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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 12h

Some early publicity for my @univnebpress.bsky.social book, "Eckie!" Story by @robertloerzel.bsky.social and appearing in Chicago Magazine's November issue, which will be on newsstands around October 20. The online version went live this morning: www.chicagomag.com/chicago-maga...

Chicago’s Original Celebrity Athlete

The new book ‘Eckie’ spotlights Walter Eckersall, a bygone local sports pioneer. Here’s what we learned.

www.chicagomag.com

kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 23h

Killed a cop as a teenager. My friend Craig Keller broke this story for Chicago Magazine, circa 1996. Don’t have that article handy but here’s a brief Police Memorial Foundation item: cpdmemorial.org/fallen-offic...

Patrolman Albert Horace Brown | Star #2806 | Chicago Police Memorial Foundation

cpdmemorial.org

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 2d

Harper won ¾ of his games, and made the College Football Hall of Fame. In 1918, the 34-year-old turned ND over to Rockne and moved to Kansas to manage his father-in-law's cattle ranch. After Rockne’s death in 1931, Harper returned to ND to fill Rockne’s AD (but not his coaching) role for 2 years.

kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 2d

In 1913, Harper installed an innovative passing offense, featuring QB Gus Dorais throwing to Rockne. Their passing game shocked Army, 35-13, handing the Cadets their only loss over a 2-year stretch. Notre Dame went 7-0 that season and finally emerged as a big-time program with a national reputation.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 2d

After graduating, Harper went on to coach 2 seasons at tiny Alma College in Michigan, then spent 4 seasons with the “Little Giants” of Wabash College. He’s best known today as coach of @notredame.bsky.social from 1913-1917, where he mentored another future coach, starting end Knute Rockne.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 2d

A senior & 4-year starter on Chicago’s baseball team, Harper was playing his lone season of varsity football. In limited playing time, he would only score 5 total TDs for the Maroons. But he took this varsity season as an apprenticeship, to study the art and science of coaching under Coach Stagg.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 2d

Jesse Harper, usually a backup QB who replaced Eckie late in blowout games, earned a rare start at halfback & scored 3 TDs, all on short runs. Chicago dominated Iowa from start to finish, rolling up a score of 42 to 0 on the overmatched Hawkeyes.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 2d

After serving as distributor, play-caller, & occasional kicker in Chicago's "minor" games, Walter Eckersall finally scored a TD of his own on October 7, 1905, in the team’s first @b1gfootball.bsky.social game against Iowa, on a 70-yard punt return. But the game’s star was Eckie’s regular backup.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 2d

Sounds like a firefighter? (It wasn’t me, I’m happily married!) We prefer the term “risk one’s life” to “sacrifice one’s life” though, a “risk” can & should be calculated while a “sacrifice” just seems foolhardy.

kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

@rogersparkman.bsky.social @dandalyonsports.bsky.social @pmorse.bsky.social @univnebpress.bsky.social @b1gfootball.bsky.social @robertloerzel.bsky.social

kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

In a sense, Eckersall was still sticking up for his old friend Sam Ransom, whom Eckie always insisted had never received a fair chance to compete. Eckie couldn’t change the past, but he tried to map a correct course for the future, at least when it came to the intersection of race and sports.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

“[Although] the general opinion of unfairness has been manifested many times…in every case, the colored athletic has conducted himself on and off the field in a manner which could not help but command the respect of all.”

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

In 1918, Eckie contributed an article to a Black-oriented magazine in which he declared: “In my twenty years of athletic experience as a player and writer of sports, I have met colored athletics who, to my mind, were the superiors of their white teammates…”

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

Eckie touted Black athletes like Bobby Marshall, Fritz Pollard, and Duke Slater in football, and Sol Butler, DeHart Hubbard, and Ralph Metcalfe in track. He decried the lack of opportunities that white America gave Black athletes and consistently called for a level playing field.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

Meanwhile, as a journalist, Eckersall became a consistent and outspoken champion of equal rights for Black athletes, setting him apart from his sportswriting peers. Eckie befriended boxer Jack Johnson, and sought to humanize the champion whom much of the press referred to as “black brute” or worse.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

Ransom was deeply involved in civic life, Republican politics, his Baptist church, and the early civil rights movement. He served 4 Minnesota governors as an advisor on race relations, opened up the Minnesota National Guard to Black soldiers, and helped draft the state's anti-discrimination laws.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

Ransom joined the all-Black 8th Illinois Infantry during WWI. He was quickly promoted from private to corporal, then sergeant, then 1st Lieutenant, and earned a commendation for bravery. After the war Ransom again struggled to find meaningful work; he wound up at the post office for over 30 years.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

So Ransom headed to tiny Beloit College in southern Wisconsin, where he starred in 4 sports. He was elected Beloit’s baseball captain for 1907, but dropped out before the season to play for an all-Black semi-pro baseball team. Ransom settled in St. Paul, but could only find work as a doorman.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

When Eckie was a college freshman in 1903, he helped coach Hyde Park during Sam Ransom’s senior year. Ransom hoped to follow Eckersall to Chicago in 1904, but was turned down as “academically unprepared.” Eckie, who never even graduated high school himself, believed racism was to blame.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

Hyde Park quickly scheduled a substitute game against Brooklyn Poly Prep, at University of Chicago's Marshall Field in December 1902. Eckie kept feeding Ransom the ball, and Ransom kept scoring, racking up 7 TDs as Hyde Park won by the absurd score of 105-0.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

As team captain, Eckersall replied firmly, letting Louisville Manual know they would play the entire Hyde Park team or there would be no game at all. The entire Hyde Park team, the school's faculty, and the alumni all stood by this decision, and the game was canceled.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

After winning two straight Cook County League football titles, in 1902 Hyde Park accepted a challenge to play a postseason game at Louisville Manual, the Kentucky state champ. After a contract was signed, Manual discovered Hyde Park had a Black player, and demanded they leave Ransom behind.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

“…victorious if they had played the game instead of trying to put Ransom out…He was branded a true sportsman by all. He had the respect not only of the student body, but of his opponents as well, and always conducted himself, on and off the field, in a most gentlemanly way.”

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

“[We] competed in athletics at a time when the slogan of all Hyde Park’s opponents was ‘Get the negro!’” Eckie recalled. “No matter how hard opposing players tried to disable Ransom, the harder he played, and I have often heard players on opposing teams say they would have been…”

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

Back to Sam Ransom and Walter Eckersall. They became fast friends in January 1900, when Sam arrived at Hyde Park High School as a midyear entry, one semester behind Eckersall. The pair both excelled in football, baseball, and track; Sam also starred in basketball.

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