Celebration on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of the Second Reformed (Dutch) Church of New Brunswick, New Jersey by (HARTRANFT, Chester D., and others) - 1893

(Trenton, N.J.): Published by The Consistory / (The J.L. Murphy Publishing Co.), 1893. Hardcover. Fine. First and only edition. Octavo. 71pp. Inserted portrait plates (including one of Hartranft). Blindstamped black cloth titled in gilt. One passage marked in pencil in the text, else about fine. Inscribed in 1969 by H. Albert Seiffert, the Church Historian. Laid in to the book is a letter from Seiffert to the Rutgers Director of Sports Information responding to a query: "This is in reference to your question... about the Reverend Chester D. Hartranft, pastor of this church 1866-1875, and the possibility of his being 'the father of American football'... I particularly refer you to... page forty-eight. This is part of his, Mr. Hartranft's, address... when he returned here... in 1893. He said... 'How patiently you bore with my athletic proclivities, for I confess that... a kick at the foot-ball on yonder seminary hill, has sometimes a greater fascination for me than to enter the pulpit...' ." Hartranft did indeed form the Rutgers College football team and arranged for them to play against Princeton in an attempt to exact revenge for a 40-2 drubbing they had suffered in baseball. The game, played on November 6, 1869, was the first college football game. According to *Rutgers Football: A Gridiron Tradition in Scarlet*: "The closest thing the Rutgers Queensman had to a gridiron mentor was the Reverend Chester D. Hartranft... a self-confessed sportsman who enjoyed playing football. He convinced a group of young Rutgers athletes to pool their money to buy a communal football to use for practice sessions... Hartranft spent many hours working out with his energetic squad of young footballers..." Rutgers, despite having a team that was smaller in physical stature, won the first college football game six goals to four. Very uncommon. *OCLC* locates nine copies over two records, all on the East Coast.