Walter Camp, the only "official" All-America selector in 1912
The 1912 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans for the 1912 college football season. The only selector for the 1912 season who has been recognized as "official" by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is Walter Camp. Many other sports writers, newspapers, coaches and others also selected All-America teams in 1912. One writer, Louis A. Dougher, published a "Composite Eleven" in the Washington Times which consisted of his aggregating the first-team picks of 23 selectors.
The only individual who has been recognized as an "official" selector by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for the 1912 season is Walter Camp.[2] Accordingly, the NCAA's official listing of "Consensus All-America Selections" mirrors Camp's first-team picks.[2] Nine of Camp's first-team All-Americans in 1912 played on teams from the Ivy League. The only two players recognized by Camp from outside the Ivy League were Jim Thorpe from the Carlisle School and Bob Butler of Wisconsin.[3]
Charles Brickley of Harvard.
The dominance of Ivy League players on Camp's All-America teams led to criticism over the years that his selections were biased against players from the leading Western universities, including Chicago, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Notre Dame.[4][5] Camp's first-team All-Americans in 1912 included:
Charles Brickley, halfback for Harvard, led Harvard to a perfect 9–0 record in 1912.[7] and later served as the head football coach at Johns Hopkins, Boston College, and Fordham.[8]
Bob Butler, tackle from Wisconsin, inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1972.[9] Camp said of Butler, "He was powerful, active, and excellent at sizing up plays, good at blocking his man, and dangerous in his breaking through."[3]
George Crowther, quarterback at Brown, nicknamed "Kid" because he weighed between 130 and 135 pounds while playing at Brown.[10]
Wesley Englehorn, tackle for Dartmouth, later served as head coach at Washington State.[11]
Sam Felton, end for Harvard, was considered one of the best punters in the country.[12][13]
Hank Ketcham, center for Yale, inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1968.[14]
Leroy Mercer, fullback for Penn, inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1955.[15]
Stan Pennock, guard from Harvard, inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.[16]
Jim Thorpe, halfback for Carlisle, inducted into both the College and Pro Football Hall of Fame. He won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Summer Olympics, but had the medals taken back for violations of amateurism rules.[17]
Dougher's efforts revealed that a number of Camp's picks were not truly "consensus" picks. For example, five of the eleven players identified by Dougher as consensus picks were overlooked by Camp. They are:
Robert Treat Paine Storer. Storer was a tackle at Harvard. He was selected as a first-team All-American by 21 of the 23 selectors polled by Dougher.[18] Yet, Camp did not name Storer to his first, second or even third team.[3]
Rip Shenk. Shenk was a guard for Princeton. He was selected as a first-team player by 14 of Dougher's selectors.[18] Yet, Camp did not name him to his first, second or third teams.[3]
John Brown. Brown was a tackle for Navy. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.[19] He was selected as a first-team All-American by 13 of Dougher's selectors.[18] He was selected by Camp for his third team.[3]
Hobey Baker. Baker was a halfback at Princeton. He has been inducted into Halls of Fame in two sports—the College Football Hall of Fame (in 1975) and the Hockey Hall of Fame (in 1945).[20] Baker was selected as a composite All-American with votes from nine of Dougher's selectors.[18] Camp placed Baker on his third team.[3]F. Scott Fitzgerald was a fellow Princeton student who idolized Baker and included several references to him in his first novel, This Side of Paradise.[21][22]
Pat Pazetti. Pazetti of Lehigh was the consensus pick on Dougher's list with seven votes.[18] Pazetti was chosen by Camp for his second team.[3]
Dougher sought to explain the lack of representation of players from the West as follows: "The complete absence of any western players from all the selections except Camp's is easily explained in that western writers call their teams all-western instead of all-America as do the writers of the eastern sheets."[18]
^"All-American Teams of East Are Jokes: Critics Who Never Saw Western Teams Play to Name Best in Country -- Forget About Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois". The Mansfield News. December 8, 1910.
^Ross Tenney (December 31, 1922). "Much Dissatisfaction Over Camp's All-American Team: Football Dean Is Accused of Favoring East; Walter Camp Soundly Scored For 'Poorest Teams Ever Foisted Upon Public'". The Des Moines Capital.
^"Robert Edgren's All-American Eleven for 1912". Syracuse Herald. December 5, 1912.
^"MacBeth Nominates an All-American Eleven". Salt Lake Tribune. December 8, 1912.
^"Picking "All-American" Teams a Fad: Here's Latest and It Comes from New York; And of Course, They're All Easterners, Havard, Carlisle and Dartmouth". The Lima News. December 10, 1912.
^"Two Badgers on All-American Team". The La Crosse Tribune. December 9, 1912.
^"All-American Football Team for 1912". Cedar Rapids Tribune. December 27, 1912.
^"Times All-American Eleven". Trenton Evening Times. December 2, 1912.
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