Even those who have read Gridiron Gypsies: How the Carlisle Indians Shaped Modern Football may wonder why I’m writing about George Woodruff because I’ve already taken Sally Jenkins to task for her deceitful treatment of him. The reason I’m writing about him now is because a person who is writing Woodruff’s biography contacted me about information concerning his hiring by Carlisle in 1905. This request caught me cold because I hadn’t given it much thought. Woodruff, a future hall-of-fame coach, was available and Carlisle management thought they could use him because Pop Warner had returned to Cornell.
George Washington Woodruff had elevated Penn to make it the fourth member of The Big Four alongside Harvard, Yale, and Princeton but undergrads were dissatisfied with recent results. Although he won three national championships while going 124-15-2 over his 10-year career at Penn (1892-1901), the 5-loss 1901 season was unacceptable, causing him to be let go. He led Illinois to a pitiful 8-6 1903 season (only one win was against a college team – Purdue).
Having political connections to President Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot, he took a government position in Washington, DC. There, he officiated the Bucknell-Georgetown game played on November 12, 1904. This suggests that he was still keeping his hand in the game.
On August 14, 1905 Penn announced that Woodruff was to be on its “advisory coaching board,” whatever that means, along with Carl Williams, George McFadden, and George Brooke. On September 2, 1905, datelined Carlisle, Pa, “The management of the Carlisle Indian School’s football eleven today announced that they had secured the services of George Woodruff…The Indian School authorities have had him for some time, but did not announce having secured him until his arrival today.” How long “for some time” is debatable because less than three weeks earlier, he was associated with Penn.
The details of exactly he came to be employed by Carlisle have yet to be uncovered. Any information regarding that would be most appreciated.
Woodruff went 7-2 at Carlisle in 1905 before leaving for Washington after the victory over West Point. Some credit him with the three wins and two losses in games that were played after he left but he was not involved with those games.
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