38 Facts About William Wurtenburg

William Charles Wurtenburg was an American college football player and coach.

William Wurtenburg enrolled in classes at Yale University in 1886 and soon earned a spot on the school's football team.

William Wurtenburg played for Yale from 1886 through 1889, and again in 1891; two of those teams were later recognized as national champions.

William Wurtenburg's 35-yard run in a close game in 1887 against rival Harvard earned him some fame.

William Wurtenburg received his medical degree from Yale's Sheffield Scientific School in 1893.

William Wurtenburg then accepted a coaching job at Dartmouth College, where for the next four years he led them to perfect records against both of their Triangular Football League opponents.

Around 1904, William Wurtenburg began pursuing a career as a physician.

William Wurtenburg set up a medical office near his house in New Haven, Connecticut, and became an ear, nose and throat specialist.

William Wurtenburg died in 1957 at the age of 93, in New Haven.

William Wurtenburg was born on December 24,1863, in Clarksburg, a hamlet in Erie County, New York.

William Wurtenburg was the son of George M Wurtenburg and Elizabeth Hochschild, who immigrated from Germany in 1848.

William Wurtenburg attended primary school in the Clarksville public school system.

At Phillips Exeter, William Wurtenburg competed in field events at the school's spring athletic events.

William Wurtenburg began taking medical classes on his arrival at Yale, and joined the football team partway through his freshman year.

William Wurtenburg was credited as one of the people who made the game "undoubtedly the finest ever played in America", according to writer Richard Melancthon Hurd.

William Wurtenburg took the starting spot and became a leader of the team.

William Wurtenburg developed his own unique style at quarterback, regularly attempting "long, low, underhand passes" to his teammates to help set up scoring plays.

In September of his graduating year, 1889, William Wurtenburg announced that he would be entering the Sheffield Scientific School.

At the Exeter Club's first annual banquet, held that year, William Wurtenburg was asked to present a toast to represent the club's athletics.

William Wurtenburg played his final season of football at the university in 1891, after apparently giving up his spot on the team following the 1889 season.

However, he was thrown out of the final game of the season, against Princeton, and Frank Barbour was given a guaranteed starting-quarterback slot for the rest of the time William Wurtenburg was at Yale.

In 1894, Wurtenburg was hired to replace former Yale teammate John A Hartwell as the head coach of the US Naval Academy football team.

At about that time, William Wurtenburg left the country and traveled to Germany to complete his medical studies.

William Wurtenburg did not remain at the Naval Academy the following year and was replaced as head coach by Matthew McClung.

William Wurtenburg instead accepted a position as the head coach of the Dartmouth team, starting in the fall of 1895.

William Wurtenburg's team dropped two games to Yale and one to Army, but managed to defeat former Triangular Football League opponent MIT.

On November 20 of that year, Wurtenburg married Anna Phillips, daughter of Jason W Phillips, whom he met while at Chautauqua in 1893.

William Wurtenburg's team dropped the next two games, both scoreless losses to Penn and Yale, but finished the month with a win.

William Wurtenburg retained his coaching position the next season, beginning the year with a blowout of Phillips Exeter, which was followed by three consecutive shutout losses.

William Wurtenburg was repeatedly selected by the university to act as an official in their home games; he was the school's referee in 1900 and 1901, and returned to the position two years later, in 1903.

William Wurtenburg expanded his officiating role in 1904, when he served in three games.

For one of those matches, William Wurtenburg moved to the position of umpire.

Sometime between 1915 and 1925, William Wurtenburg collected a series of newspaper articles and self-published them in a book titled Scrapbook of Newspaper Clippings about Yale Football.

At some point around 1904, William Wurtenburg began to dedicate himself to a career as a physician.

William Wurtenburg received official membership in the American Medical Association and the New Haven Medical Society as a physician specializing in otorhinolaryngology, specifically in ear and nose treatment.

William Wurtenburg retained his membership with the Connecticut State Medical Society until at least 1920, maintaining his Elm Street office the entire time.

William Wurtenburg died on March 26,1957, in New Haven, at the age of 93.

William Wurtenburg had the keenest sense of fundamental football and the greatest intensity of spirit in transmitting his hard earned knowledge.