Penn great to be recognized at half

At halftime of tomorrow's Penn-Yale matchup, the University will honor a player who last took the field for the Quakers 103 years ago.

Dr. John H. Outland was an All-American at two positions -- tackle in 1897 and halfback in 1898 -- but is better known as the founder of the Outland Trophy, given each year to college football's outstanding interior lineman.

On Aug. 11 of this year, Outland was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind. Tomorrow, Outland will be honored again, as Edward McGinley of the National Football Foundation and Skip Minisi, another Quakers All-American, will present Outland's grandson -- John H. Outland -- with a plaque commemorating the induction.

"I didn't know him at all, really," John Outland said of his grandfather. "He died in 1947, when I would've been about a year and half."

Born in Hesper, Kan., near Lawrence, the elder Outland started his football career at the University of Kansas in 1895. He was a Jayhawk for two seasons before transferring to Penn, where he played on the great Quakers squad of 1897, which finished 15-0.

Outland received his Penn medical degree in 1900 and returned to his home state the following year. In addition to starting his Lawrence medical practice, Outland coached the KU football team.

For the last 40 years of his life, Outland was a successful surgeon in the Kansas City area.

Outland moved around the state a little, and on Christmas Day, 1905, he was the head coach of Washburn in its contest against Wichita's Fairmount College (which would later become Wichita State).

The game is significant because it is believed to be one of the first played after the institution of rules such as the forward pass and the necessity of gaining 10 yards for a first down, instead of five. Outland's report of the game -- which ended in a scoreless tie -- helped in the formation of a national college football rules committee, which later became the NCAA.

Outland's involvement extended beyond football. In 1923, Outland started the Kansas Relays. He was inspired by the Penn Relays, which began during his tenure at Penn.

In 1947, Outland wrote a $1,000 check to the Football Writer's Association of America to establish an award for the nation's best interior lineman.

The Heisman Trophy -- named for former Penn coach John Heisman -- had been around for 12 years when Outland set up his award. The problem was that the Heisman always went to backs, and Outland thought the guys in the trenches deserved recognition as well.

"Those boys never get what's coming to them," Outland said of linemen in 1946. "They do the heavy work and pave the way and bear the brunt of the savagery, but the backs get all the credit and the glory and publicity. I wish there was a some way we could do something about that."

And in 1947, he did.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.