Harvard is celebrating the 150th anniversary of Crimson football. To commemorate the occasion, we have undertaken the daunting task of choosing the greatest players in the program’s history. (A tough job, but someone had to do it.) Our panel includes four who are steeped in Harvard football. They are: yours truly; Joseph Bertagna ’73, author of Crimson in Triumph: A Pictorial History of Harvard Athletics, 1852-1986; John T. Bethell ’54, former editor of Harvard Magazine, who served as “Cleat,” the publication’s football writer, from 1971 to 2014; and John Powers ’70, longtime sportswriter for the Boston Globe and contributor to The Third Harvard H Book of Athletics 1963-2022. After much spirited, sometimes agonizing, but always collegial debate, we arrived at these choices.
|
Offense |
First Team |
Second Team |
TIGHT END |
Kyle Juszczyk ’13 |
Cam Brate ’14 |
OFFENSIVE LINE |
Ham Fish 1910Robert Fisher 1912Dan Jiggetts ’76Endicott Peabody ’42 |
Matt Birk ’98Roger Caron ’84-’85Mike Clare ’01Stan Pennock 1915 |
CENTER |
William H. Lewis LL.B 1893 |
Ben Ticknor ’31 |
QUARTERBACK |
Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05 |
Neil Rose ’03 |
RUNNING BACK |
Clifton Dawson ’07Eddie Mahan 1916 |
Eddie Casey 1919Chris Menick ’00 |
WIDE RECEIVER |
Pat McInally ’75Carl Morris ’03 |
Corey Mazza ’07-’08Matt Luft ’10 |
KICKER |
Charlie Brickley 1915 |
Jake McIntyre ’20 |
KICKER RETURNER |
Colby Skelton ’98 |
Justice Shelton-Mosley ’19 |
|
Defense |
First Team |
Second Team |
DEFENSIVE LINE |
Bob Baggott ’78Desmond Bryant ’08Tack Hardwick 1915Zack Hodges ’15 |
Dave Campbell 1902Truman Jones ’23Ma Newell 1894
|
LINEBACKERS |
Joe Azelby ’84Dante Balestracci ’04Isaiah Kacyvenski ’00 |
Don Chiofaro ’68Don Peterson ’89Jordan Hill ’20 |
DEFENSIVE BACKS |
Andrew Berry ’09Cecil Cox ’86Bill Emper ’77Barry Wood ’32 |
Charley Brewer 1896
|
PUNTER |
Jacob Dombrowski ’13 |
Samuel Felton 1913 |
HONORABLE MENTION
OFFENSE
TE: Ben Braunecker ’15, Pete Varney ’71
OL: Mike Corbat ’83, Herman Gundlach ’35, Charles Hubbard 1924, Howard Houston ’50, Tommy Lee Jones ’69 C: Nick Easton ’14, Noah Van Niel ’08
QB: Colton Chapple ’13, Charlie Daly 1901, Scott Hosch ’16
RB: Aidan Borguet ’23, Dick Clasby ’54, Vic Gatto ’69, Bobby Leo ’67
WR: Terrence Patterson ’00
K: David Mothander ’14 KR: Marco Iannuzzi ’11
DEFENSE
DL: Chuck Durst ’81, Thor Griffith ’24, Josue Ortiz-Santana ’12
LB: Josh Boyd ’13, Bobby Everett ’05, Gary Farneti ’71
DB: Pat Conway ’67, Rocky Delgadillo ’82, John Dockery ’66
P: Gary Singleterry ’70, Jon Sot ’22
COACHES
Tim Murphy (1994-present), Percy D. Haughton A.B. 1899 (1908-16), Joseph Restic (1971-93)
