 1969, he was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Achievements

• Penn was undefeated and won the national championship of football in the two seasons that Brooke was named an All-American. Brooke was also an accomplished squash player, winning the national amateur squash championship in 1904, and the doubles championship in 1917.