Garry Cochran 1876-1918
On Christmas day, 1899, the football team from the Carlisle Indian School played in California, against the University of California. This game, called the East-West Championship by the press, was the longest trip ever taken by an American football team, at that time. That's what this post was supposed to be about - a quick look at that game
Three days later, that's only a small part of the story, and not even the most interesting part.
As I soon discovered, the Carlisle Indians going to California wasn't all that big of a deal - they had been to Chicago to play in November of that same year. It's still interesting, and the story is included below, but it's only part of the story of a very interesting life.
Including, at the age of 23, winning a Douglas Tilden statue for the town of Berkley - by coaching a football team. Cochran's name was carved into the base of the statue.
But I'm getting ahead of myself...
January 1898 -
Cochran, a Senior at Princeton, to Coach the University of California Team
Garret Cochran was the son of Senator J. Henry Cochran, a pioneer in the building of Williamsport, and one of the wealthiest men there, during a time when Williamsport had more millionaires per capita than any other area of the United States. (Also an incredibly generous and community minded family. The town of Avis, near Jersey Shore, is named for Senator Cochran's wife).
In June of 1895 Garrett had made headlines not for his football prowess, but for a shooting that killed his friend and teammate, and put a bullet through Garrett's jaw, lodging in his neck. The ensuing trial took up columns in newspapers for most of the summer, but don't ask me to tell you exactly what happened - because I really am not sure. The two boys, Ohl and Cochran were shot - no doubt about that. But how much they provoked the attack, and how drunk they were, is not exactly clear.
The Jury, in mid July, didn't seem to agree on that either. The first ballot taken resulted in 7 for 1st degree murder, and 5 for manslaughter. The third ballot taken resulted in a compromise of murder in the second degree.
Collins was sentenced to 20 years hard labor in the state prison for the death of Frederick Ohl, with a concurrent sentence of 10 years for atrocious assault on Garrett Cochran.
When Cochran was named Captain of the Tigers in December of that year, he was referred to as one of the most popular men on campus.
And that was only the beginning.
The Princeton Tigers Football team, 1896 Champions
"Cochran's Steamrollers"
[Note the shape of the football - that was how footballs looked in these years - not the streamlined missiles we see on today's fields]
The 1896 Princeton Football Team was one of the best the college would ever field. Game after game, they dominated the field, soon being called "Cochran's Steamrollers." They finished the season undefeated, and were proclaimed national champions by 5 of the 7 organizations who named national champions. "That team is generally regarded as the greatest of the twenty national championship teams fielded by Princeton in the nineteenth century."
By 1897, Garrett Cochran was the biggest name in football.
During the four years Cochran played on Princeton’s varsity squad, the team was 38-4-4. As a senior in 1897, Cochran was named a first team All American. The New York Times proclaimed: “No name is better known in American football than that of Garry Cochran.”
The San Francisco Call reported: "Cochran makes no secret of the fact that he would like to go to California, but his father is likely to prove a stumbling block. He is greatly opposed to his son being further mixed up with the game of football."
In January of that year, at age 22 and not yet graduated from Princeton, Garrett Cochran became the head coach of the University of California college football, and baseball, teams.
The California Golden Bears were... not a winning team. 1897 had been a particularly bad year, culminating in a humiliating 28-0 loss to their rival, Stanford. It was the 7th time they had played against Stanford, and the 7th time they had lost to them.
At this time, the East Coast football teams were considered vastly superior to West Coast teams, so University President Martin Kellogg asked their star player, Everett J. Brown, to go to the East Coast and find a coach that would help them beat Stanford. As the New York Times said, “No name is better known in American football than that of Garry Cochran.”
Garrett's salary that year was $1,500 [around the equivalent of $58,500 in 2026], for coaching.
His 1895 football team mate at Princeton, David Farragut Edwards, coached the Ohio State Team in 1897, but I was unable to find what his salary was that year. Like Cochran, Edwards only coached for a couple of years, before going on to his "real" career as a lawyer. Unlike Cochran, Edward's first coaching year was not very successful.
Twenty two year old Cochran, his very first year, took a team which had gone 0-3-2 in 1897, and which had not won a Big Game in seven attempts, and turned it into an undefeated powerhouse.
And they even, for the first time ever, beat Stanford.
San Francisco Chronicle
At the end of their season, the Bears had outscored their opponents by a total of 221 to 5.
In a single season, Garrett Cochran had turned the winless 1897 team into the undefeated 1898 team.
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WINNING THE STATUE
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The Football Player, Sculpture by Douglas Tilden
Douglas Tilden was born in 1860 to Dr. William & Catherine [Hecox] Tilden. Douglas caught Scarlett Fever when he was four years old, causing him to become completely deaf.
Tilden graduated in 1879, intending to attend the University of California. Instead, he took a teaching position at the Deaf school.
Four years into his teaching, at the age of 23, he discovered sculpting, for the first time. Although he continued to teach for 4 more years, from that time on all of his spare time was spent studying sculpture. The trustees of the school were so impressed by his self taught work that they gave him a scholarship to further his studies in New York (a few weeks) and Paris (5 years). In Paris he studied for one year under sculptor Paul Chopin, who was also deaf. There he won many sculpture design contests and had his work installed all over the world.
His first submission to the Paris Salon, The Baseball Player, was accepted in 1889 and his works was included in the Salons of 1891, 1892 and 1894. William E. Brown purchased The Baseball Player and presented it to the City of San Francisco and it can still be viewed in Golden Gate Park.
Tilden returned triumphantly to the California School for the Deaf in 1893, but left the school in 1896 when he got married. The school was extremely upset by his leaving, feeling that Tilden owed them for them paying of his schooling abroad. Tilden believed that his education had been a gift, and he felt he shouldn’t have to pay them back. The California School for the Deaf ultimately confiscated one of his sculptures, “The Bear Hunt”, as payment for his tuition.
James Phelan, the mayor of San Francisco, was a great fan of Tilden's work, at a time when the city was spending a great deal of money on public works of art. As a result of this fortuitous timing, Tilden was chosen to do many of the sculptures that were commissioned.
In 1899, Mayor Phelan purchased a sculpture named "The Football Player", and had it placed temporarily on the steps leading to the Art Institute. Phelan then devised a contest stating that whichever of the two colleges, University of California or Stanford, won two out of the next three games, would receive the statue.
The Statue was dedicated at the University of California in Berkley on May 13th 1900. The names of the 1898 and 1898 players are carved into the back of the stone base.
Garret Cochran, Coach, is listed at the bottom, but his name was not added until after his death.
As for Tilden -
According to a 2009 article in If My Hands Could Speak, "After his divorce and James Phelan’s promotion to State Senator, Douglas tried to seek employment with the California School for the Deaf again, but fell prey to the tide of Oralism sweeping the nation: The California School for the Deaf no longer employed deaf teachers. Instead, Douglas moved to Hollywood and began to sculpt dinosaurs and other extinct animals for historical and educational films. The income from these films allowed him to set up a studio and take students, and he also became very active as an advocate for the deaf community.
By 1930, even the small amount of work Douglas was getting in Hollywood had dried up. He moved back to Berkley and filed for welfare. Douglas died in Berkley on August 4th, 1934. His daughter Gladys donated all of his old paperwork, correspondence, and photos to UC Berkley. Because of Douglas’ habit of making small bronze sculptures for friends, and also as thank you gifts, many of his smaller works are still being discovered by the general public today."
Tilden's Mechanics Of Movement Sculpture, after the 1906 earthquake and fire
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CHRISTMAS DAY 1899
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The 1899 Carlisle Indian's Football Team
I've now read so many opinions on how Carlisle came to play against the University of California - everything from Cochran being familiar with the Indian School because his brother helped coach there (I'm not certain that is true) to a push for a match between the undefeated team on the east (Carlisle was not undefeated) and the undefeated team on the west.
As far as I can tell, The Carlisle Indian team was a traveling team. California was just the furthest they had yet traveled. In November of that same year, before going to California, they had played in Ft Wayne, and also in Chicago. The articles in early December of 1899 stated they weren't sure which team Carlisle would play, in California - but that if they didn't play against U of C, they would play in Los Angeles.
Ultimately the decision was made for them to play against the undefeated University of California.
I find this most interesting, because in 1897, Garrett Cochran had faced the Carlisle Indian Team, while playing at Princeton. Although his team did win, Cochran was "badly injured", and the hospital list was long.
The coach of the Carlisle Indian School in 1899 was Pop Warner, who would go on to become one of college football's most legendary coaches.
"From Pennsylvania to the Pacific, the red men traveled in a special car, with all the comforts possible on a railroad trip.
Feeling that the players would suffer as to physical condition if they went without any exercise, Director Thompson kept his men n the jump whenever an opportunity offered. At one point along the road, where the wait was long, the Indians ran to the next station and boarded the train there."
On December 25, 1899, the Carlisle Indians went by train to face the University of California . The only score was when Jonas Metoxen tackled a Cal player in the end zone for a safety.
It was the longest trip ever taken by an American football team, at that time, and it cost nearly $4,500 for transportation, board, hotel bills, and extras. Newspapers reported "This is believed to be about as cheaply as any Eastern team could be brought out here..."
It was estimated that 8,000 people attended the game, and that the proceeds were about $9,000 - which "after the Indian's expenses were deducted and the other bills paid, California just about squared accounts."
The game was EXTENSIVELY covered in California, and if only looking at the papers there, this game appears to be a super huge, big, deal.
In Carlisle, the longest mention of the teams win was included in a regular column about the school in general.
In Cochran's hometown of Williamsport, the papers made no mention of the game at all, from what I could find. As to whether it simply wasn't big enough news, or the papers were mindful of their "wealthiest citizen's" opinion of his son coaching football, I do not know.
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GARRETT COCHRAN
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Coach Cochran packed his trunks and headed to New Mexico that winter - the newspapers reported that his father was ready for him to be done with football, and move on to real work. At least, that was the plan.
And then the plan changed, and Garrett was convinced to sign for a second year, as coach in California. In 1900, Cochran coached Annapolis, and the Navy team beat West Point for the first time in six years.
Then, Garrett went into the mining business in Arizona for a few years.. but also, in 1902, Cochran returned to Princeton, as head coach of the University's football team.
He guided the squad to an impressive 8-1 overall record, with victories in their first eight games—including shutouts against Swarthmore (18-0), Lehigh (23-0), Navy (11-0), Haverford (30-0), Dickinson (23-0), Columbia (21-0), and Cornell (10-0)—before a narrow 5-12 loss to rival Yale in the finale.
Also in 1902, he married Eleanor McNeely of Philadelphia, PA.
The couple would have three children: James Henry in 1904, Robert McNeely in 1906 and Jane McNeely in 1909. They lived at 735 West Fourth Street, in Williamsport.
When Cochran returned to Williamsport he became associated with the Williamsport Wire Rope Company, where he eventually became general manager of the plant. After his fathers death in 1911, he took over several of the families interests, serving as a director of the Northern Central Trust Company and the Cochran Coal Company.
He became keenly interested in military matters and joined the Pennsylvania National Guard. He was mustered into federal service for service along the Mexican border in July 1916, fighting the bandits of Pancho Villa until December of that year.
When the United States entered World War I, he was again called into federal service. While sailing for France in April 1918 he contracted a severe cold while standing guard duty as an anti-submarine lookout. When he landed in France he was urged to seek medical attention, but refused so he could join his unit for artillery training.
On July 7th 1918, Garrett Cochran died aboard the ship bringing him home from France. He was 41 years old.
He is buried at Wildwood Cemetery, Williamsport Pa.
The American Legion in Williamsport was named for him.
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ADDING COCHRAN'S NAME TO THE STATUE
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According to a columnist for the San Francisco Call, who wrote the most comprehensive obituary I found after Cochran's death, Garret Cochran's name was not listed on the football statue at Berkley. But he thought it should be.
His name was added on November 4th, 1921.
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READ MORE
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Paul Geddes of Lewisburg also has his name in a marker in San Francisco - or, at least has his ALIAS on a marker there. A Street was named for him. "Talbot Green" was recognized as Paul Geddes by 1851, and at that time, he returned home to Lewisburg, where he died in 1889 - 10 years before Cochran arrived in San Francisco.
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NOTE - when I was first asked about The Christmas Day game vs the Indian team, the story I was told was that Garrett's older brother Charles, also a football player at Princeton, had gone west in the Klondike Gold Rush, then went down to join his brother Garrett at California. The story said that Charles had been the first coach of the Carlisle Indians, part time, and that was the connection. I could not verify most of that. Charles did attend Dickinson Law school after graduating from Princeton. He may have helped with the Carlisle school football program, but he is not listed as their first coach - I could find no mention of him connected with the team there. I also could not find any record of Charles going to Alaska on the Klondike (I didn't look too hard).
According to Charles obituary, after he finished his schooling he spent two years traveling through Central and South America. Then he went to Philadelphia in the coal mining business, before returning to Williamsport where he took over the Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick Railroad. Another article mentioned that during Charles funeral, every trolley wheel in Williamsport stopped for a full 5 minutes - he was a director of the Lycoming Edison and Williamsport Passenger Railway Companies (trolley lines).
Charles was 26 in 1899, and did not marry until 1903, at age 30. So it is not impossible that he took a trip to Alaska somewhere in there, and it's also not impossible that he helped with the football team in Carlisle in 1894 (the first year they had a coach). I simply could not verify any of that part of the story.
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On December 22 1899, the San Francisco Bulletin was reporting that Coach Cochran would be unlikely to attend the game - because he had broken two ribs.
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CARLISLE ROSTER
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(name; tribe; residence post-Carlisle; graduate class or departed year; profile if available)
Archiqette, Chauncey; Oneida; Pawhuska, OK; class of 1899
Baine, John; Sioux; Warwick, SD; class of 1901
Beaver, Frank; Winnebago; Winnebago, NE; class of 1901
Blackchief, Allen; Tonawanda Seneca; Akron, NY; departed in 1901
Burr, Sidney; Alaskan; Versailles, NY; departed in 1900
Campeau, Frank; Chippewa; N/A; departed in 1901
Dillon, Charles; Crow Creek Sioux; Wyola, MT; departed in 1904
Hare, Nelson; Seneca; Irving, NY; class of 1902
Hudson, Frank; Laguna Pueblo; Bucks County, PA; class of 1896; considered the greatest kicker in the beginning American football; two-time 1898 and 1899 Outing magazine All American; was an assistant coach with Carlisle from 1904 to 1906 becoming one of the first non-white coaches in college football history
Johnson, James E.; Stockbridge; class of 1901; first year player at Carlisle in 1899 and eventually was named a 1903 Walter Camp All American at Carlisle, played at Northwestern University in 1904-05 and came back as an assistant coach at Carlisle in 1906
Metoxen, Jonas; Oneida; West De Pere, WI; departed in 1900
Miller, Artie; Stockbridge; Gresham, WI; class of 1900; played halfback and also played professionally for the Homestead Library and Athletic Club being a part of the two-time 1900 and 1901 West Pennsylvania Pro Champions; was a member of the National Football League’s Pittsburg Stars 1902 Championship team
Pierce, Bemus; Seneca; N/A; check; three-time Carlisle football captain prior to the 1899 team; All American lineman in 1896; professional player; head coach of the University of Buffalo in 1899, and interim head coached at Carlisle College in 1906 while also coaching at Haskell Institute and was the head coach at Kenyon College in 1908-10
Pierce, Hawley; Seneca; Salamanca, NY; departed in 1904; played professional football after Carlisle
Redwater, Thaddeus; Cheyenne; Lame Deer, MT; departed in 1900
Roberts, Charles; Chippewa; Chicago, IL; departed in 1903
Rogers, Eddie; Chippewa; Walker, MN; class of 1897 and departed in 1901; named an All American in 1903; played on the University of Minnesota football team while earning his law degree; head coach at Carlisle in 1904 and St. Thomas College in St. Paul, MN in 1905-08
Scott, Frank; Seneca; Buffalo, NY; departed in 1905
Scrogg, Solomon; Seneca; Springfiled, MA; departed in 1901
Seneca, Isaac; Seneca; Erie County, NY; class of 1900; halfback was named as the first indigenous inductee in the 1899 College Football All American Team
Scholder, Joseph; Mission; Riverside, CA; departed in 1900
Scholder, William; San Dieganos Nation; N/A; class of 1906
Sickles, Caleb; Oneida; Tiffin, OH; class of 1898; studied to be a dentist practicing in Tiffin, OH for his career and was the football coach at Heidelberg College
Smith, Edwin; Clallam; Chemawa, OR; class of 1991
Warren, John B.; White Earth Chippewa; class of 1900
Wheelock, Martin; Oneida; Seymour, WI; class of 1902; inaugural 2022 NAIAHF induction page: https://www.naiahf.org/martin-wheelock
Wilde, Byron; Arickara; Elbowwoods, ND; departed October 19, 1899
Williams, Charles; Stockbridge; N/A; class of 1904
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Suddenly took ill and died of pneumonia on the U.S.S. Susquehanna shortly before it set sail from France the the US. He had also been diagnosed with tuberculosis.
A brother of Mrs. W. Orville Hickok. Battery D, 107th Field Artillery.
He was born in Driftwood, Pennsylvania, the son of J. Henry, a prominent area financier and later a state senator, and his wife, Avis.
His family came to Williamsport in 1885, and he went to its schools. He later attended several distinguished private schools such as Trinity College School and the Lawrenceville School.
He attended college at Princeton University from 1894 to 1898 where he excelled as an athlete. He was captain of the football team in 1896 and 1897 and was named to Walter Camp's All-America Football Team as an end. One sportswriter at that time wrote of Cochran, "No name is better known in American football than that of Garry Cochran."
After graduation, he coached football and baseball at the University of California at Berkley and at the United States Naval Academy.
He also worked for a year in a mining operation in Arizona.
When Cochran returned to Williamsport he became associated
with the Williamsport Wire Rope Company, where he eventually became general manager of the plant. He was also a director of the Northern Central Trust Company and the Cochran Coal Company. He married Eleanor McNeely of Philadelphia in 1902. The couples had two sons and a daughter.
He became keenly interested in military matters and joined the Pennsylvania National Guard. He was mustered into federal service for service along the Mexican border in
July 1916, fighting the bandits of Pancho Villa until December of that year.
When the United States entered World War I, he was again called into federal service. While sailing for France in April 1918 he contracted a severe cold while standing guard duty as an anti-submarine lookout. When he landed in France he was urged to seek medical attention, but refused so he could join his unit for artillery training.
Cochran was widely mourned throughout the community. The Grit noted his death this way, "Garrett Cochran was one of Williamsport's finest citizens.
His service to this city in finance, industry and business activities and in support and every activity that enhanced the city's well being was superb. That service earned him the esteem and gratitude of the citizens of this community."
The Gazette and Bulletin editorialized, "Lieutenant Cochran was one of the highest type of volunteer soldier. He not only played a large part in the upbringing of Battery D, using his influence to induce the right kind of men to become members. He has made the supreme sacrifice, has given the last full measure of devotion, has yielded his life that posterity might be free. No man could do more."
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