Benjamin Dibblee

Benjamin Harrison Dibblee (July 8, 1876 – November 11, 1945)[1][2] was an American football player and coach. He played halfback for Harvard University from 1896 to 1898, and was a consensus All-American in 1897 and 1898. Dibblee served as the head football coach for Harvard from 1899 to 1900, compiling a 20–1–1. His 1899 team was retroactively recognized as a national champion by a number of selectors.

Benjamin Dibblee
Dibblee pictured in The Official National Collegiate Athletic Association football guide, 1899
Biographical details
Born(1876-07-08)July 8, 1876
Ross, California
DiedNovember 11, 1945(1945-11-11) (aged 69)
near Fairfield, California
Playing career
1896–1898Harvard
Position(s)Halfback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1899–1900Harvard
Head coaching record
Overall20–1–1
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1 National (1899)
Awards
All-American, 1897
All-American, 1898

Dibblee attended preparatory school at the Groton School where he played on the football team and took a prominent role in athletics.[3] Dibblee was small for a football player, even by the standards of the 1890s, standing 5 feet, 8-8½ inches, and weighing only 156 pounds.[3] He enrolled at Harvard in 1895 and played on the fresham football team that year. In 1896, he played on the varsity team where he played in one or two games at fullback.[3] He was a starter for Harvard throughout his junior season in 1897.[3] As a senior in 1898, Dibblee was selected as captain of Harvard's football team and as a first-team All-American by Walter Camp,[4] Caspar Whitney for Harper's Weekly,[5] the Syracuse Herald,[6] The Sun,[7] and the New York Evening Telegram.[8] In late November 1897, Dibblee was elected by his teammates as the captain of the 1898 Harvard football team.[9]

In March 1899, Dibblee was appointed as head coach of the Harvard football team.[10] As of 1913, Dibblee was the Pacific coast manager for a firm of brokers.[11] Dibblee died on November 11, 1945 at the Joy Island Duck club near Fairfield, California.[12]

Head coaching record
Year Team Overall ConferenceStanding Bowl/playoffs
Harvard Crimson (Independent) (1899–1900)
1899 Harvard 10–0–1
1900 Harvard 10–1
Harvard: 20–1–1
Total:20–1–1
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth

References
  1. California Historical Society (1946). California Historical Society Quarterly. California Historical Society. ISSN 0008-1175. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  2. White, J.T. (1967). The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, and of the Men and Women who are Doing the Work and Moulding the Thought of the Present Time. 35. University Microfilms. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  3. "Five Leading Football Players Who Will Command The Elevens of the Big Five". New York World. September 26, 1898.
  4. "Camp's 1898 All-America Teams". Evening Independent. November 21, 1930.
  5. "All-American Eleven of 1898". Harper's Weekly. 1898.
  6. "All-American Eleven". Sunday Herald. Syracuse, New York. November 27, 1898.
  7. "All American Team What Janeway of Princeton Thinks of This Year's Football Players". New Haven Evening Register. November 24, 1898.
  8. "Another All-American Team". The Philadelphia Inquirer. November 29, 1898.
  9. "Dibblee To Captain Harvard: Crimson Yield the Palm to Pennsylvania" (PDF). The New York Times. November 21, 1897.
  10. "To Coach Harvard's Team. Benjamin H. Dibblee, a California Boy, Is Appointed". San Francisco Call. San Francisco, California. April 1, 1899. p. 3. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  11. "Caminetti Trial Gets Quick Start" (PDF). The New York Times. August 23, 1913.
  12. "Benj. Dibblee Is Found Dead". The Times. San Mateo, California. Associated Press. November 12, 1945. p. 7. Retrieved May 13, 2015 – via Newspapers.com .
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