Was A Milton Boy One Of The First Inventors Of The Football Helmet?

 

George "Rose" "Deerfoot" Barclay, with his "head harness" in 1895

George Barclay is widely attributed as the "inventor of the football helmet", in many books, articles, and websites covering the history of football.  Unfortunately,  the evidence is not completely on their side.  He was however, almost certainly one of the first to wear the gear that would eventually evolved into the helmet we see today.  

George Oliver Barclay was born May 16th 1876 , the son of Zebulon Britton and Margaret [Gardner] Barclay, of Milton Pa.  By most accounts, he was born in Millville, Columbia County Pa, with his family moving to Milton sometime in the early 1880s, when George was around 6 years of age.  

After attending the public schools of Milton, George went to the Bucknell Academy,   a secondary school for the university.  There he  was catcher for the varsity baseball team.    In addition to baseball, George played halfback on the Bucknell football team.   In 1894, rather than continue on to Bucknell University, George went to Lafayette College in Easton Pa.

“George ‘Rose’ Barclay took one look at his teammates’ cauliflower ears, another at his handsome delicate face in the mirror and made a decision: He’d do his best for the Lafayette football team (but he) wasn’t about to slug his way through a mass of burly bruisers without some type of head protection. ..” - article in the Lafayette Alumni Magazine, 1977

"In addition to his athletic gifts, George Barclay was a handsome young man, reputedly a favorite of the opposite sex, and concerned about the effects that playing football might have on his good looks. Amused Lafayette teammates thereupon dubbed him The Rose. To protect himself from disfiguring cauliflower ears, Barclay engaged an Easton harness maker to construct a protective device that he had devised. The device consisted of bulky leather earmuffs held in place by strapping. Barclay called the contraption a “head harness,” but today his invention is almost universally recognized as the primitive first football helmet."

Or so the story goes.  One recent article claims that Spalding was producing these "head harnesses" in their 1894 Official Guide To Foot Ball.  (I wasn't able to confirm for myself what year this advertisement was from)

1894 Lafayette Team Photo

 Other players on the team are also seen holding the primitive "head harnesses" in the 1894 and 95 team photos.

1895 Lafayette Team Photo

In 1896 his head harness attracted national attention when Lafayette played against the University of Pennsylvania Team.  Penn had been undefeated for 3 years.

"Penn held a 4-0 lead at halftime, but the game turned with six minutes left on the clock. Lafayette blocked a Penn punt on Penn’s 25-yard line, then faked a drop kick, handing the ball off to Barclay who ran it to within the 10.  On the next play, Barclay ran around the right end and scored. He kicked a field goal a few moments later to clinch the game. "   Football, The American Intercollegiate Game, Parke Hill Davis, 1911

Penn went on to win the next 31 games in a row - giving them a staggering 65-1 record over 6 years time. Their only loss was that game against Lafayette.  To Lafayette belongs the distinction of being the first small college to beat a member of the Big Four” of Penn, Princeton, Harvard and Yale, a 1931 retrospective in the New York Sun declared.

In other words - this was a REALLY big game, and not only were a lot of people watching, but they were talking about the game for years after it occurred.  And of course, many couldn't help but notice and mention that new "head harness" contraption that Barclay wore, as he scored all of the points in that game.

1896 Lafayette Vs Penn 

Although many articles claim that the Barclay's "head harness" was made for this game,  it had actually been made 2 years prior, and appears in team photos well before 12,000 spectators saw him wear it for this match.  

May 1896

While at Lafayette, Barclay was also  a letterman in track.   He ran the dashes and quarter-mile, and was also a long jumper.  Barclay’s speed soon gave rise to a new nickname: Deerfoot. That name followed him into his later baseball career. He was also the captain and leading player on the school baseball team at Lafayette.  And in addition, he served as the junior class president.

The Miltonian, 1894

In November of  1896, there was a disagreement over Barclay's eligibility. He had briefly played professional baseball,  which Lehigh believed made him ineligible to play football for Lafayette.  Lafayette disagreed, but the games were not played.  “Scandalized, Barclay dropped out of school”.  [Note, this was 17 years prior to Jim Thorpe being stripped of his Olympic medals in 1913,  for playing professional baseball prior to the 1912 Olympic games.]

Nov. 7th 1896

After leaving college,  Barclay broke into major league baseball by batting .300 for the 1902 St. Louis Cardinals.   The following season, George contracted malaria at spring training.   "Deerfoot" Barclay never fully recovered, and "thereafter was merely a shadow of his former self as a ballplayer."

September 1904

 During  the off-seasons however,  George prepared for his life after baseball by attending dental school.  Dr. George O. Barclay had established a thriving dentistry practice in Philadelphia 

In 1908, Dr Barclay returned to Lafayette, as a coach.

On April 3rd 1909, George "Rose" Barclay died of post surgical complications, following a bout of appendicitis.  He was just 33 years old.

Barclay was inducted into the Lafayette College Maroon Club Hall of fame in the 1984-85 season.

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Other Early Head Gear

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Helmets were not mandatory equipment until 1939 in college football, and 1943 in the National Football League, but Barclay was not the first to devise some sort of primitive head protection. There are at least two others who made a serious attempt.

James Naismith

 James Naismith, the man credited with the invention of basketball, first played football for the Young Mengs Christian Training School in Massachusetts's.  Naismith suffered cauliflower ear, and even memory loss, after being kicked in the head in a game.  He and his future wife devised "protective ear muffs" out of flannel, and later, leather.

Joseph M. Reeves, a US Naval Academy Midshipman who would later known as the Father of Carrier Aviation) has a moleskin cap made for him by a shoemaker, after a Navy doctor warned that he'd risk "death or instant insanity" if he took another kick to the head.

 Some report that A.G. Spalding & Bros. introduced the No. 25 "Head Harness" in their 1894 Spalding Foot Ball Guide, which was distributed before the beginning of the 1894 football season. The No. 25 consisted of three strips of leather attached to two oversized ear pads and was the first head harness to be sold by any of the major sporting goods suppliers in the U.S. Spalding described the Head Harness as "Especially for protection to ears."   

While I couldn't easily access a copy of Spaldings 1895 publication to check that for myself, I did find this interesting contraption in an 1895 journal - 

Ad in the The Dartmouth Literary Monthly, 1895

 Edgar Allan Poe III (grandnephew of the famous writer) is credited with developing a small leather nose protector which, however, was found to severely interfere with vision and breathing, and to come off easily.

The last player to play without a helmet was Dick Plasman, playing for the Chicago Bears in the NFL championship game of 1940.

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An Index Of Football Related Stories & Photos

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The Anatomy of a Game

Football, the Rules, and the Men who Made the Game

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Zebulon Britton Barclay

Zebulon was the son of James and Mary [Britton] Barclay.

Serving in Co. I. 199th P.V.I. Post199 G.A.R., Zeb  moved to Milton  from Millville, Columbia County,  sometime after the war, settling there around 1882, when George was about 6 years old.    Zebulon is buried in Harmony cemetery in Milton, along with his wife. Their son John Barclay is also buried at Harmony.

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"George Oliver Barclay (May 16, 1876 – April 3, 1909) was an American football and baseball player. He played Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals and later the Boston Beaneaters. He was also an early professional football player-coach for the Greensburg Athletic Association. He was nicknamed "The Rose" for his concern with his looks and his eye for the ladies and "Deerfoot" because of his speed. Barclay also invented the first football helmet."

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According to the US Professional Baseball Player Profiles, Barclay, nicknamed "Deer Foot" played his first baseball game April 17th 1902, and  his last May 30th 1905.

Older brother John Hurley Barclay (1873-1945) spent most of his adult life as a self-employed gardener.