| Date of birth: | October 3, 1891 |
| Place of birth: | Fitchburg, Massachusetts |
| Date of death: | July 1963 (aged 71) |
| Place of death: | Massachusetts |
| Career information | |
|---|---|
| Position(s): | Quarterback |
| College: | Brown |
| Organizations | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| Honors: | First-team All-American, 1912 |
George M. "Kid" Crowther (October 3, 1891 - July 1963) was an American football player. He was named the consensus All-American at quarterback in 1912.
A native of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Crowther enrolled at Brown University where he played three years of varsity football. He was Brown's starting quarterback from 1910–1912.[1] He scored 77 points on 14 touchdowns and a field goal during his career at Brown. Crowther was considered "a slippery runner with good speed."[1] Crowther did not wear a helmet and instead played with a white elastic band around his head.[1]
Various accounts indicate that he weighed between 130 and 135 pounds while playing football at Brown.[1][2] He received the nickname "Kid" because of his small size.[2] In a game against Harvard in 1912, the Harvard coach suggested that the diminutive Crowther should be removed for the game "for his own safety," and Crowther responded with a 48-yard run for a touchdown in the game.[2] Crowther's run was Brown's only touchdown against Harvard; one newspaper described the play as follows: "The last period was played in twilight and it was then that Crowther, the Brown quarter back, ran half the length of the field for Brown's only touchdown."[3]
Crowther also handled kickoff and punt returns for Brown, and in 1911 he tied the Brown record for the longest kickoff return with a 110-yard return against UMass.[4] Crowther also had other long runs, including a 65-yard kickoff return against Bowdoin.[1] He also led Brown to a 30–7 win over Penn, Crowther reportedly "returned punts like a demon, and crisply directed four touchdown drives that had the fans at old Andrews Field delirious with joy."[1] At the end of the 1912 season, Crowthers was selected as a first-team All-American at the quarterback position by Walter Camp (for Collier's Weekly) and W.J. MacBeth.[5][6][7]
Crowther also played baseball at Brown and later in semi-professional leagues around New England.[1]
Crowther graduated from Brown in 1913.[1] He later recalled playing against Jim Thorpe in a Thanksgiving Day game against the Carlisle Indian School. He described Thorpe as the "best I ever played against."[8]
Crowther lived in Fitchburg, Massachusetts in his later years.[8] His wife, Elizabeth Crowther, died in September 1962.[9] Crowther died less than a year later in July 1963.
Crowther was posthumously inducted into the Brown University Hall of Fame in 1972.[1]
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