John Webster Thomas

College coach infobox
Name=John Webster Thomas


Caption=John Webster Thomas - 1923
DateOfBirth=birth date|1900|2|13|mf=y
Birthplace=flagicon|USA Ocheydan, Iowa
DateOfDeath=August 19, 1977 (aged 77)
Position=Fullback
Awards=1921,1923 All-Big Ten1922 All American
Years=1919-1920 1921-1923
Team=Jamestown
Chicago
CoachYears=1925-1927
CoachTeams=Haskell Indian Institute (Backfield Coach)

John Webster Thomas (1900-1977) was an All-American fullback for the Chicago Maroons football team from 1921-1923 under Coach Amos Alonzo Stagg.

Prior to 1919 he enlisted in the United States Army Air Service in World War One.In 1919-1920 he played for Jamestown College in North Dakota and was chosenAll-State Fullback both years.

In 1921 he transferred to the University of Chicago under Amos Alonzo Staggas a Sophomore. He wore number 5. In 1921 he was picked by many writers to their All-Big Ten team citing him as the driving force behind the Chicago road victory (9-0) over Princeton that year. That game was the first Western triumph over an Eastern powerhouse and was a primary stimulus in college football becoming a national game [Stagg's University - The Rise, Decline, & Fall of Big-Time Football at Chicago, Robin Lester, Illini Books Edition, 1999, p. 118-119] .

In 1922 Walter Camp picked him as his 1st team Fullback in his Junior year. Of Thomas, Camp wrote [Collier's The National Weekly, December 30 1922, p. 6] :

"John Thomas of Chicago has that rare art of carrying through his chargewith his feet still under him, ready for a further drive. When he strikes,he strikes hard, but he has still a later thrust of power so that the ordinarycheck in a line does not stop his forward progress. He would be the most dashing of the three in this All-American backfield (*). His work shonein other games but it was particularly brilliant in the Princeton game. It is safe to say he did far more against the Princeton line in effectivescoring than did any backs of the East who met the Tigers."

(*) Camp refers to his 1922 backfield selections: Thomas, Kaw (Cornell), and Kipke (Michigan), both notably in the College Football Hall of Fame.

In 1923 Stagg held Thomas out of the first games due to a summertime appendicitis operation. Despite his operation, John Thomas had anothersolid year. He was named All-Big Ten alongside Red Grange by both the Chicago American and Chicago Tribune.In 1923, he was elected class president of the University of Chicago.

In his years with the Maroons, they were 18-3-1 (6-1, 5-1-1, 7-1). Thesethree losses were by a total of 17 points. The first in 1921 was to Ohio State by a score of 7-0 after returning from their triumph over the Tigers atPrinceton. The second was a home loss at Stagg Field to the 1922 Princeton Tigers (record 8-0) due only to3 missed extra points after TD. The 3 TD's all scored by Thomas, only to fall two feet short at the goal line on his fourth attempt with time expiring. This was Princeton's closest game of the season (21-18) and was the first football game ever broadcast on Radio. It marked the first time an Eastern powerhouse had journeyed West [Stagg's University - The Rise, Decline, & Fall of Big-Time Football at Chicago, Robin Lester, Illini Books Edition, 1999, p. 174] . It is also listed by some as one of the greatest sports moments in history [Sports of the Times - Great Moments in Sports History, Arno Press, New York, 1981, p. 22] [Stagg's University - The Rise, Decline, & Fall of Big-Time Football at Chicago, Robin Lester, Illini Books Edition, 1999, p. 118] [A Football Classic, Lirbary of Princeton University, Department of Health and Physical Education, Compiled for private circulation, C.R. Gray, 1929] .

The third was a 7-0 road loss to the 1923 Illini (record 8-0) led by Red Grange, the least points allowed to the Illini that year. This game was the first game played at the Illinois (uncompleted) Memorial Stadium [Touchdown!, A.A. Stagg & W.W. Stout, Longmons, Green, & Co., New York, 1927, p. 341] [Red Grange and the Rise of Modern Football, John M. Carroll, University of Illinois Press, 1999, p.55] . Prior to the game, John's brother Harry Thomas had been declared ineligble, so Stagg played John at halfback, which Stagg later wrote cost Chicago the game and possible conference championship [Touchdown!, A.A. Stagg & W.W. Stout, Longmons, Green, & Co., New York, 1927, p. 338] .During Thomas's tenure with the Maroons, they outscored their opponents 333 to 72, allowing their opponents into double digits only once (1922 Princeton). Comparatively, the 3 years before, (1918-1920), the Maroons were 8-12-0. The 3 years after (1924-1926) they were 9-11-4.

During 1922-1923 he played with his brother Harry in the University of Chicago backfield. Harry was named All-Big 10 in 1924. Another of his younger brothers, Lloyd Thomas, played in the backfield for USC 1926-1928 [College Football Historical Society Newsletter, Volume 3, No. 1, November 1989, p. 6] [College Football Historical Society Newsletter, Volume 8, No. 2, February 1995, p. 15] .

He went on to sneak in 2 professional games for the Racine Legion in 1924 under the alias "John Webster" due to the fact that his wife Mildred (nee Whipple) had asked him to give up the game.

In 1926-1929 he coached at what was then known as the Haskell Indian Institute in Lawrence, Kansas with John Levi.

He worked for the American Red Cross, Cummins Business Machine of Chicago, along with many other jobs later in life.

John Thomas died in 1977 and is buried in Woodstock, Illinois [Chicago Tribune Obituary, August 21, 1977] .

References

ources

* [http://www.shrpsports.com/cf/stand.php?season=1906&conf=Ind&week=Wk%202 shrpsports college football historical records]
* [http://waltercamp.org/index.php/teams_and_awards/ Walter Camp Football Foundation list of All-America Teams]
* [http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=WEBSTJOH01 John Webster in the NFL]