1897 Pittsburgh Athletic Club football season

The 1897 Pittsburgh Athletic Club football season was the eighth season of competition for the American football team representing the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. The team shut out its first five opponents and was shut out by its remaining five to finish with a 5–5 record. It played its home games at PAC Park at the corner of Larimer Avenue and Shetland Street in Pittsburgh.

1897 Pittsburgh Athletic Club football
Record5–5
Manager
  • R. E. Hamilton (until Nov. 8)
  • W. H. Hastings (after Nov. 8)
Head coach
Captain
  • George W. Ritchey
Home fieldPAC Park
Seasons

Season summary

Despite being one of the first football teams to employ professional players, the Pittsburgh Athletic Club (PAC) team, under new manager Robert E. Hamilton, began the 1897 season intending to maintain a purely amateur status.[1] George W. Hoskins returned as coach[2] and back George Ritchey was re-elected captain.[3]

The PAC compiled a perfect record through the first half of its schedule, winning five games against weak-to-middling opponents without allowing a point.

The team's fortunes then reversed spectacularly, starting with shutout losses to Washington & Jefferson College and local rival Duquesne Country & Athletic Club.[4]

The low point of the season came when the PAC visited Latrobe, which that year made history as the first all-professional football team to play a full season. Playing its third game in only eight days, the tired and injury-afflicted PAC lost 47–0.[1][5] This worst defeat in the team's then eight-year history[4] led to the resignation of manager Bob Hamilton and the appointment of William H. Hastings in his place.[1]

Manager Hastings brought in new players to strengthen the squad in preparation for its November 20 rematch with the Duquesne Country and Athletic Club.[1] End John Van Cleve, who Hamilton had earlier kept off the team for being a professional,[6] was added to the roster along with halfbacks Jake Camp and Dick Ely.[7] Also joining the East Enders were linemen Archibald Stevenson of the Chicago Athletic Association and Bill Inglis of Washington & Jefferson.[8] These additions did not bring success against the Duquesnes, who had also been building up their team and shut out the PAC by a larger margin than before.[1]

A 16–0 loss to Greensburg completed a disastrous second half of the season in which the PAC failed to score any points. The Pittsburg[h] Press reported that amateurism had been abandoned by the football programs of both major Pittsburgh clubs, the PAC and Duquesne C&AC, and was unlikely to return if the teams expected to keep in the front ranks of the sport. The city, according to the paper, could not afford to yield football supremacy to smaller-town clubs such as Latrobe and Greensburg, which made no pretense of being amateur.[1]

Schedule
DateOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 25Emerald Ahletic Club
W 22–0300[9]
October 2Imperial Athletic Club
  • PAC Park
  • Pittsburgh, PA
W 54–0[10]
October 9West Virginia
  • PAC Park
  • Pittsburgh, PA
W 6–0[11]
October 16Grove City
  • PAC Park
  • Pittsburgh, PA
W 20–0[12]
October 23Wheeling Tigers
  • PAC Park
  • Pittsburgh, PA
W 14–01,500[13]
October 30Washington & Jefferson
  • PAC Park
  • Pittsburgh, PA
L 0–184,000–5,500[14][15]
November 2at Duquesne Country and Athletic Club
L 0–43,500[16]
November 6at Latrobe Athletic AssociationLatrobe, PAL 0–471,200[5][17]
November 20Duquesne Country and Athletic Club
  • PAC Park
  • Pittsburgh, PA
L 0–104,000–6,000[18][19]
November 25Greensburg Athletic Association
  • PAC Park
  • Pittsburgh, PA
L 0–162,000–3,000[20][21]

References
  1. "Amateur Sports". The Pittsburg Press. November 28, 1897. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "Amateur Sports". The Pittsburg Press. September 24, 1897. p. 8 – via Google News Archive.
  3. "Football Notes". The Pittsburg Post. October 3, 1897. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. PFRA Research. "Out in the Boondocks: Westmoreland County Leads the Pros: 1897" (PDF). Professional Football Researchers Association. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
  5. "Awful Slaughter". The Pittsburg Press. November 7, 1897. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. "Football Notes". The Pittsburg Post. October 30, 1897. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Good Players on Both Sides". The Pittsburg Post. November 16, 1897. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Big Battles on the Gridiron". The Pittsburg Post. November 20, 1897. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Football Opening". The Pittsburg Press. September 26, 1897. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "P. A. C. vs. Imperial". The Pittsburg Press. October 3, 1897. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Close Game in East End". The Pittsburg Press. October 10, 1897. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "Another for P. A. C." The Pittsburg Press. October 17, 1897. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "A General Mixup". The Pittsburg Press. October 24, 1897. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. "P. A. C.'s Record No Longer Clean". The Pittsburg Post. October 31, 1897. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Red and Black Won". The Pittsburg Press. October 31, 1897. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "Duquesnes Victorious by a Small Score". The Pittsburg Post. November 3, 1897. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. "No Less Than an Avalanche". The Pittsburg Post. November 7, 1897. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. "Duquesne on Top". The Pittsburg Press. November 21, 1897. p. 12 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. "D.C. & A.C. Men on Top Again". The Pittsburg Post. November 21, 1897. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. "Pittsburg Supplied Plenty Of People". The Pittsburgh Post. November 26, 1897. pp. 1, 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. "An Easy Victory". Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette. November 26, 1897. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
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